Yanaka Ginza is a short shōtengai — an old-style covered shopping street — lined with butchers, fishmongers, senbei (rice cracker) shops, and small cafes, largely unchanged in format since the early postwar decades. It's one of the few surviving examples of the kind of neighbourhood merchant street that once existed all over Tokyo.
The local speciality is menchi katsu (a fried minced-meat cutlet) from the corner butcher's stalls, eaten standing in the street. The neighbourhood's many resident cats have made the street something of a minor pilgrimage site for cat-themed souvenirs. At the eastern end, the Yuyake Dandan ("sunset stairs") looks back down over the street and is one of the better-known photo spots in old Tokyo, especially near dusk.