Sanpuru is simply the Japanese rendering of "sample", and by itself means the same as in English.
Kappabashi-dori is definitely worth a visit though: in addition to fake food, they have epic selections of Japanese ceramics and all sorts of kitchenware. It was originally mostly for wholesale quantities, but has become increasingly retail/tourist-friendly.
agreed - had a great time searching the street for the perfect design of donburi bowl, squeezing in amongst the narrow aisles stacked floor to ceiling with different designs and sizes
Many shops in surrounding districts such as Asakusabashi specialise in samples of various other types of products. For instance one might sell beads and another umbrellas. Like in a department store, the shops tend to be clustered functionally, so walking sticks might be near umbrellas.
These stores around Asakusabashi are actually "show rooms" for national distribution networks.
Last time I went to Tokyo I bought some plastic food as ornaments for my desk at work. I wanted a huge beer mug but that ran like 9000 yen, so I got a smaller beer glass. It's very realistic looking - it has a foam head and it even has fake condensation on the glass. At my previous job I freaked out a few managers who thought it was real.
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[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 21.3 ms ] threadKappabashi-dori is definitely worth a visit though: in addition to fake food, they have epic selections of Japanese ceramics and all sorts of kitchenware. It was originally mostly for wholesale quantities, but has become increasingly retail/tourist-friendly.
Special mention for display cases, displayed in bigger display cases.
These stores around Asakusabashi are actually "show rooms" for national distribution networks.