I can’t let you leave Tokyo without going to Kappabashi Street. Even if you’re not a big foodie, the kitchenware district is filled with all kinds of entertaining things, including stores that sell those amazingly realistic food models you see outside Japanese restaurants.
First, the food model shops! You’ve probably seen these good-enough-to-eat works of art in display windows outside Tokyo restaurants. They have to be luscious-looking, because they’re the main way restaurants recruit new customers. Each dish is custom-made to exactly replicate the dish as it’s made at the restaurant. They have to deliver the real thing to the food model artist, so the ingredients, cutting style, and amounts can be faithfully rendered in plastic!
As we turn the corner and go back the way we came, let’s cross over to the other side of the street. We’ll pass a few funeral goods stores filled with wooden Shinto shrines, Buddhist home altars, gold temple chandeliers, Buddhist rosaries, incense, and religious statues.
And if you’re up for a little more walking, let’s keep going from Tawaramachi Station along the main street toward Ueno Station. We’ll find ourselves in another fascinating, specialized district: Inari-cho, the funeral goods and Shinto shrine shopping area. I know – who would want to see THAT? But take a peek:
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