6 best speciality shopping districts in Tokyo: electronics, anime, kitchenware, fabric...

Also known as ‘Kitchen Town’, this roughly 800m-long street in Asakusa is home to hundreds of shops selling every kind of pot, dish and kitchen utensil imaginable. Whatever your budget, you can find something to take home with you, from a ¥100 pair of chopsticks to a ¥10,000 kitchen knife. You can even pick up plastic food models that are often displayed outside restaurants. Many of the stores only cater to restaurateurs or wholesale buyers, but check out our Kappabashi guide to find the best shops for more casual buyers in the neighbourhood.

Akihabara’s Electric Town district is packed with more than 500 stores, both big and small, for all your electronics needs. There’s a huge Yodobashi Akiba for everything from cameras to robot cleaners, while the smaller stores stock plenty of second-hand bits and pieces.

Akihabara is also known for its gaming arcades, maid cafés and manga stores, making it one of Tokyo’s centres of pop culture. Long-time favourite stores include Akihabara Gachapon Kan for its 500 toy capsule machines and Akihabara Radio Kaikan for everything from figurines to electronics.

On Sunday afternoons, Chuo-dori street running through the district is pedestrianised, making it a good time to explore the stores.

Take a walk along Yasukuni-dori street between Jimbocho and Ogawa to find a staggering array of sporting goods stores. Whether you’re going skiing, snowboarding or mountain climbing, you’ll find all the gear you need here.

Larger stores line Yaskuni-dori, but there are plenty of smaller shops down the side streets, too. One of the common names here is Kandahar, which has five outlets covering all your ski gear needs. L-Breath, meanwhile, has two branches: one for outdoor wear and the other for sports bikes. You'll also find plenty of stores dedicated to extreme sports, such as Murasaki Sports for snowboarding and surfing.

Visit the neighbourhood at the end of October to catch the Kanda Sports Festival, when there are sporting events, competitions and discounts at many of the stores.

Stretching for about one kilometre down Chuo-dori street is Nippori Fabric Town, where you can find more than 90 textile stores selling both Japanese and Western fabrics at reasonable prices.

As you would expect, there are also plenty of specialised stores selling an endless variety of buttons and other accessories, too. But it's also a great place to pick up additions for your wardrobe, such as Japanese denim at Edwin, handmade accessories at Haru and knitwear at Pakira.

To help you navigate the array of shops, download this great map from the Nippori Fabric Town website. You can also pick up a map in stores.

Bibliophiles will be in their element in Jinbocho, where you can find more than 150 stores selling new and used books on every imaginable topic.

If you're into photography, check out Komiyama, with four floors dedicated to the art form. Another atmospheric shop is Magnif, which specialises in vintage Japanese magazines. And if you're looking for somewhere quiet to sit while reading your latest purchase, look no further than Paper Back Café, which even has an attached bookstore.

A great time to visit is around late October for the Kanda Used Book Fair, when book stalls are set up on the pavement along Yasukuni-dori. You can also turn your Jinbocho trip into an overnight stay at the Manga Art Room, a hotel with two rooms filled floor-to-ceiling with manga.

You’ll find more than 50 musical instrument stores in this district stretching from Ochanomizu Station down Meiji University Street. Many of these stores started out catering to the local student population, but now the district is a destination of its own for musicians.

Whether you need instruments for a small band or a full-on orchestra, everything is here. Beyond new and used instruments like guitars, drums and keyboards, you can also pick up the likes of speakers, amplifiers and recording equipment.

One of the best-known stores in this district is Shimokura Music, which is famous for its wood and brass wind instruments. Most stores specialise in just one instrument, including Guitar Planet and Drum Connection, but a walk around will reveal many more.