Old Tokyo, Kita Senju

Activity > Tokyo > Sightseeing > Ueno

I took a little trip to Kita Senju (in Japanese; 北千住) which is just a couple stations ( about 10 min.) north of the major Tokyo city of Ueno. I had heard a rumor that the movie set of the famous character Tora San in the movies "Otoko Wa Tsurai Yo!" (literal translation "Men have it rough!") was based in this area.  I'm a fan of the "Otoko Wa Tsurai Yo!" series so I wanted to see the area and where it was set.  Unfortunately... I wasn't able to gather enough info to find the right location and ended up just walking around Kita Senju and stopping in at an Izakaya.

The Kita Senju Station and immediate area around the station is packed with modern buildings and department stores (If I remember correctly its a big "Marui Department Store") but walk down the main street a bit, hook a right and another right and you'll be right in the thick of "Old Tokyo" (See map, 1st picture and the 2nd picture of what I mean).  I put "interesting areas" on the map so just adventure around in there and you'll have fun!

"Old Tokyo" to the Japanese means... 1910-1940's era, it doesn't mean "Really Old Tokyo" which in fact would actually mean the Edo Era.  As you can see in the picture the "feeling" of "Old Tokyo" is that of little shops lining the streets, bicycles out front, power lines criss-crossing the street, etc. One of the great 5 highways of Japan (in Japanese; Go Kaidou 五街道) ran through Kita Senju, the highway is called Oushuu Kaidou (奥州街道) and ran from Nihonbashi, the center of Edo (now Tokyo), to the Northern Regions with "Senju" being the first "Station" out from Edo.  I remember seeing a sign/plaque on the corner of the "red line" street (see map) saying "that" was the original Oushuu Kaidou but I could be wrong.  The modern "Highway 4" (see map) runs along the same route the old Oushuu Kaidou ran.

Kita Senju also has tons of Izakaya and drinking establishments.  I don't think it would be a good idea to stumple into a drinking establishment if you didn't know what you are doing because most of them are "Hostess Bars" and you'll end up paying a lot more than you expect.  However, dive on in to any of the Izakaya's because they are of course great!  Having a couple beers and filling your tummy will come out to around 5,000 - 10,000 yen so its not that "cheap" but the food and atmosphere it excellent.

Otoko Wa Tsurai Yo! ("Men have it rough!")

Is a movie "series" (a total of 48 movies!) about a vagabond (travelling salesman) that travels about Japan selling trinkets he carries in his suitcase. Generally the movies take place when he visits his sister in Tokyo.  Practically every movie he falls in love with some new "Leading Lady" and then gets thrown to the curb.  The movies are a great outlook on the culture of Japan.  They are "comedies" but... you really have to understand Japanese and the culture to "get the jokes" I think but when you do, these movies are REALLY funny.  Amazon.com sells these movies (with English sub-titles) but they are quite expensive (just do a search for "otoko wa tsuraiyo").