Kappabashi-dori

Our new flat is located just off Kappabashi-dori (Kappa Bridge street). This street (and surrounding ones) are notable for selling everything you might need to open your new restaurant, from pots big enough to cook small children in, to waiter and sushi chef uniforms, to the plastic food that is on display outside many Japanese restaurants. Apart from this, they also have everything you might need in your own kitchen at home. You want Japanese tea boxes, a Damascus steel chef knife or, say, carp shaped chopstick rests? No problem.


Where the street derives its name from, is unclear. Kappa can mean raincoat, but it’s also the name of a water sprite. The shopkeepers, anyway, have made the water sprite their mascot, and many shops sport some sort of Kappa figure in front of their entrance. The Kappa is something in between a frog and a turtle, is equipped with some special powers and likes to eat children.

One can easily spend an afternoon in the shops around Kappabashi-dori, some are true treasure troves. One shop, for example, was stuffed with tableware from floor to ceiling, one could hardly walk because of all the stacks of dishes on the floor. We were rather sure that the shop owner can have no idea of his inventory and must have nightmares of earthquakes. Entering it was a real adventure!
Since Kappabashi-dori figures as an “off the beaten track” tourist attraction in some guide books, one also find the occasional Western tourists wandering around. And it’s actually a good place for souvenirs. Some shops sell lovely Kagome baskets and cute little things made from bamboo, but also a hand-made tea cup or a tea box decorated with Japanese paper make a good present.

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