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All Japan Tokyo Asakusa Underground Street
AO Edited

Asakusa Underground Street

Stuck in a bygone era, the oldest subterranean shopping street in Japan hides beneath the popular Asakusa district of Tokyo.

Tokyo, Japan

Added By
Fred Cherrygarden
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Asakusa Underground Street.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
Asakusa Underground Street.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
Asakusa Underground Street, Tokyo.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
The inconspicuous entrance.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
Offering access to the subway station.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
A retro cyberpunk world hidden under Asakusa.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
The floor is always wet for some reason.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
The street is also home to Vietnamese and Thai eateries.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
Usually uncrowded, contrasting the bustle above.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
Constantly changing, but not too much.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
The remnant of a bygone era.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
Red lanterns, a symbol of izakaya culture.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
A shop selling used DVDs.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
There’s a few fortune tellers here too.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
Kitsch, retro and atmospheric.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
New Koedo, Asakusa Underground Street.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
Not a typical shopping street.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
  Collector of Experiences / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Asakusa is one of Tokyo’s most popular tourist destinations, known for the iconic Sensō-ji Temple complex and a network of quaint shopping streets leading up to it. Historically, it was also the center of pre-war cultural modernization, home to many of Japan’s firsts, such as the bar, cinema, amusement park and more.

Underneath this bustling district, only a staircase away from the throng of tourists, hides the oldest surviving subterranean shopping street in Japan: the Asakusa Underground Street.

Established in 1955, the Underground Street is connected to the Asakusa metro station, which itself is part of the oldest subway in Asia. From the ground level, on the other hand, the entrances to the Underground Street are rather inconspicuous and hardly noticeable unless you know where to find them.

But once down here, there’s a whole other world frozen in time, stuck in the long-past Shōwa era. Straight out of Blade Runner, bare-naked pipes run amok along the low ceiling like the innards of the city, sensually illuminated here and there by the scarlet izakaya lanterns. The floor is always wet for some reason, reflecting the occasional passers-by on its permanent puddles.

Also ever-present and almost iconic is the smell, a mix of cooking steam and bacteria-infested air with a hint of stale tobacco funk, permeating through the passageway due to its poor ventilation. Distinctive, it simply adds to the offbeat ambiance.

Unaffected by the vogue of the world above, the Underground Street accommodates an array of antiquated businesses. There are vendors laying out modest collections of vintage stamps and pornographic DVDs, a couple of old-fashioned barbershops, and a few psychic parlors as well as authentic Vietnamese and Thai eateries, all blending into the chaos of this murky corridor.

The Asakusa Underground Street keeps its slumbery shops open in its rickety time capsule, even as the world above suffers an era of redevelopment and gentrification. It contrasts and contradicts everything that makes Asakusa popular for tourists, perfect for visitors seeking a kitsch, outdated oasis from the crowd—if just for a minute or two.

Related Tags

Tunnels Shopping Subterranean Sites Underground

Know Before You Go

The Underground Street can be accessed 24/7, though the shops may be closed. Other than the two connections from the Ginza Line station, there are two entrances hidden in plain sight: one at the eastern end of the Shin-Nakamise arcade, and another in front of the Matsuya department store.

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Community Contributors

Added By

Fred Cherrygarden

Edited By

Badmedisin, Collector of Experiences

  • Badmedisin
  • Collector of Experiences

Published

September 6, 2023

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Asakusa Underground Street
Taito City
Tokyo, 111-0032
Japan
35.71146, 139.79778

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