For the "Kanda Meibutsu Kanda Old-Book Festival" on the 27th and 28th of this month, the free Marunouchi shuttle bus "Autumn Festival" will run an extended route through Kanda Jimbocho and other stops. A temporary bus stop "Takebashi Mainichi Shimbun-mae" will be set up beside the main entrance of Palaceside Building, with nonstop service between the Kanda Jimbocho old-book district and this stop in both directions.
From the Takebashi Mainichi Shimbun-mae stop, the shuttle passes Jimbocho's old-book street, Ogawamachi sports shops, and Izumi boat landing in Akihabara before reaching Nihonbashi Minato boat landing, completed last April.
That landing sits in Takimi Hiroba beside the stone Nihonbashi bridge famous for "Kirin no Tsubasa" (Wings of the Kirin), where Japan's highway kilometer zero marker stands. One step down from street level, the small plaza has an inconspicuous entrance, but at night lights illuminate cascading waterfalls on two walls in golden glow.
In the Edo period a shed about five ken wide (roughly 9 m) and one jō deep (about 3.3 m) stood here, roped off to expose criminals. For three days from around 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., offenders awaiting execution were displayed to passersby. The first case was Retainer Harada Itayū of Tsugaru-Iwatsuki domain and courtesan Onoe of Yoshiwara, who attempted double suicide; their story inspired Shin-bushi and Ozaki Kōyō's play Onoe Itahachi.
The path from Takimi Hiroba to the boat landing is "Sōjūrō Gashi"＝photo. Named last July for the "Ten" in Kabuki actors Ichikawa Danjūrō and Sakata Tōjūrō, who performed a centennial Nihonbashi bridge commemorative Kabuki play; at the naming ceremony both boarded a pleasure boat from this quay for a Nihonbashigawa cruise.
On old-book festival days, a paid Kanda and Nihonbashigawa cruise runs from Akihabara Izumi disaster-prevention boat landing through Ochanomizu Valley on the Kanda River, past Kiji-bashi and Hitotsu-bashi north of Palaceside Building on the Nihonbashigawa, and back at Nihonbashi Minato landing. You can also disembark there.
After enjoying the book fair, take the shuttle to Akihabara Izumi landing, ride the Kanda–Nihonbashigawa cruise, disembark at Nihonbashi Minato, and visit the Sōjūrō Gashi monument and Takimi Hiroba—how does that sound?