Understand
Kawasaki has been an important city of trade since the days of the Tokugawa Shogunate, as a stop on the Tokaido Road between Tokyo and Kyoto. With a population of over 1.3 million, Kawasaki is the ninth most populated city in Japan, but it's sandwiched between Japan's two largest cities, Tokyo and Yokohama, and consequently ignored by the vast majority of tourists zooming between the two. There are attractions, though, that make Kawasaki a unique side trip, including a Buddhist temple that ranks as one of Japan's top three most visited temples during the New Year, a Shinto fertility shrine that hosts one of Japan's wackiest festivals, and an underrated open-air museum.
Geographically, Kawasaki lies in the middle of the Keihin region, separated from the Tokyo metropolis by the Tama River, which it roughly follows, and is divided into seven wards. The eastern part of Kawasaki, along Tokyo Bay, contains industrial work areas and blue-collar housing, while more upscale buildings can be found in the Tama Hills further west and inland.
