Tokyo Street Food Guide
Only in Japan.
(JOHN) Welcome to Tokyo!
Or a quieter side of Tokyo.
This is Shibamata.
We're back in Tokyo for this episode
and it's all about food!
Shibamata is located just outside the city center
along the Edogawa river.
This is the town area
but we're going to be focussing on one street in particular.
From the train station where I am now
to Shibamata Taishakuten,
a buddhist temple founded in 1629.
This strip is loaded with street food!
Now, I could've chosen other more popular neighborhoods
like Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ginza or Ikebukuro,
but I picked Shibamata because
I live down the street.
And joining me on this report is
Angela An from the YouTube channel internationally ME
(ANGELA) Hi John! (JOHN) How are you today?
(ANGELA) I’m good. How are you? (JOHN) Very well.
So what do you think of this neighborhood?
(ANGELA) It’s really quiet and it has this traditional
feel about Japan to it. Doesn’t it?
(JOHN) Yeah! That’s the one thing I love about Shibamata.
The centre of Tokyo is always changing,
but here, things stay the same.
(ANGELA) Yeah, it does. I can tell.
Let’s go!
(JOHN) Shibamata is a quiet town located 20 to 30 minutes away
from central Tokyo in the north east.
It's like taking a trip back 50 years to Japan's Showa period.
Most shops are still mom & pop run businesses.
(JOHN) Wow! What an incredible street, isn’t it?
(ANGELA) I know, right?
(JOHN) Hungry? (ANGELA) Really hungry!
(JOHN) Let’s get some street food! (ANGELA) Let’s go!
(JOHN) Angela and I split up for a bit with Angela striking first.
(ANGELA) Hello! (SHOPKEEPER) Hello!
(ANGELA) One Dora Ice Cream Sandwich, please. (SHOPKEEPER) Sure!
(JOHN) This is the “Aisu no Dora" or Dora Ice Cream Sandwich.
The shop makes the pankcake ends to the sandwich
fresh throughout the day.
So what has Angela got?
Two pancakes, red bean paste and green tea ice cream.
It’s really just traditional dorayaki — with ice cream.
So how does it taste?
(ANGELA) Mmm!
It’s a really good combination
with the red bean. It's really sweet
and then …
the dorayaki
it tones down the sweetness so it’s really nice.
And it’s great with the ice cream inside for a hot day.
(JOHN) Angela seems quite happy with her first choice.
Sweets before the main course.
I’ll follow suit at the same shop.
Just a couple of coins gets me this.
A fresh roll cake filled with delicious cream.
It’s so soft!
All it takes is one bite, and I'm off to cloud nine.
Here’s the full sized roll cake at this shop.
It really is beautiful.
The cake is only slightly buttery with a little powdered sugar
and toasted caramel on top.
Look at that toasted caramel.
Delicious!
Last bite.
One of these may not be enough,
but we’re only getting started.
Here’s a local senbei, or rice cracker maker, across the street.
Angela approaches like a hungry lion on the hunt.
The owner makes each senbei fresh,
toasting them right at the store front.
There’s a wide variety of flavors
and the price is certainly not going to bankrupt you.
Senbei are coated with soy sauce for saltiness,
sometimes with an ingredient inside, like sesame.
(ANGELA) I’ll take one of these, please.
(JOHN) But Angela and her sweet tooth
go straight for the one coated in sugar for ¥50.
(ANGELA) Wow! Look at this.
So it’s got shoyu base (it's a soy sauce base),
And it’s got sugar coated all over it.
(JOHN) Time for a big bite...
(ANGELA) Mmm!
(JOHN) …and that never ending senbei crunch!
(ANGELA) It’s really crunchy, and…
It’s not too sweet, even though it’s covered with sugar,
because it’s got the shoyu undercoating.
It’s really good!
(JOHN) Ah! But there's more. A lot more!
What’s the difference here?
You’ve got to try them all to find out.
Here’s the normal soy sauce-coated senbei, hot from the grill.
(ANGELA) Ooh!
So, it’s harder than the last one … it’s a lot… um...
crunchier as well.
But it’s really nice because it’s hot … it’s warm.
It tastes really fresh.
(JOHN) I was on my own search-and-destroy mission
with a much softer target locked on.
This shop has a lot on sale, but I go for what’s right in the front.
It says “miso dengaku“.
Hmm. It’s on a stick. That’s a good sign.
They dip it in miso sauce and serve it in a cup
but what’s that on the stick?
Well, it’s konnyaku!
Oh yeah!
Rubbery, but …
what saves it is the miso.
The miso is very sweet
combined with the warm, rubbery consistency
of the konnyaku...
it goes together pretty good!
Even for a carnivore like myself,
I’m quite pleased with the vegetarian options here.
What’s with the non-meat here?
Maybe it’s because of it’s proximity to a famous Buddhist temple?
Meat-eaters, we'll be getting to you at the end.
On to the area’s speciality.
There’s a place just down the street that makes it all fresh
throughout the day.
It’s kusadango!
Green, mugwort grass flavored, mochi balls.
Look at this blob of still steaming mochi
straight from the kitchen.
Mochi is a glutinous sticky and chewy cake
made from pounded rice.
The green color here comes from fresh mugwort.
An aromatic plant called "yomogi" in Japanese.
From kitchen to mouth in seconds.
The mochi blob is so hot that
she has to cool it down with her hands in iced water.
and the kusadango needs to be cooled off a little before serving
with a helping of sweet red bean paste.
The owner Yoshino-san has been making it this way for a long time.
to the delight of locals and tourist.
Here’s a pack of 4 kusadango.
Or one for just ¥52!
Perfect for that 1 to 2-bite happy ending street stroll.
Sticky, but so good.
The mugwort is a little bitter,
but that sweet red bean counters
and makes for a perfect eating experience.
But one bite is not enough.
I like my dango on a stick,
and Kameya across the street promises to fill us up.
There are loads of different flavors of dango here
but we’ll stick to the local speciality.
Served on a stick!
Four kusadando with the red bean (anko) paste
caked on the front.
It’s a work of edible art, and it’s fun to eat.
This one has less mugwort, and it’s sweeter,
but just as good.
The sweet soy sauce and seaweed strips is also one of my favorites here.
Kameya is owned by Iwasaki-san
who’s been working and living here for decades.
I asked her about Shibamata and the kusadango.
(MRS. IWASKI) This store has been in business for nearly 90 years.
Established in the early Showa era.
(JOHN) 90 years! (ANGELA) Amazing!
(MRS. IWASKI) Shibamata seems like a left out Tokyo,
but that makes it all the more interesting.
This place used to be where
rice was grown all over.
Taishakuten was here from very long ago.
People wanted to give offerings to the temple.
In rice patties, along the road
there was a lot of mugwort grass.
There were weeds you can and cannot eat.
Mugwort is one you can eat.
So they harvested the mugwort,
turned the rice into powder,
mix the mugwort,
and back then they added some soy powder
and made the offering to Taishakuten.
But gradually people started liking sweet things
it changed to sweet red bean paste.
People who visited Taishakuten
ate and loved kusadango,
word spread, and that is why
Shibamata became famous for kusadango.
(JOHN) I asked Iwasaki-san what has changed over time
and the impact the Tora-san cinema series has had on the town.
(MRS. IWASKI) Well, on the main street,
all the electric poles have disappeared.
so, as you see, there are no poles,
all cables run underground,
and they widened the street a little.
Once the Tora-san movie started,
many things changed.
and so did the town’s landscape.
when I came here after marriage,
maybe around 50 years ago,
Back then, the Tora-san movie wasn’t famous,
no one really knew about Shibamata
When the Tora-san movie came,
everyone knew about Shibamata.
(JOHN) Shibamata was made famous by a series
of movies starting in 1969
with character Tora-san,
charming people into his familiar world,
which was right here, in Shibamata!
Tora-san had 48 movies released and
holds the Guinness World Record
for the longest-running movie series
starring a single actor.
And you’ll find Tora-san goods and tributes everywhere.
Shibamata has a lot of other attractions.
There’s an old nostalgic toy shop
that sells some pretty unique snacks and gifts.
Taishakuten is a must-see stop at the end of the street.
Shibamata is also right on the beautiful Edogawa
where you can sit and gaze over the greenery.
The old ferry boat still shuttles people
across, like it did generations ago,
for just a couple hundred yen.
Weekend Festival Dance Practice
On the way back to the station,
Angela and I have stopped in for one final snack.
It’s yakitori!
-- and motsunabe.
made from pork and beef tripe.
Some of the best in Tokyo
it always tastes better in local areas.
(JOHN) What a day! (ANGELA) What a day it has been!
(JOHN) I know! We’ve seen so much, and we’ve eaten so much!
(ANGELA) Yeah! I've eaten so much my stomach
is so full right now.
(JOHN) But wait! We have one more meal. (ANGELA) One more.
(JOHN) This is yakitori.
This place has 12 meat items to char-grill.
Unagi is my favorite, but costs the most.
Negima is a classic that almost everyone loves.
It’s grilled when ordered so — try a few!
… and this is motsunabe.
(ANGELA) Yum! What’s inside there?
(JOHN) Um …
The insides of the cow and pig …
(ANGELA) Sounds delicious.
(JOHN) Motsunabe — I really love motsunabe
especially at a place like this,
out in the countryside, because you know it’s fresh.
(ANGELA) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
(JOHN) So what did you think of Shibamata?
(ANGELA) I really enjoyed just eating all types of foods, sweets and savouries
and also seeing the unique shops here, right?
How did you enjoy it?
(JOHN) I love Shibamata because of…
THIS!
At the end here, we’re sitting ...
at a table on the street — right off the street
and it’s so peaceful!
(ANGELA) So peaceful and it’s so nice.
(JOHN) Yeah! This is the perfect street food
especially at the end of a hard day
when you’ve been walking back and forth.
(ANGELA) And it’s really weird to get this kind of... feeling in Tokyo, isn't it?
(JOHN) Yes, it’s very hard to find an atmosphere like this but
Shibamata is one of those places that’s so unique
you can have a relaxing day
and just eat street food.
This Shibamata
Tokyo Street Food Experience
in a relaxing historical area in Tokyo
is a must-stop hop for those who simply
have to try a little of everything!
Itadakimasu! (Bon Apetit!)
Next time I travel to Zentsuji in Kagawa prefecture
on the island of Shikoku
for one of the most well-known and unusual
watermelons in the world --
the SQUARE WATERMELON.
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