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Experience Old Tokyo & Traditional Food
4.9
16 Ratings
Arakawa City
Discover Yanesen: Savor local croquettes, explore nostalgic streets, and experience vibrant Japanese culture. Live like a local in Old Tokyo.
Duration:
4 hours
Cancellation:
1 day
learn more
Highlights
-
Yuyake Dandan - Yuuyake Dandan:
It is the stairs between Gotenzaka and Yanaka Ginza. In the evening, you can see a beautiful sunset in the direction of Yanaka Ginza from this staircase. -
Shinimonogurui - Evil Stamp Shop Shinimonogurui:
This is a shop where you can make name stamps with cute illustrations, featuring a large cat sign. Why not make an original stamp to commemorate your visit to Yanaka, the city of cats? - Yanaka Shippoya - Yanaka Shippoya: Try a donut stick, resembling the shape and pattern of a cat’s tail. Our favourites are the creamy ones!
- Kanekichien - Kanekichien: You can shop for equipment used in Japanese tea ceremonies in this lovely shop.
- Niku no Suzuki - Niku no Suzuki: Their freshly fried menchi-katsu is beyond delicious!
- Waguriya - Waguriya: It is the only store in Japan that specializes in Japanese chestnuts and owns its own farm, and is popular for its sweets that make the most of the natural flavor and taste of Japanese chestnuts.
- Echigoya Honten - Echigoya Saketen: Taste Japanese beer and sake, and enjoy drinking the Japanese way; kadouchi.
- Hand Puppets Shokichi - Hand Puppets Shokichi: Enjoy this fantastically expressive puppet show by professional puppeteers!
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Hebimichi - Snake Road:
Behind Yanaka Ginza, there is an alley that curves like a snake. Take a walk along the alleys that used to be small rivers. - Nezu Shrine - Nezu Shrine: Visit this shrine, also known as a “power spot”, right in the center of Nezu, and walk through its magnificent tower gate and tunnel of red torii gates.
- Onigiri Café Risaku - Onigiri Café Risaku: Taste the soft and beautiful onigiri rice balls, a typical Japanese food, along with a delicious bowl of pork soup.
What's Included
- Private tour
- Tour Guide
- Necessary expenses for the guide during the tour
What's Not Included
- Estimated Costs of the Tour: 6050 JPY per Person
- Breakdown: Transportation: 0 JPY, Admission Fees: 700 JPY, Meal costs: 1000 JPY per Person
- Optional Experience Costs: 4350 JPY per Person
Additional Information
Sample local cuisine and wander through the nostalgic streets of Yanesen.
Yanesen spans two wards, Bunkyoku and Taitoku, and is a collective name for the three historic shopping streets: Yanaka, Nezu, and Sendagi. On this tour, you’ll savor typical Japanese dishes like croquettes, a local favorite, and onigiri, a traditional Japanese meal. This area offers a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in Japanese food culture.
Beyond the food, you’ll discover traditional shops selling Japanese accessories, enjoy a hand puppet show featuring intricate and expressive puppets, and visit a shrine with a tunnel of vibrant red torii gates. Experience a day in the life of the locals in Yanesen!
- All transportation costs, entrance fees, food and drink costs, etc. incurred at the visited spots, will be borne by the customer.
- Please understand that tour spots might be changed to alternative spots in case of temporary closure.
- Tour finishing spot is different from starting spot. Please let your tour guide know if you would like to change the finishing spot.
- Please wear comfortable clothing as you will be walking a lot
- Some of the spots we will visit on the day do not accept credit cards. Please remember to bring cash.
- This includes spots where alcoholic beverages are served. Children are allowed to enter, but must be at least 20 years old to drink alcohol.
- On Thursdays and Fridays, “Evil Stamp Shop Shinimonogurui” is closed, so we will show you an alternative spot.
Location
Nippori Station
JR Nippori Station, North ticket gate
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.9
(16 Ratings)
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Shannonrp8589nn
Jun 8, 2023
Yanaka Shopping and Food Tour with Puppet Show - Kiyoshi was a wonderful guide - very engaged and knowledgeable. The Yanaka shops were delightful and we enjoyed the various food bites and the plum sake with soda! The puppet show was surprisingly entertaining and funny. After days of tours, the family was too tired to make the temple at the end but Kiyoshi was very gracious about us ending early. More cultural than food tour. The textile street outside the Nippori station was something we would never have found on our own if not for arriving early for the tour and exploring a bit.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Miltoncw9742hu
May 28, 2023
Interesting and clear explanation - We visit a lot of places with Mutsue, She explain us very clear, she was pacient with us. Track is interesting and large. We terminate the track tired but enjoy the day
Review provided by Tripadvisor
960baol
May 22, 2023
Great foods, great experience and, great tour guide - I highly recommend any visitors to take this tour. I had such great time with Rieko San and she was so helpful. She was willing to go out of the way to make us feel comfortable and made sure we enjoyed our time. We walked through parts of the Taito City area (areas around Yanaka Ginza). The food she recommended were all tasty and are must tries! Ordering went super smooth as she helped us with understanding the menu and gave insights to it. I'm not a huge picture taker but the sights was great and it was great to learn more about the area we visited.
As a first time visitor, this experience is a positive memory for me to remember. Rieko San is the best!!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
840tranl
May 22, 2023
Best food experience - We had a really enjoyable time with Rieko! She was very knowledgeable in the history of places and customized the experience based on our interests. She was very attentive to our needs. Best tour guide and food experience! Highly recommend it as we wouldn't have explored or tried the place we went to without her.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Vanessa_l
Apr 7, 2023
Exceptional Private Tour! - This was the first tour l ever tried with Viator and it was amazing! We wanted a Cantonese guide and the company was able to arrange a very professional and friendly Cantonese speaking tour guide for us. The experience was so much fun! We has great food, learned so much about the local culture and visited areas we would never have known to visit by ourselves. Thank you so much for such a wonderful experience!
Review provided by Viator
Jjktokyo
Mar 20, 2023
Fun day tour around Sendagi - My friends and I signed up for a day tour around the Sendagi neighborhood. Our tour guide Miyuki-san kicked off our tour at Yanaka Ginza and introduced us to the popular shops in the area. After eating our way through Yanaka, Miyuki-san took us to Nezu Shrine, where we happened to spot CNN’s Richard Quest, and got to take a picture with him. The tour ended with a delicious simple onigiri set. Overall, we were very satisfied with the tour and our tour guide, Miyuki-san was really sweet and helpful.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Judya706
Mar 20, 2023
Must do! - Excellent tour. We explored the streets of Yanaka ginza and got to eat lots of yummy street food. The pork menchi katsu is a must! Miyuki-san was a fantastic tour guide and an even better photographer! Highly recommended!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Pelkachu
Mar 10, 2023
A foodie-friendly tour of a smaller Tokyo neighborhood - My friend and I had a lovely time with our guide Sayaka exploring and learning about the Yanesen area. I was very happy to try several local foods (as the tour website mentions, it's a good idea to bring cash, because some of the small stands accept cash payment only). It also felt nice to explore a smaller neighborhood, which had a different feeling and pace from other parts of Tokyo. Nezu Shrine and the grounds around it were also particularly beautiful, and I learned some good historical and cultural details from our guide. It was a really nice way to spend part of the day and I would definitely recommend this tour!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Olivia
Mar 10, 2023
Tour of Tokyo's old backstreets - We had a great time trying various Japanese snacks and looking at adorable little shops. The traditional handmade puppets were really interesting.
Having a guide at Nezu Shrine was nice because we could learn about the history and importance of the area.
Our guide Sayaka was really kind and carefully answered all our questions, so it was a real pleasure.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Paulasmalla
Mar 20, 2023
Pleasant and relaxing eating and sightseeing - Overall we had a really pleasant experience yesterday. The weather was amazing, guide was very friendly. We enjoyed our strolling down the streets and eating, shopping along the way experience very much. Miyuki took us to many local small shops, and that Minchikatsu place was awesome. The guide knew where to take the best photos and it was nice to have someone to be our photographer. In the area, there are lots of very cozy and retro cafes and small shops, but it was a pity that many of them were closed becuz it was a Monday. Luckily our guide Miyuki had some backup plans, so we still got to have some alternative locations to go.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
