Mission Accomplished: Visiting Tokyo's Kitchen Town

Above, this giant chef's head will tell the visitor that they have entered Tokyo's Kitchen Town. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

22 hours after landing at Narita International Airport, I checked into my hotel room. The long delay made me scrub my plans for what was to be my first full day in Tokyo, but I managed to accomplish something I promised Jes, my roomie.

I went to Tokyo's Kitchen Town to get her a personalized chef's knife at Kamaasa Knife Co. The shop is situated in-between Ueno and Asakusa. It was a short taxi ride from my hotel.

Above, the knife shop of the Kamaasa Knife Co. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Once I got there, I met up with Marina Menini, with whom I had been emailing about the knives they had to offer, and she took care of Jes's knife immediately. The knife shop has a wide selection of kitchen knives and a separate store only a few feet away for other kitchen equipment.

Above, Kamaasa's shop of other kitchen equipment. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The whole Kitchen Town area caters to supplying cooking equipment for home cooks, chefs and restaurants. One who is into the culinary arts would enjoy spending the day going through the many shops.

Above, one can easily see from the outside that Kamaasa has plenty of knives to choose from. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

It didn't take long to pick up the knife. Marina did an excellent job of engraving the knife to Jes's specifications. The knife shop was the busiest shop in Kitchen Town. There were other knife shops in Kitchen Town, but they were either empty or had one or two people inside. I think we picked the right one, judging by the crowd inside Kamaasa Knife Co.

Above, how would you like to live or work in a place whose
balconies are coffee or tea cups? Photo by Armand Vaquer.

If one is interested in the culinary arts and would like to purchase kitchen ware and equipment, Tokyo's Kitchen Town is definitely the place to go to.