Kappabashi-dori
Encyclopedia
Kappabashi-dori, also known just as Kappabashi or Kitchen Town, is a street in Tokyo
between Ueno
and Asakusa
which is almost entirely populated with shops supplying the restaurant
trade. These shops sell everything from mass-produced
crockery, restaurant furniture
, oven
s and decorations, through to esoteric items such as the plastic
display food
(sampuru
, derived from English sample) found outside Japanese restaurant
s.
The street is also an off-beat tourist
destination.
The street's name is believed to come from either the kappa (raincoats) of nearby residents which were hang out to dry on the bridge, or from a merchant named Kihachi Kappaya who funded the project to build Shinhorikawa River for water management. However, due to the homophone with the popular mythical creature, Kappa, the group of shops along the street officially adopted kappa as its mascot. Images of the kappa appear on shops along the street and web pages.http://www.kappabashi.or.jp/home/history.html
35.716753°N 139.789151°W
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
between Ueno
Ueno, Tokyo
is a district in Tokyo's Taitō Ward, best known as the home of Ueno Station and Ueno Park. Ueno is also home to some of Tokyo's finest cultural sites, including the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum of Western Art, and the National Science Museum, as well as a major public concert hall...
and Asakusa
Asakusa
is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan, most famous for the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals.- History :...
which is almost entirely populated with shops supplying the restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
trade. These shops sell everything from mass-produced
Mass production
Mass production is the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines...
crockery, restaurant furniture
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
, oven
Oven
An oven is a thermally insulated chamber used for the heating, baking or drying of a substance. It is most commonly used for cooking. Kilns, and furnaces are special-purpose ovens...
s and decorations, through to esoteric items such as the plastic
Plastic
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
display food
Food
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
(sampuru
Fake food in Japan
Fake food samples appear prevalently in the windows and display cases of food-serving establishments throughout Japan. Once made from wax, today they are usually made out of plastic. The plastic models are mostly handmade from vinyl chloride and carefully sculpted to look like the actual dishes...
, derived from English sample) found outside Japanese restaurant
Japanese cuisine
Japanese cuisine has developed over the centuries as a result of many political and social changes throughout Japan. The cuisine eventually changed with the advent of the Medieval age which ushered in a shedding of elitism with the age of shogun rule...
s.
The street is also an off-beat tourist
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
destination.
The street's name is believed to come from either the kappa (raincoats) of nearby residents which were hang out to dry on the bridge, or from a merchant named Kihachi Kappaya who funded the project to build Shinhorikawa River for water management. However, due to the homophone with the popular mythical creature, Kappa, the group of shops along the street officially adopted kappa as its mascot. Images of the kappa appear on shops along the street and web pages.http://www.kappabashi.or.jp/home/history.html
External links
- Official website (in Japanese)
- Kappabashi on Wikitravel
- Visit of the market with many pictures - in English
- Japan-Guide to Kappabashi with more photographs
35.716753°N 139.789151°W