{"id":432,"date":"2026-08-30T20:35:56","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T20:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thejapanpro.com\/blog\/?p=432"},"modified":"2026-10-21T11:20:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T11:20:48","slug":"yanaka-ginza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thejapanpro.com\/blog\/ja\/yanaka-ginza\/","title":{"rendered":"Yanaka Ginza 2026: A One-Day Walk Through Yanaka, Sendagi and Nezu"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yanaka Ginza is a 170-metre shopping street of about 70 small family shops in northeast Tokyo, five minutes’ walk from Nippori Station. The air raids of the Second World War missed this corner of the old city, and later redevelopment never reached it, so you still buy croquettes from a butcher who sells to the neighbours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This guide turns the street into a full day across Yanaka, Sendagi and Nezu, the area locals call Yanesen. It is a timed walking route from Nippori to Ueno with every stop on the way: a 17th-century bronze Buddha, the cemetery where the last shogun lies, a sculptor’s house, the cat shops, a paper shop from 1864 and one of Tokyo’s finest shrines. Every opening time and price was checked between 19 and 21 October 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n

170 m<\/p>

Length of Yanaka Ginza<\/p><\/div>

About 70<\/p>

Shops on the street<\/p><\/div>

\u00a5500<\/p>

Asakura Museum entry<\/p><\/div>

1706<\/p>

Nezu Shrine buildings<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

\"The
Nippori Station’s west exit: the walk starts here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Is Yanaka Ginza worth visiting?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Yes, if you want ordinary Tokyo rather than another landmark. It is a working street, it costs nothing to walk, and three hours covers the core of it. Add Nezu and Sendagi and it becomes one of the best low-cost days in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do not expect \u6d45\u8349<\/a>. There are no big temples to queue for and no souvenir arcades. The pleasure is in the small things: fried food eaten standing, wooden houses, quiet temple lanes and a lot of cats, most of them made of ceramic. If you like this kind of neighbourhood, our Tokyo hidden gems<\/a> list has more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you get to Yanaka Ginza, and which station should you use?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Three stations serve the area. Start at Nippori and finish at Nezu or Ueno, and you never walk the same street twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u6700\u5bc4\u308a\u99c5<\/th>Lines<\/th>Use it for<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Nippori<\/td>JR Yamanote, Keihin-Tohoku and Joban; Keisei (incl. Skyliner); Nippori-Toneri Liner<\/td>Tennoji, Yanaka Cemetery, Asakura Museum, the top of the shopping street<\/td><\/tr>
Sendagi<\/td>Tokyo Metro Chiyoda<\/td>The bottom of the shopping street; Isetatsu (Dangozaka exit)<\/td><\/tr>
Nezu<\/td>Tokyo Metro Chiyoda<\/td>Nezu Shrine, Kamachiku, Hantei<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nippori is about 20 minutes from Shinjuku and 30 minutes from Shibuya<\/a> on the Yamanote Line. Take the west exit. Yanaka Cemetery is a five- to six-minute walk from there, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flying into Narita? The Keisei Skyliner stops at Nippori before Ueno. An adult ticket from the airport costs \u00a51,280 fare plus a \u00a51,300 Skyliner charge, so \u00a52,580 in total (\u00a51,267 fare by IC card), per Keisei<\/a>. Drop your bags at the hotel and you can be on this walk the same afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Yanaka walking route at a glance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is the full-day version, starting at 10:00. It is all on foot, with plenty of stops. The times assume an easy pace and a long grazing lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time<\/th>Stop<\/th>Area<\/th>Cost<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
10:00<\/td>Nippori west exit<\/td>Nippori<\/td>\u2013<\/td><\/tr>
10:05<\/td>Tennoji and the Genroku Buddha<\/td>Yanaka<\/td>\u7121\u6599<\/td><\/tr>
10:25<\/td>Yanaka Cemetery<\/td>Yanaka<\/td>\u7121\u6599<\/td><\/tr>
11:10<\/td>Asakura Museum of Sculpture<\/td>Yanaka<\/td>\u00a5500<\/td><\/tr>
12:10<\/td>Yuyake Dandan and the shopping street (lunch)<\/td>Yanaka<\/td>\u00a51,000\u2013\u00a52,000<\/td><\/tr>
13:10<\/td>Cat shops: Yanakado and Cafe Nekoemon<\/td>Yanaka<\/td>Free to browse<\/td><\/tr>
13:40<\/td>Isetatsu paper shop<\/td>Sendagi<\/td>Free to browse<\/td><\/tr>
14:10<\/td>Nezu Shrine<\/td>Nezu<\/td>\u7121\u6599<\/td><\/tr>
15:00<\/td>Kamachiku udon, or a snack<\/td>Nezu<\/td>From about \u00a51,000<\/td><\/tr>
16:00<\/td>SCAI THE BATHHOUSE and Kayaba Coffee<\/td>Yanaka 6-chome<\/td>Coffee<\/td><\/tr>
17:00<\/td>\u4e0a\u91ce\u6069\u8cdc\u516c\u5712<\/td>Ueno<\/td>\u7121\u6599<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Short on time? The classic three-hour version skips the museum, Sendagi and Nezu: Nippori, Tennoji, the cemetery, the shopping street, the cat shops and Kayaba Coffee, then Ueno Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10:05 \u2013 Tennoji: why is there a Buddha outdoors?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Leave Nippori by the west exit and Tennoji is straight ahead. It is quiet, green and almost always empty. Its main sight is the Genroku Buddha, a seated bronze Shaka Buddha cast in 1690 by Ota Kyuemon of Kanda. It is 296 cm tall and sits under the trees rather than inside a hall, per Tabi-Mag<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The temple has had several lives. It began as a Nichiren temple called Kannoji, was converted to the Tendai school under the shogunate, and took the name Tennoji in 1833. In the Edo period it was famous for its tomikuji lottery, one of the three big lotteries of Edo, according to Kotobank<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Seated
The Genroku Buddha at Tennoji, cast in 1690.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

10:25 \u2013 Yanaka Cemetery: what should you look for?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Walk south from Tennoji and the temple grounds open into Yanaka Cemetery. It is more park than graveyard: wide avenues, cherry trees along the central path, and stone markers going back to the Edo period. Locals walk dogs and cut through it on the way to the station, so you are not intruding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cemetery opened on 1 September 1874 and covers about 10 hectares (102,537 m\u00b2), per the Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association<\/a>. Painters, writers and actors are buried here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n