Eight hundred metres of shops selling everything a restaurant needs, from lacquered bowls and bamboo steamers to neon signs, noren curtains and the eerily realistic plastic food samples displayed in Japanese shop windows. Kappabashi has supplied Tokyo’s kitchens since the 1910s, and the giant chef’s head on the Niimi building marks the southern end. For home cooks it is dangerous: hand-forged knives, cast-iron pans and ceramic plates cost a fraction of what they do abroad.
Walk the full street once, then loop back to buy. Shops are specialised, so the knife place sells only knives and the chopstick place only chopsticks. Most will wrap for travel, and the tax-free counters are used to tourists hauling home a wok.
Tips
- Knife shops such as Kama-Asa and Tsubaya engrave your name on the blade while you wait, usually free of charge
- The plastic food sample shops sell kits to make your own tempura or lettuce, a far better souvenir than a keyring
- Go on a weekday, because Sunday is the one day most of the street is shuttered