Introduction
Tokyo is a marvelous mix of modern living and old-fashioned manners, slick high-tech gadgets and cutesy cartoon mascots. It's terribly crowded, yet can be strangely quiet. It's not a pretty city, not by conventional standards. Beauty comes in tiny packages here: You'll find it in bud vases, at dinner tables and on dessert plates. You'll find it also in the way superfast trains ease into stations, gently, precisely and on time. There is beauty in the shrines and stone lanterns and other traces of old Japan scattered among the skyscrapers, swanky shopping malls and sprawling mass transit hubs. The trick is to sample it all — to do the serene garden and the massive office tower with a view. Here's how to see the loveliest — and liveliest — sides of Tokyo in one day.
1. Tsukiji Fish Market
You're jet-lagged and up before sunrise. That's the perfect time to head to Tsukiji, the busiest wholesale fish market in the world. As you make your way past the loading docks and mountains of polystyrene boxes, mind the motorized trolleys zipping around. (The dodginess of it adds to the adventure.) Make your way through the warren of seafood stalls and into the main market building, where the giant frozen tuna are laid out for inspection and sale, then hooked and hauled. Look for the big sign marked "Visitors' Passageway." This is your safe zone, and from here you can watch the live auctions, a daily ritual that's over by 6:30 a.m. A clanging bell signals that one is about to start.
Take the Hibiya line of the Tokyo Metro to Tsukiji station, exit 1.
1. Tsukiji Fish Market
5-2 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan 35.661389139.769722 tsukiji-market.or.jp
2. Sumo
Forget kabuki — sumo is better theater. If you happen to be in Tokyo during one of the three grand tournaments — 15-day events in January, May and September — go straight from the Tsukiji fish market to Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo's National Sumo Hall. The box office opens at 8 a.m., and competition begins at 9 a.m. and lasts into the evening. Bouts are brief — usually just a few, very exciting, extremely intense seconds, with a lot of posturing in between. Try to stay long enough to see the start of a new round, when the rikishi parade into the arena wearing special aprons over their loincloths, and there's a brief ceremony in the ring.
If it's not tournament season, try to go to one of the stables where the wrestlers live and train. Sessions start early and are usually over by 10 a.m., though figure 9 a.m. to be safe. (There are more than 50 sumo stables in Tokyo; click here for the list). Have someone who speaks Japanese call the stable in the afternoon on the day before you want to go, to make sure the team's in town and not on tour in the countryside. Some stables are more welcoming than others. Try Kokonoe-beya, or ask the concierge at your hotel if they have an in somewhere. Inside the stable, keep quiet and out of the way, and don't take flash pictures. You may be expected to make a small donation.
General admission tickets for Ryogoku Kokugikan are sold as same-day seats on tournament days: $20 for adults, $2 for children ages 4 to 15 (kids under 4 get in free); tickets are cash only. Take the JR Yamanote line to Akihabara and transfer to the Sobu line for Ryogoku station; the stadium is next door, and Kokonoe-beya is a 5-minute taxi ride from there. The Toei Oedo line also stops at Ryogoku station.
1. Ryogoku Kokugikan
1-3-28 Yokoami, Sumida-ku, Tokyo, Japan; 81-(0)3-3623-5111 35.696944139.793333 http://www.sumo.or.jp
2. Kokonoe Sumo Stable
4-22-4 Ishiwara, Sumida-ku, Tokyo, Japan; 81-(0)3-5608-0404
3. Meiji Shrine
Dedicated to the late 19th-century emperor who opened Japan to the West, Tokyo's most famous Shinto shrine is wonderfully serene and austere, not colorful or flashy like other Asian places of worship, and is less of a tourist trap than Senso-ji, the big Buddhist temple across town in Asakusa. The 40-foot-high (12-meter) torii gate at the entrance to the 200-acre park is made of 1,500-year-old cypress, and there's a second one like it closer to the shrine itself. Stop at the cleansing station where you can dip into a communal water tank and purify your hands and mouth before offering up a prayer. You can write wishes on little pieces of paper and tie them onto the prayer wall, or do as the locals do — toss some yen into the offering box (it's near the enormous taiko drum), bow your head twice, clap twice, and bow once more.
On Sunday mornings you are likely to see a traditional wedding procession (or two) through the courtyard — the bride in a white kimono and hood and the groom in his formal black robe, walking together under an enormous red parasol, with Shinto priests leading the way and the rest of the wedding party trailing behind. Shrines, big or small, can get interesting on festival days. Check the calendar to see what's happening.
Meiji-jingu is open sunrise to sunset. Admission is free. Take the JR Yamanote line to Harajuku station.
1. Meiji-jingu
1-1 Yoyogi-Kamizonocho, Shibuy, Tokyo, Japan; 81-(0)3-3379-5511 35.676111139.699167
4. Yoyogi Park
Yoyogi Park in Shibuya-ku is the perfect comic relief after a low-key shrine stop. With living space so tight in this city, parks are the places for club meetings and practice sessions and even play rehearsals, and Yoyogi draws all sorts of talent, from horn players to hula hoopers to hip-hop dancers. Some carry on as if unaware they have an audience. I love the rockabilly gangs, Elvis-inspired dudes with pronounced pompadours who usually gather by the park's east side entrance on Sundays to jam to American pop music from the '50s. You'll see them next to the sock hop of ladies in poodle skirts and saddle shoes. Somehow this scene is more satisfying than the Gothic Lolitas and Costume Play kids (fans of Japanese manga and anime dressed as their favorite characters) hanging out on the Harajuku bridge, but I always take my friends to see them too.
Yoyogi Park has a mellower side that's also worth exploring — areas to the north and west, past the fountain pond and central field. There's a cycling center (81-(0)3-3465-6855) northwest of the central field that rents bikes, including tandems, for just a few hundred yen (you're not supposed to go off the path, which is long and lovely) and a snack hut with tables that sells ice cream and beer. There is also a little dog run, so you're bound to see at least a few terriers decked out in rhinestones and denim or chihuahuas dressed like cheerleaders.
Yoyogi Park is open from dawn to dusk. Admission is free. Take the JR Yamanote line to Harajuku, Omotesando exit, or the Chiyoda line to Yoyogi-koen, exit 4.
1. Yoyogi Park
Shibuya-ku, Toyko, Japan
5. Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
If Yoyogi Park is the most entertaining green space in Tokyo, the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden is the most beautiful. Ask for a map in English ("Ay-go mappoo?") as you walk in so you can be sure to hit all the major gardens: English Landscape, French Formal, Japanese Traditional (with teahouse) and the curiously named Mother and Child Forest (Haha to Ko no Mori). There's also a lovely Taiwan Pavilion; go inside and look out the second-story windows.
In late March and early April, cherry blossom season, the central lawn areas are particularly stunning. Consider bringing a picnic lunch. You can buy a variety of take-away items at the gourmet food hall in the basement level of Takashimaya department store, just south of the Shinjuku Station (east of the JR line tracks) and about 500 meters west of the garden's Shinjuku gate entrance. If you get the itch to shop, there's also a massive Tokyu Hands department store in the same mega-mall complex (called Times Square), selling everything from gold body stockings to Japanese tea sets and stationery. Next door is a behemoth Kinokuniya bookstore. The foreign books floor is a good place to find Japanese manga — some even suitable for kids — that has been translated into English.
My second favorite garden in Tokyo is Hama-rikyu (admission: $3), which was a feudal lord's retreat during the Edo period. There's an old-style teahouse on a tidal pond, a 300-year-old pine, a grove of plum trees and a peony field. The duck hunting grounds were once used by the Tokugawa shoguns. (The cluster of Shiodome skyscrapers just beyond makes a startling backdrop.) Located at the mouth of the Sumida River, Hama-rikyu is also a stop on a passenger ferry line that you can take up to Asakusa or out to Odaiba.
Shinjuku Gyoen is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, and closed Tuesday in weeks in which Monday is a national holiday. Admission is about $2 for adults, less for students and children. Take the JR Yamanote line to Shinjuku, south exit; walk east down Koshu Kaido, a main thoroughfare. Or take the Toei Shinjuku line to Shinjuku-Sanchome.
For Takashimaya or Tokyu Hands, the entrance is across from Shinjuku Southern Terrace — after Krispy Kreme, turn left and take the bridge over the train tracks.
For Hama-rikyu, take the Toei Oedo line to Shiodome station. You can also take the JR Yamanote line or either the Ginza or Asakusa Metro line to Shimbashi, but you're looking at a 12-minute walk from there.
1. Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
11 Naito-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan; 81-(0)3-3350-0151 35.68533139.7085 env.go.jp
2. Takashimaya and Tokyu Hands
2-24-2 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan; 81-(0)3-5361-1111
3. Kinokuniya Books
Takashimaya Times Square Annex, 5-24-2 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan; 81-(0)3-5361-3301
4. Hama-rikyu Garden
1-1-Hamarikyu-teien, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan; 81-(0)3-3541-0200 35.66139.762
6. City Views
There's a lot going on at and around the popular Roppongi Hills complex — a garden, a cinema, loads of shops, cafés and restaurants — but if you stay focused, you can be in and out in an hour and hit all the highlights. Start at Louise Bourgeois's giant spider sculpture, Maman, then move on to the Mori Tower for the 52nd-floor observation deck called Tokyo City View. The $15 ticket includes admission to the Mori Art Museum, where exhibits range from the intriguingly modern to the truly bizarre (one recent show had my kids running for the door). For an extra $3, you can go up to the 54th floor Sky Deck, which runs the perimeter of the rooftop heliport. There's a bilingual photographer on hand who will take your picture, Tokyo Tower behind you, with his nice camera. Purchasing the $15 print, which will be waiting for you downstairs, is entirely optional.
If you decide to stick around for lunch, I recommend sushi at Pintokona. Take the escalators near the spider down two flights (follow signs for the Tokyo Metro's Hibiya station). The restaurant is kaiten-style, so you simply help yourself to the artfully arranged dishes as they roll by on a conveyor belt, or use the picture menu to let the chef know what you want. At the end of the meal, a member of the wait staff will wave a scanner at your stack of plates to tally the bill; prices are stored on a chip embedded in each plate, and range from $2 to $7 and up.
Alternatively, you can see the skyline for free from the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices building, which boasts two towers and two observation decks (on Floor 45). The TMGO stands at the west end of the Shinjuku skyscraper district near the Washington hotel, which, incidentally, is a good spot for dinner — one of the hotel restaurants is Zauo Fishing Boat Cafe, where you can catch the fish that ultimately ends up on your plate (you use a net to scoop a live one out of the big tank). The Park Hyatt Tokyo, the hotel featured in the movie Lost in Translation, is also nearby, and the money you save on the free view might just cover two drinks at the Hyatt's swanky New York Bar.
If you want the after-dark view — you'll get the pretty lights, but you won't see the mountains — check the schedules: the TMGO towers are open late, until 11 p.m., only four nights a month (the North tower on the first and third Tuesday, and the South tower, the second and fourth Monday). Roppongi's observation deck is open until 1 a.m. (last entry at midnight) every night.
Regular adult admission to the Mori Tower observation deck is $15 ($10 for students, $5 for children). It includes entry to the Mori Art Museum, which is open daily 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. (Tuesday until 5 p.m.), and usually closes for two weeks between shows. If that is the case, the combo ticket will include admission to the separate Mori Arts Center Gallery, which normally costs an extra $5. To get to Roppongi Hills, take the Hibiya or Toei Oedo line to Roppongi station. Click here for directions.
The TMGO towers' regular hours are 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; to get there or to the Park Hyatt hotel, take the Toei Oedo line to Tochomae, the Toei Shinjuku line to Shinjuku, or the JR Yamanote line to Shinjuku, and exit west.
1. Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices
2-8-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan; 81-(0)3-5321-1111 35.689722139.692222 metro.tokyo.jp/ENGLISH
2. Zauo Fishing Boat Cafe
3-2-9 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku Washington Hotel, 1F, Tokyo, Japan; 81-(0)3-3343-6622
3. Tokyo City View
Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, 52n, 6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan; 81-(0)3-6406-6652 35.66139.73 roppongihills.com/tcv/en
4. Mori Art Museum
Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, 53r, 6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan; 81-(0)3-5777-8600 35.66139.73 mori.art.museum/html/eng
5. Pintokona kaiten-sushi
Roppongi Hills-Metro Hat/Holly, 6-4-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan; 81-(0)3-5771-1133
7. Shibuya Crossing
It would be a shame to come to Tokyo and not take a walk across the famous intersection outside Shibuya Station. On sunny afternoons or clear evenings, the surrounding area is packed with shoppers, students, young couples and commuters. When the lights turn red at this busy junction, they all turn red at the same time in every direction. Traffic stops completely and pedestrians surge into the intersection from all sides, like marbles spilling out of a box. You can observe this moment of organized chaos from the second-story window of the Starbucks in the Tsutaya building on the crossing's north side.
After experiencing the "scramble," follow the trendy teens into Shibuya 109, a big shiny mall with more than 100 boutiques, for a look at the latest in disposable fashion. Or duck back into Shibuya Station and down to the bustling Tokyu Food Show for an elegant array of gourmet eats and an education in local tastes: grilled eel, fried pork, tiny fish salad, octopus on a stick, seafood-and-rice seaweed wraps and much more. The prepared dishes and grocery items are all sold from immaculate counters amid a chorus of "Irashaimasen!" ("Welcome!"). There are aisles full of beautifully packaged treats — rice crackers, mochi cakes, jellied confections — but the pickle counter is my favorite.
Take the JR Yamanote line to Shibuya station, Hachiko exit.
1. Starbucks at Shibuya Crossing
21-6 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan; 81-(0)3-3770-2301
2. Tokyu Food Show
Tokyu Department Store, B1 Flo, 2-24-1 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku (Shibuya Station), Tokyo, Japan; 81-(0)3-3477-3111
3. Shibuya 109
2-29-1 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan; 81-(0)3-3477-5111 35.659544139.699011
8. Dinner and Drinks in Ebisu
You can easily spend a fortune in this city on dinner, but it's more fun to rub elbows with salarymen at a standing bar and drink in some local color at a small izakaya, or Japanese bar and grill, on the cheap. Ebisu is full of these establishments, which specialize in grilled meat and vegetables, hotpot, sashimi and other casual fare, along with extensive drink menus. Many are located within a few blocks of the train station, and the neighborhood is easily accessible — just one stop away from Shibuya on the JR Yamanote line, and two stops from Roppongi on the Tokyo Metro's Hibiya line.
Leave the Ebisu JR station through the west exit, by the escalator and police box (koban), and cross Komazawa-dori, the main road. Turn left, then right, between the Wendy's and the KFC (don't let that deter you). Almost immediately on your right is the terrific Momotaro (open daily from 5 p.m. to 6 a.m.), a "sumibi yakitori 'n wine" (charcoal grilled chicken) restaurant. The first name appears on signs out front only in Japanese hiragana script, but the tagline is written in English. Take the stairs down to the basement entrance. If you're feeling adventurous, order the set menu, a generous series of courses priced around $30. It includes the full range of edible chicken parts, from gizzards to hearts to delectably crispy skin. Go on, try it all!
Buri (open daily from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m.), a spiffy tachinomiya known for its sake menu, is a couple blocks down on the left, and it too serves tasty bits (try the asparagus wrapped in pork) for $2 to $3 a skewer. At the far end of this lane, before you reach the next main road, is Honoji — the signs are all in Japanese, so look for the rather brightly lit room with food and drink prices tacked up on the walls (there's a big picture window in front that gives you a glimpse inside). There's no English menu, here, but don't worry; just say to your server, "Osusume" (oh-soo-soo-may), which basically means, "Whatever you recommend." One more phrase to learn: Biru, onegaishimasu (bee-roo — roll the "r" — oh-neh-guy-shee-mah-soo), which means, "Beer, please." Honoji is open daily for dinner (5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.), and every day except Sundays and holidays for lunch (11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.).
1. Momotaro
Ogawa Ebisu Building Floor B1, 1-8-8 Ebisu-nishi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan; 81-(0)3-5428-5707 japanchickenfoodservice.co.jp
2. Buri
1-14-1 Ebisu-nishi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan; 81-(0)3-3494-7744
3. Honoji
1-5-8 Ebisu-nishi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan; 81-(0)3-3770-8381
9. Karaoke
In Japan, karaoke usually happens in a private room with your friends or colleagues, with a waiter delivering drinks. But at Smash Hits, with its thick catalog of English songs, there's a stage and stadium-style seating — though its tight basement quarters keep it friendly. Cheer the salarymen taking turns at the mic and they'll show you love in return. Smash Hits is open Tuesday through Saturday nights, from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m.; the $35 cover charge includes two drinks. Smash Hits is a 5-minute walk from the Hiroo stop on the Hibiya line; take Exit 2, turn right, then round the corner at the wine shop and walk to the end of the block.
If you'd rather not run into other foreigners — the risk of going to Smash Hits is that it is occasionally overrun with expats (Brits tend to arrive in a drunken horde after midnight) — try the red-velvet swathed Jan Ken Pon, the Japanese name for Rock, Paper, Scissors (it's actually what you chant while pumping your fist, right before the throw). Most nights a live band performs, and customers sing in between sets. Jan Ken Pon is open from 7 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday (until 3 a.m. on Friday), and from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Sunday and holidays; the cover charge is $22 for men, $20 for women. Take the Hibiya Metro line or JR Yamanote line to Ebisu.
For other forms of late-night entertainment, check out the online edition of Metropolis, a free weekly English language magazine that has up-to-date listings of museum exhibitions, sporting events and other happenings around town, including who's playing at all the concert halls and clubs.
1. Smash Hits
5-2-26 Hiroo, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan; 81-(0)3-3444-0432 smashhits.jp
2. Jan Ken Pon "Oldies Live House"
1-4-5 Ebisu-nishi, Shibuya-ku,, Tokyo, Japan; 81-(0)3-3719-6303
10. Daimaru's Kimono and Yukata
Most departing visitors leave town from Tokyo Station. Before you go, check out the Daimaru department store next door — just outside the station's Yaesu entrance. The kimono shop on the 10th floor is not geared to tourists; it's where Japanese ladies come to order custom-made ensembles. The samples on display, and the price tags attached, will take your breath away. The shop also stocks a full range of accessories — obi, hair combs, toe socks, thong sandals, purses, fans — all nice to look at it, some even affordable. Ask the salesladies about yukata, the lightweight cotton robes that you'll find in the closet of every ryokan (traditional Japanese inn). The store stocks lovely, traditional blue-and-white geometric patterns for men and orchid and bamboo prints for women, in a full range of sizes, including American XL. Prices are $50 to $60, belt included. To buy yourself more browsing time, direct impatient friends to the samurai swords on display down the hall.
Oriental Bazaar, a tourist magnet on Omotesando Street, offers a much bigger selection of yukata (along with all sorts of other souvenirs) and robes there go for $10 to $15 less apiece than Daimaru's, but the place is a zoo on weekends. Still, if you enjoy digging through piles of fabric in a crowded basement, you might find a second-hand kimono at a price you can live with. The store is closed Thursdays.
1. Daimaru
1-9-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan; 81-(0)3-3212-8011 More Info
2. Oriental Bazaar
5-9-13 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan; 81-(03)-3400-3933
source : Time.com
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