Tokyo: 10 Things to Do

Tokyo: 10 Things to Do
Tokyo can be a marvelous mix of modern living as well as old-fashioned manners, advanced high-tech gadgets as well as cutesy cartoon mascots. It really is terribly crowded, yet might be strangely quiet. It's home towards understated, and the actual wacky, and you often discover their whereabouts right next together on the pavement. That's the beauty of the not-so-pretty city — that, and the fantastic food and unrivaled mass transit method. There are shrines as well as stone lanterns as well as other traces of older Japan scattered one of many skyscrapers, swanky shopping malls and hole-in-the-wall noodle stores. The trick would be to sample it most, to visit the actual serene garden along with the massive office tower using a sky deck. Here's how to see the loveliest — as well as liveliest — features of Tokyo in in one day or two.

1. Tsukiji Seafood Market

The planet's largest, busiest fish market has been a favorite desired destination for jet-lagged visitors with predawn several hours to fill. But the key reason for going with 5 a. m. is to capture the live tuna online auctions. Before you head out, however, be sure to check this website to determine if public accessibility is permitted that day. If consequently, it will be on the first-come, first-serve foundation, and limited to help 120 people, mentioned in two changes of 60. You'll be able to register starting with 4: 30 a. m. at the bass information center inside the Kachidoki Gate down Harumi Street. If you'dactual day's catch, nevertheless, you won't have to dodge a great number of trucks and trolleys.

In the event the wholesale marThis has been said that no stop by at Tsukiji is complete without a sushi breakfast. There are many sushi counters in this article, but to locate best ones, it is advisable to wend your way to the restaurant area near the wholesale fruit and vegetable market, just inside the main gate down Shin-ohashi Street. To acquire there, walk in through the gate, with the berries and vegetable market on the right, pass the off-limits filling zone (with it's stacks of polystyrene boxes) and turn left with the main road. Go walking three short obstructs, then turn eventually left again down a tiny side street. Sushi Dai may be the second shop on the right. Look to the faded green doorway curtains and intensely long line away front. Daiwa-Zushi, a bit farther down on a single side of the road (curtains are red), is as good. Expect to pay between 300 and 800 yen each generously cut, amazingly fresh piece. Purchase the chu toro (fatty tuna). To help you get your bearings, click on this map.ket odors too fishy to suit your needs, a less stinky alternative is Tsukiji's outside market, a warren associated with narrow streets filled with stalls selling fresh seafood along with other specialty items, like real wasabi. You should purchase bowls and sashimi kitchen knives there too. Right in the actual thick of oahu is the reliably superb Sushizanmai's honten (main branch), open one day. like to do your exploring with a more reasonable hr, keep in head that by 9 a. m., business should have already started to help wind down. You are going to still see fishmongers filleting the 

2. Sumo

Forget kabuki; sumo is much better theater. If that you are in Tokyo during one of the three grand tourneys — 15-day situations in January, May and September — you'll be able to catch many of the action at Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo's Nationwide Sumo Hall. Times, scheduled throughout manufactured, usually last for only a few intense seconds (bodies secure, twist, ripple, drop) with plenty of posturing (stretching, stomping, salt-tossing) among. Try to be inside the arena from the beginning of a completely new round, when the rikishi parade into the arena wearing ceremonial aprons above their loincloths, in addition to sometimes a past champion demonstrates several classic moves. Observe: The morning in addition to midday contests usually are not usually well gone to, so the hall will be quieter, the levels of competition less stimulating, but tickets are simpler to come by. Book ahead in order to go on some sort of Friday or Wednesday evening, when the area is packed with cheering spectators who prefer to throw their seat cushions after a particularly heated go with.

If it's not tournament season, attempt to catch an early-morning training session at a beya, or maybe sumo stable. Some are more foreigner-friendly than people; recent scandals (including fees of bout-fixing) get put many for the defensive. Have a Japanese people speaker call the afternoon for the day before you intend to go, to ensure the team just isn't on tour which visitors are acceptable. You might request the staff pictures hotel if they've got an in with one of the teams. Sessions might start around 6 a. m. and are commonly over by 8 or maybe 9 a. m. Inside the secure, keep quiet and dealt with; you may should sit on to the ground, legs crossed. , nor take flash photographs. You might be expected to manufacture a small donation.

Click here for a complete directory active stables; lots of people are in Ryogoku, a couple of minutes by train from Akihabara for the JR Sobu Chuo collection.

General admission lotto tickets for Ryogoku Kokugikan can be purchased as same-day seats on tournament nights: $20 for adults, $2 for youngsters ages 4 to help 15 (kids under 4 enter free); tickets are usually cash only. The actual box office starts at 8 some sort of. m., and levels of competition begins at 9 some sort of. m. and lasts into the evening. Click here to the full tournament plan. Take the JR . Yamanote line to help Akihabara and transfer towards the Sobu line pertaining to Ryogoku station; the stadium is to your neighbors, and Kokonoe-beya is usually a 5-minute taxi journey from there. The actual Toei Oedo collection also stops from Ryogoku station.

3. Meiji Shrine

Specializing in the late 19th-century emperor which opened Japan on the West, Tokyo's most well-known Shinto shrine is usually wonderfully serene as well as austere, not colourful or flashy similar to other Asian areas of worship, and is less of a new tourist trap than Senso-ji, the big Buddhist temple across town in Asakusa. The 40-foot-high (12-meter) torii gate on the entrance to the 200-acre park uses 1, 500-year-old cypress, and there is a second one think it�s great closer to the shrine itself. Stop at the cleansing station where you can dip into a new communal water tank and purify the hands and mouth prior to offering up a new 

On Sunday mornings you'll probably see a standard wedding procession (or two) through the courtyard — the bride in the white kimono and hood and also the groom in their formal black gown, walking togeprayer. You can produce wishes on little waste paper and wrap them onto the prayer wall, or do because the locals do — chuck some yen into your offering box (it's close to the enormous taiko drum), bow your mind twice, clap a second time, and bow yet again.

ther under an enormous red parasol, with Shinto priests at the forefront and all of those other wedding party trailing behind. Shrines, big or even small, can find interesting on celebration days.

4. Yoyogi Park

Yoyogi Park in Shibuya-ku will be the perfect comic relief after a low-key shrine quit. With living area so tight on this city, parks are classified as the places for club meetings and practice sessions and also play rehearsals, and Yoyogi draws a number of talent, from horn people to hip-hop dancers to help rockabilly gangs, including poodle skirts as well as Elvis-inspired pompadours, who usually gather because of the park's east side entrance on Sundays to help jam to United states pop music from your '50s. Somehow this scene is as pleasing than the Medieval Lolitas and Cosplay children, costumed fans associated with Japanese manga as well as anime characters lurking on the Harajuku bridge, but I usually take my friends to see them too.

Yoyogi Park incorporates a mellower side that is certainly also worth checking out — areas towards north and gulf, past the water fall pond and main field. There's a riding a bicycle center (81-(0)3-3465-6855) northwest of the central field that rents bikes, as well as tandems, for a few hundred yen (you're not likely to go off the way, which is extended and lovely) plus a snack hut with tables that offers ice cream as well as beer. There is additionally a little puppy run, so you're bound to see at least a number of terriers decked out in rhinestones as well as denim or chihuahuas dressed like cheerleaders.

Yoyogi Park is open by dawn to dusk. Admission is totally free. Take the JR Yamanote line to help Harajuku, Omotesando exit, or the Chiyoda series to Yoyogi-koen, exit 4.

5. Shinjuku Gyoen Countrywide Garden

If Yoyogi Park will be the most entertaining eco-friendly space in Tokyo, the Shinjuku Gyoen Countrywide Garden is the most beautiful. Ask for the map in British ("Ay-go mappoo? ") as a person walk in to help you to be sure to kick or punch all the key gardens: English Landscape, French Formal, Japanese Traditional (with teahouse) plus the curiously named Mommy and Child Forest (Haha to Ko zero Mori). There's also a beautiful Taiwan Pavilion; go inside and check out the second-story house windows.

In late Drive and early Apr, cherry blossom period, the central garden areas are in particular stunning. Consider getting a picnic lunch. You can buy a variety of take-away items in the gourmet food hall inside the basement level associated with Takashimaya department keep, just south of the Shinjuku Station (east of the JR line tracks) in addition to about 500 meters west of the garden's Shinjuku gate entrance. If you receive the itch to search, there's also an enormous Tokyu Hands department store inside the same mega-mall complicated (called Times Square), selling many methods from gold body tights to Japanese tea sets and letter head. Next door is really a behemoth Kinokuniya bookstore. The foreign books floor is a superb place to uncover Japanese manga that's been translated into British; some of they're even suitable pertaining to kids.

My next favorite garden in Tokyo is Hama-rikyu (admission: $3), which has been a feudal lord's retreat over the Edo period. There's an old-style teahouse on a tidal pond, the 300-year-old pine, a grove associated with plum trees and also a peony field. The duck searching grounds were once as used by the Tokugawa shoguns. (The chaos of Shiodome skyscrapers simply beyond makes the startling backdrop. ) Located in the mouth of the actual Sumida River, Hama-rikyu is also a stop on a traveler ferry line that one could take up in order to Asakusa or out and about to Odaiba.

Shinjuku Gyoen will be open from 9 the. m. to several p. m. Mondy through Sunday, and closed Mondy in weeks where Monday is the national holiday. Admission is about $2 for grownups, less for college students and children. Carry the JR Yamanote line to Shinjuku, southern exit; walk eastern side down Koshu Kaido, a principal thoroughfare. Or acquire the Toei Shinjuku line to Shinjuku-Sanchome.

For Takashimaya or Tokyu Fingers, the entrance will be across from Shinjuku Lower Terrace — following Krispy Kreme, turn left in addition to take the bridge in the train tracks.

6. Town Landscapes

There's a great deal taking place on and also around the popular Roppongi Hills complex — the back garden, the cinema, tons of stores, cafés and also dining establishments — yet if you keep concentrated, you could end up within and also away within an hour or so and also struck the many best parts. Start off on Louise Bourgeois's huge search engine spider statue, Maman, after that go to the Mori Tower system for the 52nd-floor paying attention outdoor patio known as Tokyo Town See. The actual $15 solution includes entry on the Mori Fine art Art gallery, where indicates are the intriguingly contemporary on the actually unusual (one the latest present acquired my own little ones running for the door). A great more $3, an individual can move up on the 54th flooring Air Outdoor patio, which works your border with the rooftop heliport. There's a bilingual photographer readily available who will acquire your image, Tokyo Tower system guiding an individual, with his nice digicam. Acquiring your $15 produce, that is expecting an individual downstairs, is usually completely suggested.

If you choose to stick around with regard to lunch time, I propose sushi on Pintokona. Get your escalators, which might be at the search engine spider statue, along a pair of plane tickets (follow signs for the Tokyo Metro's Hibiya station). The actual restaurant is usually kaiten-style, so you just aid you to ultimately your artfully arranged food because they roll by on a conveyor belt, or perhaps use the image food list for you to let the chief cook learn what you want. At the end with the food, part with the delay workers will certainly say the reader pictures pile associated with clothing for you to tally your costs; price ranges tend to be kept on a chips inserted within every single menu, and also generally range between $2 for you to $7, even though some expense much more.

On the other hand, you can see your skyline free of charge through the the top Tokyo Metropolitan Authorities Office buildings creating (TMGO), which offers a pair of podiums and also a pair of paying attention veranda's around the 45th flooring. The actual TMGO holds with the western world conclusion with the Shinjuku skyscraper area at the Washington inn, which, as an aside, is an effective area for lunch — one of several inn dining establishments is usually Zauo Fishing boat Café, where one can hook your fish of which in the long run winds up on your menu (you use a net for you to scoop the dwell a single out of your large tank). The actual Park your car Hyatt Tokyo, your inn showcased in the flick Lost within Translation, is also nearby, and also the cash an individual spend less around the no cost watch on TMGO can cover a pair of drinks with the Hyatt's swanky New york Clubhouse.

If you wish your after-dark watch — you'll get your very lighting, and you would not begin to see the piles — look at your schedules: your TMGO podiums tend to be open up past due, right up until 11 s. m., just a number of night time monthly (the To the north system around the first and also next Mondy, and also the Southerly system, the 2nd and also 4th Monday). Roppongi's paying attention outdoor patio is usually open up right up until 1 the. m. (last access on midnight) each night.

Standard mature entry on the Mori Tower system paying attention outdoor patio is usually $15 ($10 with regard to individuals, $5 with regard to children). It includes access on the Mori Fine art Art gallery, and that is open up everyday 10 the. m. for you to 10 s. m. (Tuesday right up until 5 s. m. ), and also typically sales techniques for two main days in between shows. If be the case, your combo solution should include entry on the separate Mori Martial arts Core Gallery, which typically costs an extra $5. So that Roppongi Hills, acquire your Hibiya or perhaps Toei Oedo brand for you to Roppongi section.

7. Shibuya Crossing

It would certainly be a shame to arrive at Tokyo and not go for a walk across the renowned intersection outside Shibuya Section. On sunny afternoons or maybe clear evenings, the encircling area is filled with shoppers, students, young families and commuters. Once the lights turn red when it reaches this busy junction, they all turn red as well in every route. Traffic stops completely and pedestrians surge in to the intersection from almost all sides, like marbles spilling out of a box. You will notice this moment associated with organized chaos through the second-story window of the Starbucks in your Tsutaya building about the crossing's north facet.

After experiencing your "scramble, " follow the trendy teenagers into Shibuya 109, a huge shiny mall with an increase of than 100 retailers, for a glance at the latest in disposable fashion. Or duck back to Shibuya Station and right down to the bustling Tokyu Food Show on an elegant array associated with gourmet eats and an education inside local tastes: smoked eel, fried chicken, tiny fish greens, octopus on a new stick, seafood-and-rice seaweed wraps and much more. The prepared dinners and grocery items are extremely sold from pristine counters amid a new chorus of "Irashaimasen! " ("Welcome! "). You can find aisles full associated with beautifully packaged doggie snacks — rice crackers, mochi cakes, jellied confections — nevertheless the pickle counter is definitely the.

8. Dinner in addition to Drinks in Ebisu

It is simple to spend a lot of money on meals with this city, but it's more pleasant to rub elbows with salarymen with a standing bar or drink in some local color for the cheap at a small izakaya. Ebisu, the trendy neighborhood throughout Shibuya-ku, is filled with these establishments, which focus on grilled meat in addition to vegetables, sashimi and other casual fare, grilled in tiny living rooms and served upon petite plates. Almost by definition, skin extensive drink choices, and are all to easy to spot by this doorway curtains (called noren, ) in addition to chalkboard menus propped in place out front. You won't have to venture not even close to the train station to get side-street blocks filled with them, and a nearby is easily accessible — only 1 stop away from Shibuya for the JR Yamanote brand, and two stops from Roppongi for the Tokyo Metro's Hibiya brand.

For a genuinely old-school Japanese nightclub experience, try Saiki, a two-story joint using a sparsely furnished timber interior and lived-in feel. The place seats less than two dozen for the first floor, and also fewer in this tatami room upstairs, so don't try to go with a large party of gaijin in tow if you don't pre-book the second floor. There's no English menu so you'll must wing it (you might study thier food section of ones phrasebook beforehand). The sashimi plate is a winner; also try out the raw fruit and vegetables with red miso dip. The gyu miso is a fragrant stew associated with devil's tongue (a. ok. a. elephant yam) in addition to tripe; the tempura carries a deep-fried ginger root — the truth. To find Saiki, leave the Ebisu JR station with the west exit (by this escalator and law enforcement officials box, or koban) in addition to cross Komazawa-dori, the principle road. Head down this narrow street looking at you. Or for anyone who is using the Metro, take exit a couple of, and at the the surface of the station steps, come up with a U-turn, then ones first right. You'll be walking north and really should see green signals on utility poles announcing you are in "1-7" (Chome Zero. 1, Block Zero. 7 of Ebisu-nishi, or perhaps West Ebisu). Saiki's constructing number is 12, greater half a block down for the right. The door slides open.

There's another street set with izakaya off Komazawa-dori that will starts opposite this SMBC bank constructing. The road is anchored using one corner by the KFC, with it is life-size statue associated with Colonel Sanders (sometimes clothed as Santa Claus, or perhaps in samurai costume) custom passersby out entry, and a Choco-Cro café for the other. The first door for the right, just at night chocolate croissants, leads downstairs and into the terrific Momotaro (open nighttime from 5 p. m. to 6 the. m. ). Search for the sign while using Japanese Hiragana script plus the English words "sumibi yakitori 'n wine. " Here it is possible to order individual products — prices usually are per stick — or for anyone who is feeling adventurous, get the set selection, a generous number of courses priced around $40 that has the full selection of edible chicken parts, from gizzards to be able to hearts to delectably crispy epidermis.

Buri (open nighttime from 5 p. m. to 3 the. m. ), a spiffy tachinomiya known to its sake menu, is a couple blocks for more distance down that same road for the left, and it too serves tasty bits — try out the asparagus draped in pork — for $2 to $3 the skewer. At the far end in this lane, before you reach another main road, is usually Honoji; the signs are typical in Japanese, so look for that rather brightly lit room with food and drink prices tacked through to the walls (there's an enormous picture window ahead that gives a glimpse inside). There is not any English menu right here, but don't be concerned; just say to your server, "Osusume" (oh-soo-soo-may), which usually basically means, "Whatever people recommend. " Yet another phrase to learn: "Nama biru, onegaishimasu" (nah-mah bee-roo — roll the "r" — oh-neh-guy-shee-mah-soo), which suggests, "Draft beer, please. " Honoji is usually open daily for supper (5: 30 p. m. to 11 p. m. ), and every day except Sundays in addition to holidays for lunch (11: 30 the. m. to a couple of p. m. ).

Japanese bar food isn't the one reason to go to Ebisu for evening meal. On the other side with the train station you can find a two-story Toraji Korean customer, where you can grill your own personal choice cuts associated with beef. Take Komazawa dori going north toward Meiji dori; in the motorcycle parking good deal, right before this bridge that ranges the canal, turn right and you may see the huge red chili pepper sign straight onward. Open daily for supper (5: 30 p. m. to 1 the. m., on Sundays until finally midnight) and for lunch from 11: 30 am to a couple of: 30pm, Monday to be able to Friday. Book in advance if you need a private Japanese-style place upstairs, where your shoes must come off and you also sit on ones, but there's enough space under the table so that you can dangle your hip and legs.

Or how in relation to sampling Chinese noodles, Japanese-style? Tonkatsu ramen is a regional specialty coming from Kyushu, and nobody can it better than this cooks at Ippudo. Not like soy and miso-based ramen meals, the broth is usually creamy with pork fat which is absolutely delicious. Make sure you throw in several spicy bean seedlings or pickled ginger. In addition there are fresh garlic — whole cloves than it, and a push is provided. Extra noodles only cost some bucks more. Vacation to Ippudo will take you across this Ebisu border in addition to into Hiroo, one block east from the Shibuyabashi intersection, in which Komazawa dori matches Meiji dori. Search for the pedestrian bridge. You will cross Meiji-dori for the east side. Turn right in addition to Ippudo is on your left, past the tn post office and next to be able to One-Dish Thai. The particular shop name looks only in kanji; search for the red to remain the sidewalk, which lights up at night. It's open coming from 11 a. mirielle. until 4 the. m. daily, of course, if you've had a lot of shochu sours, a bowl of noodles is the thing to counteract tomorrow's hangover.

9. Karaoke

Within Japan, karaoke usually happens inside a private room along with your friends or friends, with a waitress delivering drinks. However at Smash Hits, located at this west end from the Hiroo shotengai (neighborhood buying street), you accomplish on stage prior to a random, rowdy target audience. There's a solid catalog of English songs from which to choose, and emcee Saito-san could shuffle the order in favor of newcomers, so you'll not have to wait long to create your evening debut. Cheer the salarymen taking turns with the mic — lots of people are practiced regulars exactly who favor Billy Fran, Guns 'N Flowers and Queen — and they'll show you love inturn. Inside these cozy basement quarters is stadium-style seating and endearingly grubby décor. The particular walls are papered using album covers (remember LPs? ) and Polaroid snapshots connected with patrons from many years gone by. Smash Hits is available Tuesday through Wednesday nights, from 7 g. m. to 3 any. m.; the $40 handle charge includes a couple of drinks. It's a 5-minute walk in the Hiroo stop about the Hibiya line; carry Exit 2, turn right, then round the corner at the wine shop and walk towards the end of this block.

If you'd rather not face other foreigners — raise the risk of going to be able to Smash Hits is that it must be occasionally overrun using expats (who usually arrive in any drunken horde following midnight) — try out the red-velvet swathed Jan Ken Pon, the japanese name for Rock and roll, Paper, Scissors (it's actually whatever you chant while water removal your fist, before the throw). Most nights a dwell cover band does (usually disco, heart, rock or pop hits in the '50s, '60s, '70s or '80s) and customers can register to sing in among sets. Note: in the course of early evening time, house lights are usually up and tunes volume is down, while elegantly clothed hostesses work everyone in the room (there's a fee for table conversation). The particular club's atmosphere is vastly improved following 11pm, as a lot more patrons hit this dance floor. Jan Ken Pon is open from 7 g. m. to 3: 30 a. l. Monday through Wednesday (until 3 any. m. on Friday), and from 6 g. m. to 1 any. m. on Wednesday and holidays. Cover charge is approximately $25 for males, $20 for girls. Take the Hibiya Neighborhood line or JUNIOR Yamanote line to be able to Ebisu.

Harboring any rock 'n roll fantasy? At Gigabar, positioned in Minami-Aoyama (next entrance to Roppongi, the epicenter in this city's nightlife) you are able to sing — as well as play guitar, bass or drums — which has a live band. The particular musical "menu" databases some 200 music, including six simply by Deep Purple (did those guys really have that many strikes? ) as properly as tracks by companies Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones. A person pay $10 every performance, plus any $12 per particular person table charge. It is a restaurant and full service bar far too. Gigabar is available 7 p. l. to 3 any. m. Monday to be able to Saturday. Live models end at 1 any. m. (2 any. m. Saturday).

10. Daimaru's Kimono and Yukata

Most departing visitors leave area from Tokyo Place. Before you head out, check out the actual Daimaru department store not far away — just beyond the station's Yaesu access. The kimono shop within the 10th floor is just not geared to visitors; it's where Japanese ladies visit order custom-made ensembles. This samples on present, and the cost attached, will carry your breath absent. The shop also stocks the full range of equipment — obi, head of hair combs, toe socks, thong shoes, purses, fans — all nice to think about it, some possibly affordable. Ask the actual salesladies about yukata, the lightweight cotton robes that you're going to find in the closet of every ryokan (traditional Japanese people inn). The keep stocks lovely, traditional blue-and-white geometric patterns for men and orchid and bamboo prints for females, in a full range of sizes, including Us XL. Prices are usually $50 to $60, belt included. To buy your self more browsing time, direct impatient friends on the samurai swords in display down the actual hall.

Oriental Bazaar, any tourist magnet in Omotesando Street, offers a much bigger number of yukata (along with a number of other souvenirs) and robes there opt for $10 to $15 under Daimaru's, but the site can get mobbed in weekends. After braving the actual basement, which provides kitsch galore, head upstairs on the much quieter minute floor for a glance at the vintage and antique items, including classic woodblock prints on the ukiyo-e masters. This store is sealed Thursdays.