Snack your way along an old shopping street
A shotengai is a shopping street of small family-run shops, and many of them sell hot snacks one piece at a time over the counter. Walk from shop to shop for croquettes, taiyaki, fish-shaped cakes filled with sweet bean paste, and dango, chewy rice dumplings, and compare what each street is known for. Bring cash, and on busy streets eat beside the shop rather than while walking.
A narrow lane of about 60 small shops at the foot of a stone stairway, in an old neighborhood of low houses and temples. Snack on menchi-katsu, a fried cutlet of minced meat, and look for the cat figures and cat-themed shops along the way. It is about 5 minutes on foot from Nippori Station on the Yamanote Line, and many shops close in the early evening.
Often called Tokyo's longest shopping street, it runs about 1.3 km with around 400 shops, and some 20 of them each make their own croquettes. Buy one at a time and compare as you walk. Togoshi-ginza Station, a few minutes from Gotanda, is right on the street.
Nicknamed "Grandma's Harajuku" after Tokyo's youth fashion district, this is where older Tokyoites shop for clothes, health goods and old-style snacks. Try shio-daifuku, a soft rice cake with sweet bean paste and a pinch of salt, and stop at Togenuki Jizo, a temple where people wipe a statue with a cloth where their own body aches. It is a short walk from Sugamo Station on the Yamanote Line.
A short street of long-running shops by Ningyocho Station, named after amazake, a warm, sweet rice drink once sold here. Buy taiyaki, fish-shaped cakes filled with sweet bean paste, at Yanagiya, and ningyo-yaki, small cakes shaped like lucky gods, at Itakuraya. Yanagiya often has a line, so go early.
A busy street of more than 300 shops running from Kamakura Station toward Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, the city's main shrine. Pick up sweets such as Kamakura Hangetsu, crisp half-moon wafers with a sweet filling, on the way; the town asks you not to eat while walking in crowds, so finish beside the shop and hand your trash back. Kamakura is about an hour from Tokyo by train.
A stone-paved lane of about 30 candy and sweet shops in Kawagoe, a town of old merchant houses often called "Little Edo", after Tokyo's old name. The shops sell dagashi, cheap old-fashioned sweets, and snacks made from the local sweet potatoes. Eat in the marked spots rather than in the lane; Kawagoe is about 30 minutes from Ikebukuro by train.