【4K】Japan Walk – Tokyo ,Asagaya ,阿佐ヶ谷,February 2021,#Japan #Tokyo #Asagaya 阿佐ヶ谷

【4K】Japan Walk – Tokyo ,Asagaya ,阿佐ヶ谷,February 2021,#Japan #Tokyo #Asagaya 阿佐ヶ谷

【4K】Japan Walk – Tokyo ,Asagaya ,阿佐ヶ谷,February 2021,#Japan #Tokyo #Asagaya 阿佐ヶ谷
Asagaya (阿佐ヶ谷) is a residential area of Tokyo located in Suginami ward (one of the 23 wards or boroughs of Tokyo) west of Shinjuku. Main access to Asagaya is via the Chūō-Sōbu Line, 12 minutes by train from Shinjuku station
A shotengai (商店街) — which translates into English simply as “Shopping Street” — tend to be among the best walking environments in Tokyo. Better shotengai exclude vehicular traffic entirely, are covered to protect their occupants from the sun and rain, and provide a convenient and comfortable walk from a rail station into an adjacent neighborhood.

Asagaya Pearl Center (阿佐谷パールセンター商店街).

People who live in Tokyo likely are familiar with Asagaya Pearl mostly because of its festivals. In addition to the more recently added annual festivals celebrating Jazz and Halloween, for example; Asagaya Pearl has hosted a popular Tanabata (たなばた) — Star Festival — each summer since 1945. However, at the time we first wrote this piece, Asagaya Pearl had only three reviews on the world’s search engine — each in Japanese — and it was nowhere to be found on the big tourist advisory sites. It receives little attention from overseas tourists and feels very much like, well, finding a hidden… pearl.

Although the shopping street itself has been around for hundreds of years, Asagaya Pearl received its current brand in 1962 (Showa 37) as well as its beautiful, architecturally distinctive glass roof inspired by the ridges of a pearl oyster shell. In addition to its festival programming and its attractive ceiling, the shotengai provides almost seamless connectivity to JR Asagaya Station (阿佐ヶ谷駅) and a lively mix of vibrant community retail.

We haven’t seen every shotengai in Tokyo, but Asagaya Pearl very well could be the best in the city. Asagaya Pearl already covers nearly all of the walk from JR Asagaya Station toward the Minami-asagaya Metro Station (南阿佐ケ谷駅), and with a bit of expansion of the covered archway and an additional metro entrance on the West end of Minami-asagaya, it practically could provide the perfect walk between these two stations.

A full list of merchants is available in Japanese, but Asagaya Pearl packs at least a couple hundred stores along its 600 meter (0.4 mile) covered street. Shops range from day-to-day needs like grocery stores, produce vendors, and fish shops to specialty merchants selling clothes, handbags, eyeglasses, tea, and more. It is all targeted to the needs of the local middle-class community, but an insightful visitor likely could find something interesting to buy, too.

Places to eat within Asagaya Pearl range from international fast food chains and local grab-and-go street food to proper sit-down cafes and restaurants. Among the restaurants, three of the most popular with locals are the Seiya (せい家) chain for cheap ramen noodles, Mitoya (ミート屋) for an inexpensive Japanese take on Italian, and Inageya (稲毛屋) for Unagi (freshwater eel). Because Asagaya is such a nice stroll, though; it’s a comfortable place to take your time and find your own favorites, as well.

Below, we’ve mapped out the quick path from Asagaya JR Station to Asagaya Pearl in addition to an optional departure point on the Tokyo Metro.
https://travelgasm.com/tokyo-japan/asagaya-pearl-center-shopping-street-shotengai-minami-asagaya-tokyo-japan.html