Plastic food, the world’s sharpest knives,
Japanese foodie goods & more
Sensō-ji Temple: Open 24 hours, every day
Nakamise Shopping Street: Open every day, most shops open at 9:00
Vasara kimono rental: Open every day, 9:00-18:00
Ameshin (art lollipops): 10:30-18:00, closed Thursdays
Ganso Sample Store (plastic food): Open every day, 10:00-5:30
Sanwa 720 (sake tasting): 13:00-18:00, closed Wednesdays & Thursdays
Masukō (sake shop & tasting): 13:00-19:00, closed Sundays
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Here’s what to see and why you might want to see it…
Sensō-ji Temple & Shopping Street
This is is the very best “first day in Tokyo,” because it delivers a little something of everything you hoped Japan would be: traditional, modern, delicious in a totally Toto-we’re-not-in-Kansas-anymore way, quirky, and filled with surprises.
And what better way to walk around a traditional neighborhood than dressed in traditional Japanese kimonos?
Start out by walking through the gate and down the shopping street leading to the grandest Buddhist temple in Tokyo, with its magnificent five-story pagoda
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Get dressed in a kimono
and walk around taking pictures
For a very reasonable sum (usually per hour), both men and women can choose a favorite kimono and be professionally dressed and styled before walking around to enjoy the neighborhood. There are plenty of rental shops that will get you kitted out, even without a reservation!
Now let’s go shopping!
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Nakamise Shopping Street
The shops lining the temple’s shopping streets have been in business for generations, and they sell everything from traditional snacks like skewered rice balls, freshly crisped rice crackers and fresh taiyaki…
…to paper parasols, fans, old-fashioned toys, handmade silk hair ornaments…
..and festival masks
There are also a couple of shops selling soft-serve ice cream that is not only the most premium soft-serve you’ve ever eaten, it comes in only-in-Japan flavors.
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See where they make
the most beautiful lollipops in the world
This shop is the headquarters of an artisan who is such a master of the art of snipping and pulling molten candy into gorgeously realistic animal sculptures, you have to see it to believe it.
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Kappabashi Street
Next stop: the kitchenware district, where they sell every kind of Japanese kitchen tool you can imagine, but there are also shops selling super-realistic plastic food models!
This is the place to marvel at how insanely realistic they are…
and also buy the world’s best fridge magnets
But that’s not all there is to see on this street. it’s also a great place to buy all manner of Japanese dishes, sake serving sets, chopsticks, teapots, vases, and lacquerware…
…but also the world’s sharpest kitchen knives, some made by former swordsmiths.
…but also the world’s sharpest kitchen knives, some made by former swordsmiths.
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This is also a great place to
Take a sake tasting break
There are two fantastically authentic sake shops in this neighborhood, and both offer tasting flights for very reasonable prices.
Sanwa 720 is a tiny elegant shop with a standing bar and a small but choice selection of Japan’s national drink…
…and Masukō is a sake shop hidden away half a block off the main street, with an extensive and beautifully curated selection of sake that you can taste in a welcoming atmosphere
And finally, this may not seem like a very Japanese thing to do, the there is a burger bar in this neighborhood called Mokudō Tengoku where a guy we think of as The Hamburger Otaku makes the most intensely-crafted hamburgers you will ever experience.
He’s a shining example of something that Japan does extremely well, which is study a thing, figure out how to make the very best one in the world, and execute it flawlessly. This guy is so intent on his work he never talks to customers, but even though his burgers don’t sound special, one bite will be enough to convince you they absolutely are.
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Back to:
Navigation buttons to the other “7 Perfect Days”
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If you’d like to browse all the gardens or shrines or individual neighborhoods in Tokyo, links are on The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
If you’d like info on seasonal secrets and beyond Tokyo destinations, subscribe to my monthly e-magazine Japanagram (it’s free!)
and if you’d like to discover super quirky things to do, do a search at Only In Japan
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly e-magazine Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
Jonelle Patrick writes about Japan 