Asakusa Route

What Asakusa is

Asakusa is a temple-gate town, running since the Edo period, that grew around Sensoji — the oldest temple in Tokyo. Its front gate, Kaminarimon (properly the Wind-and-Thunder Gate), hangs a huge red lantern, and from there a covered approach called Nakamise runs straight to the temple. Nakamise is one of Japan's oldest shopping streets, selling souvenirs and food to pilgrims since Edo times. Asakusa was both a temple gate and a common people's pleasure quarter of theatres and sideshows; burned again by the Great Kanto Earthquake and the war, it kept winning back its downtown bustle. So the Asakusa food walk holds, on the same street, the buzz of a sightseeing spot and the plainness of shops the locals use every day.

Edo flavours, and Tokyo's oldest bar

Asakusa's eating rests on wagashi (Japanese sweets), fried food, and downtown drinking. Old sweet houses like Kamejyu's dorayaki and Funawa's imo-yokan line Nakamise, and a few steps on waits Daikokuya's prawn tempura bowl — an Edo-style tendon fried dark in sesame oil, its batter soaked with a sweet-savoury glaze. And don't forget the drink. Hoppy Street (the "nikomi street") is lined with izakaya open from midday, where each shop's beef nikomi (stewed offal) tastes a little different. Finish at Kamiya Bar: founded in 1880, said to be Japan's first bar, whose signature "Denki Bran" is a thirty-percent sweet spirit born when "electric" still meant new. From Edo sweetness to Meiji modernity, Asakusa keeps the layers of its eras in a single plate.

How to walk this route

Start at Kaminarimon. Pass under the great lantern into Nakamise and head north toward the temple. Open with something sweet — Kamejyu's dorayaki, Funawa's imo-yokan. Nakamise is a temple approach, so don't eat as you walk; eat at the shopfront or on a bench. Turn onto Denboin Street and the fried food and full meals multiply — Asakusa menchi-katsu, Daikokuya's tendon. Slot in a jumbo melon pan or the world's-strongest matcha gelato on Nishi-Sando, and finish on Hoppy Street. Have a drink over beef nikomi, then close at Kamiya Bar with a Denki Bran — that is the classic run from south to north. Reckon about three and a half hours on foot, alternating standing and sitting, sweet and savoury.

What to look for

For sweets, first Kamejyu's dorayaki — the pancake thick and pillowy, its uneven browning the proof each is grilled by hand. Kagetsudo's jumbo melon pan is as big as a face, crisp outside and startlingly light within. Suzukien's matcha gelato lets you choose a strength from 1 to 7, and No.7 claims to be "the world's strongest." For a meal, Daikokuya's prawn tendon — the dark batter soaked in sweet-savoury glaze, yet cuttable with chopsticks. And as tavern plates, Hoppy Street's beef nikomi and Kamiya Bar's Denki Bran. From sweets to a rich tendon to a closing drink, an Asakusa plate runs in one line of "what the downtown of Edo has eaten all along."

Before you go

Nakamise and the Kaminarimon area are crowded year-round with holidaymakers and overseas visitors. For an unhurried meal, first thing in the morning (Sensoji opens early) or a weekday morning is more comfortable. Nakamise sometimes posts a "don't eat while walking" notice, so eat what you buy at the shopfront or on a bench. Popular sweets can sell out by early afternoon, so buy in the morning. Hoppy Street opens at midday and fills by evening. Old houses have closing days and changing hours, so treat the times here as a guide and confirm before you set out.