Tokyo - what should i do there?

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.