My visit to Tokyo 2018 (21)

Yananka Ginja

On the 4th of November I visited Yanaka Ginja (谷中銀座 ) in the morning. The Tokyo Travel Guide introduced Yanaka Ginja as a leisure spot and said that “Yanaka together with Nezu and Sendagi is a popular spot for strolling. There many shines and temples. One of the main spots is Yanaka Ginza, which is crowed with both man and women, young an old, as there is everything from old established shops opened since the Taisho era, to modern sweet shops. Many cats also gather at the Yuyake Dandan staircase, which is a hot spot for taking pictures of cats, located at the entrance of the shopping street.” As a cat-lover I want to have a look of the cats.

A Township Guide Map

Nippori Station Map

I traveled to Yanaka Ginja using the Yamanote Line and got off at the Nippori Station (日暮里駅). There was a shopping street in Yanaka Ginja which had many small shops, including food shops from western style restaurants that served toast and coffee to Japanese style food stalls that offered tempura. There were also a shop selling small electrical items, on top of some shops that sold household daily items. While I was strolling along the shopping street, a young local people came towards me to ask in English whether I needed any tour guide service. While I wondered how he could tell that I am a non-local/tourist at a glance, I surprised him by saying in Japanese that “no, thank you; I shall do the sight-seeing by myself.” I stop at a one food stall to buy some tempera. The food’s quality and taste were just ordinary. I think this was a logical outcome as the price of the tempera was super cheap.

 

The tempura of this shop was cheap

There was a shop called “7-Day’s” which sold many small objects such as wood cups and bowls and had attracted many young boys and girls looking for their favourite items. Further down the shopping street there was a  meat shop, the Sendagi honten(千駄木本店) which sold high quality Japanese beef. Right in front of this shop, I saw a man dressed in white selling take-away hot food. At nearby there were chairs where customers could sit down an enjoy the food right away.

Sendagi Honten

The "7-Days" shop

While I was attracted to here by the cats, I was disappointed. I could see only two old and thin cats in the whole street, perhaps the timing of my visit was not right.