Tokyo Old Town Food Tour: Ueno Ameyoko Market & Yanaka Ginza
Day tour
Food tour
Standard
Departure point
→
Destination
Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo
1N (Participation Duration)
Train,Walking (Transportation)
English (Language)
Number of participants 0/10
0 booked
Tour description
Western Tokyo is glass and towering blocks. Eastern Tokyo — the shitamachi, the old downtown — is only two stories high, smells of frying oil and roasted tea, and is where the city's food habits truly took shape. This afternoon walking tour takes you through two of the best neighborhoods here, which happen to be just a two-minute train ride apart.
We begin beneath the railway arches of Ameya-Yokocho, a market that started out as a post-1945 black market selling sweets and American goods and never quite tidied itself up. Four hundred stalls are packed into a few hundred meters, with shouting fishmongers, dried fruit stalls, and standing bars open from eleven in the morning. We'll eat takoyaki with the proper molten center, minced beef croquettes handed to you in paper wrappers, and grilled skewers at a counter where you eat standing up.
Then it's a two-stop train ride to Nippori, and everything turns quiet. Yanaka survived both the 1923 earthquake and the 1945 firebombing, making it one of the few parts of Tokyo that still looks like pre-war Tokyo: wooden houses, seventy temples, a vast cemetery filled with cherry trees, and a three-hundred-meter shopping street where family-run shops thrive and cats are a local icon. Here, we'll eat menchi-katsu from a butcher shop famous for it, cat-tail-shaped doughnuts, and a serving of Japanese chestnut soft-serve ice cream that's worth the trip alone.
Your guide will share insights into the shitamachi spirit, the impact of the 1945 firebombing on Tokyo's food culture, how a Japanese butcher shop operates, and standing bar etiquette.
Small group, maximum 10 guests. One short train ride, included.
We begin beneath the railway arches of Ameya-Yokocho, a market that started out as a post-1945 black market selling sweets and American goods and never quite tidied itself up. Four hundred stalls are packed into a few hundred meters, with shouting fishmongers, dried fruit stalls, and standing bars open from eleven in the morning. We'll eat takoyaki with the proper molten center, minced beef croquettes handed to you in paper wrappers, and grilled skewers at a counter where you eat standing up.
Then it's a two-stop train ride to Nippori, and everything turns quiet. Yanaka survived both the 1923 earthquake and the 1945 firebombing, making it one of the few parts of Tokyo that still looks like pre-war Tokyo: wooden houses, seventy temples, a vast cemetery filled with cherry trees, and a three-hundred-meter shopping street where family-run shops thrive and cats are a local icon. Here, we'll eat menchi-katsu from a butcher shop famous for it, cat-tail-shaped doughnuts, and a serving of Japanese chestnut soft-serve ice cream that's worth the trip alone.
Your guide will share insights into the shitamachi spirit, the impact of the 1945 firebombing on Tokyo's food culture, how a Japanese butcher shop operates, and standing bar etiquette.
Small group, maximum 10 guests. One short train ride, included.
Meeting point:
View on map
Ameya-Yokocho market, Ueno Station Hirokoji exit, Taito City, Tokyo
We meet under the railway arches at the Hirokoji exit end of Ameya-Yokocho, three minutes from JR Ueno Station. Your guide will have a small sign with your name.
Detailed itinerary
Stop 1 - Takoyaki, Ameya-Yokocho: Octopus-filled batter balls grilled in a dimpled cast-iron pan, molten in the center, topped with bonito flakes dancing in the steam. Eaten standing right at the counter.
Stop 2 - Menchi-katsu and Korokke, Ameya-Yokocho: A butcher shop's minced beef cutlet and a crispy potato croquette, both fried to order and handed to you in paper wrappers. Your guide will explain why Japanese butcher shops sell fried foods.
Stop 3 - Ameyoko Market Stroll: Dried persimmons, roasted green tea, matcha, skewered pineapple slices, and four hundred stalls of controlled chaos beneath the Yamanote Line, along with an introduction from your guide to the market's post-war origins.
Stop 4 - Standing Bar and Skewers: A brief stop at a counter where you eat standing up—grilled skewers and a small glass of beer, sake, or tea, accompanied by an explanation of standing-bar etiquette.
Stop 5 - Train to Nippori: A two-stop ride on the JR line into an entirely different Tokyo. Train fare included.
Stop 6 - Yanaka Ginza: A three-hundred-meter shopping street lined with family-run businesses that survived both 1923 and 1945. Menchi-katsu from a locally famous butcher shop, and cat-tail-shaped doughnuts from a shop that has been making them for decades.
Stop 7 - Japanese Chestnut Soft Serve: Japanese chestnut Mont Blanc soft serve, piped into fine strands—the best sweet treat in the neighborhood, and where we conclude our tour, looking down over the historic shopping street.
Stop 2 - Menchi-katsu and Korokke, Ameya-Yokocho: A butcher shop's minced beef cutlet and a crispy potato croquette, both fried to order and handed to you in paper wrappers. Your guide will explain why Japanese butcher shops sell fried foods.
Stop 3 - Ameyoko Market Stroll: Dried persimmons, roasted green tea, matcha, skewered pineapple slices, and four hundred stalls of controlled chaos beneath the Yamanote Line, along with an introduction from your guide to the market's post-war origins.
Stop 4 - Standing Bar and Skewers: A brief stop at a counter where you eat standing up—grilled skewers and a small glass of beer, sake, or tea, accompanied by an explanation of standing-bar etiquette.
Stop 5 - Train to Nippori: A two-stop ride on the JR line into an entirely different Tokyo. Train fare included.
Stop 6 - Yanaka Ginza: A three-hundred-meter shopping street lined with family-run businesses that survived both 1923 and 1945. Menchi-katsu from a locally famous butcher shop, and cat-tail-shaped doughnuts from a shop that has been making them for decades.
Stop 7 - Japanese Chestnut Soft Serve: Japanese chestnut Mont Blanc soft serve, piped into fine strands—the best sweet treat in the neighborhood, and where we conclude our tour, looking down over the historic shopping street.
Tour price includes
• English-speaking local food guide for a small group (maximum 10 guests)
• All 7 food and drink tastings listed in the itinerary
• One drink at a standing bar (beer, sake, or soft drink) and one dessert
• JR train ticket between Ueno and Nippori
• Bottled water and wet wipes throughout the tour
• All taxes and service fees
• All 7 food and drink tastings listed in the itinerary
• One drink at a standing bar (beer, sake, or soft drink) and one dessert
• JR train ticket between Ueno and Nippori
• Bottled water and wet wipes throughout the tour
• All taxes and service fees
Tour price excludes
• Hotel pick-up and drop-off (meeting point is three minutes from JR Ueno)
• Additional alcoholic beverages beyond the one included
• Personal travel insurance
• Gratuities (tipping is not customary in Japan)
• Any purchases made in the markets
• Additional alcoholic beverages beyond the one included
• Personal travel insurance
• Gratuities (tipping is not customary in Japan)
• Any purchases made in the markets
Cancellation policy
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the tour start time for a full refund. Cancellations within 24 hours are non-refundable. The tour runs rain or shine — Ameyoko is entirely under the railway arches and Yanaka Ginza is a covered shopping street. If we cancel, you will receive a full refund or a free transfer to another tour.
Other notes
Departs Thursday through Tuesday at 11:30. We do not operate on Wednesdays, when most shops in Yanaka Ginza — including two of our stops — take their weekly rest day.
The 11:30 start time is chosen so that Ameyoko's stalls are all open and Yanaka Ginza is at its liveliest, between 13:00 and 17:00.
Cash: Some shops in Yanaka accept cash only. The guide covers everything on the tour, but please bring some yen if you wish to buy extra items on your own.
Dietary requirements: Please let us know at least 48 hours in advance. This is the most flexible of our Tokyo tours — vegetarian diets are truly easy to accommodate, and we can map out a seafood-free or pork-free route while keeping the walk seamless.
Accessibility: Ameyoko is flat but extremely crowded and narrow. Yanaka Ginza ends with a short flight of stairs known as Yuyake Dandan, which we can detour around. Please let us know in advance if anyone in your party uses a wheelchair, and we will adjust the route.
Alcohol is optional throughout the tour; the legal drinking age at standing bar stops is 20 in Japan, and younger guests will be served tea or soft drinks.
The 11:30 start time is chosen so that Ameyoko's stalls are all open and Yanaka Ginza is at its liveliest, between 13:00 and 17:00.
Cash: Some shops in Yanaka accept cash only. The guide covers everything on the tour, but please bring some yen if you wish to buy extra items on your own.
Dietary requirements: Please let us know at least 48 hours in advance. This is the most flexible of our Tokyo tours — vegetarian diets are truly easy to accommodate, and we can map out a seafood-free or pork-free route while keeping the walk seamless.
Accessibility: Ameyoko is flat but extremely crowded and narrow. Yanaka Ginza ends with a short flight of stairs known as Yuyake Dandan, which we can detour around. Please let us know in advance if anyone in your party uses a wheelchair, and we will adjust the route.
Alcohol is optional throughout the tour; the legal drinking age at standing bar stops is 20 in Japan, and younger guests will be served tea or soft drinks.
Detailed price list
| Guest type | Price |
|---|---|
| Adults | $85 |
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