Kappabashi Street - Asakusa

According to my friend Sayoko Kappabashi shopping area is for some reason named after a mystical Japanese character called Kappa. Kappa is a river sprite/spirit that is believed to I think be playful but can also be sneaky and do mean things like pull children into the river. I didn't know much about the character but realized while in Kappabashi that I had seen the character before when I went to a hot spring out in Gunma prefecture with some friends. Apparently the little cap on the Kappa's head has to stay wet for him/her to stay alive.





















This place was actually between Senso-ji and Kappabashi. Its an old pottery shop (according to Sayoko) that says a whole lot of stuff I can't read but it looks interesting no?
















Kappabashi is THE place to go to get yaki-mono (pottery) and buy some of Japan's infamous plastic food! You can even get a mug of very real looking beer with foam and everything. They use plastic food everywhere here in restaurant windows to entice you into their establishment. Of course the Japanese plastic foods look good enough to eat, although for ethnic foods the quality varies. My theory the better the ethnic (plastic) food looks the longer that type of food has been in Japan - I can tell you the plastic Turkish and Greek foods look pretty lousy, though sometimes the real food tastes OK ;-) On the other hand India plastic food seems to be looking more attractive!