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Welcome to Ameyoko market here in Okachimachi in central Tokyo
This place is known for having some really big discounts and it's known for having some of the best street food in the city
Ameyoko market is about four hundred meters long located along the Yamanote line train tracks between Wano and Okatchimachi station
You can see that it is lined with loads of shop stalls
And no doors meaning that you can quickly communicate with the vendors and it also gets loud as they try to sell to people passing by
Now let's get some Street food!
This place is pretty amazing and quite famous
They have dozens of different kinds of kisendon's
Kisendon is a bowl filled with different kinds of seafood on it this one is the number one most famous one here
It's called the Tokymoridon so let's go in and try it
This is an amazing Kisendon, it's got a little bit of everything you see here maguro, tuna, salmon
Squid fish eggs, ikura and negitoro which is minced up
Maguro with leeks inside of it. It's really good
And the wasabi right here, which you mix in with some soy sauce and pour on top of it
It's an incredible meal for just seven dollars and it's one of the discounts that you can find here
Ameyoko market now, let's give this thing a try
kisendon is basically a sushi salad
Seafood on rice all the tastes come together in one Bowl instead of individually like sushi. It's really good!
This is a steep discount compared to the skigi market
Not far away is a takoyaki stand these grilled octopus balls or dumplings are a favorite snack
japan's ultimate street food!
This is one of the more famous takoyaki places because of the size and the price you can get four
Massive takoyaki's for just 200 yen
That's less than $2!
You can get two for another hundred yen up to eight in a trey
The shop makes them pretty fast and there's almost always a line
There's also another attraction to this place. You can put on your own toppings
katsuabushi fish flakes, seaweed, sauce and
Japanese mayonnaise
You also get a very generous piece of octopus
That's a mark of good takoyaki when the octopus inside is this big, you know, you're getting a really amazing value
But there's something that you have to remember
Don't eat these hot!!!
Let it cool for a couple of minutes and you'll enjoy them a lot more
Now let's look at what makes Ameyoko market unique... it starts with its past
The market was established after World War Two along the train line to weno as a black market for restricted or highly controlled goods
It started as one Street but now is spread to both sides of the tracks
The retro signs don't seem to have changed much over the decades
Merchants can yell out deals and attract people to stalls with deeply discounted products
At first it was sugary goods. That were very expensive during the US occupation
ame in Japanese means candy and this is one of the meanings of the name
Ameyoko but ame also comes from America meaning the goods often came from the US like sunglasses,
Chocolate, jewelry, Zippo lighters you can still see them sold here today
because nearby wano is a gateway to the city for people from Tohoku a lot of seafood from the north made its way here in the 1950s
Gradually, the market has changed with ethnic foods from abroad and even chaine shops
But the street will never lose its identity as a lively market with face-to-face communication between merchants and customers on the street
After dark the street shifts to restaurants more ethnic food on the menu that Japanese fare
Shopping in the summer can be tough. It's hot out there and the perfect street food to cool you down is a kakigori
They can be more complex than just ice with flavoring
That's awesome
So this is kakigori, this is an oji macha
Kyoto flavored kakigori you can see the green tea the onco the red bean paste they put in some milk in in there
So I get to kind of like a little bit of an ice cream consistency to it
That's really good the way that this cup is made is that as it melt and it melts super fast
you could put some of the
Green tea water or milk into this part of it and actually drink it
So it's kind of like the best of both worlds it's not just the kakigori
It's like a drink as well and that's pretty neat
On to more food, this is a new one originally from Korea this chain of deep-fried cheese is booming here in Ameyoko
None of the flavors made any sense to me deep-fried cheese, coconut, sugar, sweet spicy sauce
Check it out and they got all of these condiments that you can put on it hot. Chili, honey mustard cheddar cheese
What can the crowds be wrong? It's gotta be good
All right Let's try this!
This is really good
Crunchy oily cheesy tangy sweet. It's a universe of flavors and really fun to eat
Fruit stands here found a way to sell more fruit cut it up and put a stick through it
It's hard to pass up fresh melon on a stick for ¥100
The options are seasonal and it's the healthiest Street food here. Don't forget your vitamins and fiber
A unique combination can be found at this seafood stand Japanese sake and oysters
The shop had sake from many different areas, I got the feeling that they have a lot of regular customers after dark
I've never had oysters and sake before so this is gonna be a pretty interesting mix
But you know sake can go with just about anything even an oyster
This is one shot of sake dasai 50 and an oyster and he put a little bit of lemon on it
So he said eat it as it is. So let's give this a try first the sake
This is so good. It's one of the most sophisticated Street food combos I've ever eaten in Japan
Ameyoko's reputation as a seafood hub from Tohoku coupled with the region's love for good sake
Oh, man
What a great combination you have the oyster. You have the Sake you're in a beautiful market like this and that's like the ultimate
Part of the Ameyoko street food experience. There's such a wide diversity of food
you have takoyaki you have Kisendon you have fruits and you have
Seafood like this right on the street
Which is an amazing adventure but if you're coming to Ameyoko there's one more thing that you got to do when you come here
One of the most famous places on the street is this stand with a pretty sweet history
For the last 35 years. They've been selling discounted sweets for ¥1,000 per bag
Valued at more than twice that and they make it a lot of fun
The shop usually draws a big crowd at peak times to watch just how much stuff you can get for ¥1000 yen or about $10
Thank you
Welcome to Tokyo. And this is the last thing that you have to do when you come to Ameyoko local market
Do not miss this shop. It's been here selling chocolate for over 35 years
A long history and it's just so much fun
So there you have it. There's way more to see and eat here if you have the heart and stomach of an adventurer
Ameyoko is an authentic
Look at Tokyo's modern history where neighborhood is proud of its style and past and that's why I love it. People are friendly here!
And the food is both good and cheap
Always come hungry to Ameyoko