Tokyo: Sugamo Jizo-dori Shopping Street Food & Culture Tour

Discover the Sugamo Jizodori Street, a theme park where you can enjoy nostalgic Japanese daily life. Feel Japanese traditions and culture by eating snacks in a local shopping street. Visit the famous Kogan-ji Temple, which is crowded with elderly people who wish for longevity and good health.

Located in the northern part of Tokyo, Sugamo is a local town famous for its Jizodori Shopping Street, that stretches more than 1-kilometer-long and is a home to two temples and two shrines, which attract people's worship.

Once called “Grandma's Harajuku,” the Sugamo Jizo-dori Shopping Street is home to all kinds of stores and is always bustling with people of all ages, not only the elderly but also families and young people. The area is lined with long-established stores that have been handed down from generation to generation, such as grocery stores, fish stores, green tea stores, Japanese confectionery stores, toy stores, Soba noodle stores etc., stylish stores such as French chef tart stores, crepe stores, bakeries etc., The area is also lined with multinational stores such as Taiwanese pork bun shops, Korean delicatessen shops, Indian food shops, Chinese food shops etc.

Particularly unique are the locally-oriented stores created in cooperation between the shopping district and a local university. In the past, this shopping district was facing a crisis of disappearing due to a lack of successors. At the time, a local university sent their students as store clerks as part of their coursework, and they learned management skills while helping out at the store. The university has collaborated with three shopping districts to make the shopping districts a “learning place”. Students learn about entrepreneurship at “Gamor Marche,” which sells local specialties, and at “Shigakutei,” a café that also hosts rakugo performances or other shops. At those stores, everything from marketing, product planning, purchasing, sales, customer service, and public relations is done by students.

The university has a department of Buddhism, and in cooperation with temples and the shopping districts, holds a “Buddha's birthday” on April 8 and a “The day of enlightenment” on December 8 , which includes a cute little children's procession and other events.

Visit the famous Kogan-ji Temple, which is crowded with elderly people who wish for longevity and good health. There is a stone statue of the Goddess of Mercy and people believe that by washing their bad parts, they will become healthy.

You may be surprised to see a large Jizo Bosatsu statue enshrined in a temple at the entrance of a shopping street. This is one of 6 Edo Rokujizoson, a guardian deity for travelers built at six entrances and exits between 1708 and 1720. Let's pray for the safety of all travelers!

This tour includes 5-8 local snacks, at the end of the tour, if you are still hungry, you will be introduced to a very special ramen shop (not included in the tour price). Sugamo is also a battleground for ramen.