JAPN Tokyo Travel Guide: Neighborhoods, Tips and Itineraries
Tokyo Travel Guide: Neighborhoods, Tips and Itineraries
Shinjuku and Western Tokyo
Shinjuku Station moves 3.5 million passengers daily through 36 platforms connecting JR, Metro, Odakyu, Keio, and Toei lines. The west exit leads to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, where twin observation decks on the 45th floor open free until 11 PM with nighttime views stretching to Tokyo Tower and Rainbow Bridge. On clear winter mornings, Mount Fuji appears as a snow-capped silhouette roughly 100 kilometers to the west. Golden Gai east of the station packs more than 200 bars into six cramped alleys, most seating only six to eight customers on counter stools, each themed around jazz, cinema, punk rock, or whatever obsession the owner cultivates.
Memory Lane under the train tracks serves charcoal-grilled yakitori from stalls dating to the post-war black market of the late 1940s. Vendors specialize in organ meats including heart, liver, and cartilage seasoned with tare sauce or salt, paired with draft beer at 300 yen. Shinjuku Gyoen garden charges 500 yen admission and bans alcohol across its 58 hectares of French formal, English landscape, and Japanese pond-stroll sections. Roughly 1,000 cherry trees bloom here in late March, making it one of the best hanami spots in the city.
Shibuya and Harajuku
Shibuya Crossing floods with up to 3,000 pedestrians per signal change. Shibuya Sky atop Scramble Square charges 2,000 yen for 360-degree open-air views from 229 meters. Hachiko’s bronze statue at the south exit commemorates the Akita who returned daily for nine years after his owner Professor Ueno died in 1925. Center-gai behind the crossing runs loud with karaoke parlors, arcade centers, and izakaya chains offering nomihodai all-you-can-drink plans for 1,500 to 2,500 yen per person.
Meiji Shrine sits behind a 700-meter forested approach planted with 120,000 trees donated from every prefecture. Shinto wedding processions cross the main courtyard most weekend mornings. Takeshita Street in Harajuku runs 400 meters of crepe shops, purikura booths, and rainbow cotton candy vendors. Omotesando boulevard leads toward Aoyama through zelkova-lined sidewalks flanked by flagship architect-designed stores from Prada, Comme des Garcons, and Tadao Ando’s concrete-and-glass structures.
Asakusa and Ueno
Sensoji Temple traces its founding to 628 AD when two fishermen reportedly pulled a Kannon statue from the Sumida River. The Kaminarimon Thunder Gate hangs a 700-kilogram red paper lantern beneath carved wind and thunder deities. Nakamise Shopping Street sells ningyo-yaki cakes with red bean filling, senbei crackers grilled on the spot, and melon-pan dusted with sugar. The five-story pagoda rises 53 meters, and the entire complex glows under floodlights after dark when crowds thin out.
Ueno Park clusters the Tokyo National Museum with 120,000 objects spanning Jomon pottery from 10,000 BC through samurai armor and Hokusai woodblock prints, plus the Le Corbusier-designed National Museum of Western Art. Ameya-Yokocho market stretching south from the station sells fresh seafood, leather goods, and cosmetics at prices 30 to 50 percent below department stores. Yanaka neighborhood preserves pre-war Tokyo with wooden houses, independent galleries, and a shopping street marked by a cat-tail sculpture at the top of steep stairs.
Eating in Tokyo
Tsukiji Outer Market opens by 5 AM with tuna vendors slicing maguro for sashimi breakfasts and tamagoyaki stalls selling rolled omelet pieces for 100 yen. Fuunji in Shinjuku draws 45-minute queues for tsukemen dipping noodles in concentrated fish-bone broth. Standing soba shops inside JR stations serve buckwheat noodles with kakiage tempura for under 500 yen. Depachika food halls in Isetan Shinjuku discount prepared foods 20 to 50 percent in the final hour before closing.
Convenience store onigiri at 7-Eleven cost 120 to 180 yen with fillings like mentaiko cod roe and grilled salmon. Conveyor belt chains Sushiro and Kura Sushi offer two-piece plates at 110 to 330 yen. For budget gyudon beef bowls, Yoshinoya and Matsuya charge around 400 yen. A Suica or Pasmo IC card works across JR, Metro, and buses, with single rides running 170 to 320 yen. The Yamanote Loop connecting major stations runs every two to four minutes during the day.
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