Tokyo - what should i do there?

search: harajuku, aoyama, shibuya
destroy: roppongi, ginza

[not quite like the Louis Vuitton stores though]

The line at the Louis Vuitton Harajuku location:

http://www.wiredchild.net/phil/tokyo/lvtokyo.jpg

The fish market is really incredible although you have to wake up ass-early to see much of anything. Anything including really strangy fish. Eat them for breakfast, if you like.

Also, there's this shopping/entertainment centre in Ikebukero called SUNSHINE 60 or SUNSHINE CITY which is pretty fun because it has this little amuseunt thing called Namja Town. It's only fun if you go with a sort-of child-like mentality since it houses a bunch of weird Disneyworld-like theme lands with strange little games. Like this one where you have to peddle a little tricycle thru an obstacle course with a mechanical kitten in the basket. The more you swerve or bump around, the more agitated the kitten gets - and too agitated and she CRIES and you lose. Strange stuff like that. Go with a friend, preferably one who speaks a little Japanese. But it's expensive - like 25 bucks or something? I don't remember. And there's a store in the shopping centre where you can rent a room by the hour and play with any of the little animals in their stable. Like a rent-a-pet sort of thing.

But shopping really is the main reason to go to Tokyo. Some nice day trips though.

http://www.wiredchild.net/phil/tokyo/namja.jpg

If you're looking to go shopping for music I'd recommend Shinjuku as a good place to start.

Odaiba is also a nice place to visit. It's a pretty new shopping/entertainment complex overlooking Tokyo bay. The Ferris wheel there is supposed to be the biggest in the world but who knows.

If you are me you will go to Cow Books (extraordinary curated secondhand bookshop) and Depot (cafe/gallery) in Nakameguro, Nadiff (books, records, gallery) and Office (bar, office) and Watarium (gallery, cafe, bookshop) in Aoyama, Bonjour Records in Daikanyama, Milk, a music club in Ebisu, some love hotel where you can make love in a large tea cup, some girl's apartment no bigger than a pantry, SuperDeluxe (club) and ThinkZone (laptop performances, gallery, bar, book and record store) in Roppongi (which is horrid but is becoming unmissable as more cultural stuff opens there)...

Go on a Saturday to Shimokitazawa, the teeming, alternative youth village. Pure magic. All the musicians live here. The theatres and cinemas are great. And take a train on Sunday to Kamakura, the seaside resort about 45 minutes away. Girls in bikinis, windsurfing on the Pacific, a giant buddha you can climb inside, lots of leafy hills with temples hidden atop them, a very good cultural centre, a writers' museum, delicious soba, pigeon-shaped biscuits...

Some websites that may help you plan:

Real Tokyo (an events listing in English)
Superfuture Tokyo (consumer locations on a map)
Jean Snow's blog (down today, for some reason, but worth checking later for hot tips)

jellybean,
are you only interested in shopping or like, maybe something culturally enriching (outside of the whole consumer culture obviously)?

do you know anybody in japan?

The parks in Tokyo are lovely to waste time in - Ueno park has these insanely huge ravens wandering around cheerfully, and there's one in Shinjuku with a fantastic skyscraper view. If you're the museum type, the Tokyo-Edo - or Edo-Tokyo? - Museum in Ryogoku (also with sumo stadium!) is very, very interesting... although I'm fond of that period of history anyway, so possible bias. Shibuya is fun to wander about in and be scared by just how pretty everyone is. Apparently the new harbour at Yokohama features some wonderful modern architecture, too.

And drink Acerola! It's glorious. But not Acerola Water, which is mank.

That's the thing, I don't want to spend all my time shopping (I'm sure my sister will drag me to do lots of that already). I'm actually quite interested in Japanese culture, the way the East and the West hit head on.

Taking a walk from the Nakameguro station over the beautiful canal into Daikanyama. (you can visit some of the stores Momus reccommended too. I spent a while in Cow books.)

From the Kiba station, walking through the Kiba park to the Tokyo Museum of modern art. There was a huge Miyazaki exibit there (it might not be there when you go), and some nice art for only 1000yen.

On a clear night you should visit Tokyo tower. Or during the day you could try and see Mt. Fuji from it.

At about 5 in the morning I went to Tsukiji fish market. The auctioneers were crazy and there were so many weird fish in a huge building at different experience (if you go watch out for all the fishmobiles going every which way you could get hit if you're not careful).

Shinjuku: west side has many tall buildings and the east side has lots of neon lights. The huge book store Kinosomethingsomething is nice, and conveyorbelt sushi and chapu chapu are fun was to eat.

I also spent an hour at shinagawa station from 7 to 8 just watching the endless flow of salarymen. I was amazing and like a river.

Also one of the thinks I found most interesting was how one block would have giant skyscrapers, the next block would be full of colorful stores, the next block would be quaint bars, the next block would be a shrine, the next block would be love hotels and strip clubs, and the next block would be a park, and then another block of sckyscrapers. (well this may be a little exagerated, but some places were like this)

Ride the subways and see the people! Eat in those cheap places where you get a ticket from a machine with pictures of the meals on it! Go to Kiddyland! Go to a teensy weensy restaurant with Momus!

God, I wish I was back in Tokyo NOW. Best place I've ever visited. Tied with Venice.

Please Reply Soon!!!!!!

06 25 2004

just came back from 8 days in Kyoto and Tokyo.
amazing.

best:
golden gai bars in shinjuku.
harajuku freaks and live music on sunday.
daikanyama.

"Also one of the thinks I found most interesting was how one block would have giant skyscrapers, the next block would be full of colorful stores, the next block would be quaint bars, the next block would be a shrine, the next block would be love hotels and strip clubs, and the next block would be a park, and then another block of sckyscrapers. (well this may be a little exagerated, but some places were like this) "

otm

got a couple of days free in tokyo this weekend.

any more non-shopping ideas?

have you been to yanaka? it's a really beautiful old part of town, lots of temples, literally hundreds of cats everywhere, huge cemetery, lots of old meiji period houses down endlessly winding side streets, lots of galleries and small independent shops. yanaka ginza is really nice on a saturday afternoon, lots of good and cheap street food. just a really nice peaceful part of the city, and still really central. you can catch the metro to nezu on the chiyoda line, or the jr to nippori on the yamanote line

from there you could walk to ueno park and see the newly blossomed lotus. there's also a zoo! ueno itself is quite a large shopping/night life district and you can walk to akiba in about 10 minutes if you get bored of too much nature

i dunno it depends what kinda stuff you're into i guess. there's a lot to do in tokyo

oh ueno also has a super bustling market as well which is worth checking out

that all sounds lovely, thanks

never been to japan in summer before..bit shocked by the humidity pheww

I was going to say just make sure to eat in the tiny cheap restaurants that are everywhere, but if you've already been to Japan you'll know all about those.

Otherwise it's the most fabulous place for walking, I thought. Tokyo suffers in tourist terms for being short on huge set-piece things, but at street level, on a human scale, the level of interest is extraordinary. It's nearly all great I thought. Yanaka is indeed lovely. I enjoyed a random walk we did which I think was Yotsuya - Akasaka - Roppongi - Harajuku but it's all good, no real point in giving recommendations. Follow side streets & alleys, and carry a map and a camera.

def agree that finding a decent starting point and just wandering/cycling around and getting randomly lost is the best way to enjoy tokyo. it's such a vast city that it's almost impossible to stray too far into the void, especially if you have a map or something

i forgot to mention the tanabata festival this weekend that runs from ueno station to akasuka (interesting downtown area w/ huge temple, quite touristy but worth a visit)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanabata

btw if you wanted i totally have a bike i'd be happy to lend you

i've been to japan quite a lot but never had any time where my colleagues have not been taking me around (they always take me to great places though) so i don't really have a good feel for the place. i really fancy the idea of just walking and exploring on my own for a day or so.

went to the tiniest restaurant (there were 2 tables i think) for lunch today near our office. loads of amazing sashimi for about £5.

thanks missingNO that's so kind but i'd get too sweaty on a bike in this weather, walking suits me fine

pee on a octopus imo

my boss is taking me for eel tonight...excited

unagi? if so you're in for such a treat

Bump? Any food / live music recs would be welcomed. Going to be there end of December / early January. Saw the PSF record store on another thread, planning to pay a visit.

bumping this thread in hopes that ilxors have been recently- a friend is hanging out there and wants to do something new- I haven't been in a few years so I just instinctively recommend Tokyo Hands and Mandarake but there's got to be newer places and things to do- holler if you have any recs . . .

fish market in the morning is cool

can anybody vouch for the Robot Restaurant? I've heard the food is terrible but that the show is kind of undeniably extreme

I'm so happy this thread was bumped because I GO TO JAPAN in November or December for I dunno a couple of months? Three months?

Should I look for a place in Tokyo or in Kyoto (or another city?) and if so, what neighborhoods? On a budget and really looking for a great neighborhood where we can walk all over the place and experience cool stuff and eat good foods for not too much moneys.

Go shopping. OKURA and GDC both are cool Japanese fashion labels with shops in fancy Daikanyama. Good cafés and atmosphere, there. Seconding Tokyu Hands for shopping, too. Parco is also pretty cool.

The music scene is ginormous so for live music you gotta dig around, b/c it depends what you want to see.

Oh, and I wasn't able to go because advance booking was req'd, but I hear the Studio Ghibli tour is awesome.

And Quincie, renting in Japan is a pain in the ass for foreigners, due to language/cultural barriers and lack of anti-discrimination laws. Google around for the gaijin-friendly apartment rental services to help you find a place. They'll speak English and do this all the time. I would rather live in Osaka than Kyoto, just because it's livelier. It's generally more amicable and laid back than Tokyo and would put you in closer range to visit Nara, Kyoto, and Kyuushuu. Staying in Kyoto would be better if you want a slower pace/smaller city.

Going in April, looking for record shopping tips.

I intend to devote an afternoon to it, not rare Western music but 90's/2000's Shibuya Kei, older Technopop, stuff like that.

Is Shinjuku still the place to go?

Question: this is not actually for travel but for work research -- I noticed Tokyo addresses come up on google maps with japanese characters in them. Is there any way to find english "translations" of these addresses?

think if you just paste into google translate it gives you transliteration

http://romaji.me

i am currently in tokyo

I am currently envious.

Although I am currently in Portugal so can't really complain.

how long are you going to be here

I’m visiting Tokyo for 10 days in early March with my wife and two kids (ages 7 and 10).

I’d *love* any and all recommendations anyone might have. Absolutely anything goes. Food, shopping, history, nightlife, arts, nature, etc.

Here are some things on the list already ... nothing terribly surprising:
We'll do two days at Disneyland/DisneySea
TeamLab Borderless and Museum Ghibli
walk around Shinjuku, hope to eat good stuff in the little alleys and whatnot
go to the Meiji shrine
maybe attend a sumo match and the Robot Restaurant
go up somewhere very high for the views (360-degree museum?)
eat as much good ramen and sushi as possible

What else? What's amazing that we're missing?

go up somewhere very high for the views (360-degree museum?)

tokyo tower

The Mori Art Museum/Roppongi Hills tower (very high up observatory)

Ameyoko Shopping Street (and the big food halls in the basement about one-third of the way in before the road splits on the right)

If you're going to Ghibli walk there from the train station instead of the bus and get a feel for what a W.Tokyo suburb is like.

Shiodome and Shimbashi are high tech areas, not a whole lot there but great for a wander and restaurants at the Carreta Shiodome complex, lotsa skyscrapers, looks great at night, take the Yurikamomi Metro Train that goes out across the river to Odiaba, unmanned, like a little rollercoaster.

Shimo-Kitazawa for boutique shops and retro things, nice food and coffee places.

Yanaka, beautiful old district, lots of amazing cemeteries, little temples/shrines, backstreets.

Record shopping in Shinjuku.

The basement of Isetan Dept Store in Shinjuku has a massive food hall, if that's your thing.

Remember to get your tickets for the Ghibli Museum in advance! :)

Harajuku and Akihabara for full-blown cosplay/J-teen craziness, the kids might enjoy it there.
Shibuya, for the predictable but impressive crossing.
Asakusa for the big lantern shrine.
A cat or owl cafe, depending on your ethical standpoint (the cats just seemed bored at the one I went to).

tokyo tower

The trouble with going up Tokyo Tower is that you can't see Tokyo Tower from it, although you can see the Sky Tree. This problem, is, of course, reversed if you go up the Sky Tree.

get a hot canned ginger beer from a vending machine

leave your family behind and visit a sketchy looking bar with a wide range of whiskies that has ashtrays everywhere

visit the Japanese equivalent of a CVS and spend a brief moment marveling at the hair dye section

walk past a cemetery without realizing it at first

Maresn3st OTM re: Yanaka

don't forget udon (muragame is a great chain) in addition to ramen. Is anyone vegetarian? There are, oddly enough, only a couple of ramen places that do vegetarian.

Shinjuku Gyoen is also a really nice park ( I think there is a tiny entrance fee).

Where are you staying?

there are also the rockabilly groups (not going to say gangs) dancing in yoyogi park on sundays that I think has become a thing.

Mori Art Museum in Roppongi has the very best observation deck to see the whole city (incl Tokyo Tower). Or the municipal govt building in Shinjuku
Edo-Tokyo museum is really great for history
Ueno Park is lovely and there are lots of great museums around it
Asakusa has a lot of great restaurant supply stores including the fake food you see in the windows
Nakamise shopping street leading to Sensō-ji temple
Any one of the multi floor toy stores - there is an amazing one over the road from Ueno station, and Omotesando Kiddy Land near Harajuku
I’ll think of more I’m sure!

oo - go to the baseball if it’s on, the Japanese fans have fantastic chants and rituals which make it an absolute blast

bookmarked, im over in april meself

I am posting the peter bjorn and john video of japanese rockabilly in yoyogi because...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rIguM71LQI

holy shit, y'all have got the goods! i haven't looked in since i posted ... thank you SO much.

i will check all this stuff out (had heard about the rockabilly dancers, but none of the rest of this)

keep it coming, of course... not just for me but also for darraghmac :)

ILX rules

A trip to the Ghibili museum is a chance to go to my favourite Ramen Shop Hashi to Renge in Asagaya. They specialise in Sansho flavours and their Sansho omiyage are great to pick up as well. A lot of th shops under the Chou line are pretty nice. JR has been doing a massive project making these nice little malls under the train line and three are some great restaurant along there.e

https://goo.gl/maps/bVRPjLnF7CuPQW1w9

Another thing to make sure you tickets in advance for is the Teamlab exhibit. I haven't been to the new museum but when they were in the Mori art museum they were pretty cool (and I second going to the Mori art museum as a great place to get a high view.

Also child friendly is the JR East Railway museum in Omiya, trains to drive, models to play with. It's a fun day out.
Try a boat trip to Disney or up the river.

If you are there very early in march (As in it finishes on the 2nd) D & Department have a cafe and shop going on the 8th floor of the Hikare Building in Shibuya. They are featuring meals and produce from all over Japan and the food is both cheap and excellent (kid's menu too IIRC). It's got a great view of the Shibuya crossing.

Following one From Tom's suggestions I have a ton of great spots to hang out and drink sake. None of them child friendly but worth abandoning your kids for. My two favourite cheap but amazing dinners are at つらつら (tsuratsura) in Shibuya and at まごわやさしい　（Magowayasashi) in Mita. The later one is a recent find a ¥3000ish course based on the Japanese food pyramid (beans, sesame, seaweed, vegetables, fish,　mushrooms and potatoes). They might be able to accomodate children but call and ask (or find someone who speaks japnanese too all and ask because they speak no English)

Do forget to eat soba as well , soba a nd seaweed are where you get your fibre in Japan.

Another tip is that right now the banks and Japanese government are on a big push to move businesses to cashless transitions and a lot of shops and restaurants have discounts for paying by some methods. The one that is Ost accessible for foreigners is the Suica transit card which you can either load at stations or set up on your mobile phone. Discounts are 5% in a lot of places which is worth having.

https://atadistance.net/2019/08/16/ios-13-set-up-a-suica-card-in-apple-pay/

Animal cafes - not a fan all the animals look sad and stressed and the owls I find particularly distressed.

Also teach your kids hiragana (and learn it yourself) they’ll have a blast reading signs and other stuff.

Dr Moku seems well regarded for that sort of age. I watched some of their YouTube and it seems solid.

Some basic Japanese, hello/goodbye/please/thank-you always goes down well. You’ll run into a lot of people who don’t speak any English. Worth learning your food allergies if you have any. People can be very accommodating if you do.

random: I have gone to Sendagaya International Clinic (how I ended up walking through Shinjuku Gyoen) because I knew I was too sick to just get over it. And they were super nice, spoke english, saw me same day, and had meds in the office so I didn't have to go somewhere else to pick up. I think the bill was less than my monthly pay for my blue cross blue shield global health insurance.

ed, i was told that sake should only be home stored for 6 months? would you agree? or would you be happy holding it longer under certain conditions?

6 months is about the limit unless you are aging it or it is already aged. I'd keep it in the fridge as well, at the very least is a cool dark place. Upright, not on its side. At cellar temp you might start to see some aging characteristics after 6 months. Home aging can be interesting but it is hit and miss and a bit of a minority sport. One of the importers here ages some stuff for 6months to a few years which is interesting and sometimes a shop might keep something back for longer than 6 months if it has declined a bit since release, it might pick up again - this seems to be particularly true of sakes brewed to be warmed.

Once open, drink quickly or argon, especially if unpasteurised.

Speaking of refrigeration one of my favourite sake/wine shops and standing bars (Kimijimaya in Ebisu Sation). They were advertising a special -5˚C sake fridge for ¥99,800. You could probably go a bit longer at -5˚C.

here are, oddly enough, only a couple of ramen places that do vegetarian.

yeah, it was the dashi/broth. I have found even if they eat fish (and not tonkotsu o course), it's still a little too in depth for some vegetarians. The ones that do totally vegetarian, I recall only a small handful, are online though.

Take the kids to a Daiso. And a Donki.

I’ve been to Tokyo with kids and without and it’s more fun with, as are most things ime. Going without kids in April again.

sounds like bars might not be top of your list, but a friend of mine writes this blog about Tokyo beer bars, some of which are bound to be child-friendly: http://tokyobeerdrinker.blogspot.com/

Definitely learn -

Hello
Good Morning/Evening
Where is the toilet?
Do you have an English Menu?
Thank you
Can we have the check please?

They are all fairly easy to learn, there's probably a ton of YouTube videos around.

Also: How do I turn the bidet function off?

What's the word on the Tsikuji Fish Market, it's gone right?

What's the new one like and do they do the tuna auctions at 5am too?

XP - Haha yeah, your butthole will never be cleaner, so prepare for that :)

Having spent 3 months in japan last year I was in a bathroom store finding how much it would cost to get a toto seat installed at home.

When departing from
narita be sure to check out the public bathroom/toto showroom, to try a wide range of the latest toilet tech.

Oh - also Shimokitazawa for pokey little shops and great tiny bar-eateries/izakaya under the railway lines

Just sayin' - https://diskunion.net/st/shop/e_shop/e_shop_routemap.pdf

i like the yanaka recommendation.

maybe instead of walking around shinjuku, just go out to yokohama too imho

yokohama rules

i went this summer and was staying in ebina with my friend, go to the mountains!!! and chigasaki!!! or wherever idk it was all great

yeah, it was the dashi/broth. I have found even if they eat fish (and not tonkotsu o course), it's still a little too in depth for some vegetarians. The ones that do totally vegetarian, I recall only a small handful, are online though.

― Yerac, Friday, January 10, 2020 1:08 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

ya doing vegan in japan was hard. i kind of accepted that i was probably getting some fish ingredients in certain things. i bought peanuts at a 7-11 and later looked at the ingredients with my translator app and it had butter oil? likewise went to a curry place and got natto which looking back probably had fish ingredients in it. we did manage to find a natural foods kind of shop in chigasaki that had some explicitly vegan stuff, but i gather its not a v common thing in japan. the pickled plum onigiri from family mart are vegan tho and that was my favorite snack food of all.

i had a couple of buddhist vegetarian meals they do at the temples (shojin ryori) served to the public. I am not vegan or vegetarian but they seemed mostly vegan.

Friend of mine sent me this listing for vegetarian/vegan places when I was going there, might be useful?

https://www.happycow.net/asia/japan/tokyo/?sort=highest-rated

Shojin Ryouri is strictly vegan, there are some places to go in Tokyo to eat it but not cheaply like you can in Kyoto. Worth sealing out though because it is both a high point of Japanese cuisine and of vegan food in general.

Even if you aren’t vegetarian, if you are eating out the time in japan it can be hard to get a big pile of veggies on your plate unless you work at it.

yeah and veggies and fruits are pricey in the supermarkets. we ate a lot of cabbage and bananas but the rest were unreasonable

The suggestion of onigiri above is decent too; even if you’re really stuck for something snacky every 7-11 has a good selection of them and many are vegan/vegetarian.

https://scontent-dfw5-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/p720x720/66700839_2371284109811861_7963578461589602304_o.jpg?_nc_cat=104&_nc_ohc=ygfhYgKJiDMAQlfBh7s0vEuRbWh5CxqjW3PPgngLqdoZmFsyXuaor8hdA&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-2.xx&_nc_tp=1&oh=d3f6ed99b9bf2921cbd896341924de9b&oe=5E8EF5E2

this right here

iirc the ones from 7-11 use some fish ingredient even in the nominally fish-less ones

https://scontent-dfw5-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/p720x720/66582574_2371302513143354_6762449294864678912_o.jpg?_nc_cat=102&_nc_ohc=IHDqdp59c6IAQmZMU69wUEmazED5sb5dhUfPpTxxF4uXvwHa-ws-0oC1g&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-2.xx&_nc_tp=1&oh=60b7951e3e03fbb47c237acf27b2d847&oe=5EAD0797

this was the breakfast at my hotel lobby one morning, it was hella good

Ohitashi like that is one of the best ways to get your greens and most supermarkets will have premade stuff. I’ll often buy a tray of that and sashimi for a quick lunch or dinner.

It’s almost always made with katsuodashi (bonito stock).

Many XPs - Yeah Shinjuku is kinda disparate and even a bit crappy unless you know where you're going. If you want to wander there are more interesting built-up, central places like Akihabara, Ginza or Shibuya or Shiodome as I mentioned earlier, the Golden Gai area is fun but not really if you have kids.

If you want to check out Yanaka, take the Yamanote line to Nippori station, once out of the station go left and up the steps to the big cemetery, trust me it's cool, once you've wandered through that you can continue heading south through Yanaka down to Ueno and the park.

touching on tokyo... I finally had natto for the first time yesterday. It was good! It tasted a little like blue cheese to me.

I just booked a room in Kanda for my trip there in a couple of months. There’s a Jiro nearby!

ok, you all have officially put Yanaka on the list.

and i guess i should consider Yokohama.

i was thinking taking the bullet train somewhere so we can experience it / see some scenery flying by / spend a few hours in another town would be cool. but a friend who has been there said (paraphrasing) "it is cool but ultimately you guys will be caught up in the otherwordliness everyday anyway" and making a special trip for the train might not be the best way to spend a day.

one thing i know for sure is it'd need to be a day trip. i don't want to stay overnight somewhere.

thoughts? would Yokohama be a good call here?

I have not been but everyone on Terrace House goes on dates there.

you get to Yokohama on the Tokyo metro, so getting there is no big deal. Depending on where you’re staying it’s closer than parts of Tokyo itself.

never been to yokohama but it has been recommended a lot, esp by tokyo residents. but as a tourist, the things it's famous for (chinatown, ferris wheel, western architecture) maybe don't have the same appeal since I can easily access similar stuff in the US? I'm sure there's more tho since everyone seems to love it.

I've done nikko and kitakamakura day trips, both v nice. oze national park is maybe too far for a day trip but maybe an option if you start real early.

Yokohama's waterfront is nicer than any of Tokyo's. e.g. Odaiba is fine but you can stroll from Yokohama Chinatown to the ferris wheel and it's super nice. Tokyo by contrast seems to hide its waterfronts

If you're going to Yokohama you could carry on a little bit further and go visit Yasujirō Ozu's gravesite at Engakuji Temple in Kamakura, sure the kids would love that! :)

https://vimeo.com/158739118

Yeah the bullet trains are a great service but quite boring to ride - tunnel, flash of town, tunnel, flash of town for lots of it. Plenty of interesting things to see but that is probably just as good from a regular train. Exception being the Tokyo-Kyoto train (is it the Tokaido?) with the view of Fuji san to the north, a cliche but still OMG when you see it.
Another great option is Takaosan which is about an hour west of Shinjuku by train - cool train ride, sweet little town and then either a hike or a cable railway to the top of Mt Takao and the temples up there. You can take a long downhill walk on the trails through the forests, absolute magic.

Went there with the wife and our 9 year old last Spring. Robot cafe is interesting in a raggedy late 90’s Flaming Lips concert sort of way, but it is a tourist trap with bad food. It’s not bad, mind you, but it is the one thing I would skip if I had a do-over.

Teamlab is amazing, get there as early as possible. Even if you buy your tix in advance, the line is crazy long to get in and some of the rooms may have a long line once you get in.

We did an owl cafe which was cool. It is a chill thing to do with the kids.

The 7-11’s are great and they have very good prepackaged food if you need a snack.

Don’t try to cram in too much when traveling with kids. I hyperplanned everyday and towards the wnd of the trip everybody was fried.

thank u, good insights ^

i swear, everyone who has been to Tokyo talks about (a) the 7-11s, and (b) the toilets

Lawson>>>>>7-11

Don’t try to cram in too much when traveling with kids. I hyperplanned everyday and towards the wnd of the trip everybody was fried.

^^second this, and agree that the bullet train is really not all that worth it unless you're going further out like Kyoto.

Just went to Tokyo in November and these were what my 12 year old daughter enjoyed the most:

- eating all kinds of cute and colourful food in Harajuku: crepes, rainbow grilled cheese, animal ice creams.

- exploring temples in Kamakura. Favourites were Hokokuji which has a bamboo grove that's like a mini-version of Kyoto's Arashiyama grove, and Kotoku-in aka the Great Buddha temple (you can go inside the giant Buddha!)

- Teamlab Borderless - echoing everyone's advice to get there super early, and even though there's like a million interesting things to see the moment you enter, try to head straight to the floating nest exhibit before the queue gets super long. We ended up spending 4.5 hours in total in there.

- the toy section in Akihabara's massive Yodobashi Camera.

- Ueno Park - so many museums, just pick one. And since you guys are there in March/April, it'll also be a great place to see sakura (cherry blossoms).

Other tips:
- do check out tokyocheapo.com to see if there are any small markets/events you can go to in whichever area you're visiting - we went to a couple and just ate so much good, cheap, street food. great places to find small souvenirs/toys too.

- If you can get time away from the kids, Gen Yamamoto is an incredible bar/cocktail experience.

- Another day-trip option might be Hakone - the lake and the open air art museum there were amazing, although I do recommend staying overnight, just because being able to stay in a ryokan with an onsen (hot springs) was incredible. Do check if the local transport links like the cable car and local trains are working though - a lot of them were down on my last trip due to post-typhoon damage.

yeah, i like lawson over 7-11. and probably FamilyMart over 7-11. I don't recall anything super special about the bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo to make it an item unless you are super into trains.

The Kawaii Monster Cafe in Harajuku was good fun (and the food wasn't bad either), but ymmv depending on your Kyary Pamyu Pamyu fandom level.

Seconding Kamakura for an out-of-town trip (although Takaosan sounds good too). It's almost a mini-Kyoto an hour away from Tokyo, and the big golden Buddha is a sight to see (and go inside too, if it's open).

xpost

Fun food recs, though a lot of these places will involve some queueing unless you go early or at odd hours (like 3pm). Some branches are more popular than others as well.

- Fluffy pancakes: https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/restaurants/best-fluffy-pancakes-in-tokyo
- Gigantic bowls of udon at TsuruTonTan in Ginza: https://matcha-jp.com/en/5461
- If you eat meat, gyukatsu or deepfried beef was easily the best meal I've had in Japan: https://www.gyukatsu-motomura.com/en/

Apart from those, it's fairly easy to get good tempura, ramen, udon, soba, sushi etc anywhere. In three trips to Japan, I think I've only had a couple of legitimately bad food experiences and it was always at one of those tourist trap restaurants that's just outside a popular temple or something.

For mobile coverage, getting a pocket wifi is worth it... you don't need a SIM card, can connect to 4-5 devices, coverage is great, and way cheaper than roaming. You can rent them at the airport.

Also Google Maps is your best friend. Aside from very good directions, it will inform you of train delays and even tell you which platforms / coach car for you to board or get off, so that you won't accidentally go out at the wrong exit (which happens often at the bigger stations).

Yeah, the phrase - kono chizu de ima dokoni imasu ka - served me well.

If you get lost though, people, in my experience, were super kind. A young student girl walked us all the way from the rear of the Nanzen-Ji temple to the front, which was right out of her path. An older gentleman took us to the gate at Tsukiji Market at 4am, he was leaving a conbini and already heading in the opposite direction, probably put a good 20 mins on his morning walk.

I went to Kamakura for the beaches, which were not that great (even in July) but my kids wanted to say they'd touched the Pacific Ocean. The monorail getting there was very cool though, like a roller coaster kinda!

I'm trying to figure out the best non-flying way from Kyoto to Seoul. I may end up flying but the other possibilities are intriguing too.

Lawson>>>>>7-11

and natural lawson is the god tier konbini store

also, missed some vegan discussion. it's tough to find things but not impossible.

there are vegan cafes here-and-there. komenoko (米の子) in suginami and nezunoya (根津の谷) in bunkyou are both v much worth a stop if you're nearby.

for vegan ramen, try chabuzen (薬膳食堂ちゃぶ膳) in setagaya or t's tan tan in tokyo station. both quite good.

and quality is generally so high across the board, that ime, it's hard to strike out just tying out random spots that look good.

hi, most recent thread reviver here ... our trip is starting to take shape.

we arrive on a Thursday (2/27), will just chill / stay close to home on Friday. Saturday and Sunday are open.

Monday (3/2) we have tix to the Ghibli museum.

Tuesday is open.

Wednesday/Thursday (3/4-5) are Disneyland and Disneysea.

Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon open. We leave Tuesday (3/10).

I've compiled this entire thread into one document and am trying to figure out what else to do. I'm sure I'll be back with questions.

Also, I missed early on that Yerac asked where we're staying. It's the Hotel Sunroute, very very close to Shinjuku station: https://sunrouteplazashinjuku.jp/ (although we will move over to a Disney hotel for our Disney nights.)

I am also hoping to see live music at least one night! I even FB messaged Leo Takami and he wrote me back and said he might have a gig on 3/4 ... one of my Disney nights. :(

More soon ...

im also headed to tokyo for 4 days in march, so thanks everyone for bumping this thread, I've found some great suggestions reading it.

our trip seems to be trending in a bad direction w/r/t postponement because of coronavirus. :(

i recognize that our chances of having any trouble are very slim, but my wife has a chronic disease (she is no immuno-compromised at the moment), we have two kids in tow, museums are starting to close for the next few weeks, Disneyland Shanghai and Hong Kong are already closed (so would Tokyo be next?), travel advisory just moved from level 1 to level 2 ... things are starting to add up.

if anyone has any thoughts, i'm all ears.

I'm going there in early April, and won't change my plans unless my flight is cancelled. But I'm going solo and have no chronic diseases.

just to close the loop, we delayed our trip at the last second. now going in late September / early October.

they announced Disneyland and DisneySea closures when we would've been on the plane heading that way.

i feel very fortunate with how the timing worked out and look forward to going later this year.

Definitely for the best. It looks like I’ll have to postpone my own trip from late April to October.

our flights are cancelled with a decent chance of rebooking, with a further decent chance in turn of cancellation as far as i can tell

Oh! I stayed at the Sunroute Plaza on my first trip there, so sorry that it's having to be delayed :(

how did you like it, Maresn3st? we just moved our March reservation there to September.

It was only one night but if memory serves it was perfectly decent.

However, if you can be arsed and the money is the same I would stay here, lovely hotel in an interesting area, great views because it's the top 15 floors of a tower, similar to the famous Park Hyatt. Shinjuku is very central but boy it's hectic, Shidome/Shimbashi is much more chill.

https://parkhoteltokyo.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBgHhEskLMU

You could check out the Ghibli Clock and the Nakagin Capsule Tower.

You can do monthly rentals in the Nakagin capsule tower which I might do next time I long stay in Tokyo.