Shibuya, Nakameguro, Shimokitazawa, Daikanyama

10 comments

1. Depending on your activities, you can visit them all inside a single day, or split them into perhaps two days. As Daikanyama and Nakameguro are next to each other, they should really be combined together.

   Daikanyama and Nakameguro can be easily combined with either Ebisu area (Ebisu Yokocho, Yebisu Garden Place), Meguro (walk along the river, TEIEN Metropolitan Art Museum).

   Shimokitazawa can be a stop on the way from/to Kichijoji/Inokashira-koen area.

   As for Shibuya – Yoyogi Park, Meiji Jingu, Harajuku/Omote-Sando are all within a walking distance.

2. maybe Sangenjaya or Kichijoji near Shimokitazawa.

   Depending on how much you are willing to spend in each of these (like strolling through most of the stores in Shimokita) it can take a day each or a day for 2, but definitely not all in one day.

   Kichijoji has Inokashirakoen and the Ghibli Museum to offer along small stores to eat and shop, Shimokita for shopping in their retro (?) stores and quite a few restaurants and Sangenjaya should be similar just a bit south from there (haven’t been there yet though)

3. Depends completely on what you’re doing in each area and what else you have planned. Shibuya, Daikanyama, and Nakameguro area all just one stop apart on the Toyoko line. You can literally walk from one to the other fairly easily (particularly the latter two), though whether or not that is convenient depends on what you’re planning to do around each location. Shimokitahara is a few stops from Shibuya on the Inokashira line.

4. It depends on your needs and goals.

   I could argue that you can spend a 2 days sightseeing shibuya if you’d really want to.

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   Daikanyama unless you go for specific food or an specific location has nothing really going on to make it worth the visit (I used to live really close).

   Shimokitazawa depends as well on your goal and needs, if you want to buy clothes and do shopping you can spend a whole day in the area. There are cool temples, cool shops, cool cafes, etc.

   If you plan just to walk the main avenue and for you that’s “visiting” then 1 day for all of them shall be good.

5. I live in Sangenjaya (in the middle of all these locations) for 25 years now. I always walk to all of these locations, the furthest (Shibuya and Shimo-Kita) are about 20 to 25 min depending on my walking pace. You can easily visit all these places in one day, but you can also spend 1 day in each of these locations so prioritize and list the places you want to go. May I ask when are planning to travel to Japan? Right now it’s not easily to come into the country as a tourist. Tokyo and 6 other prefectures are still in lock-down.

6. Not sure of what specific activities or shops would be on your itinerary so just laying out what I think would be the simplest routes with minimal backtracking.

   If the weather is nice and you don’t mind walking, you could start off by seeing what you want in Shibuya then make your way down Meiji Dori past Shibuya Stream/Scramble Square/Hikarie, cross over the bridge to get to Daikanyama and then go down the hill to Nakameguro. Even if you add in Ebisu, they’re all kind of separate so there will be some stretches of less interesting scenery between them. If properly motivated and hydrated, you could probably do all 3-4 in a day?

   Then you could do Omotesando/Harajuku before moving on to Yoyogi Park and then get on the Odakyu Line at Yoyogi-Hachiman station (there’s some of the transparent toilets in the parks nearby) to get to Shimokitazawa. Kichijoji is a straight shot from there on the Keio Inokashira Line.

7. We visited in 2019 and stayed in ueno. First ueno park has some nice museums. Secondly ameyokocho is fun. Finally it’s station is one stop north of a big Tokyo station so it’s easy to get around. It’s kinda off the beaten path but not.

   We saw the awaodori in shimokitazawa and had a blast watching the parade. It’s in August so it’s boiling hot.

8. Hip places for young people

9. Shimokitazawa is the only one that is a little bit off.

   Depending on how much you want to explore each area, or you activities, you can do them all in one day.

   Or you can do Ebisu, Nakameguro and Daikanyama one day.

   Shibuya and Shimokitazawa or Shimokitazawa and Kichijoji on another.

   Shibuya has lots of stuff. You can do Shibuya, Harajuku/Omotesando with Yoyogi park and Meiji shrine in one day. Or maybe Shibuya and Shinjuku.

   There is not wrong way there, all options are viable, and depends on if you find a particular area to be interesting.

   Get some alternatives and change the plan based on time.

10. You don’t really need to do Daikanyama, it’s basically a nice Western area, but I assume you’re not coming to feel like you’re at home? Well depending on where you’re from.
    Just stroll Nakameguro in the evening, nice vibe then.