Shin-nihombashi Walking Guide — 7 Spots Where Meiji-Era Shops Meet Avatar Robots

Around Shin-nihombashi Station there are 7 walking spots, ranging from soba and tempura restaurants founded in the Meiji era to a cafe where avatar robots take your order. All 7 sit in Nihonbashi-Muromachi and Nihonbashi-Honcho in Chuo Ward, and every one of them lists both Shin-nihombashi Station and Mitsukoshimae Station as its nearest stations. Budgets stretch from a 1,400-yen sukiyaki lunch set to a 17,600-yen low-carb tempura course at dinner, so the area works for both a quick stop and a long evening.

The addresses line up almost in a straight line — Muromachi 4-chome → Muromachi 3-chome → Honcho 3-chome → Honcho 4-chome — so the easiest single walk is Muromachi Sunaba → Cohana → SALONE VENDREDI → Hanashyo → Avatar Robot Cafe DAWN → Nikusen Tonya Sasaki → Tenmo, starting with soba at midday and ending with tempura at night.

Muromachi Sunaba Nihonbashi Main Store

Founded at the end of the Edo period and located in Nihonbashi since 1869, this soba institution is the birthplace of tenzaru and tenmori. It serves two kinds of soba: "zaru," made with sarashina flour bound with egg, and "mori," made with whole-grain hikigurumi flour. The 2,200-yen tenmori comes with a kakiage of small shrimp and small scallops served in warm dipping broth. Add the 880-yen tamagoyaki at [Muromachi Sunaba Nihonbashi Main Store](/en/spot/7fe5fc2d-7846-40aa-87e3-8020796780b9) for a fully Edo-style lunch.

Cohana Nihonbashi Main Store

A shop devoted to tools, produced by a handicraft supplies maker founded in 1953. It draws on traditional crafts and local materials from across Japan, collaborating with roughly 60 regional industries. Look for the 3,300-yen needle rest that polishes needles on Awaji roof tile, or the 7,150-yen thread snips made with Iga kumihimo braid. [Cohana Nihonbashi Main Store](/en/spot/025c32de-1899-4e1d-9aef-5bc961a816bd) is on the first floor of the KAWAGUCHI building in Muromachi 4-chome.

SALONE VENDREDI

The name means "Friday salon," and the place is a cafe by day and a restaurant bar by night. Live grand piano performances and stage sets run continuously, making it a good place to rest with music. Besides the 1,800-yen Salon de Parfait — Tiramisu — you can simply take a single cocktail at the bar counter. [SALONE VENDREDI](/en/spot/47370538-af99-45c2-bd9a-933b600745aa) is the midpoint break on this route.

Edo Kiriko Hanashyo Nihonbashi Store

Hanashyo, an Edo kiriko cut-glass maker founded in Kameido after the war, opened this specialty store in 2016 in Nihonbashi, the birthplace of the craft. Its signature patterns include "kometsunagi," a wish for an abundant harvest, and "tamaichimatsu." The workshop's pieces have been exhibited at the Louvre and presented as summit gifts. The Edo kiriko hands-on experience at [Edo Kiriko Hanashyo Nihonbashi Store](/en/spot/fa610b6a-8a18-413a-84c3-42181ade09e3) requires a reservation.

Avatar Robot Cafe DAWN ver.β

At this cafe, service and food delivery are handled by OriHime avatar robots. The robots were developed so that people with limited mobility can participate in society, and you talk with the remote pilots through them. The 4,400-yen OriHime Diner is fully reservation-based for parties of two or more, and on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays a remote barista also serves coffee. [Avatar Robot Cafe DAWN ver.β](/en/spot/03c60bda-c2ff-414d-a1c0-571e5c0b0626) sits on a street of long-established shops.

Nikusen Tonya Sasaki

A meat restaurant run by a wholesale butcher founded in 1919. Rather than chasing brand names, it selects Japanese black beef by eye, stores it chilled instead of frozen, and serves it thick-cut in its signature sukiyaki. The lunch-only sukiyaki set at 1,400 yen comes with a small side dish, pork miso soup and pickles — the most affordable plate on this walk. Put [Nikusen Tonya Sasaki](/en/spot/c489eba0-4bcb-4a4c-93e0-b0cd53231857) early in the day if you want it.

Tenmo

Founded in 1885, this Edo-style tempura restaurant fries seasonal ingredients in sesame oil. Alongside the tempura fried by the fourth-generation chef, it has devised a 17,600-yen low-carb tempura course with a thin batter that cuts wheat flour by nearly half, supervised by a diabetes specialist. On Saturdays it opens for lunch only, so plan [Tenmo](/en/spot/31469365-da66-4128-b353-41b203e7931c) as a midday meal on weekends.

Closing tip: Of the 7 spots, the Edo kiriko experience and the OriHime Diner both require reservations, and Tenmo is lunch-only on Saturdays. Lock in those two bookings first, then build the soba-and-shopping route around them.