Yanaka

The Tokyo that survived, cemetery walks and all

Yanaka escaped both the 1923 earthquake fires and the wartime bombing, so it kept the low wooden streetscape the rest of Tokyo lost. The cemetery sounds like an odd recommendation until you walk it: cherry-lined paths, cats sunning on gravestones, total quiet. Pair it with the Yanaka Ginza shopping street and you have the best slow afternoon in the city.

Yanaka survived both the 1923 earthquake and the 1945 firebombing, which makes it the closest thing Tokyo has to a time capsule: temple-lined lanes, wooden houses, family shops in their third or fourth generation, and a famous population of street cats. Together with neighbouring Nezu and Sendagi it forms the area locals call Yanesen, and it rewards the slowest walking pace you can manage.

Start at Nippori station, drift down the Yuyake Dandan steps into Yanaka Ginza for croquettes and senbei, then wander south through the cemetery's cherry-lined avenue toward Nezu Shrine and its tunnel of vermilion torii. Almost everything closes by early evening; this is a daylight neighbourhood, best in soft afternoon light.