Hi everyone! My boyfriend and I will be visiting Japan for the first time this upcoming February. Since we are there for such a short time, we wanted to stay in the Tokyo area so we can really enjoy the city. We are in our late 20’s and love street food, good food in general lol, anime, designer/street clothing brands, cars, etc. We want to experience local life, see shrines, visit parks, and window shop. Any suggestions or feedback would be greatly appreciated!
Day 1️⃣: Friday (Shinjuku | Shibuya)
•7pm – Arrive at Narita
•Take Narita Express to Shinjuku & check-in Ryokan
•Walk & explore Piss Alley & Shinjuku station
•Take subway to Shibuya Station & explore: Mega Don Quijote, Shibuya Crossing, Haciko
•Eat ramen for dinner in Shibuya
•Go back to ryokan, enjoy onsen and sleep
Day 2️⃣: Saturday (Asakusa | Akihabara | Ueno | Tokyo Imperial Palace)
•Early morning subway to Asakusa: Senso-ji Temple, Nakamise Street
•Eat okonomiyaki/teppanyaki
•Walk along Sumida river/park
•Take subway to Ueno: Visit Ameyoko Street & eat snacks
•Walk or take subway to Akihabara and explore
•Eat Roast Beef Ono or standing yakiniku
•Subway to Tokyo Station and explore Tokyo Imperial Palace
Day 3️⃣: Sunday (Ghibli Museum | Harajuku | Yurakucho | Ginza )
• Check-out ryokan
• Ghibli Museum
• Take subway to Harajuku
• Eat Gyukatsu for lunch
• Walk + explore Yoyogi park & Meiji Shrine
• Explore Takeashita & streetwear stores
• Take subway to Tokyo Station
• Explore Yurakucho and Ginza
• Take subway to Akihabara, dinner @ standing yakiniku or Roast Beef Ono
• Take subway to Maihama & check-in hotel
Day 4️⃣: Monday (Tokyo Disneyland)
• Tokyo Disneyland Park open till close (8am-9pm)
• 9pm – we are open to taking the subway somewhere for late-night food if anyone has suggestions!
Day 5️⃣: Tuesday (Tokyo DisneySea)
• Check-out hotel
• DisneySea open till close (8am-9pm)
• 9:30 pm – take subway to Shibuya & check-in hotel
• Ramen or sushi in Shibuya for late dinner
Day 6️⃣: Wednesday (Last day)
• Take subway to Tsukiji: Tsukiji Fish Market
• TeamLab Planets
• Unicorn Gundam statue
• Tokyo Tower
• Hang around Shibuya and Harajuku
• 5pm – Take Narita Express from Shibuya to Narita airport
• 8:30 pm – Flight back home
Other questions:
1. Would you change anything? Is it too jam-packed? Should I rearrange my plan of attack and visit things on certain days?
2. Does anyone have recommendations of neighborhoods with thrift stores and local coffee shops?
3. Is it worth it to do Disney for 2 days? — Should we skip Disneyland and do just 1 day at DisneySea so we have another day to explore around Tokyo? We’re really hoping for low crowds and shorter lines since it’s Feb and on a weekday
4. Does anyone know of any car meets in Tokyo we could attend? — My bf loves car culture and the F&F movies so it would be cool to experience this
5. Has anyone had experience with asking their hotel to send your luggage to another hotel or the airport? Or using the luggage storage at the subway stations?
— This would be super useful for us when exploring and transferring hotels.
6. Any recs for fun bars, clubs, or izakayas?
4 comments
There’s some odd formatting in your post. It’s a bit hard to read.
The grouping of areas makes sense by location, maybe not by timeframe. Piss Alley, and to a lesser extent Ameyoko, are good for evening. Yurakucho/Ginza, also might want to stick around for dinner/drinks after your shopping. Lots of good cocktail bars in Ginza. The outer gardens of the Imperial Palace close around sunset, and the inner ones need a guided tour, so that shouldn’t be the last plan of the day.
Be aware Ghibli Museum tickets are currently only available to residents of Japan — you can check back later to see if this changes. Tsukiji Fish Market is also closed. There are still sushi breakfast stores there but I don’t know if it’s worth going.
Disney — Two days seems like a waste for such a short trip. Especially when it means two added hotel swaps. It’s great but have your fill with one day, one park and then do something else. DisneySea is more unique and romantic. You could spend more time in Tokyo or go for a day trip if you’re feeling up for it. Hakone and Kamakura are stellar and easy day trips from Tokyo.
For thrift stores and coffee shops, check out [Shimokitazawa](https://matcha-jp.com/en/4009) for modern and trendy, or [Koenji and Nishi-Ogikubo](https://matcha-jp.com/en/10592) for retro and down-to-earth.
Enjoy your trip!
If you want to do everything you want to do on your first day with a 7pm arrival time at Narita, you’re probably going to miss the last trains back to Shibuya. Unless you mean 7am.
You are most likely going to get to Shinjuku station at just before 10pm if you’re lucky. Most trains/subways have their last service between after 11pm and before 1am.
Also, leaving Shibuya at 5pm, you do mean from the station, for an 8:30pm flight will be cutting it close. Leaving at 5pm gets you there about 6:30, which is only two hours before the flight, when closer to 3 is recommended. Now, if you have no luggage to check, it might be doable.
>Does anyone have recommendations of neighborhoods with thrift stores and local coffee shops?
Shimokitazawa, it is located 5 minutes from Shibuya on the Inokashira Line.
https://matcha-jp.com/en/4009
https://www.gotokyo.org/en/destinations/western-tokyo/shimokitazawa/index.html
Koenji, the station is located about halfway between Shinjuku Station and Kichijoji Station, the closest station to the Ghibli Museum. It is next to Nakano Station.
https://www.kanpai-japan.com/tokyo/koenji
https://www.gotokyo.org/en/destinations/western-tokyo/koenji/index.html
>Does anyone know of any car meets in Tokyo we could attend?
One of the more interesting events I’ve attended was a D1 race in Odaiba. There was an exhibition area where the public could go up close to the cars, and the nearby parking lot was full of modified cars. There is also the Tokyo Auto Show and the Auto Salon.