Guides
261 local notes gathered across 74 venues, organised by theme.
Why Tateishi has a drinking order
Tateishi, Katsushika. The order you visit three places in is the local rule.
There are several Mount Fujis inside Tokyo
Man-made Fujis, six to fifteen metres. Many can be climbed only on set days.
The founding year depends on who you ask
1837 or 1843? Why the numbers on old shops should not be taken at face value.
Cash only, or no cash at all — paying in old Tokyo
"Japan runs on cash" is now only half true. The trouble is knowing which half you are walking into.
Three shops, one name — how not to walk into the wrong one in Tokyo
You can follow a name on the map and arrive at a different company entirely.
Things worth knowing before you open the door
Ordering wrong, causing offence with a camera, or arriving after the soup runs out.
Four kissaten in one Jimbocho alley — where you sit decides the afternoon
One alley, four rooms, four kinds of music. Decide first whether you came to read or to listen.
A room where talking is banned, and next door, one that takes requests
Dogenzaka, Shibuya. Two places side by side, with opposite ideas of how to listen.
Walking Tokyo's shopping streets — the day and the hour decide everything
The same street becomes a different place depending on the date. Days ending in four, late December, the afternoon.
Towns that do one thing — sixty antique shops, seven theatres, fifty tonkatsu counters
In Tokyo, certain trades cluster in one neighbourhood. There is always a reason.
Four ways to climb Mount Fuji inside Tokyo
The oldest, the tallest, one open two days a year, one open three — each has its own terms of entry.
Who decided on Tokyo's three great nikomi?
No official body certified it, no association voted. It began with one book, published in 1990.