Yanaka Ginza

"In a quiet part of the city, Yanaka Ginza is a retro shotengai shopping arcade. Before shopping malls and supermarkets, there were shotengai filled with mom-and-pop shops selling seafood, tofu, meat, and vegetables. It’s a good place to try a number of local dishes: menchi-katsu (ground meat that is breaded and deep-fried), chestnut sweets, ikayaki grilled squid, and sweet bean paste–filled cakes in the shape of cats. A short walk from Nippori Station, Yanaka Ginza offers a glimpse of how the Japanese used to shop and some still do."