Yanaka is the Tokyo the twentieth century forgot to flatten. The 1923 quake and the 1945 air raids took most of the old shitamachi (the low-city, old working Tokyo); Yanaka came through, and what survived is a neighbourhood of wooden houses, temple walls, and a cemetery full of cherry trees. Three kilometres, an afternoon, no hurry.
Start at the Yanaka Cemetery, a few minutes from Nippori — a working burial ground, so walk it gently, but the cherry-lined central avenue is among the quietest, kindest stretches of the city. From there into the temple lanes: dozens of -dera (Buddhist temples) crowded into a few blocks, relocated here after the great fire of 1657. Don't aim for any one of them; follow whichever wall looks oldest.
SCAI the Bathhouse — a two-century-old bathhouse turned gallery — is worth the detour for the building alone. Then Yanaka Ginza, the shotengai (covered shopping street): croquettes, senbei, and the cats the neighbourhood took as a mascot. End at the Yuyake Dandan, the sunset stairs — come late, when the low sun runs straight down the street — then down through the Sendagi lanes to the metro.
