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December 14, 2006
Kappabashi - all your kitchen needs and a big giant head
Kappabashi is the area in Tokyo dedicated to kitchen and restaurant supply stores. I always hear of it mentioned in reference to "plastic food", which is sometimes displayed in front of Japanese restaurants. On a side note, when I first came to Japan, this did not seem strange as I could not red any Japanese and a handy visual display was welcome. As I am writing this, I wonder why Japanese people would need plastic food displays.
In any case, it has to come from somewhere and Kappabashi is the place. It is not just plastic food, however, as some of the pictures below show. There are also shops for furnishings, signage, uniforms and kitchen supplies.
So, how do you find Kappabashi? Head West from Asakusa towards Ueno on Asakusa Dori. When you see the giant chef's head on the Niimi Building, you are there.
I spent fifteen minutes walking around after my language school's end of semester outing to Hamarikyu and Asakusa. If I am feeling motivated later, I will post some photos of that, but I probably have a million on the website somewhere already.
In the meantime, these are shops that sell the signboards, giant plastic pigs, red lanterns...and the latter is where you can go when you have lost your appreciation for things that are new. No indication on whether they sell to cats.
