From the archive
Ameyoko Shopping Street
On the eastern side of Ueno Park, in the streets around the elevated tracks of the train station, you'll find the Ameyoko Shopping Street: a great place to come when you're in the market for... well, anything. Fish, veggies, shoes, leather jackets and the discrete companionship of attractive ladies are just a sample of what's for sale.
Discussion
Ueno is not far from Todai, you must know the area quite well from the student days?
Yup. Ameyoko street runs parallel to Todai's border, so it is only a 10-15 minutes walk from Many exits of Todai. I used to buy Thai rice there because it was way cheaper than Japanese rice. International phone cards, now giving way to Skype, used to be really cheap there.
One new thing to see in Ameyoko is Chinese tourists buying loads of seafood snacks to take back to their friends.
It seems as if there's a shopping street in every corner of the Akiba district ;) It's truly a cosmopolitan location. Japan is indeed a different, more advanced world.
one of my favourite place in tokyo to wander around.