Taito

Taito holds both Asakusa and Ueno, and has among the most entries on this site. Businesses past their first century are unremarkable here; some are past their second. Dishes that began in Edo — dojo hotpot, sukiyaki, tempura, gyunabe — survive as specialist houses devoted to one thing each.

Many old establishments means many rules. Some ask you to remove your shoes and sit on the boards, some take your order at the door, some have a moment when you must not touch the pot — and each differs. It is why travellers get caught out here more than anywhere. That said, these places are used to foreign customers, and asking first is far better than guessing.

Ueno's Ameyoko works differently again. Prices are set at round figures — ¥1,000, ¥2,000 — so haggling over a single item goes nowhere; room to negotiate appears only when you bundle several. And between 28 and 31 December, clothing and shoe shops lend their frontage to fishmongers, so the trade mix of the whole street changes. Visit in that window and it looks like another place entirely.