The Red Blossom Restaurant Haikyo on the Lake Tama ring road rests as a peaceful shrine to the yin and yang of Nature, showing in gentle tones both her power to tear down the old, and raise up the new. The restaurant itself sits on a small hill like a rusted old tank, off-kilter, gap-toothed, and leering to the side. Numerous small wooden dining huts ring its sloping hillside like sleeping tors, marking out the seasons’ passage as they slowly slip from their struts and descend in arrested free-fall to the earth. At their center, a beautifully twisted cherry-tree blossoms, splashing its vibrant red petals over the tumble-down roofs and drab rain-mottled floors of the dying dining huts around it.
I went to the Red Blossom Restaurant (my name for it) a few weeks back, the same time that I went to the Akasaka Love Hotel. The two are adjacent to each other on the Tama Lake ring road. Like I said in that post, I came by bike, and was under pressure to get through both the buildings quickly as I had to race back and go to work.
I ventured up to the restaurant with no expectations of anything more interesting than the building you see in the picture above- a rusted red hulk, gutted, with a concrete block-building beside it. Upon rounding the back corner though, I saw a spread of small wooden huts perched on the hillside in a ring. Each was only one room in size, varying from about 8 square meters up to maybe 15, with tatami mat floors. I guessed they were either private-party dining booths, or perhaps private spots to perform a tea ceremony.
Canting sideways
Flaking, falling
Wrecked inside
Growing up between them was a weirdly twisted bonsai-like tree, showering red and pink petals over the broken roof of the nearest hut.
Red blossom tree
Through the roof
Silent, still
Further round the side were the yellow and blue canvases of what must have been larger outdoor eating spaces, 2 in total.
Overgrown
I meandered around a little, took my photos, then hurried off to the Love Hotel, then home.
FACTFILE
Location – Tama Lake ring road.
Entry -Very easy, not even a fence to hop.
Highlights – Ring of dining huts in tumble-down state, red-blossom tree in the middle.
RUINS / HAIKYO
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Mikey – That first paragraph is just so beautifully written – absolutely perfect with those stunning pics. x
It’s too bad you had to rush through this haikyo, and the other one you went to on the same day. I guess you would have preferred to savor them more? Were they very far away? Why not go back the next or following day or the next time you had more time?
No kitchen shots? Or was the kitchen totally stripped bare?
Alice- Thanks a lot, I’m glad the text resonated with the photos.
Jason- Yeah I had to hurry through, but actually I wouldn’t have taken much longer even if I’d had the time- there just wasn’t much to see. It’s only the really big haikyos that take a long time.
As for kitchen shots, well, it just looked like a messed-up kitchen, not over-grown or anything, just a lot of trash- so not so interesting.
Glad the Love Hotel was nearby for you.
Would it have been worthwhile to come all that way just for this one place? Seems to be more like a broken down cabin in the woods than a haikyo.
How was it biking up here? Were you offroad at all?
Nice small haikyo there! I’ve been wondering about looking up some in the UK… How do you go about finding them in Japan? I read you have a book or something? Do you have other sources too?
Mike- I have a book yes, plus I scour the net, and try to exchange locations with other haikyoists whenever possible. In the UK- there are several sites you could contact- probably you’ve seen them already via Google. I have links to some in my sidebar- Infiltration I think is a big one. Plus the UER website- which I don’t much like but seems rather comprehensive.
Can- It was worth it yes, since I could bike there and the trip all told was only about 4 hours. A nice bit of exercise.
Aesthetically this is one of my favorites. Beautiful pics.