A district of used bookshops and curry houses
Jimbocho, a few subway stops from Tokyo Station, has about 130 used bookshops along one main street, Yasukuni-dori. Browse shelves of art books, old maps and prints or English paperbacks, then take your find to one of the long-running curry houses and turn its pages over lunch, as locals have done for decades. Many bookshops close on Sundays and public holidays, so go on a weekday or a Saturday.
Along Yasukuni-dori, bookshop after bookshop stands shoulder to shoulder, many with carts of cheap books out front and many devoted to one subject: art, Western-language books, cookbooks, film or old maps. The shops on the south side of the street face north, so the sun never fades the books in their windows. You can browse freely without asking staff, even if you read no Japanese.
One of the oldest bookshops on the street, selling Western-language books alongside wahon, old Japanese books bound by hand with thread. Even if you buy nothing, the rows of hand-bound volumes give a sense of how books looked before modern printing. It is closed on Sundays and public holidays.
A curry house serving European-style curry, a rich, slow-cooked sauce made with butter and dairy, closer to a French stew than to Indian curry. It is on the second floor of a building full of bookshops, and the entrance is at the back, so walk around the building to find it. Expect a line at lunchtime.
A curry house founded in 1924, known for Sumatra curry, a dark, almost black curry based on a recipe brought back from Southeast Asia and adjusted to Japanese tastes. It is a quick, simple meal that has fed students and book browsers for a century. It is closed on Sundays.