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There’s never been a better time to explore close to home.

One of the country’s largest Asian markets, this massive complex has anchored the International District since 1928—and contains a Japanese bookstore, a 12-station food court, and a Taiwanese hot-pot hot spot: The Boiling Point. Its shelves stock everything from curry to durians and juicy kalua pork, plus surprisingly good, affordable freezer bags to preserve your haul on the way home. Fancy a quick bite in the food court first? Hit Uwajimaya’s Asian deli last and pay at the express lane. While one-stop shopping rocks, fans of Asian curios and calligraphy supplies may want to wander to nearby Kobo (koboseattle.com) or Deng’s Studio and Art Gallery.

Located in the International District in Uwajimaya’s food court, Unicone serves up very thin, Japanese-style crepes, filled with sweet or savory toppings and rolled up in a paper cone. Half the fun is watching them make the crepes before your hungry eyes. (The cornflake topping is strangely delicious and highly recommended.) Your first bite of this messy, intensely sugary treat — loaded with fruit, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and ice cream — might just convince you it was snapped off of a unicorn’s head.

Located inside Seattle’s Uwajimaya Asian grocery store, Kinokuniya is a one-stop shop for Asian magazines, books, manga, stationery, and writing supplies. Even if you’re Japanese-illiterate, it’s a fun place to wander around admiring gel and fountain pens, fancy stickers, coffee table, and art books. The store also has a nice selection of unusual calendars and planners. This is a good place to pick up a gift for your favorite Japanophile.

The first Smithsonian affiliate in the Northwest, this superb museum chronicles the Asian Pacific American Experience. Among its most poignant exhibits is the Letter Cloud installation: old hotel walls frame tales of aging far away from home. It also offers walking tours of the surrounding International District, including Touch Of Chinatown, which visits the elegant Kobo gallery and Uwajimaya, one of America’s largest Asian grocery and gift stores. Stop into the nearby Panama Hotel, home to a teahouse and the nation’s only intact sentō (Japanese public bathhouse). Lockers and marble baths still stand in the basement, which harbored the belongings of Seattle’s 7,050 Japanese-American residents imprisoned in WWII internment camps—the basis for Jamie Ford’s best-selling novel Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet.