This is really for anyone who wants some idea of what they can do while staying in Tokyo. Always happy to answer questions.
Possible Day Trips. Do them in any order you like.
Day 1.
Ochanomizu station (chou sobu local line).
Lemon stationery store (100 year old store).
Hijiri bashi bridge (famous photo spot).
Confusious temple (one of a few in Asia but this one is really black in colour).
Kanda Mjoyin temple (and general buildings around, good souvenirs if wanted).
Main street Akihabara (or turn right one street earlier for more local than tourist things to see).
Restaurant Platinum Fish (Cafe situation between two train lines. Was a former train station) or cure maid cafe (if you want good service with your meal or coffee. Is not the dancing loud type). If you prefer beer there is a pub in the same venue near the bridge on the corner.
Akihabara Radio Kaiken (if weekend can skip).
Yodobashi (Huge department store like Myer used to be in Melbourne but without the clothes).
Akiba UDX building for dinner with multiple options (and view of busy train lines). If you spend too long in Yodobashi the 9th floor also has many good restaurants.
Akihabara station to take you back to wherever you are staying.
Day 2.
I’ve given two routes here depending on what you prefer to do. You can actually do both if you like as it’s a really big day depending how much time you spend in each location. Chop and change to make it two days if you like.
Option A (try to pick for a good weather day).
Hamamatsuchō Station (yamanote line).
Walk to Hamarikyu Gardens. Enjoy the curated gardens. Go to Tsubame-no-ochaya within the gardens to have Japanese Green Tea. Remember to have some sort of sweet before the tea as westerners will find the tea bitter. The sweetness before helps a lot!
From the gardens buy tickets for the hama rikyu gardens pier to Asakusa Nitenmon Gate pier. You will be on a 20 / 30 minute cruise on the Sumida river.
Walk to Ushijima Shrine. Find the ox statue. Give it a pat and it will cure your medical problems (not guaranteed).
Walk to Skytree or if not as close as you want to be to take photos. Genmori Bridge is a good spot for this.
Walk to Asakusa Station to go to Nakamise-dori Street and Sensō-ji. Best to enter from Nakamise dori side then around the top (as it’s logically the shorter way there) but to get the full impact go via main entrance. Good spot for souvenirs and some local sweets. Very busy though but just get swept by it all and it’ll be fine. Grab your fortune as well for 100 yen. This is one of the few shrines in Tokyo that has your fortune translated to English as well.
If time permits, Kappabashi Dougu Street. Basically a kitchen supplier area. You can find good utensils or the imitation food displays a lot of restaurants have.
Return to either Asakusa Station or Ueno station to return to hotel.
Option B.
Ryogoku Station (chou sobu local line).
Sumida Hokusai Museum. Probably Japans most influential artist known worldwide. Going here first also gives you a sense of the journey to follow along the Sumida River.
Former Yasuda Garden
Japanese Sword Museum
Yokoamicho Park
Great Kanto Earthquake Memorial Museum
(these are all small museums so don’t stress too much)
Follow the Sumida river along the banks to Ushijima Shrine. Find the ox statue. Give it a pat and it will cure your medical problems (not guaranteed).
Walk to Skytree or if not as close as you want to be to take photos. Genmori Bridge is a good spot for this.
Walk to Asakusa Station to go to Nakamise-dori Street and Sensō-ji. Best to enter from Nakamise dori side then around the top (as it’s logically the shorter way there) but to get the full impact go via main entrance. Good spot for souvenirs and some local sweets. Very busy though but just get swept by it all and it’ll be fine. Grab your fortune as well for 100 yen. This is one of the few shrines in Tokyo that has your fortune translated to English as well.
If time permits, Kappabashi Dougu Street. Basically a kitchen supplier area. You can find good utensils or the imitation food displays a lot of restaurants have.
Return to either Asakusa Station or Ueno station to return to hotel.
Day 3.
Make your way to Toyosu Station.
Go to either (or both) Super Viva Home Toyosu or Urban Dock Lalaport Toyosu. First is something like a Kmart combined with a Bunnings. Second is a big shopping centre.
Go back to Toyosu Station. Head upstairs to train. Enjoy this train ride if you can in the first or last carriage. You’ll notice this train has no driver!
Optional - Stop at Shin-Toyosu station and go to the teamLab Planets TOKYO. Digital art museum. Hard to explain. Google it. Very instagramable.
Optional – Stop at Ariake-tennis-no-mori and go to Small Worlds Tokyo. Lot of places in miniature. Might be a bit geeky. We found tickets cheaper via Agoda then buying at the door.
Stop at Daiba. You can here go to a bit robot statue outside a shopping plaza. Also have a look at the Fuji Television network building. Head back towards the water to see the Statue of Liberty. You will also find a LOVE sign which is popular for selfies / group shots as you can get that sign in, the statue and Rainbow bridge all together at the same time.
Walk along the water edge towards the bridge.
Walk across the bridge making sure to take the path on the right hand side. When walking across the bridge you get a really nice view of the bay, Tokyo, Skytree and Tokyo tower. Although it sounds dauting the walk it actually quite relaxed and not anywhere as steep as you think it is.
At the end there is an elevator to the ground floor. Walk to Shibaura-futo Station.
Option A.
If you haven’t done the Hamarikyu gardens take the train to Shimbashi (last stop) and walk from here.
To return to hotel the closest station is Shiodome but Shimbashi may be the better option as it’s a bigger station with more train lines.
Option B.
From Shimbashi station take a taxi to Tokyo Tower. I say taxi here cause Tokyo tower is one of those places where the stations are not all that convenient. Shouldn’t be too expensive. If you want to be
cheap you can walk (25 minutes) or train (about 20 minutes). You will also get good views from Zoji-ji which is another temple you can visit.
Train stations from here vary. Check which is best for your hotel.
Day 4.
Catch a train to Harajuku Station.
Walk to Meiji Jingu. Pay the fee to go to the private gardens. It’s worth it.
Head down to Yoyogi Park.
Head back towards Harajuku Station. Walk down Takeshita Street. Very pop culture sort of street. Towards the end by the main road a lot of sport brands have their main stores. If you are looking for toys head to Kiddy Land. Kiddy Land also has an entire floor dedicated to Peanuts (i.e. Snoopy). My partner loves this store.
Head back to Harajuku Station.
Take a train to Sendagaya Station (you will need to change trains at Shinjuku, be aware Shinjuku is the busiest train station in the world).
Take a tour of the Japan National Stadium.
Head to Olympic Symbol nearby to get a good photo with stadium and Olympic rings.
Head to Jingu Gaien / Ginko Avenue to enjoy the Ginkgo trees. Depending on the season you will get all variety of colours. If you like chocolate shakes, Shake Shack does really really good ones.
Walk to Gaiemmae station. Go to Shibuya station.
Exit via Hachiko exit.
Visit Hachiko, cross the Shibuya scramble. Pick and choose what you want to do here from dining, shopping etc… Shibuya Sky is a great place to see Tokyo from all around at night.
Head back to Shibuya station to take you back to your hotel.
Day 5. Out of central.
Head out to Nishi-Tachikawa Station.
Head to Showa Memorial Park. Massive park in Japan. Can be a bit noisy at times though as it’s next to a military airfield! If you are up for it, hire a bike or dual bike to go around the park. It’s a separate course to the walking one and really enjoyable. Mostly flat so is easy to do. If you go in summer there is also a water park within the park. Weekdays are not too busy.
Head back to Nishi-Tachikawa Station. Go to Tachikawa Station. Change trains to Takao. From Takao station take the small train to Takaosanguchi station. Try to take the front or rear train for best views.
Walk to chair lift or cable car to head up to Mt Takao.
Walk to Mt Takao. On a good day you will be able to see Mt Fuji. Many temples and things to see along the path up to the top. There are food spots up the top.
Head back (you can do the opposite for chair life / cable car on the way down if you like) to the train station. There are many small shops along the way back and the buildings are more ‘traditional’ so also a nice step back in time. Return to hotel.
Day 6.
Head to Ueno Station.
From here there to Ameyoko Shopping District. Mixed place for shopping, drug stores, clothing, shoes, cheap stuff, souvenirs, tea, seafood and fruit / vegetables. The path splits about ¼ way in. Remember which way you go. When you get to the main street at the end loop around and come back via the opposite street.
Walk toward Ueno Park.
If you want a really popular ramen to eat, go to Ichiran Ramen located next to Ueno Station. Queue up, use the ticket machine, enjoy!
Explore Ueno park. It’s massive and has all sorts of things. Five+ museums, shrines, temples, lakes, parks, the Tokyo zoo etc… Take as much or as little time as you like here.
Exit via Uguisudani Station.
Option A.
Go to Nippori Station.
Go to Yanaka Ginza for small shops. Lots of alcohol shops as well with free samples! Also some touristy stuff too. You need to backtrack so walk one side first then the opposite on the way back.
Head to Nippori Fabric Town which is basically a street full of vendors with everything to do with Haberdashery. You’ll find all sorts of things to see here if you are into that sort of thing. Visit the main Tomato store if you want a one stop shop.
Option B.
Head to Oji Station.
This one you will need to have access to google maps cause you may get lost here. However the park Otonashi Water Park is really lovely small park just to walk through. You can relax here if you need a break. Asakayama Park is a local park that tourists tend to not visit. It’s just opposite of the other park but much much bigger. If you do things the right way (use the maps to help) there is Asuka Park Rail. It’s a free rail car to take you up to the park. From the park there are some good views of Tokyo and in particular the train lines opposite. If you want photos of the Shinkansen this isn’t a bad spot to get photos.
Day 7 & 8. Fuji.
Next edition.