Hi everyone!
I have just booked flights from Australia to Europe via Tokyo Haneda on ANA and I was wondering if anyone had any local knowledge? I’ve never been to Japan (but always wanted to!) and I want to make the most of the time I’m there, since I won’t be back for a while. My baggage will be through-checked, except my carry on which I am planning to put in a locker.
This is my current plan, but I wanted to know if I’m in over my head, if there are things I should skip, things I should do instead, whether I should swap certain activities etc.
A bit about me:
\- I am 18, so I don’t have any trouble walking
\- I’m carrying virtually all my belongings in my checked bags (which I won’t need to deal with in Tokyo), so I don’t want to do a \*lot\* of shopping, but I’m looking to buy a few authentic souvenirs such as shrine amulets
\- I really want to sit down at a matcha place but it looks like a lot of things are not open or are located outside central Tokyo?
\- I don’t want to spend a LOT of money, so I’m not looking for fine dining or to do lots of luxury shopping, but I definitely do want to try Japanese food outside just the airport!
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“the plan” (please give me your honest opinion!), it’s going to be the **8th of February, Wednesday**, when I am in Tokyo. All the times are rough estimates.
5:10 am – land at Haneda airport
6 ish am – Clear customs (I have already printed out all the QR codes) and withdraw cash yen, head for Keikyu line, I will have a virtual Suica card on my apple wallet
7 am – Arrive at the Tsukiji market, apparently this is closed on Wednesday’s? does anyone have any tips here? I thought it would be a good place to go early in the morning until everything else opens?
8:30 am go to the Nihonbashi Bridge for photos (killing time until Nakamisedori street opens?)
9:30 am Arrive at Asakusa/Senso-ji, browse the stalls and food, buy some souvenirs that aren’t tacky at Nakamisedori Street
12:00 pm Arrive at Ginza, have ramen (Mugi to olive has been recommended to me?), visit Itoya stationery, Fuji, Shisheido, Don Quijote
2 ish pm walk to Daimaru Tokyo and visit the food hall basement
3:30 pm Arrive at the Shibuya scramble and do the famous selfie, visit the Hachiko dog shrine
Walk to Ometosando/Takeshita street
5pm go to the Meiji Shrine (might need to skip something else and move this further up? Apparently it closes around this time…)
Visit the Shinjuku Tokyo Government building for the free view
Eat dinner at Omoide Yokocho/have a final drink/buy any snacks for the flight
7:30 pm head back towards Haneda on the Yamanote line via Shinagawa, retrieve carry on suitcase from locker, go through security
10:45 pm flight departs Haneda
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As I said, I’ve never been to Tokyo before, but I really want to see as much as I can!
Please do give me any tips of if anything here is worth skipping, or if I should restructure my plan of what direction to travel in.
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TLDR: I’m in Tokyo for 17 hours for the first time on a Wednesday in February, what should I do and what is worth missing, for someone who wants to see as much as possible.
Thank you reddit!
1 comment
>I don’t want to spend a LOT of money, so I’m not looking for fine dining or to do lots of luxury shopping
Based on that, skip Ginza. It’s to Tokyo what Chapel St is to Melbourne. It’s a fancy area but not the most interesting, and literally every department store will have a food hall.
I’d suggest after Asakusa, go from Shibuya to Harajuku to Shinjuku instead. There’s more than enough there to occupy the remainder of your day.