Kappabashi Street (Kappabashi Dogugai)

Tokyo, Japan
Kappabashi street

Do you like foodporn? On Kappabashi Street, people orgasm over culinary tools, dishes, utensils, and anything else related to cooking and serving food. And not just professionals. It is absolutely impossible to leave empty-handed without a single purchase. On my first visits to this street many years ago, I used to bring home a suitcase of all sorts of things. Now, it's easier because you can buy many Japanese tools, knives, and dishes online in the States. However, the prices are still much better here, on Kappabashi. In many cases, the quality and uniqueness of products are also unbeatable.

This time, for the first time, I walked around Kappabashi leisurely - slowly, having as much time as I wanted to spend here. Not being in a hurry, I could observe slowly and pay attention to more. In this video, I showed the stores where I spent some time. The video is 30 minutes long. All the names of the stores that impressed are listed.

On a map, Kappabashi Street runs vertically from north to south. At least that's the part where the stores are easy to find. To the left (West) of Kappabashi is the Ueno station. It’s a 5-minute walk from Ueno to Kappabashi. Choose the statue of Golden Kappa as your point of entrance. The video is composed so that from the entrance to the street, we turn to the right, to the south, and go along the side of Kappabashi, which is closer to Ueno (Ueno side). When we reach the end with the corner houses decorated with giant teacups on one side and a giant bust of a chef on the other, we cross over to the side of the street closer to Asakusa station (Asakusa side) and walk north.

Have your foreign passport and collect receipts if you plan on buying anything worthwhile. There is an office at the north end of Kappabashi where you'll get a cash refund on your sales taxes. Look out for stores with a tax-free sign.

Enjoy your walk around Kappabashi!

Ueno Side
00:17 Golden Kappa statue
00:57 KAMA-ASA SHOTEN
01:46 Beautiful soba knives
02:45 Sharpening station
02:50 Japanese Grills
03:35 TANAKA SHIKKI-TEN lacquered and wooden dishes, chopsticks
04:46 KITCHEN WORLD TDI huge variety of cookie cutters, cutlery

05:50 Asakusa Side
06:14 SOUTEI YABUKITA pottery, dishes
06:50 donabe
07:38 KINAYA BRUSH SHOP
08:26 Culinary brushes
08:36 Makeup brushes
09:00 High-end makeup brushes
09:35 Massage brushes
09:39 TOKYO BIKEN realistic food replicas
10:58 HASHITO MAIN SHOP chopsticks
13:58 FUWARI dishes, cups, pottery, wooden tableware
15:43 KOMATSUYA pottery, dishes
16:51 IIDAYA the best assortment of culinary tools
20:09 UNION coffee and tea making and serving
23:16 SATO FOOD SAMPLES realistic food replicas
27:12 器 まえさか VESSEL amazing pottery gallery
29:29 HOME GOODS STORE modern tableware