Japan · Kantō
Tōkyō is a city of specialists. The ramen master who has served one bowl for forty years. The bookseller who stocks only architecture. The kissaten owner who plays jazz records from eleven to three and nothing after. This guide follows that logic: one neighbourhood at a time, one recommendation per category you won't find in the chain hotel concierge book.
6 places
A Japanese-Italian kissaten in Shibuya — the pasta is exceptional, the coffee ritual is better.
Shibuya
Shibuya-ku, 150-0042
Hiroyasu Kayama grows his botanicals on a farm in Saitama and distils them table-side. Reserve in advance.
Shinjuku
Shinjuku 1-13-7, 1F
A narrow single-room bookshop in Nakameguro selling only titles the owner personally believes in.
Nakameguro
1-14-11 Aobadai, Meguro
Founded in 1705, with a vermilion torii tunnel that most tourists miss in favour of Fushimi Inari.
Yanesen
1-28-9 Nezu, Bunkyo-ku
The shōtengai that survived the war and the bubble — Tokyo's most intact old-town shopping street.
Yanesen
Yanaka, Taitō-ku
A 1969 hotel sensitively updated by Intentionallies — the Gallery & Shop DO on the ground floor is worth the trip alone.
Meguro
1-3-18 Chūō-chō, Meguro-ku