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TOKYO - explore its Senmonten-gai or specialty store districts
TOKYO - explore its Senmonten-gai or specialty store districts
One of the pleasures of shopping in Tokyo is exploring its Senmonten-gai or “specialty store” districts. These are areas lined with the same kinds of businesses, where you can find something you want in particular or a very rare item of a certain type.
Kanda Jimbocho, for example, is known for having the largest concentration of antiquarian or used bookstores in the world. There are about 130 of them! Here, you can find millions of books and works of art. In addition to publishers and printers, a number of law schools opened here, and used bookstores began doing business in the early Meiji period (1880s).
Akihabara is another specialty area. Since 1995, it has become a mecca for electronics afficionados and subcultures, attracting many visitors.
Tsukiji, until just a few years ago, was the site of Tokyo’s wholesale fish market and tuna auction, is still lined with stores and restaurants specializing in fresh seafood and fresh and preserved products, such as dried bonito, furikake, yuba, fu, pickles, miso, kombu, and more. Foreigners flock to this area, especially to enjoy fresh, affordable, and delicious sushi.
Professional & Amateur Chefs’ Paradise
Kappabashi Kitchenware Town is Japan's number one district for all kinds of dishware and cooking utensils. The main road and side streets boast approximately 160 specialty stores offering high-quality Japanese knives, kitchen tools and tableware. For example, Kama-asa Shoten, established in 1908, sells about 1,000 kitchen knives in 80 varieties, in addition to cast iron pots and pans, grills, and more. The store handles its knives as "unnamed products" without the name of the store, which shows respect for the craftsmen involved in each step of the process and their sincerity toward the user.
MIKURA specializes in more than 500 types of chopsticks and offers a range of sizes for men, women, and children, as well as the possibility of ordering one-of-a-kind chopsticks with your name engraved.
Ganso Shokuhin Sample-ya is a store for silicon food models, unique to Japan. The color and textural reproduction is astonishingly realistic, and fun workshops in wax modeling – the precursor to silicon are also available.
Stimulate Your Fashion Sense
Nippori Fabric Town has become popular among foreign tourists in recent years. One of the reasons is the area on the opposite side of Nippori Station, known as Yanesen, home to Yanaka, Nezu, and Sendagi – all retaining a historic downtown vibe. Here, high-quality Japanese fabrics can be purchased at low prices. In particular, tourists from Myanmar sparked a boom because they use this fabric to make longyi, their native costume. Traditional Japanese patterns are particularly popular.
If you enter an area shop, such as Mihama Cloth, you will find an array of vibrant Japanese-patterned fabric richly decorated with flowers, cranes, fans, etc. Chic indigo-dyed patterns are popular among Westerners.
Next time you visit Tokyo, you may want to look for souvenirs in Nippori, and enjoy the Shitamachi or authentic downtown culture.
Article provided by Tokyo Tourism
One of the pleasures of shopping in Tokyo is exploring its Senmonten-gai or “specialty store” districts. These are areas lined with the same kinds of businesses, where you can find something you want in particular or a very rare item of a certain type.
Kanda Jimbocho, for example, is known for having the largest concentration of antiquarian or used bookstores in the world. There are about 130 of them! Here, you can find millions of books and works of art. In addition to publishers and printers, a number of law schools opened here, and used bookstores began doing business in the early Meiji period (1880s).
Akihabara is another specialty area. Since 1995, it has become a mecca for electronics afficionados and subcultures, attracting many visitors.
Tsukiji, until just a few years ago, was the site of Tokyo’s wholesale fish market and tuna auction, is still lined with stores and restaurants specializing in fresh seafood and fresh and preserved products, such as dried bonito, furikake, yuba, fu, pickles, miso, kombu, and more. Foreigners flock to this area, especially to enjoy fresh, affordable, and delicious sushi.
Professional & Amateur Chefs’ Paradise
Kappabashi Kitchenware Town is Japan's number one district for all kinds of dishware and cooking utensils. The main road and side streets boast approximately 160 specialty stores offering high-quality Japanese knives, kitchen tools and tableware. For example, Kama-asa Shoten, established in 1908, sells about 1,000 kitchen knives in 80 varieties, in addition to cast iron pots and pans, grills, and more. The store handles its knives as "unnamed products" without the name of the store, which shows respect for the craftsmen involved in each step of the process and their sincerity toward the user.
MIKURA specializes in more than 500 types of chopsticks and offers a range of sizes for men, women, and children, as well as the possibility of ordering one-of-a-kind chopsticks with your name engraved.
Ganso Shokuhin Sample-ya is a store for silicon food models, unique to Japan. The color and textural reproduction is astonishingly realistic, and fun workshops in wax modeling – the precursor to silicon are also available.
Stimulate Your Fashion Sense
Nippori Fabric Town has become popular among foreign tourists in recent years. One of the reasons is the area on the opposite side of Nippori Station, known as Yanesen, home to Yanaka, Nezu, and Sendagi – all retaining a historic downtown vibe. Here, high-quality Japanese fabrics can be purchased at low prices. In particular, tourists from Myanmar sparked a boom because they use this fabric to make longyi, their native costume. Traditional Japanese patterns are particularly popular.
If you enter an area shop, such as Mihama Cloth, you will find an array of vibrant Japanese-patterned fabric richly decorated with flowers, cranes, fans, etc. Chic indigo-dyed patterns are popular among Westerners.
Next time you visit Tokyo, you may want to look for souvenirs in Nippori, and enjoy the Shitamachi or authentic downtown culture.
Article provided by Tokyo Tourism
Steven Skelley and Thomas Routzong
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