25 Things to Do in Tokyo, From Someone Who Lived There

Every “things to do in Tokyo” list starts the same way: Shibuya Crossing, Senso-ji, the Skytree. They are all worth doing, and they are all on this list too. But after a year of living on the west side of the city, the recommendations look a little different. This is the list Daniel sends to friends, in the rough order to care about it.

Everything below is pinned on the interactive Tokyo travel map, where you can filter by category, save places, and get walking times between them.

The icons, done properly

1. Senso-ji at 7am. Tokyo’s oldest temple is mobbed by mid-morning. Arrive at dawn and you get incense smoke, monks, and almost nobody else. The walk through the empty Nakamise arcade is its own reward. More on the area in the Asakusa guide.

2. Shibuya Crossing, then immediately leave it. Cross once, take the photo, then walk five minutes into Nonbei Yokocho, two storeys of matchbox bars pressed against the train tracks. That contrast is the whole city in ten minutes.

3. Meiji Shrine before nine. A genuine forest in the middle of the city, planted a century ago by 110,000 volunteers. Go early enough and the only sound is your own feet on gravel.

4. The Skytree from below, not from the top. The observation decks are fine, but the better experience is the riverside walk from Asakusa with the tower growing in front of you the whole way. That exact route is written up as a walking itinerary.

The free skyline views nobody queues for

5. Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. A free observation deck at 202 metres, with Mount Fuji on the horizon on clear days. Sunset here beats most of the paid decks.

6. KITTE Marunouchi rooftop. Look down on the restored red-brick Tokyo Station while shinkansen slide in and out beneath you. Free, central, and somehow always quiet.

7. Yebisu Garden Place tower. The free 38th floor lounge most visitors never hear about.

The full set is on the free things to do in Tokyo collection page.

Eat like you live there

8. A depachika basement food hall. The one under Isetan in Shinjuku is the best food museum in the city, and everything is for sale.

9. Tsukiji Outer Market for breakfast. The wholesale market moved, the street food did not. Tamagoyaki on a stick by 8am. It anchors the first-morning walking route.

10. A proper tsukemen. Fuunji near Shinjuku is the bowl Daniel still thinks about.

11. Yakitori under the train tracks. Omoide Yokocho in Shinjuku or the Yurakucho gado-shita arches near Ginza. Smoke, charcoal, trains overhead.

12. Conbini breakfast, unironically. Egg sandwiches and canned coffee from 7-Eleven are a legitimate Tokyo food experience. Trust the process.

The neighbourhood afternoons

13. Shimokitazawa for vintage and curry. Daniel’s old weekend default. The full neighbourhood guide covers the curry row, the record stores, and Bear Pond’s famously strict espresso.

14. Yanaka, the Tokyo that survived. Old wooden streets, a cemetery full of cats and cherry trees, and a shopping street where you snack while you walk. Walk it with the Old Tokyo on Foot itinerary.

15. Kichijoji and Inokashira Park. Swan boats, buskers, and the alley bars of Harmonica Yokocho. Pair it with the Ghibli Museum on the West Side Day route.

16. Kagurazaka’s stone alleys. The old geisha district does French bakeries and kanzashi shops side by side. Best in the early evening when the lanterns come on.

The culture hits

17. The Roppongi art triangle. Three world-class museums within a ten minute walk of each other. They string together into a full-day art crawl with tonkatsu at the end.

18. teamLab Planets. Yes it is everywhere on social media. It is also genuinely great, and walking barefoot through water in a mirror room does not really photograph the way it feels.

19. The Ghibli Museum. Tickets sell out the moment they release on the 10th of each month for the following month. Set an alarm, it is worth it.

20. Sumo, if the calendar cooperates. Tournaments run 15 days each January, May, and September at Ryogoku Kokugikan. Cheap upper-tier tickets go on sale each morning.

When you need to leave the city

21. Kamakura. Great Buddha, hillside temples, a beach, and an hour on the train. The default first day trip for a reason.

22. Nikko in autumn. The most spectacular shrine complex in Japan, in a cedar forest two hours north. The autumn colour collection has the timing notes.

23. Mt Takao. The locals’ mountain: an hour from Shinjuku, a cable car if you want it, beer and dango at the top.

The ones that need timing

24. Cherry blossoms, done strategically. Ueno Park for the spectacle, Chidorigafuchi for the rowing boats, the Meguro River after dark for the lanterns. The cherry blossom guide has all sixteen spots that make the cut.

25. A rainy day done right. Tokyo is arguably better in the rain: underground food halls, nine floors of Tower Records, kitchen-town browsing in Kappabashi. The rainy day collection is the fallback plan.

How to actually plan this

Do not try to do this list top to bottom. Pick a neighbourhood per day, anchor it with one or two of these, and let the rest happen. The walking itineraries do the sequencing for you, and the map shows what is near wherever you already are. That second part is the real trick: in Tokyo, something on this list is always a fifteen minute walk away.