Jinbocho: the book town and Ochanomizu
The world's biggest cluster of second-hand bookshops, the old coffee houses, and a Russian dome. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Yasukuni-dori bookshop run
The main stretch — the world's densest run of second-hand bookshops, and almost all of them face north. That's deliberate: north light won't fade the spines. Walk the south pavement so the shopfronts are on your side.

2. Sanseido and the specialist shops
Past the big general shops the trade splinters into specialists — one shop for ukiyo-e prints, one for film posters, one for nothing but architecture. You don't read Japanese? Doesn't matter; the print and photography shops are browsable by anyone.

3. An old kissaten
Jinbocho runs on its *kissaten* — old-style coffee houses, dark wood and siphon-brewed coffee, the kind of place where you can read a just-bought book for two hours over one cup. Pick any with a worn sign; the curry shops next door are the other half of the local diet.

4. Holy Resurrection Cathedral (Nikolai-do)
Up the hill toward Ochanomizu, a green-domed Russian Orthodox cathedral from 1891 — startling in this skyline, named for the missionary who built it. Step into the courtyard; the interior keeps limited hours.

5. Meiji University and the guitar street
The Surugadai slope is student territory — Meiji University's tower, and a run of shops selling nothing but guitars, amps and effects pedals. An odd, specific little district that grew up next to the music colleges.

6. Hijiribashi and the Kanda-gawa gorge
End at the Hijiribashi bridge over the surprisingly deep Kanda river cut, with three rail lines crossing at once below — JR, the Marunouchi metro coming out of its tunnel, the lot. A good last look before Ochanomizu station.

Jinbocho: the book town and Ochanomizu