Shibamata

What to see

Walk from the station past the Tora-san statue and up Taishakuten Sando, the 200-metre approach, to the Nitenmon gate, built in 1896 by the master carpenter Sakata Tomekichi. Shibamata Taishakuten, officially Daikyoji, looks modest from the courtyard, but the outer walls of its main hall are covered in carved wooden panels telling Buddhist stories in astonishing depth. The small fee for the carving gallery also covers Suikei-en, the temple garden viewed from a roofed corridor. It's the best money you'll spend in Shibamata.

Behind the temple, Yamamoto-tei is a 1920s house built for a local businessman, mixing tatami rooms with a Western-style reception room. Its garden has placed near the top of the Journal of Japanese Gardening's ranking for years, and you can sit on the tatami facing it with matcha and a sweet. Next door, the Katsushika Shibamata Tora-san Museum, set into the river embankment, covers the films with sets, props and dioramas, and the Yoji Yamada Museum honours the director. Both close on the third Tuesday of the month, so don't come then. Climb the embankment for the Edo River, then walk down to the Yagiri no Watashi, a hand-rowed ferry to the Chiba bank that leaves when enough passengers have gathered.

Where to eat and drink

The approach is the menu. Kusa dango, rice dumplings made green with mugwort and topped with sweet bean paste, are the Shibamata snack. Takagiya, the shop most tied to the Tora-san films, sells them to take away or to eat at its tables inside. Along the street you'll see senbei shops grilling rice crackers by hand in the window, and long-established restaurants serve eel and other river fish, which is Shibamata's traditional specialty.

For a sit-down break, the matcha set at Yamamoto-tei is served facing the garden, the calmest seat in the neighbourhood. Shibamata is a daytime place. The approach winds down in the late afternoon, so have your lunch and snacks here, and dinner back in Ueno or Asakusa.

Where to stay

Shibamata is a day trip, so base yourself in Ueno, where the Keisei line starts, or Asakusa, whose Asakusa Line runs through to Keisei-Takasago for the change to Shibamata. Keisei-Takasago is also on the Keisei line to Narita Airport, so Shibamata makes an easy stop on a first or last day with your luggage in a station locker. There's little accommodation in Shibamata itself. It suits film fans, travellers who liked Yanaka and want the next step further from the centre, and anyone who wants to see what east Tokyo looked like before the towers.

How to do it in a day

Take the Keisei line from Ueno in the morning, change at Keisei-Takasago, and you'll step out at Shibamata beside the Tora-san and Sakura statues. Walk Taishakuten Sando slowly while the shops open, then give Shibamata Taishakuten an hour, with the carving gallery and the Suikei-en garden. Behind the temple, take matcha facing the garden at Yamamoto-tei, then see the Tora-san Museum next door. Climb the embankment and cross the Edo River on the Yagiri no Watashi, look back at Tokyo from the Chiba bank, and ride back. Return along the approach for a late lunch of eel or kusa dango at Takagiya, buy grilled senbei for the train, and head back to Ueno or Asakusa for the evening.