Name: Welcome to "Ameyoko" where you can feel the good old Japan!
Uploaded: 2025-07-17T08:54:26.000Z
Duration: 16 min 19 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Hi, my name is Bob, and I'll be your host for today's episode.

And I'm here today in Tokyo's Ameyoko Shopping Street.

Basic passive voice

Ameyoko Shopping Street is located between Ueno Station and Okachimachi Station.

And it has about 400 shops in a 500-meter stretch.

Now, there are two theories about how Ameyoko got its name, or how it came to be called Ameyoko.

And the first theory is about candy stores, or ameya in Japanese, so ameya and yokocho, which means side street, ameya, yokocho, ameyoko.

The second theory is about the fact that there were many American goods sold here and bought here and brought here, so the America, ame, and yokocho, ameyoko.

Now, as to which theory is correct, well, there's still some debate about that, but no matter what, everybody affectionately calls it ameyoko.

And in Japan, ameyoko is known for its year-end hustle and bustle, but that's not all that it is.

In fact, there are many specialty shops with rare and precious items.

There is literally something for everyone here.

So, join me as I take a look around Tokyo's Ameyoko Shopping Street.

All right, so I'm here, and I'm going to take a look.

There's fruits, and that's the first thing I'm going to stop at.

They recommended the pineapple, so I'm going to try the pineapple.

Actually, it's a little better than I thought it was going to be.

It's very fresh, very juicy, it's a very good pineapple.

Yoku gaikoko no kata ga koko ni kimasu ka?

Hotoshu no ichigatsu muika ni eigyo saikai shita kara, mada sonna ni.

Demo, sorry, san nen yasumi dakedo, sono mae wa nan nen kara kono misei ga?  Un.

Koko ue no naka deta, hachijuu nen kurai.

Shinjuku to iu rakuchou wa chotto shime chatte, sochi ga gojuu nen gurai. 50 years, 80 years total for this shop, 50 years here.

As I said, it's not only about the food or the sweets.

I mean, there's also a lot of goods here and you can see the goods from America, a lot of different shoes and really great prices.

And it's not a rare thing to see American shoes, but to have them all here together at these nice and inexpensive prices, just a great place to have them.

And it's just what makes this place even more special.

Of course, we're looking at the foods, the candy.

This is a candy store and there's just candy both sides of the street.

There's just candy everywhere, box candy, bagged candy, lots of different candy to try, lots of different candy to buy.

It's good for souvenirs and other things.

So, of course, I said, you know, the American goods, America, Ameyoko.

But this kind of represents exactly what I'm talking about.

So there's a lot of these kind of military goods.

You know, of course, you get the American flag everywhere.

It's a very famous shop here and it's just kind of cool.

I mean, obviously, I'm from America, so this brings me back home.

I can even get some boots if I need them.

And so you're going to need to stop and have a drink.

And so there's this green tea and seaweed shop.

And green tea, well, that just screams Japan.

And you get to taste test it a little bit.

It's a little bit bitter, but this is the real deal.

And it's going to give you a little burst of caffeine just to keep you going.

And keep you shopping throughout the day.

Yeah, so it's really, I mean, it's the real green tea.

It's the real leaves, the strands of the green tea there.

Of course, every shop, the staff are just so welcoming to you.

But there's also snacks or okashi in Japanese.

And this is kind of more like the adult's snack.

We have some nuts, different kind of nuts.

But then we also have the kind of dried seaweed section over here.

You remember this from the candy store that I went to with an old lady.

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Welcome to "Ameyoko" where you can feel the good old Japan!

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