Tokyo Early in the Morning
The city before it puts its face on
Jet lag wakes most visitors up at 5am, and most of them waste it lying in bed. Early morning is the single best trick I know for seeing Tokyo properly. Senso-ji with incense and no crowds, fish markets at full speed, shrine forests where the only sound is gravel. Everything on this list rewards turning up before 9am, and several are a completely different experience because of it.
32 places
Year round, before 9am When
The places
⛩ Shrine · Harajuku Meiji Shrine Tokyo's most serene major shrine, set within 170 acres of forested grounds. The wide gravel path lined with...
⛩ Shrine · Asakusa Senso-ji Temple Tokyo's oldest temple, founded in 645 AD. Walk through the Kaminarimon gate, along the Nakamise shopping la...
⛩ Shrine · Yanaka Nezu Shrine Often called Tokyo's answer to Fushimi Inari, this quiet shrine has a long tunnel of red torii gates leadin...
⛩ Shrine · Akasaka Hie Shrine A hilltop shrine in the middle of Tokyo's political and business district, famous for its twin tunnels of t...
🌿 Park · Ueno Ueno Park Tokyo's oldest public park, home to five major museums, a zoo, a lake with rowboats, and the city's most fa...
🌿 Park · Yanaka Yanaka Cemetery More park than cemetery. Wide tree-lined avenues, cats everywhere, old Tokyo quiet. One of the best cherry ...
🍜 Food · Tsukiji Tsukiji Outer Market The market that outlived the fish auction. Dozens of vendors sell sushi, tamagoyaki, wagyu skewers, and fre...
☕ Cafe · Tomigaya Fuglen Tokyo A transplant from Oslo that set the template for Tokyo's third-wave coffee scene in 2012. Vintage furniture...
☕ Cafe · Nakameguro Onibus Coffee Nakameguro A roastery cafe in a converted house in Nakameguro. One of the best single-origin coffees in the city, sour...
☕ Cafe · Shimokitazawa Bear Pond Espresso Cult espresso bar in Shimokitazawa run by an obsessive owner. The Angel Stain espresso is reportedly the sm...
🌿 Park · Marunouchi Imperial Palace East Gardens The former grounds of Edo Castle, free to enter and remarkably uncrowded. Massive stone walls, the foundati...
☕ Cafe · Jimbocho Sabouru A 1955 mountain-hut of a coffee shop in the book district, covered in vines outside and carved wood inside....
🏮 Market · Toyosu Toyosu Market The world's largest fish market, successor to Tsukiji's inner market. Watch the tuna auction from the obser...
⛩ Shrine · Yoyogi Yoyogi Hachimangu Shrine A small wooded shrine on a hill between Yoyogi-Hachiman Station and the Tomigaya backstreets. Locals stop i...
☕ Cafe · Yoyogi Little Nap Coffee Stand A tiny coffee stand on the quiet west edge of Yoyogi Park that locals treat as a destination. A handful of ...
🏘 Neighbourhood · Yanaka Yanaka The Tokyo that survived: low wooden houses, temple after temple, cats on walls, and craftsmen still at work...
☕ Cafe · Kiyosumi Blue Bottle Coffee Kiyosumi The roastery that kicked off the third-wave coffee boom in Japan, in a converted warehouse in Kiyosumi-Shir...
🚞 Day trip · Kamakura Kamakura The seaside former capital an hour south: the Great Buddha, hillside temples connected by hiking trails, an...
🚞 Day trip · Nikko Nikko Two hours north and a world away: the riotously decorated Toshogu shrine complex in a cedar forest, waterfa...
⛩ Shrine · Shibamata Shibamata Taishakuten Old shitamachi Tokyo at the city's eastern edge: a temple covered in astonishing wood carvings at the end o...
☕ Cafe · Tomigaya Camelback Sandwich & Espresso A former sushi chef making the best egg sandwich in Tokyo, a sweet omelette folded into a crisp roll. Stand...
⛩ Shrine · Asakusa Asakusa Shrine Shinto shrine right beside Senso-ji's main hall, dedicated to the three men who founded the temple. Its 164...
⛩ Shrine · Fukagawa Tomioka Hachiman Shrine Founded in 1627, this is Tokyo's largest Hachiman shrine and the birthplace of officially sanctioned sumo, ...
⛩ Shrine · Toranomon Atago Shrine Hilltop shrine from 1603 sitting on the highest natural hill in central Tokyo, reached by a famously steep ...
⛩ Shrine · Akasaka Akasaka Hikawa Shrine Quiet wooded shrine whose main sanctuary was built in 1730 by the eighth shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune and has ...
⛩ Shrine · Yotsuya Suga Shrine Modest neighbourhood shrine in Yotsuya whose adjacent crossed staircase became world famous as the final sc...
⛩ Shrine · Bunkyo Gokokuji Temple Shingon Buddhist temple founded in 1681 by the fifth shogun for his mother, and almost unique in Tokyo for ...
🏮 Market · Yurakucho Oedo Antique Market Japan's largest outdoor antique market, filling the plaza of the Tokyo International Forum roughly the firs...
🛍 Shopping · Asakusa Nakamise Shopping Street One of Japan's oldest shopping streets, a 250-meter approach of around 90 stalls running from Kaminarimon t...
🗼 Landmark · Shibuya Hachiko Statue Bronze statue outside Shibuya Station honouring Hachiko, the Akita who kept returning to meet his dead owne...
🍜 Food · Toyosu Sushi Dai The most famous sushi breakfast in Tokyo, relocated from Tsukiji to the 3rd floor of Toyosu Market's Block ...
☕ Cafe · Yanaka Kayaba Coffee A Yanaka kissaten that opened in 1938 inside a 1915 machiya townhouse, closed in 2006, then was lovingly re...
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