Tokyo, where extremes exist in harmony, is a travel destination like no other. The latest technology is often invented here, while pen and paper are still widely used for bookkeeping. You can enjoy the view from 2000 feet on top of the Tokyo Skytree, and you can enjoy dinner in old style tatami rooms around the corner. You will encounter people in kimonos in Ginza and the Asakusa temple district, and you will see young people challenging the traditional definition of fashion and beauty in Shibuya. It is a city full of surprises.
The food scene alone is worth travelling to Tokyo. Japanese food is popular worldwide, and in my opinion Tokyo is where you can experience the widest variety of cuisines. Here you can find well-known Japanese food such as sushi, sashimi, ramen, and tempura. You can also find food you’ve probably never heard of, like okonomiyaki (savory Japanese pancakes). You can find the most delicate caviar at famous Michelin-starred restaurants, and you can also find horumon–grilled skewers of all kinds of animal organs–at tiny traditional izakayas (Japanese gastropubs) with only a few seats. There are lots of opportunities to stretch your definition of what food can be. As a Chinese woman, I already knew animal organs are extra tasty and nutritious. But even I found challenging new food experiences in Tokyo–for example, here is where I first tried shirako (“milt” in English–look it up). I had some of my most memorable meals here, and chances are you will too.
Tokyo had always been one of the cities that I wanted to visit the most. I’d heard and read so many great things about it–especially from my husband, who has been to Tokyo many times, has always been a big fan of its delicious food, and was excited to show me the city. We made visiting Tokyo a top priority for our honeymoon in Asia!
When to Visit
We visited Tokyo in early December. It was a bit chilly, around 50°F on average. Most days it was sunny, but a bit windy. Winter wasn’t bad, but if I could choose, I’d want to visit Tokyo in a different season. Next time, we’ll probably shoot for Spring.
Suggested Itinerary
We spent a week in Tokyo. As always, we traveled leisurely and assumed that we will come back someday. We also went out of our way to try different restaurants and bars. We would say one week is a good amount of time for a first visit. You could definitely visit more places than us within a week.
We stayed in Ginza area, to be close to malls, restaurants, and bars. The metro here is very convenient, so as long as you stay close to metro stations, it is easy to get to most popular attractions.
From our own experience, the following places are must-sees!
- Ginza for shopping, dining, and nightlife.
- Asakusa Temple District for the interesting temple, outdoor shopping, and lots of street food.
- The Imperial Palace to see the residence of the royal family.
- Akihabara, for gadgets and geeky shopping.
- Shibuya, with probably the busiest intersection in the world!
- Meiju Jingu Shrine, a forest within the city.
- Tsujiki Fish Market, for all kinds of fish products and street food.
Japanese food was another reason that we came here. We tried as many different varieties as we could — sushi, ramen, tempura, tonkatsu, and traditional omakase. We enjoyed delicious food, excellent service, and unique experiences. Please refer to Food Recommendations below for more information.
Day 1: Asakusa Temple District -> Tokyo Skytree
Tokyo’s most famous temple, Sensoji temple, is located in the Asakusa Temple District. It attracts millions of buddhists annually for fortune telling and praying. Sensoji was initially built in the 7th century, but it was destroyed during WWII. The current temple was restored after the war. We found similar stories throughout Japan–very few historic buildings are originals, with most having been restored several times due to natural disasters or wars.
Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate, 雷门) is the entrance leading to Sensoji temple. There is a giant lantern hung in the middle of the game, with the name 雷门 displayed at the front.
The Nakamise street leads from Kaminarimon to Sensoji Temple. It is filled with shops selling kimonos, traditional Japanese snacks, and touristy souvenirs. The area made me feel like I was visiting in the time of the Tokugawa shogunate.
Tokyo Skytree is one mile away from Asakusa across the river. With the height of 634m (2,080 ft), Tokyo Skytree stands as the tallest tower in the world. It provides the best view of the city. Even Fuji mountain is visible on a clear day.
Day 2: Tokyo National Museum -> Ueno Park
The Tokyo National Museum is one of the largest museums in the world. You can easily spend half a day here wandering through thousands of years of Japanese history and art.
The Tokyo National Museum is one of several museums in Ueno Park. The park itself is over 100 acres, and also has thousands of cherry trees. Every Spring, the park attracts millions of visitors for viewing the cherry blossoms.
Day 3: Imperial Palace -> Ramen Street
The Imperial Palace has been the residence of the Japanese royal family since emperor Meiji moved the capital from Kyoto to Edo (old Tokyo) more than a thousand years ago. It is a large park area right in the middle of Tokyo. Considering how precious space is in Tokyo, its size and location are even more impressive.
The palace is surrounded by stone walls and a moat. Only the East garden is open to the public. The public isn’t allowed to tour the actual palace except rare occasions, like New Years and the emperor’s birthday. A free guided tour of the palace is provided twice a day. I strongly recommend pre-registering online.
You can’t come to Tokyo without trying ramen. At the B1 level of the Tokyo train station, there is a street of eight ramen restaurants tightly packed side-by-side. You can find all kinds of ramen here: shio (salt based soup broth), miso (miso based broth), shoyu (soy sauce based broth), and tonkotsu (pork bone based broth). All restaurants have long lines during lunch and dinner time. You probably will spend more time waiting in line than eating the noodles. The ramen restaurants operate very efficiently. You order and pay at the vendor machine outside of the restaurants, and hand in the ticket when you sit down. Less than 10 minutes later, a fresh bowl of noodles is ready for you to slurp!
Day 4: Akihabara -> Ginza
Akihabara is a heaven for fans of Japanese anime and manga. You can find posters, dolls, keychains, t-shirts, cups, and everything that you can or can’t imagine for animated characters. Even someone like me–who hasn’t watched a lot of Japanese shows or read any manga–had a good time shopping around here for half a day.
There are lines of “gachapon” machines filled with tiny plastic capsules, inside which are small dolls of animated characters. I still don’t really understand why they are so popular, but I tried it for fun, and got a C-3PO doll.
There are also multiple buildings just for video games, and lots of duty free stores for tourists.
Ginza was a completely different shopping experience. While Akihabara was full of stores packed with nerd culture, Ginza has upscale malls and boutiques. If you enjoy luxury shopping, then you can definitely shop ‘till you drop in Ginza.
Day 5: Shibuya -> Meiju Jingu Shrine -> Harajuku
Even if you have never heard of Shibuya, you probably have seen the giant, dynamic intersection with colorful neon lights and big billboards. You can feel the energy by just watching people crossing. This is a place to find cutting edge fashion, interesting street food, and creative themed restaurants.
It’s easy to spend all of your time–and most of your money–at the shopping malls here. My husband patiently spent half a day with me at Shibuya 109. The clothes here are very cute and fashionable, but I had a tough time to find something suitable to wear as a working professional in the US. I still had a great time just window shopping and people watching.
The Tokyu Food Show is a perfect place for lunch if you are tired from shopping in Shibuya. There is fresh produce, take-out food, pastries, desserts, and alcohol. The food stalls here are usually associated with well established restaurants, so you won’t go wrong here. We found something interesting and new to try.
We’ve heard of the themed restaurants you can find around Shibuya, but we didn’t have time to try any. For example, Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre Foods had an episode featuring Alcatraz ER. While Alcatraz ER has now closed, we can’t wait to come back to Shibuya to try something similar.
Meiju Jingu Shrine is located at the middle of Yoyogi Park. It was built to commemorate Emperor Meiju and his empress. We really enjoyed the natural setting and tranquil environment. Please note that the shrine closes at 4PM in Winter.
Meiju Jingu Shrine is in the neighbourhood of Harajuku — another young and trendy area like Shibuya. At the east exit of the Yoyogi Park is Omatesando, a mile long street full of boutique stores, shopping malls, and restaurants.
However, don’t forget to get off the beaten path: we really enjoyed getting lost in the back streets of Harajuku, which are full of tiny (and interesting) stores. Cat Street is the most well-known backstreet alley around this area. It is pedestrian only and dedicated to hipster culture. We walked the entire length of the street, which goes from Harajuku back to Shibuya.
Day 6: Toyosu Fish Market -> Tsujiki Fish Market
The famous silent tuna auction at Tsujiki Fish Market was relocated to Toyosu Fish market in 2018. The auction is not open to public any more, which saved me from waking up at 2AM to be there.
At Toyosu Fish Market, you can see the wholesale market from the hallway at the second floor through glass, which is probably not as exciting as being at the auction. At the end of the hallway, there is a market selling Japanese goods. The market is half empty, so I didn’t find it as interesting as the original Tsujiki Fish Market.
Even though the wholesale market has moved, there are still restaurants and stores outside of the old Tsujiki Fish Market. We went there on a rainy day, but the market was still quite busy. Here, you can try a lot of free samples of everything from dry fish to pickles to candies. We ate a little of everything, and walked away full.
Food Recommendations
Most restaurants and bars that we tried in Tokyo served good food and provided good service. Here are a few highlights that we would recommend. If it’s on this list, it means we would go back again the next time we go to Tokyo!
- Chikuyoutei, Ginza
- Takiya, Roppongi
- Ramen street, Tokyo Train Station
- Jiro Sushi, Ginza
- Katsuzen, Ginza
- Kagurazaka Ishikawa, Shinjuku
- Zurriola, Ginza
- Bar High Five, Ginza
Travel Tips
- While our #1 source for international food recommendations is the Michelin Guide, we found that tabelog (the Japanese “Yelp”) was a pretty reliable source for finding good local restaurants.
- While it was possible to tour Tokyo without speaking Japanese, we did end up using Google Translate at a few restaurants to order food. It might be worthwhile to offline some translation software just in case. We picked up a few very useful Japanese words, like “Oshii” (delicious) and “Arigato” (thank you), and they came in handy in lots of restaurants.
- It is impossible to eat at good restaurants without reservations. Not only it is hard to call the restaurants from North America because of time difference and language barrier, but also some of them are fully booked the minute their reservations are open. We used the concierge from our hotel to help with this. As a result, we were able to get many desirable reservations that even locals have trouble getting.
Conclusions
My husband and I are already planning to go back to Tokyo! We can’t wait to try more food, and I can’t wait to do more shopping. We also want to explore more areas around the city–and of course, visit Mt. Fuji.
For foodies, Tokyo is an amazing destination. For culture lovers, this is a city where you can find unique traditions and trends. For shoppers, you can spend days enjoying shopping at tax free stores.
Thanks for reading, and please leave any questions in the comment section. Safe travels and have fun!