Rest over red bean desserts at an old parlor
A kanmidokoro is a traditional sweets cafe where you sit down to desserts made with sweet red bean paste, such as anmitsu, jelly cubes and fruit with syrup, and zenzai, a warm sweet bean soup with rice cake. These long-running ones sit in Tokyo's sightseeing areas, such as Asakusa, Ueno and Shibamata, so you can rest your feet between sights. Many close one or two days a week, so check before you go.
A sweets cafe near Senso-ji in Asakusa, known for awa zenzai, a warm, soft cake of millet under thick, smooth bean paste. It also serves anmitsu, so it is an easy break between the temple and the shops. It closes on two Wednesdays a month, so check its notices first.
A sweets cafe in an old wooden house in Kanda that came through the wartime fires, open here since 1930. Its specialty is age-manju, a bean-paste bun fried until the outside is crisp, and in the colder months awa zenzai, warm millet cake under bean paste. It is closed on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays.
A busy anmitsu shop by the Shinobazu exit of Ueno Station, handy after Ueno Park and its museums. The main shop alone serves a few extra items, such as ozoni, a soup with rice cake, and red bean rice, and it stays open into the evening, so it works as the last stop of the day.
The main shop of a confectioner known for imo-yokan, a firm bar of sweet potato, with a tea room on the upper floors. It calls itself the birthplace of mitsumame, a bowl of jelly cubes, beans and fruit with syrup. It is a short walk from Senso-ji and open every day.
An old dango shop on the lane to Taishakuten temple in Shibamata, selling kusa-dango, rice dumplings colored green with mugwort, a wild herb. Across the lane is its sit-down cafe, where you can rest with dumplings, kuzumochi or a bowl of oden. Shibamata is about half an hour by train from Ueno.
Another kusa-dango shop on the same lane, with seats on two floors for dumplings or a light meal. Try one here and one at Takagiya to compare. It takes credit cards, and it closes on Mondays and some Fridays, so check its notices first.