My wife and I are spending 2 weeks in Japan in October and we’re struggling a little bit with planning the 4 days in Tokyo simply because there’s so much amazing stuff we could do.
Food and drink always plays a big part of our trips but we like to mix in some culture and sightseeing. We rarely do any shopping whilst on holiday but could be tempted to look round some of Tokyo’s more unique or eccentric shops if it’s not too out of the way.
Here are some of the things we were thinking about:
**Day 1: Asakusa and Sumida**
Morning: Arrive
Lunch: Explore Nakamise Shopping Street for street food.
Afternoon: Senso-Ji Temple in Asakusa. Visit Tokyo Skytree for panoramic views of the city.
Evening: Head to Sumida for a Sumo match at Ryogoku Kokugikan stadium.
**Day 2: Shinjuku and Harajuku**
Morning: Explore Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
Lunch: Shinjuku area.
Afternoon: Harmonica Yokocho, a food alley in Kichijoji.
Evening: Shibuya crossing and surrounding areas.
**Day 3: Ueno and Tsukiji**
Morning: Ueno Park, museums or zoo.
Lunch: Ueno.
Afternoon: Yoyogi Park
Evening: Head to Tsukiji Market for a seafood dinner (heard some mixed reviews about this one since they moved the trade aspect leaving only the tourist trap – is there better options elsewhere?)
**Day 4: Akihabara and Nakano**
Morning: Explore Akihabara
Lunch: Akihabara.
Afternoon: Take the train to Nakano Broadway
Evening: Dinner in Nakano.
Is there anything major that we’ve missed and should consider? Is there anything that we could de-prioritise to make space for other things?
Also, we’re celebrating something so might like to go out for one slightly fancier meal if you have any recommendations. We like tasting menus but tend not to go for the mega-expensive celebrity chef ones.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
7 comments
From what I’ve read, I don’t think Tsukiji is good for a dinnertime visit. “The restaurants are typically open from 5:00 in the morning to around noon or early afternoon” [https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3021.html](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3021.html)
Unfortunately, while Skytree and Ryogoku are both on the east side of Tokyo, they do not have the best rail connection from one to the other, so you will have to take the bus to get the easiest connection. Otherwise, you could move things around and do Ueno at the start of the day, do Ameyoko and take the subway at Ueno-Hirokoji station to Ryogoku. But if you are ok with the bus, then it’s fairly ok.
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If not, you can paid Ueno and Akihabara, they are even at walking distance. That would make much more sense than what you listed.
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Speaking of Akihabara, it’s not a morning place, stores open at 10-11am sometimes at 12, so this is one more reason to do Ueno in the morning and follow by Akihabara.
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On the other hand, Tsukiji is more of a morning than dinner spot. I guess it’s fine but if you just want to eat good sushi, you can just find a good sushi restaurant elsewhere.
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Yoyogi park is for me easily a skip. It’s just a park, not a garden, so there is no big reason to go there and especially not to do a detour only for that.
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While Nakano and Akihabara are far appart, at least they are not geographically to far from each other. But other places like Shinjuku is closer. So I would replace Yoyogi park bu something like Shinjuku Gyoen in the morning and Nakano Broadway in the afternoon (anyway the store open late there too, so don’t go in the morning).
First off, you’re going to be able to do more than you have listed here. For example, it doesn’t take a full morning to explore Akihabara.
My approach to Tokyo is pick the things you really want to do and try to tackle a couple a day and leave lots of space for just exploring.
You should take another pass at this and group activities based on location. Yoyogi Park is near Shinjuku / Shibuya. Ueno park is close to Asakusa. And try to visit places at ideal times. For example, I think Shinjuku and Shibuya are more lively during the night time. And I wouldn’t go to Tsukiji Market in the evening.
You should also check and see if any festivals or events are on during you time there.
A lot depends on where you’re staying as well.
There’s no sumo tournament on in October so unless you’re doing one of those tourist special lunch kind of things, you won’t be watching.
If you’re not into anime, honestly Akihabara is pretty boring and you wouldn’t miss anything by not going.
Adding to what others have said about Tsukiji:
I just got back from my trip to Japan and spent my last evening/morning in Tsukiji. Hotel was right around the corner from the outer market. When I arrived in the evening, it was almost completely empty, except for a couple of sushi places. I had a guided walking tour in the morning and it was quite fun – lots of places for snacks and breakfast, and grabbed some souvenirs. It probably is tourist-trappy but I didn’t really care to be quite honest and the market was still very enjoyable. Would definitely recommend it as a Morning/breakfast activity.
If you can, go to TeamLab Planets. Such a memorable, wonderful experience!
Also, if you’re in the area, I would recommend going up on the top of the Metropolitan Government Building at dusk. It’s free and if you’re lucky, you get to see Mt. Fuji in the distance. However, it’s not as tall as Tokyo Skytree, so if you will do that, this might be underwhelming (I haven’t been on top of the Skytree, so I can’t compare them).
Instead of tsukiji, which I tend to side with “it’s a tourist trap” crowd, how about explore dining at yurakucho? Main draw are the restos and izakayas under the train tracks.