Two minutes from Kaminarimon, under the busiest corner in Asakusa, there is a corridor that has barely changed since the 1950s. The Asakusa Underground Street is about 50 m of low ceiling, exposed pipes, fluorescent light and a little over twenty tiny shops: a barber, a fortune teller, a DVD stall, and several noodle counters where commuters eat standing up. It opened in 1955, and since the spring of 2014 it has been the oldest underground shopping street still operating in Japan. It costs nothing to walk through, it takes ten minutes, and it is the cheapest lunch near Senso-ji.
- Kaminarimon
- Underground Street
- Asakusa Stn (Ginza/Asakusa/Tobu)
- Kamiya Bar
- Azumabashi Bridge
- Asakusa water-bus pier
Why this short corridor matters
When the arcade opened in 1955, next to the Ginza Line station, Japan had only two underground shopping streets, one in Kanda and one in Ginza. Asakusa made three. The location explains it: the Ginza Line, Japan's first subway, had ended here since 1927, and the passage beside the station was the obvious place for a row of noodle counters and barbers serving people changing trains or heading up to the temple.
The others did not last. When the Ginza underground street under Mihara-bashi closed on 26 April 2014, the Asakusa arcade became the oldest survivor. You will see it described online as "the oldest underground street in Japan", which is slightly off: it is the oldest surviving one. Either way, nothing about it looks like a heritage site, and that is the appeal. There is no gift shop and no museum panel, just low ceilings, exposed pipes, water stains and old signs — the look Japanese writers call pure Showa.
Finding the way in
This is where most visitors give up. Nothing on Nakamise points you to the arcade, and the stairs look like any other subway exit. Four routes work:
- Exit 6 (street level). Walk into Shin-Nakamise, the covered shopping street, from its eastern end by the station corner. The stairs are immediately on your left as you enter, easy to miss under the brighter shop signs beside them. This is the entrance nearest Kaminarimon.
- Exit 8 (street level). In the small triangular plaza in front of the Matsuya department store and EKIMISE building (the Tobu station). Look for stairs going down with the sign 浅草地下街 above them. This is the most obvious entrance.
- From the Ginza Line. Leave by the ticket gate signed for Matsuya and Sumida Park, then turn left. You are in the arcade within a few steps, which makes this the smoothest route if you arrive by subway.
- From the Tobu station. Leave by the main Tobu ticket gate and take the stairs down toward the Ginza Line; the arcade entrance (Exit 7) is on the way.
Asakusa has four stations with the same name, and the arcade sits under the Ginza, Toei and Tobu cluster by Kaminarimon, not under the Tsukuba Express station on Kokusai-dori. Our getting-there guide sorts out which station is which.
What you will find down there
The shop count moves a little: a 2014 local news report counted 21 shops, a later listing 23. Every unit is small, and most are single counters or single rooms. Expect a mix like this:
- Noodle counters. The reason most people come, covered in the next section.
- A cheap barber, Cut Seven, one of the arcade's best-known tenants.
- Thai and Vietnamese food, from small counters.
- A fortune teller, a massage and qigong room, a DVD shop and a printing shop.
- Closed units. Some shutters stay down. They are part of the atmosphere, not a sign that you came on the wrong day.
There are no shared opening hours. Each shop sets its own, and the noodle counters keep the longest. If you come early in the morning, expect the food counters to be busy and the other shutters closed; late on a Sunday evening, the reverse. The arcade itself sits in a public station passage, but when a particular shop opens is up to that shop.
Photography of the corridor is common, and the place has become a small pilgrimage for film fans. Shopkeepers are working, though, so ask before pointing a lens at someone behind a counter.
What to eat in the Asakusa Underground Street
Two counters carry the arcade's reputation.
Monju: standing soba
Monju is a tachigui (standing) soba shop at 1-1-12 Asakusa, the arcade's own address. It opens at 06:00 on weekdays (07:00 at weekends) and stays open until 23:00 on weekdays and 21:00 on Saturday and Sunday. It is known for kakiage soba: buckwheat noodles in hot broth under a crisp fritter of mixed fried vegetables. Standing soba is fast food in the old Tokyo sense — you order, eat at the counter in a few minutes and leave the bowl on the ledge — and it is a very different experience from anything on Nakamise. If there is a ticket machine by the door, pay there first.
Fukuchan: yakisoba
Fukuchan is a yakisoba counter and tiny izakaya at the station end of the arcade, just outside the Ginza Line ticket gate. Film fans know it from Wim Wenders' Perfect Days: it is where the main character, a public-toilet cleaner, stops for a drink and a bite after work. Yakisoba is the classic Japanese street noodle, stir-fried with a thick sweet-savory sauce. The shop is tiny, so arriving outside the lunch rush makes it easier to get a seat.
Everything else
The Thai and Vietnamese counters are good for a quick plate at station-food prices. If you want a sit-down meal after your noodles, you are five minutes from the tempura, sukiyaki and sweets in our Asakusa food guide.
Combine it with the neighborhood
The arcade is a ten-minute stop, so it works best threaded into a walk. Everything below is within about five minutes on foot.
| Nearby | What it adds | Walk |
|---|---|---|
| Kaminarimon and Nakamise | The start of the Senso-ji approach | 2 min |
| Kamiya Bar | Calls itself "Japan's first bar"; home of the brandy-based Denki Bran; 11:00–20:00, closed Tuesdays and two Mondays a month | 1–2 min |
| Azumabashi bridge | The classic view of Skytree beside the Asahi golden flame | 2 min |
| Asakusa water-bus pier | Boats down the Sumida River to Hinode and Odaiba | 1–3 min |
| Don Quijote EKIMISE | A small branch on 4F of the Tobu station building, 10:00–20:00 | 1–2 min |
Two routes we like:
Breakfast before the temple. Soba at Monju when it opens, then up Exit 6 and across to Kaminarimon before Nakamise fills up. You are at the main hall well before 09:00, with a belly full of broth and the gates to yourself.
Evening loop. Senso-ji after dark when the buildings are lit, back down Nakamise to see the painted shutters, a glass of Denki Bran at Kamiya Bar before its 19:30 last order, then a late bowl at Monju. Finish on Azumabashi for the lit-up Skytree. Our Asakusa at night guide has more for after dark, and the Sumida Park and river page covers the waterfront and boats.
Seeing it with a guide
No tour we know of is built around the arcade itself; it takes too little time. What a guide adds is context for the streets around it: how the Rokku district became Tokyo's cinema and entertainment quarter, which old shops are worth a stop, and where locals actually eat. The backstreets and evening walks are the ones that fit best, and you can drop into the arcade on your own before or after.
Prices are the lowest option the platform shows, in US dollars, and move with dates and exchange rates. The booking page is final. Prices checked: September 28, 2026.
The food tour is the better choice if eating is your main interest. If you want to compare every walking option in one place, including the free volunteer tours from the Tourist Information Center, see our walking tours guide and our review of the Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center, where most of the free tours start.
Is it worth it?
If you want shopping, no: the goods are ordinary and the corridor is short. If you like places that nobody has tidied up for tourists, it is one of the most interesting ten minutes in Asakusa, and it comes with a bowl of soba for pocket change. Go early in the morning or in the evening, when commuters are eating at the counters and the arcade feels like what it has always been: a shortcut under a station, with lunch.