Asakusa street snacks: Nakamise & the quiet back lanes

Nakamise — the lane running from the Kaminarimon gate to Sensoji temple — is one of Japan's oldest shopping streets and one of Tokyo's most crowded places. Carried along by the crowd, most visitors buy whatever the first stall holds out, eat it, keep walking, and miss everything else.

These two and a half hours split in two. The first half stays on Nakamise but chooses carefully: ningyoyaki, red-bean cakes pressed in moulds and only right while hot; senbei crackers grilled over charcoal and fanned by hand in front of you; kibi dango, soft and dusted in soybean flour, dating to when the temple was still a pilgrimage stop. The second half turns off the main axis into the back lanes, where older shops still sell to the neighbourhood: hand-pounded mochi, tempura fried in batches, dense matcha ice cream.

Threaded through it is Asakusa's own story — the district was flattened by bombing in 1945 and rebuilt almost exactly as it had been, so what you're walking through is a very carefully kept copy rather than the original. Knowing that changes how the street looks. It's a walking tour, and it works well with children.