"Ame" is short for "America", and the market was originally for selling American army goods after the second world war. Now, Ameyayokocho-- or Ameyokocho for short-- has opened up to an entire range of great bargains.
Japanese locals are usually very quiet and space-conscious, so it was a nice cultural icebreaker exploring a rowdy, crowded place where you can get good deals for clothes, shoes, souvenirs, street food and fresh sea goodies (a bag of maybe 6 big pieces of juicy salmon costs only 500 Japanese Yen). My eyes were wide open as I walked from stall to stall. I was especially impressed to see fruits on sticks (for at least 100 Japanese yen) as street food. I also had the best matcha ice cream to date. Of course, I tried eating as much as my pocket could handle it. Some vendors even made efforts to speak in Filipino! How refreshing.
The market is open daily from around 10:00am to 8:00pm. Try not to go on a Wednesday as a lot of the shops are closed during that day. Getting there, just take the Ueno Park exit (signs are very easy to read as this is a popular tourist area) and just look for the "Ameyayokocho" arch (you can refer to the first photo of this post).
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