Kappabashi Dori

If you’re visiting Asakusa’s Senso-ji temple and Nakamise Dori, take a short detour to this area devoted to wholesale kitchenware shops. You’ll find low-cost crockery, rice cookers, knives, grills, indeed everything you need to set up a restaurant, including the realistic-looking plastic models of dishes that are displayed in restaurant windows. The shops run along Shinbori Dori, from the corner of Asakusa Dori; look for the giant chef’s head on the top of the Niimi store.