I want to start solo traveling around this time (or later) next year and I'm fascinated by the idea of going to Tokyo, but my "plan" is pretty sparse at the moment. Honestly, the draw to it I think is just how vastly different it is from anything I've ever experienced before.
I generally shy away from large cities here in the states, but here they're mostly known for being not walkable and full of a-holes. I think the other draw to Tokyo and Japan is the general polite nature of the people, (or is that a false stereotype?) and that just aligns well to who I am. I've done a decent amount of US travel, but everything seems the same with the same strip malls in every town, same junk in every shop, same, well, everything.
The things I want to do basically boil down to "wander around and find cool stuff". For example, I want to get a ton of silly toys from vending machines (Gashapon right?) and come home with an army of cute things and Pokemon stuff. Probably bring home a bunch of the packaging from random things because the overall graphics aesthetic in Japan is just so pretty.
I want to just wander a market where I probably have no idea what most of it is, but just smell and see and absorb it all. Walk through a shopping mall with all sorts of stuff I've never seen before and just take pictures of anything I find pretty or interesting.
I want to eat all sorts of things from street vendor places that I've never heard of or dreamt of eating back home – or things where the US just doesn't compare to the real thing.
Overall, just take in and experience something wholly different from my normal life.
I can do my research while I save up, and I know I'll have to because I'm totally stupid on all things Japan and Tokyo. So that's not so much my concern as the general question of is planning a trip to kind of wander and get lost in one of the biggest cities in the world insane? (I do plan on having a full understanding of the public transport and apps to help me there, so I don't mean literally lost)
What are some general areas that would be good for me to start researching and any tips on where to look for information? It seems most travel stuff I find on Google is either clickbait or influencers, and I want real opinions. Right now I'm thinking cultural must-knows are a start. Today I learned that it's rude to eat while you walk and to carry around something for your trash.
I should find what general neighborhoods I am interested in and do a day in each I'm thinking? Akihabara has come up a lot of times with my looking around today, but I'm not sure about other areas.
Help? I'm fully willing to help myself as well, I just could use some pointers there too I guess because my searching has mostly brought me to useless "Top 10" type stuff that all point to the same places. Thank you!
by mistegirl