Yanaka, the small district in northeast Tokyo that has, by accident of geography and by a series of preservation choices, retained the texture that the broader Tokyo redevelopment cycles have systematically removed elsewhere, is the kind of neighbourhood that rewards three days of slow walking more than the major sights of the city reward five.

The basic geography

The neighbourhood is bounded on three sides by larger districts whose redevelopment patterns have been more aggressive. Yanaka itself sits across a low set of streets that cluster around the historic Yanaka Ginza shopping street and the cemeteries that have, over centuries, kept the area from being absorbed into the more aggressive redevelopment patterns.

The walking

The walking pattern that the neighbourhood rewards is one of repeated short loops with frequent pauses for tea, coffee, sweets, or simply standing in front of small shops watching the regular rhythms of the place. The objective is not to see specific sights; it is to absorb the texture of how a neighbourhood operates that has not, like much of central Tokyo, been redeveloped into smooth efficiency.

The food

The food in Yanaka does not feature in the major guidebooks. That is the point. Several of the small restaurants on the Ginza street have been operating under the same families for two or three generations; their menus are unfussy and their prices are reasonable. The pastries from the small Western-style bakeries are unexpectedly good.

The cemeteries

The Yanaka cemeteries are the part of the neighbourhood that visitors should approach with appropriate care. They are working cemeteries; they are also, in cherry blossom season, one of the city's quieter places to see the blossoms.

The practical advice

The practical advice is to stay in or near Yanaka rather than visiting from elsewhere. A small ryokan or a modest hotel within the neighbourhood produces a different experience from the experience produced by visiting in from the central tourist hotels. The accommodations are not luxurious but they are appropriate; the price is consistent with the neighbourhood's broader scale.