17 Best Shopping in Asakusa, Tokyo

This elegant store specializing in handcrafted knives and kitchen utensils was first opened in 1908 in Asakusa's Kappabashi ("kitchen town"). It's now split into two neighboring buildings, one selling more than 80 varieties of knives made by leading makers around Japan, the other focusing on high-grade items like Nambu cast ironware. Allow extra time to have your knives engraved with Japanese symbols or your name at no extra cost.

“Omote” means “face” or “mask,” and this chic little boutique on the old-fashioned Kirakira Tachibana shopping street near Tokyo Skytree stocks every variety imaginable. The selection includes Japanese-style clown masks, Venetian masks, contemporary Japanese masks, and masks from many periods and regions in Japan, and across many budgets. A perfect resource for unique gifts.

If you want to equip yourself for the neighborhood's annual Sanja Festival in May, this is the place to come for traditional costumes. Best buys here are sashiko hanten, which are thick, woven firemen's jackets; and happi coats, cotton tunics printed in bright colors with Japanese characters. Some items are available in children's sizes.

Ganso is one of several shops on Kappabashi-dori specializing in sanpuru, the replicas of food and drinks seen in many restaurant window displays. As well as realistic fake beers and plates of noodles, they also sell sushi-shaped trinkets. Or you could stop by for one of their afternoon workshops (¥2,500 per person) to make your own fake tempura.

This is the last place in Tokyo to carry government-approved skin cleanser made from powdered nightingale droppings. Ladies of the Edo period—especially the geisha—swore by the cleanser. These days this 300-year-old-plus cosmetics shop sells little of the nightingale powder, but its theatrical makeup for Kabuki actors, geisha, and traditional weddings—as well as unique items like seaweed shampoo, camellia oil, and handcrafted combs and cosmetic brushes—makes it a worthy addition to your Asakusa shopping itinerary.

This small, cluttered souvenir shop in the Nishi-Sando arcade carries antique swords and reproductions and has some English-speaking salesclerks.

The brightly colored bulk packages of rice crackers, shrimp-flavored chips, and other Japanese snacks sold here make offbeat gifts.

Bamboo is the name of the game here, and a plethora of goods range from baskets to display stands made of the resilient, natural material.

This perennial tourist favorite manufactures the plastic food that's displayed outside almost every Tokyo restaurant. Ersatz sushi, noodles, and even beer cost just a few thousand yen. You can buy tiny plastic key holders and earrings, or splurge on a whole Pacific lobster, perfect in coloration and detail down to the tiniest spines on its legs.

This long-standing doll emporium by Asakusabashi Station specializes in hina dolls, or emperor and empress sets in extravagant Heian-era clothing. Some families with young girls display these every year for one month until March 2, Girls' Day. Asakusabashi is one stop west of Ryogoku on the JR Chuo and Sobu lines or two stops south of Asakusa on the Asakusa subway line.

Although many of the shops have moved from selling traditional crafts to cheap knickknacks (often not made in Japan), it is worth passing down on your way to Senso-ji for the atmosphere. It is just as lively as it was when it was established in the Edo period, although now shops sells cheap sushi key chains and T-shirts alongside traditional hairpieces and silk screens. The entrance is marked by the giant red lantern at the Kaminari-mon, and ends at the grounds of the Senso-ji Complex.

Kimono and yukata (cotton kimono) fabrics, traditional accessories, swords, and festival costumes at very reasonable prices are all for sale at this Asakusa arcade. It runs east of the area's movie theaters, between Roku-ku and the Senso-ji Complex.

The selection of lacquerware, ceramics, and antiques sold at this Kappabashi shop is modest, but Soi displays the items in a minimalist setting of stone walls and wooden floor planks, with up-tempo jazz in the background.

Master textile creator Keiji Kawakami is an expert on the hundreds of traditional towel motifs that have come down from the Edo period: geometric patterns, plants and animals, and scenes from Kabuki plays and festivals. His cotton tenugui (pronounced “teh-noo-goo-ee”) hand towels are collector's items, often framed instead of used as towels. When Kawakami feels he has made enough of one pattern of his own design, he destroys the stencil. The shop is near the corner of Dembo-in Dori, on the street that runs parallel behind Naka-mise dori.

Come here to buy some of Tokyo's most famous souvenirs: kaminari okoshi (thunder crackers), made of rice, millet, sugar, and beans. The shop is on the west side of Asakusa's Thunder God Gate, the Kaminari-mon entrance to Senso-ji, and you can watch as they make them in front of you.

This shop's remarkable selection of high-quality cutlery for professionals is designed for every imaginable use, as the art of food presentation in Japan requires a great variety of cutting implements. The best of these carry the Traditional Craft Association seal: hand-forged tools of tempered blue steel, set in handles banded with deer horn to keep the wood from splitting. Be prepared to pay a premium for these items. A cleaver just for slicing soba can cost as much as ¥50,000.