Jimbocho Guide: Tokyo’s Book Town — Bookstores, Kissaten, Curry and Old Shops

Jimbocho (Kanda-Jimbocho) is Tokyo’s “Book Town” — a neighborhood in Chiyoda Ward where antiquarian bookstores, new bookstores and publishers line the streets, often called the world’s greatest district of secondhand bookstores. Between the shelves you will also find century-old restaurants, quiet kissaten coffee houses, curry shops, washi paper and record stores. Hon no Machi (“Book Town”) is the free monthly magazine of Jimbocho, Kanda and Ochanomizu, published since 1980. This English guide introduces the town, its member shops and the stories of the people who keep it alive.

Why visit Jimbocho?

Tokyo’s book district

Along Yasukuni-dori Avenue and the side streets around Jimbocho Station, antiquarian bookstores specialize in everything from Japanese classics, calligraphy and ukiyo-e prints to art books, film and foreign-language books. Some have been trading for a century, like Isseido Bookstore, and new-book landmarks such as Sanseido Bookstore’s main store and Tokyodo Bookstore stand nearby. Many shops put bargain carts outside, so browsing the street is half the fun.

▶ Jimbocho bookstore guide — antiquarian and new bookstores　▶ Kissaten guide　▶ A half-day walk　▶ Events calendar

Kissaten, curry and old-Tokyo food

Book lovers need somewhere to read their finds. Jimbocho is famous for kissaten — traditional Japanese coffee houses — such as the mountain-lodge-style Kissa Hotaka and the Showa-era Kissa Poupée, and for curry, soba and Western-style food: the 1909 beer hall Luncheon, the soba shop Asanoya and the set-meal restaurant Hasebe.

▶ Where to eat in Jimbocho: our food guide — kissaten, curry, yoshoku, soba and souvenirs

Specialty shops you won’t find elsewhere

Handmade washi paper at Yamagataya Paper Shop (since 1879), inkstones and calligraphy at Banuken, “gekikara” fiery rice crackers at Kanda Awahei, used records at Fuji Record Sha, and mountaineering gear at Sakaiya Sports — the area rewards slow wandering.

Ochanomizu and Kanda next door

A short walk away, Ochanomizu has Nikolai-do Cathedral and Yushima Seido, and Kanda has soba restaurants and shops that have served the neighborhood for generations. Read a Colombian-born writer’s walk through Kanda’s layers of time.

📚 This autumn: Kanda Used Book Festival 2026 (Oct 23–Nov 1) and Jimbocho Book Festival (Oct 24–25): dates and tips

Getting to Jimbocho

• Jimbocho Station — Toei Mita Line, Toei Shinjuku Line and Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line. The book district is right above the station.
• Ochanomizu Station — JR Chuo and Sobu Lines, Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line; about 10 minutes’ walk downhill to Jimbocho.
• Suidobashi Station (JR) and Shin-Ochanomizu / Takebashi (Tokyo Metro) are also within walking distance.

Tip: many antiquarian bookstores close on Sundays and national holidays, and some also close on Mondays. Check each shop’s page before you go.

Explore this site

Latest articles

• Listening to a Hand-Cranked Gramophone at Fuji Record Sha, Jimbocho’s Nearly 100-Year-Old Used-Record Shop
• Sakaiya Sports, Jimbocho: A Specialty Store for Mountaineering and Climbing Gear
• Daiki Shoe Store, Kanda: A Nearly 75-Year-Old Shoe Shop on How to Choose Shoes That Fit
• Kanda Awahei: The Kanda Senbei Shop That Coined “Gekikara” (Fiery Hot) and Its Sixth Generation
• The Future of Bookstores Lies in “Multiplication”: Sanseido President Takao Kamei on Building the New Jimbocho Main Store with His Staff
• A Bookstore Is a Door to the World: Sanseido Bookstore President Takao Kamei on a “Fresh Start at 70 Percent” in Jimbocho
• “A Bookstore Is the Town’s Entrance”: Sanseido President Takao Kamei on the New Kanda-Jimbocho Main Store
• Why Visit a Foreign Bookstore When You Can Buy Books Online? Inuhiko Yomota on Kitazawa Bookstore in Jimbocho
• “Not Worthy to Tie Their Shoelaces”: Inuhiko Yomota Meets His Younger Self on a Secondhand Bookshop Shelf
• Interviewing at Isseido Bookstore in a School Uniform: An Antiquarian Bookseller’s 52 Years in Jimbocho

▶ All articles　▶ New issues　▶ Back issues　▶ About Hon no Machi

Get the magazine

Hon no Machi is published on the 10th of every month (in Japanese) and distributed free at more than 60 locations, mainly member shops in Kanda, Jimbocho and Ochanomizu. Past issues can be read as PDFs on our Back issues page. Shop owners: become a member shop.