Tokyo Travel Diaries: Nakamise Shopping Street in Asakusa

After visiting the Sensoji Temple in Asakusa, we then moved on to do some shopping in Nakamise Street which was just a few steps away.

The Nakamise shopping street stretches over approximately 250 meters from Sensoji's outer gate to the temple's second gate, the Hozomon. It is lined by more than 50 shops, which offer local specialties and the usual array of tourist souvenirs.

Hozomon, the temple's 2nd gate

vicinity map

Various stuff and souvenirs such as magnets, keychains, fans, toys, clothes, and local snacks are sold along the Nakamise. They can be quite expensive though. I usually buy shirts as pasalubong but the cheapest ones I found cost 980 Yen which is about P400 each. In Sinagpore, shirts cost 4 for $10 (about P340) in Lucky Plaza which makes it less than P100 each! Anyway, it was still fun to browse around and see the different items for sale.

Hours depend on the individual shops, but typically daily from 9AM to 7PM. We just ended up buying some magnets and then I found these boots in one of the stalls for 540 Yen or about P200. I kept thinking they were probably going to break after a few hours, but I wore them all day to Disneyland the next day and they held up just fine. They were super comfy too. What a steal right? :)

We also ended up in one of the side streets perpendicular to Nakamise and found some food stalls. We got some deep-fried curry buns and some kind of breaded pork and they tasted really good. All in all, Asakusa was a great experience!

Get There and Around
Asakusa is served by the Ginza Subway Line, Asakusa Subway Line, Tsukuba Express and Tobu Railways. It can also be accessed by the Tokyo Water Bus.

From Tokyo Station
Take the JR Yamanote Line to Kanda Station (2 minutes, 140 yen) and transfer to the Ginza Subway Line for Asakusa (10 minutes, 170 yen).

From Shinjuku Station
Take the orange JR Chuo Line to Kanda Station (10 minutes, 170 yen) and transfer to the Ginza Subway Line for Asakusa (10 minutes, 170 yen).