100 Best Things to do in Tokyo

100 Best Things to do in Tokyo

Tokyo is a city accommodate every travelers with different interests and ages, but it’s a vast city that you can easily get lost, not just on the streets. What to do next? What to do tomorrow?

So today I’d like to introduce you to 100 ideas of things to do in Tokyo from major spots to the off the beaten pathes that probably you’ve never heard of.

As usual, you can see this article in the video format too. It’s an hour video, so please watch a little by little, or watch while you prepare dinner or something.

1. Visit Sensoji Temple

Let’s dive into the 1 of 100, and something you cannot miss Sensoji temple in Asakusa. In the modern city of Tokyo, that things are renewed and reconstructed in fast speed, the area keeping traditional feeling of old Tokyo is Asakusa. The Sensoji temple and its gate called Kaminarimon means Thunder Gate are the must see scenes in Tokyo. Asakusa is filled with tourists all around the year, and you can enjoy festive and energetic atmosphere throughout the year.

Something you notice when you enter the temple is the sound of shaking metal box. It’s to get a fortune telling paper Omikuji. Maybe you can try and see how your Tokyo travel will go. If you have time, I recommend you to go both in day time and night time. In the late evening time after all the visitors are gone, you can stroll the temple and town lighten up in quiet environment.

2. Find All Time Favorite Souvenirs from Tokyo

From Kaminarimon gate to the temple, there is a Nakamise streets. This is the best spots to purchase typical souvenirs for yourself from Tokyo. Asakusa has lots of other streets full of souvenir shops and places to eat, so you can enjoy some local snacks and enjoy shopping.

3 Discover Kitchen Tools 

When it comes to shopping, something common to purchase in Japan is a kitchen tool like Knives. If you are interested in looking around something not just typical souvenirs, there is a Kappabashi streets on the west of Asakusa. Kappabashi street was originally a town wholesale stores for kitchen tools for restaurants and nanufacturers gathers, but now many stores are open for visitors and becoming a popular spots to visit. You can get state of the art knives to a cute bowl for your kitchen, or some food shaped figures for your interiors. 🙂

4. Try kimono or Yukata 

To dive into the culture of Japan, how about trying wearing Japanese traditional cloth – kimono. In Tokyo, Asakusa is a perfect area for that. There are many shops that you can rent Kimono and of course you can purchase too. In summer you can wear more light Yukata. It’s not easy to walk around long distance with this, so it can be one of the challenge you can try too.

5. Visit Tokyo Sky Tree 

When you stroll around Asakusa, what you see between building is Tokyo Sky Tree. Now let’s see Tokyo from the Sky. Tokyo Sky Tree is 634 meters high, which can be read Musashi in Japanese, which is the old country name of Tokyo. There is an observatory at 350 meters and 450 meters above ground, and since Sky tree is located at the north east edge of Tokyo city center, you can see the whole Tokyo in one glance.

6. Asakusa tourist center 

The travel cost can adds up, so if you are looking for something more easy going, the best spots to visit is Asakusa tourist center. On the higher floor, there is an observation deck that you can see Asakusa. It’s not as high as Sky Tree, but you can enjoy the illumination of Tokyo Sky Tree from the other side of the river, and also see Sensoji temple from above. It’s one of my most favorite spot in Tokyo.

7. Tokyo Mizumachi 

Between Asakusa and Sky Tree, there is a pedestrian bridge and a little path along the Tobu line and a canal. It’s not widely known yet, so It’s a perfect spot to stay away from the crowd and enjoy walking. Along the route, there is a Sumida park that is famous for cherry blossoms. You can also find several coffee shops and benches that you can have a seat and take a rest. From the bridge along the Tobu line, you can see the view of Tokyo’s east side along the Sumida river.

8. Sight Seeing Boat 

If you like to enjoy the view of Tokyo’s water front more, something you can ride is Tokyo’s sight seeing ferry. It takes you all the way to

Tokyo bay’s Odaiba. It’s gives you diversified view of Tokyo that you can’t see from trains or walking. In about 1 hour, you go under the symbol of Tokyo bay – Rainbow bridge  and arrive Odaiba.

9. Odaiba Kaihin Koen

Odaiba is an area on the Tokyo bay, that are connected by Rainbow bridge. This man made area has office and some condos too, but it’s more

Known as an entertainment districts. Daiba used to be a small island with battery, that used to protect Tokyo. Now it’s connected to the land and you can enjoy the view of Tokyo Bay. In summer you see people enjoy beach valley, and just sun bathing on the beach. Odaiba has several hotels and shopping center such as Decks Tokyo Beach, and Aqua city Odaiba.

10. See the Real Sized Gundam at Divercity 

One of the popular shopping mall is Diversity. What makes famous this mall is the big statue of Gun-dam. After you filmed enough of Gundam, you can enter the building and enjoy food court with different food stands. Food court is not quite common in Tokyo, so it’s a great place to get Japanese foods for reasonable price. On the top floor, there is also Gandam base that you can purchase Gandam pla models. On the weekend or busy day, you might not be able to enter so I recommend you to go early.

11. Ride Yurikamome 

Riding Yurikamome is one of the major attraction in Tokyo. To get to odaiba, you can take Yurikamome too. It’s an automated transportation system without driver, and you can travel from Shinbashi to Odaiba across the rainbow bridge, with amazing view of Tokyo’s skyline.

12. Enjoy view from Toyosu Gururi Park 

This Yurikamome’s other end is Toyosu. Toyosu is known for fish market. Before you get into it, another place to stop is Toyosu Gururi Park. It’s an park overlooking Tokyo city center from the otherside of the bay. It has wide open view of Tokyo sky line and rainbow bridge.

13. See the Tuna Market 

Toyosu is a place world’s biggest fish market is. Toyosu Fish Market is right in front of the Shijomae station of Yurikamome. Even though the most of the facilities are for whole seller and professionals, there is a route that you can see the market auction in the morning. You can enter even the afternoon on the days markets are open, but it might not worth walking all the way after the auction has finished.

14. Eat at Senkyaku Banrai

If you are not a morning person, even when the auction is not going on, there are places to eat in the market. And where there are more choices of eating is the little area called Senkyaku Bandai. It’s like a food entertainment park that many seafood restaurants gathered. Many of them offer seafood directly came from the fish market, and you can enjoy the fresh seafood.

Right next to it, there is a hot spring called Manyo no yu. It’s a hot springs facility that they bring natural hot springs water from near Hakone, and you can enjoy the natural hotsprings overlooking Tokyo bay. Even if you are not comfortable to take bath, you can soak your foot to hot spring water on the roof top, there is a foot bath that you can enjoy for free.

15. Enjoy public bath house

If you prefer something more authentic experience of public bath house culture of Tokyo, there are lots of public bath houses in the town. Let’s go back to downtown of Tokyo.

Kobobukiyu near Ueno station is an old fashioned bath house. The price for small public bouse’s price is set by Tokyo government, and as of today, you can enter for 520 yen.

In case you use Sauna, it’s usually additional price. It doesn’t come with towels, but you can purchase or rent towels for a few hundreds yen inside. Even thought in the most hot springs facility in Japan doesn’t allow tattoo, some of the public bath house in Tokyo allows tattoos, including this Kotobukiyu you can experience the old style bath house and let’s see if you get into it or never again.

16. Epic Cafe Experience  

If that is a too intimidating for you, you can still see the  bathhouse. Near Iriya station of Hibiya line, there is a coffee shop called Repon Kaisaiyu that old bath house were renovated. The cafe shop is in the room, where it used to be changing rooms, and bath area is an office space of architecture design office. You can also enter there and look at the old bath house that remains almost as it was. But something amazing they offer is the coffee and ice cream. The ice cream is home made with fresh fruit from a farm in Odawara, and you can enjoy the single origin coffee they matched with the ice cream.

And both ice cream and coffee were … wow. Very good. It was a very cozy environment with a nice people. Another bath that is tattoo friendly is Bunkayokusen near Shibuya. It’s not as big as the other one in Ueno, but it’s a place you can try if you are staying in the west side of Tokyo.

After the bath, let’s feel the air of the city. In Tokyo, best spots are the roof-top garden.

17. Enjoy roof top garden in the city

Behind the Bunka yokusen, there is a big concrete structure. This is the Ohashi junction which is the intersection of 2 capital free ways, route 3 on elevated road and route C2 in the deep underground, For the environment, they completely covered the junction and made it to a base for highway patrol and a roof top garden that everyone can enter and walk around.

Another roof top garden I recommend is Ginza Six, a shopping center in Ginza. You can see the 360 view from the roof top. It’s a great escape from the crowds of streets. Most of the department stores have roof top garden that everyone can go up and usually it doesn’t have many people, so it might be interesting to find your favorite small garden in Tokyo.

18. Department Stores

Once you take a rest, it’s time to enjoy Japanese department stores. Tokyo has several major department stores, but something worth visiting just for architecture is Mitsukoshi and Takashimaya in Nihonbashi, which are one of the first department stores in Tokyo, and also Isetan department store in Shinjuku, which has the record of the most selling department storesin Japan for years. When it comes to the department store, something you must take a look is the basement. Most of the department stores have basement food section that you can find tons of sweets and delis. You can also purchase bento box or sushi box, and bring to the park or your hotel room to enjoy them.

19. Get bento box 

When it comes to the bento box, something popular to tourists are Ekiben that you bring to the trains too, But you can also get the basic reasonable bento on the street. A bento box from casual shops like Origin and Hot Motto carries Noriben. Which is under 400 yen and it comes with rice, nori seaweed and some fries. It’s quite reasonable and simple, but it tastes really good when you are hungry and haven’t eaten it for a long time.

20. Shopping at Konbini 

When you need light meal or don’t feel like eating in the restaurants, no worry. You don’t have to make every meal a special experience. You can also try to get foods at convenience stores in Japan. There are 3 major convenience stores chains in Japan, Lawson, Family mart and Seven Eleven. Just for these chains, there are about 5000 stores just in central Tokyo’s 23 cities. Each of them carry similar producs, but slightly different. For example, this Tuna Mayonaise rice ball. For this specific products, I thought Lawson was winner, but it depending on the products. After you visit Japan, please let me know which became your favorite convenience store chains.

21. Vending Machines

What you might notice in Tokyo’s street is… vending machine. There are variety of drinks you can choose from, and some of them are seasonal that I’ve never seen before. Some drinks are like … they never tasted before they sell it…. But it’s part of Tokyo experience to make a small mistake. In summer the cold drink on the street is a life saver, and in winter, a warm tea or sweet coffee warms you up.

Japan is often called Garapagoth, an island of Chille that animals developed in its own way as it was far away from continents. And similar to Japan, from traditional culture to modern society, it developed in its own way as also intaking other foreign cultures.

22. Eat Sushi  

Once you come to Tokyo, dinning is also an important experience, and a must things to do in Tokyo is eating Sushi. There are variety of Sushi restaurants from Reasonable family chain to luxury counter bar style store.

The Sushi restaurants you can eat certain quality but still easy to go in and not too much worry about the wallet is, Sushi chains from Hokkaido. It’s not a fixed price, but you can eat the good quality Sushi in an easy going environment.

23. Eat tempura soba　

Another thing to try is Tempura and Soba, and the food you can experience at once is… tempura soba. Soba is a buckwheat noodle, so make sure to avoid it if you have allergy. The simple soba and freshly fried Tempura somehow goes well, and it’s common to eat as a set.

Gonpachi is a popular restaurant that is used for the Hollywood movie Kill Bill. You still see a little bit of trace of the scene. It’s not an authentic Japanese atmosphere, but they make soba right there. Lunch is very reasonable price for the quality. At night, you can order sushi from upstair sushi bar too.

24. Tonkatsu 

Tonkatsu is a deep fried pork cutlet, that you often enjoy with thin sliced cabbage. If you cannot eat that many pork, you can often order other foods such as fried Shrimp. Many chains offer free refill of cabbage and rice, soup, so it’s a great place when you like to eat a big portion too.

25. Find your favorite Ramen 

Another popular foods in Japan is, Ramen. Ramen is a noodle bowl originally came from China, and developed in many different style in Japan. The taste and style varies depends on the region, but probably the most popular ramen among visitors to Japan is Tonkotsu Ramen started in Kyushu.

Kyushu Jangara ramen, is a popular tonkotsu ramen resutaurants, and if you like vegan choice, there is a vegan jangara

On the 2nd floor of Harajuku shop. There is more casual ramen shop like Hakata Tenjin, that you can get one free refill of noode called kaedama .

Tonkotsu ramen is a pork broth creamy soup.  Noodle is very thin and easily get soft, so it usually don’t have a big portion, and you can ask for refill of noodle of you leave some soup left. This Kaedama is only for Tonkotsu ramen. For other ramen, you can usually ask for Omori – a big portion.

But Ramen is not just Tonkotsu. There are Shio Ramen, Shoyu Ramen, Miso Ramen and variety of ramen developed in different styles.

 

26. Enjoy Good Cup of Coffee in Tokyo 

After you eat ramen or sushi, something you want to have is a good cup of coffee. Tokyo has top coffee shops that you can enjoy a great quality cups. Something really trending now is an aesthetic coffee place with high quality selected coffee. The popular store is Glitch that has several shops in Tokyo.

The staff there are very friendly there, ask you what you like, and you can ask anything about coffee. There are tons of coffee shops in Tokyo, so it will be one of the fun to find your favorite coffee shops in Tokyo.

27. Stroll Jinbocho and hunt used books

Something you need with coffee is … smart phone is good too, but how about a book. The area where Glitch coffee is near Jinbocho, that has lots of coffee shops and used book shops.Most of the books are in Japanese, but Kitazawa book store has English second hand books, so how about you randomly pick one and travel together.

28. Try Japanese sweets 

After the lunch, something you want to try is a sweets. Even though Japanese foods are popular, it seems not everyone, especially visitors from western country are not big fun of Japanese sweets. Mostly because you are not used to soy bean being so sweet. But once you get used to it, maybe you get into it so why don’t you start your first spoon in your next trip to Tokyo. My favorite sweets is Cream Anmitsu. It has lots of different sweets, and probably you have no idea what you are eating, but it’s good.  I actually didn’t like it when I was a kid, but now I love it.

29. Matcha experience

If you are not that into sweets, how about enjoying bitter matcha instead of sweets. There are several gardens in Tokyo that has a tea house, but somewhere you can relax in Japaneses style house is Kosoan in Jiyugaoka. It’s a tea house renovated an old wooden house built in 1950’s. The only thing is you need to take off your shoes and sit on the floor on Japanese style room.

30. Explore different regions of Japan in Tokyo   

If you want to take Japanese food home, Antenna Shop is convenient. Many regional governments across Japan have shops in Tokyo, and you can get a glimpse of the rich food culture of each region of Japan. Many of them are gathered in Ginza area.

The Kotsu Kaikan in front of Yurakucho station is home to shops from Hokkaido and Okinawa, which are especially popular among Japan’s regions. There are shops on the first floor and basemen. If you like to taste Tonkotsu ramen (stick ramen) after returning to your home country,I like this orange one from Hakata shop. There are also restaurants and the balcony on the second floor is my favorite spot to watch the Shinkansen.

31. Go to JapaneseSuper Market 

If you like to explore the isle with more regular Japanese foods that we eat daily basis, a good idea is to go to regular Super markets.

Tokyo is not the best place to look for a big supermarket as the space is limited. But recently in Ginza, a large discounted supermarket OK store opened. You can buy everyday ingredients and sweets at prices just like supermarkets in the suburbs.

32. Explore Japanese brand 

When it comes to shopping in Tokyo Ginza is the place to go. Ginza is an area with high end brands both international and Japanese brands. Something has been the face of Ginza for a long time are a pearl brand Mikimoto and skin cares brand Shiseido.

Ginza is not just about the luxury shops. You can also enjoy shopping at Uniqlo at two locations in Ginza. It might not be widely known, but Japan is also a home of many stationery brands. If you are obsessed with pens and note books, Tokyo is the best place to do shopping. There are various stores carry stationeries, such as Itoya, Sekaido, and also Muji and Loft.

33. See Japanese company museums

In this center of the commerce of Japan, there are shops and showrooms of Japanese brand in Tokyo such as Sony, Seiko, Yamaha, Nissan. You can learn about the history of the brands and also get to know more about the machinery itself. If you are into camera brands, there is a Fuji film Square in Roppongi.

Nikon Museum is under renovation as of April 2024.

34. Watch Kabuki　

If you like to see something more traditional,  Near Ginza, there is a Kabukiza theatre. Kabuki is a Japanese traditional performing arts, that all male actors play Old tales in the beautiful background. Kabuki usually lasts about 4 hours with breaks, but for visitors from abroad, you can also watch just one act, that you can make casually put in your schedule during your shopping in Ginza or exploring Tsukiji.

35. Eat fish at Tsukiji  

The fish market that has been long at Tsukiji has moved to Toyosu, but there are still many fish shops and restaurants that offer fresh sea foods. You find numerous shops that offer Sushi, Seafood bowl and different street foods. If you like to feel more old Tokyo style market, Tsukiji might be better than Toyosu to enjoy sea food.

36. 100 Yen Shop / Standard shop 

If you’re looking for something reasonably priced, try Daiso. There’s also a spin-off shop called Standard. The price range is from a few dollars to 10 bucks or so, but everything is in similar earthy colors that match with your interior, and most of the products are well though and well done, that I’m afraid my rooms are occupied by their products. The stores in Shibuya Mark City is very large, so be careful not to spend too much time.   : )

37. Nintendo Tokyo & Pokemon Center

Something popular to see is Japanese sub culture stores. The top store you might want to visit in Tokyo is Nintendo Tokyo.  In Shibuya Parco. You can get the dolls and different goods of Mario and Nintendo Characters.

38. Explore Shibuya Parco 

This Nintendo Tokyo is located in Shibuya Parco. On the same floor, there is also Pokemon Center that there are several stores in Tokyo. Shibuya Parco also has underground restaurant area. The interesting restaurant is a vegan restaurants called Masaka. You can eat all vegan lunch. The rooftop terrace is also great for taking a break with a view of Shibuya.

39. Shibuya Sky  

If you like to see Shibuya from somewhere much higher, a must visit place is Shibuya Sky. Shibuya Sky is an observatory on the top of Shibuya Scramble Squre building. This is not the highest observatory in Tokyo, but it’s very popular as you can feel the sky of Tokyo not through the glasses. The tickets for the sunset time sold out 4 weeks before on the day they start the sales of the tickets, so you might want to write down on the calendar if you plan to visit.

In case of the rain or strong wind the roof top is closed, so that is one risk that you might want to know before you go. In the day time you can see Mt.Fuji on sunny days, and at night you can see the neon of Shibuya Scramble Crossing. Visiting locations used for movies and anime is also a fun thing to do.

40. Scramble Crossing 

Tokyo has many different faces, it’s Japan’s capitol and center of economy, hub of Japan’s pop culture, it’s where entertainment and art have flourished since old times. As you arrive Tokyo the place drag you into the realization of arrival in Tokyo is Shibuya’s scramble crossing. This is the top tourist spots, but also an important intersection for office workers, commuters and shoppers to Shibuya.

41. Hachi Dog Statue 

In front of the Shibuya station, you’ll see the loyal dog Hachiko. The symbol of Shibuya – Hachiko is a statue of a dog

Born in 1923, that used to come to Shibuya Station every evening, looking for his owner without knowing the he suddenly passed away.

42. Miyashita park

In Shibuya, a good place to take a rest is Miyashita Park. In exchange for Shibuya city renting out the space under the park in front of the station to a private company as a shopping center,  the company maintain and manage the park

it’s crowded and hard to find a bench on the weekend, but it’s nice to be able to relax right in front of Shibuya Station hearing the sound of the trains and the city.

43. Cat Street and Ura Harajuku  

Tokyo’s two spots Shibuya and Harajuku are in walking distance. One of the streets that connect them are Cat Street.

Cat Street connects Shibuya and Harajuku, and is a fun walking street lined with the latest trend shops and outdoor shops. There are also many small backstreets around Harajuku, so it’s fun to explore them on foot.

44. Omokado and Harakado  

When you go to Harajuku, a good spots to visit is Omodako and Harakado located in the corner of JIngumae traffic light facing each other. You can relax on the rooftop and enjoy a coffee and meals while looking out the Tokyo scenery.

45. Walk Takeshita St. in Harajuku  

The top spots in Harajuku is Takeshita street. It’s been a street young crowd gathers from all over Japan. You see some cute pop culture shops, and recently they have many souvenir shops and a themed cafe too. Iconic street food from Harajuku is Crape and a big cotton candy.

46. Meiji Jingu Shrine 

If you’re tired of the hustle and bustle of Harajuku and Shibuya, there is a Meiji Shrine, right behind the Harajuku station. Something makes the shrine special is the large forest around it. You can feel the air is much cooler there in the forest. This forest was made 100 years ago, and about 100 thousands trees were donated from across Japan, and 110 thousands men worked to make this forest. On the north side of the shrine, there is a glass area where locals are siting and chatting on the grass.

47. Shinjuku Gyoen   

If you like to enjoy the garden more, a must visit place is Shinjuku Gyoen National garden, that you can enter with 500 yen admission. There are several different areas that you can enjoy walking, enjoy scenery and flowers. Shinjuku Gyoen is especially famous during the cherry blossom season.

There is a Starbucks inside and several venders selling snacks, and plenty of vending machines in the garden. But I recommend you bring something to eat and a leisure sheet for more fun time.

48. Shinjuku station   

If you took a rest well, now it’s tie to jump out to the busy city of Tokyo again. Shinjuku is the largest and the busiest downtown area in Tokyo. For some, Shinjuku at night might be the most Tokyo like scene.

And your trip to Shinjuku starts from Shinjuku station. Shinjuku station is a hub of JR line in the western Tokyo, and where JR East headquarters are located. In addition, 3 subways and 3 private railways, Keio, Odakyu, and Seibu are merging. Right above the new south exit is the bus terminal that buses to all over Japan leaves.

Some part of Shinjuku station is now under construction to rebuilt to the building higher than Tokyo metropolitan office, and other projects start soon.  Probably the construction lasts another decade or two, so it’s really like a maze and you might see a different view every time you visit Tokyo.

49. Kabukicho

Kabukicho, is an entertainment district, stretches north of Shinjuku Station. You’ll see a big Godzilla statue is looking down on the streets. Kabukicho is a place to visit at night and enjoy the neon lights. Recently opened Kabukicho Tokyu tower has food court and some amusement facility. I don’t say it’s a dangerous place, but please be careful not to follow someone talk to you saying there is a good restaurants or bars.

50. Drink at small alleys. 

Even though it’s getting difficult to find old days scenes in Tokyo, Tokyo still has old small alleys with many bars along the path. In Shinjuku, there are some bar streets like Omoida Yokocho and Golden gai. They are originally started as an unofficial market after the world war 2 and there are many tiny bars lined up in narrow alleys.

Right next to the  train track of Shinjuku station is Omoide Yokocho. You see many Japanese style bars, customers are drinking pushing shoulders each other.

51. Try Japanese Sake at Izakaya 

When Japanese people drink and eat after work or to gather with friends, is Izakaya. Some places probably easier to go in is, when you sit on the seat, they give you small dish called Otoshi, and it’s like for the seat charge depends on the restaurants. It’s kind of custom and something I’ve never paid attention to it, but I sometimes see on Google review by foreign tourists that they charged hidden cost. If it’s intimidating to go to the old style bar, recently there are some Izakaya that doen’t have Otoshi charge, and one is this Yakiton chains (Chikuzenya). The shop I went was in Nakano, and this place is very traveler friendly. You can order from your QR code in English, and you can check what you ordered, and what is the total price now.

52. Shin Okubo    

In the north of Kabukicho, there is a town called Shin-Okubo, that there are many foreign grocery shops. Among them, the east side of the town is known for Korean restaurants and shops. You can enjoy Korean foods and shopping there.

There is also a big discount store Donqi Haute, which has been here for a long time.

53. Tokyo Metropolitan Govt

Shinjuku is also a neighborhood the Tokyo government is located. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building is in Nishi Shinjuku,  it’s a high-rise twin tower with a free observation deck on the upper floor.

The building is designed by Kenzo Tange, same for the Park Tower that has Park Hyatt Tokyo on the top floors

Which became famous for the movie with Scarlet Johannson, Lost in Translation.

54. Tokyo station   

However, when you think of the center of Tokyo, you might think of the Tokyo station that has name of Tokyo.

The Marunouchi side on the west has a large square in front of station, and the loads are directly connected to the Imperial Palace.

55. Imperial Palace

Imperial Palace is where the Japanese Emperor lives. The imperial family is continuing more than 1500 years or 2000 years depending on the study. Imperial family don’t interfere with the politics, but it’s been respected as a symbol of Japan.

When Edo period finished, Imperial family was moved from Kyoto to Tokyo, where there used to be Edo castle ruled by Tokugawa family. Visitors cannot enter the palace, but you can walk around to the Nijubashi bridge and you can also enter east garden, where you can see the trace of Edo castle.

56. Tokyo character street  

Tokyo station is not just a railway station. It has large underground shopping malls. One part is called Tokyo Character Street, and you can get lots of different character goods.

57. See trains  

If you are a train fan, seeing trains are also a big attraction of Tokyo. Every major city in the world has subways called in different name, Subway, Tube, Underground or Metro… and something unique about Tokyo is … there are Two subway company, Tokyo Metro, and Toei by Tokyo government. Those are running underground of Tokyo, but there are also elevated train by JR and that is also an important

Transportation in the city center. The symobol of Tokyo is Yamanote line that goes around Tokyo in the loop in about 60 minutes.

Even if you don’t have opportunity to take Shinkansen, you can enter the platform of Shinkansen to see trains. With one ticket, you can go both JR central’s platform and JR East platform.

So if you or your children want to see Shinkansen, it’s a good idea to get it. It’s an experience to see Shinkansen come and go very frequently. Just it’s a busy platform, so please be careful not to go too close to the rail or home doors.

58. Find popular photo spot of Tokyo

One good spot to take photo of train and Tokyo city together is, Hijiri bashi bridge.

It’s right outside the JR Ochanomizu station, and you see JR trains comes and goes to 2 directions of Tokyo station and Akihabara station, you also see Tokyo Metro’s Marunouchi Line comes out above ground just

To across the river.

My favorite spot to look at train is McDonalds in front of Seibu Shinjuku station. You see the JR trains going by

Continuously  with the background of Sky scrapers in Nishi Shinjuku. If you have seen old Japanese anime in 80’s, you might have seen this scene of Shinjuku building from this angle.

59. Find location for Anime and Movies filmed in Tokyo

Your Name

The popular photo spot is a stair near Yotsuya san-chome station. There are also stairs that became famous in the anime Your Name, it’s located near the quiet Suga Shrine here.

Weathering with you

Right outside the small exit Tabata station was used for the same Anime director Makoto Shinkan’s Weathering with you. Also, Nozokizaka near Zoshigaya station is a steep hill that used for the anime scene.

60. Akihabara  

If you like anime goods, Akihabara is a must visit place in Tokyo. But before Akihabara becomes popular with pop culture like now, Akihabara used to be an electronic town. I still remember that I had to come to Akihabara to get soldering iron for school work, when I was in junior high school.

Even though many shops are replaced by sub-culture stores, You can get a glimpse of the traditional atmosphere of Akihabara at the electronic town under the train track of Akihabara station, and the Akihabara depart building.

61. Akiba Kaikan

If you like anime and figures, Akiba Kaikan is one of the place to go. It’s a building with lots of hobby shops that you can explore hours if you like.

62. See electronics shop  

Let’s go to a large electronics store in Tokyo. Big stores in Tokyo are Bic Camera and Yodobashi Camera. Akihabara is home to Yodobashi Akiba, one of the largest in Tokyo.

63. Take a rest at Internet Cafe  

If you are tired of walking around but you like to take a rest, a good place is Internet cafe. Kaikatsu club is one of the major Internet cafe. To make a membership card, you need an actual passport. But once you make a membership card, you can check in easily with machine, and make reservation online.

I took one traveler from the United States to make a membership card, and on the process of being an member, both shop person came out from behind the counter helped him, and also online call center person helped remotely.

Depends on the location, but Kaikatsu club has all private rooms, and you can choose either floor or chair. This floor room is popular as you can sleep. It’s quiet, and good break away from city. All comics are Japanese, but you can get free refill of drinks, and also take showers and do loundry. Towels are sold at the counter for a few hundred yen, or some location have it for free. For this Shinjuku one, Membership is 370 yen. 3 hours 1680 yen. 7020 yen for 24 hours.

64. Play with Gachapon  

Just like vending machine, something you see everywhere in Tokyo is Gachapon. In Akihabara, there is a place like Gachapon Kaikan, but again, it’s everywhere in the town in Tokyo. My favorite is the Yamanote Line Gacha that I see at Akihabara Station. I get this little pouch of Yamanote line design for 300 yen. But if you want to see more Gacha, let’s head to Ikebukuro, which is another subculture center in Tokyo. It has the world’s largest Gashapon center, with 3,000 machines lined up.

65. Sunshine City     

The “Gashapon Center” is in a big building complex calleed Sunshine City. It also has Sunshine city Aquarium, and shopping center with Pokemon center, so it’s a place you can enjoy even on rainy days. It’s not a major one, but Sunshine city is also has observation deck on 60th floor. It’s about 10 minutes walk from Ikebukuro station, but you can also go through underground from Higashi Ikebukuro station of Tokyo metro Yurakucho line.

66. Ikebukuro

This Ikebukuro is known for the two big department store Tobu and Seibu. It’s hiding behind Shinjuku and Shibuya, but it’s also one of the leading shopping towns in Tokyo. Recently, there are many anime shops opened and becoming like the 2nd Akihabara town.

67. Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo – The making of Harry Potter 

This is an indoor studio tour facility just opened in Tokyo in 2023 after the park called Toshimaen closed.  It’s the second attraction after the one in London, and it’s a must visit place if you are a Harry Potter fans.

68. Tokiwaso

If you want something a little more Japanese, you’ll find a very quiet town that became the birth place of many anime artists.  Around Higashi-Nagasaki Station of Seibu line, there are former sites where anime artists lived, called Tokiwaso. You can spot several anime related sites in the quiet town.

69. Kishibojin 

Kishimojin is located near Ikebukuro Station. You’ll encounter an old-fashioned sight like you are time slipped to old days. In this town, you see the only remaining street car in Tokyo, Arakawa line is running.

70. Ride on Tokyo’s Only street car. Toden 

Let’s take a ride on Tokyo’s only remaining streetcar. It runs from Waseda near Shinjuku to Minowabashi, which is the north east of Tokyo. It’s very slow and takes time to ride everything, so you might want to just ride parts of the route if you don’t have time.

71. Visiting Grandama’s Harajuku 

What you pass by with tram is Koshinzuka. This street is connecting from Sugamo station of JR line, and it’s called a Grandma’s Harajuku. You see lots of shops that are made for senior travelers.The local foods from Sugamo is TokiwaShokudo’s fish fry, and Curry Udon noodle, which is a must try food when you come to Sugamo.

72. Visit Asukayama Park   

Let’s get on the Toden and go to Asukayama park that lays in front of JR Oji station. Asukayama is a well known place for the cherry blossom tree, and you can also spot Shinkansen from above. If you try to go to the park from Oji station, there are lots of stairs, but you can also take this free tram that takes you up to the park. So even if it’s physically difficult to go up the stairs, you can still enjoy the park. By the river under the park, there is Oji Shrine. This is one of the Tokyo 10 shrines. All of these shrines are not a popular tourist spots, But they all have good atmosphere, so it might be interesting to see how many you can go. Akasaka Hikawa Shrine is right near the Roppongi, and Atago Shine is near Toranomon Hills That it is believed that you succeed if you run up the stairs.

73. Visit Arcade Shopping Mall  (Minowabashi)   

Minowabashi is a town where the old-fashioned shopping street still remains. The tram ends at Minowabashi station. Right next to the station, you can see a little shopping street with local residents. There are lots of arcade shopping streets in Tokyo, such as Shinkoiwa, Musashi Koyama, Koenji.

74. Stroll Yanaka     

And the terminal on this north east area of Tokyo is Ueno. I you get off at Nippori Station or Uguisudani Station of Yamanote line, you will find yourself in the quiet neighborhood of Yanaka. It’s an area with many temples and a commercial street called Yanaka Ginza. You can look around some shops and also try some street foods. The area has lots of small alleys and known for cats. I couldn’t spot cat this day. You are lucky if you find some.

75. Visit Nezu Srine

As you walk towards west of Yanaka, there is Nezu shrine between Nezu and Sendagi station. The shrine has red Torii gates continuing to Otome Inari shrine. In April, you can see Azalea flowers bloom. This hill is continuing to JR Ochanomizu station, and you see other popular shrine in Tokyo.Yushima Tenjin is known to wish for the succeed in study, and plum garden, and Kanda Myojin is the main shrine of Tokyo since Edo period.

76. Visit Ueno Park    

Ueno park is a large park laying right next to Ueno station. If you leave the gate of the station, you are already in the park. Almpost all lands of the Ueno park used to belong to Kaneiji temple, which is quietly located in the back of the park now. And you see many historical temples and shrines in the park. Toshogu Shrine, Gojiten shrine, Bentendo in Shinobazu pond, And there is a Kiyomizu Kannondo.

77. National Museum

Ueno park is also a home for about 10 museums. What you might not want to miss is, Tokyo National Museum. You can see Japanese Buddhism statues, Swords, Kimono, and everything Japan in national treasure level.

78. Riding Boat   

If you need some activities, let’s take a boat ride in Ueno. if you cannot handle the regular boat, you can also use pedal boat.  You can enjoy a different view of the park from a boat. There are some other places in Tokyo that you can take boat.

79. Ameyoko walk    

After spending some time in the nature of Ueno, let’s head out to Ameyoko. Ameyoko is a shopping street that connects to Okachimachi Station, and several other roads run parallel to it.It’s like 365 days festival with all the shops and visitors especially in the evening time. You can find some seafood shops, and … really anything. There is a small temple, Marishiten Tokudaiji in the middle of the busy town.

80. Watch Sumo at Kokugikan  

The next thing to do in Tokyo is, watching sumo at the Kokugikan. Tickets are difficult to obtain, so we recommend purchasing them online on the day sales begin. For more details, please see my Sumo video. If you go to Kokugikan, please make sure to eat their specialties yakitori and chanko nabe. Chanko is sumo wrestler’s favorite foods.

81. Eat Chanko Nabe   

Even if you couldn’t get the tickets of Sumo match, you can eat Chanko nabe around Ryogoku station. Right next to the station, there is a building called Ryogoku Edo Noren. And their restaurant, Chanko Kirishima offers amazing Chanko nabe, hot pot. It’s a reasonable price for lunch, so even if not the season for Sumo, it’s an interesting place to visit.

82. Watch Baseball Game at Tokyo Dome

If you like to see other sports, you can go to watch the baseball game. Tokyo has two teams, Giants playing in Tokyo Dome and Swallows at Jingu stadium. Tokyo dome also has baseball museum, which were almost all in Japanese but if you are a baseball fans, it might be a good place to check out.

83. See Japanese Garden  

Right next to the Tokyo Dome, there is Koishikawa garden. It’s a Japanese garden made in 1629 as a garden of a house for Mito Tokugawa family. In a not big space of the garden, there are lots of small world are expressed.

Another Japanese garden is, Kiyosumi garden in Kiyosumi Shirakawa. This one was organized by the founder of Mitsubishi group and donated to Tokyo in 1924. Something you might want to pay attention here is stones collected from all over Japan by the founder of Mitsubishi group.

84. Feel the life of Old Tokyo    

Ryogoku is known for Edo Tokyo museum that you can learn about the history of Tokyo, but they are under big renovation for years, and it’s scheduled to re-open in 2025. When they are not open yet, it’s much smaller but a good place you can feel the air of old Tokyo around this area by Sumida river is, Fukagawa Edo Museum. There, you can get a glimpse of life in Edo. You can imagine you live there with limited lighting and directly feeling the 4 seasons in the air.

85. Use Gurutto Pass  

For these Japanese gardens and small museums like this, something you might want to get is Gurutto Pass. It’s sold from April 1st to the next February, and You can enter many gardens and small museums without any additional charge and you can also enter some major museums with discount.

It’s including lots of small museums, so what is great about is it takes you to off the touristy spots or hidden gem neighborhoods that you probably don’t think of visiting without this pass. So if you are interested in Japanese gardens and museums, and zoo in Tokyo, it’s a good pass to get.

86. Stroll Kiyosumi Shirakawa  

Kiyosumi Shirakawa, where Kiyosumi Garden is located, is an interesting town where you see modern museum of art of Tokyo and modern coffee shops mixed in the old down town. If you are visiting on a warm day, you can also have a beer looking at bridges and Tokyo sky tree.

87. Monzen nakacho

Right next to Kiyozumi Shirakawa is a town called Monzen Nakacho, often called Mon-Naka by locals. It’s a town with full of temples and shrines, and has a lively downtown atmosphere. There are major temple of Fukagawa Naritasan, and Tomioka Hachimangu shrine.

It also has bar alleys along the canal, and by the Sumida river, there is a park you can over look the city. Across the bridge is an area called Tsukishima.

88. Eat Monjayaki at Tsukishima     

On the opposite shore from Monzen Nakacho is Tsukishima. This town is known for Tokyo’s soul food, Monja Yaki. Near Tsukishima station, there is a street you see lots of Monja shops. Monja is an interesting messy foods taste delicious, so it’s a must visit street if you come near by.

89. Shibamata    

If you want to experience the Edo atmosphere a little deeper, visit Shibamata Taishakuten on the eastern edge of Tokyo. There is a traditional street with many souvenir shops and restaurants. I also recommend you go to the behind the temple, and going out on the river bank and watching the sunset.

90. Jindaiji temple   

If you want to enjoy the same quiet atmosphere, another place I recommend is Jindaiji Temple. Jindaiji is known for Soba, and you can enjoy hand made, very authentic soba noodle. There are lots of soba shops around the Jindaiji temple, and  I choose this shop I could eat outside. You can visit here by bus either from Chofu station or Kichijoji station. But you don’t have to visit here just for the temple and soba. Right next to the temple, there is Jindaiji Botanical Garden. You can enjoy the large garden with beautiful flowers.

91. Inokashira Park  and   Kichijoji   

Near Kichijoji station, there is Inokashira Park. Inokashira Park is a good spot to take a boat, and enjoy walking in the nature. It has a different view for 4 seasons.

Inside the park, there is a Inokashira Park Zoo, and Ghibli Museum. Inokashira Park Zoo have two faces, small zoo that you can see cute animals and sculpture museum of Seibo Kitamura. Who is known for the statue of Nagasaki’s peace memorial park.

Inside the several small building and forest, you can see lots of statues that you feel dynamism of human body. Ghibli museum is a museum made by the Japanese anime studio Studio Ghibli, which is known for animes like Laputa, Kiki’s delivery, and Totoro.

92. Visit Nakano and Nakano broadway    

Nakano is only one station from Shinjuku by Orange Chuo line. After you go through the arcade street, you will hit the Nakano broadway. It’s an old shopping mall that has many hobby and sub culture shops. It smells like an old shopping center, and every time I visit here, it brings me back to old days that makes me smile for no reason.

Nakano is also a good place to find a place to drink. Around the broadway, you see many interesting bars and shops. If you like to visit something out of a big city like Shinjuku, you can just take a train one station and have a different experience.

93. Shimo Kitazawa    

If you’re looking for a place a little further away from the classics of the city center, there’s also Shimokitazawa.

There are Many shops line up along the streets that lead to residential areas, making it a popular area among Tokyo locals.

94. Visit Theme Cafe 

Tokyo is home to many themed cafes with certain concept. Such as Pokemon cafe and maid cafes. There is a sweets shop near Setagaya Daita station hat is run by the brother of a Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki. You can enjoy the cute Totoro like chew cream in the quiet retro environment of residential area near Shimo Kitazawa.

95. Visit Aesthetic Temples in suburbs   

Gotokuji is a Temple  famous for Maneki Neko which is like a inviting cat, that welcoming fortune to your house. If you have one in your house. You can purchase yours and bring as your souvenir, or leave one at the temple.

I left mine here, but maybe I could bring back. It’s also a nice place just to see the buildings and gardens too. You can either walk from Gotokuji station or take one station of Setagaya line.

Near Jiyugaoka, there is a Kuhonbutsu temple. You can see big buddha statue and beautiful garden. It’s not a touristy spot, so you can enjoy the nice serene time there.

96. Visit Zojoji temple    

Now Let’s go back to the city center. The last for Tokyo’s templeis the Zojoji Temple. The scene with Tokyo Tower in the background is an interesting mixture of Old and Modern Tokyo. It is said that the flow of powerful energy from Mt. Fuji is coming down to this Zojoji temple.

97.  Tokyo’s symbol. Tokyo Tower   

Behind it is Tokyo Tower. You can go up to the observation deck, or we recommend looking at it from various angles.

It might no longer the best spot to look around Tokyo as there are many buildings around, but it’s still the top icon of Tokyo’s development that always cheer up people.

98. TeamLab Borderlss 

Azabudai Hills is the newest spot that has opened near Tokyo Tower. In the highend shopping street, new digital art museum teamLab Borderless has opened. It’s a facility you enjoy the digital art written on the wall and floor. In Toyosu, there is another temporary venue teamLab Planets too.

99. Haneda Airport Garden & Observatories　

Before you leave to your country or travel to the other parts of Japan, the great place to go is observatory of Haneda airport. Each terminal 1, 2 and 3 has observation decks. They are all in the shopping area before the security, so anyone can visit and see the airplanes even if you

100. Walking through the endless city of Tokyo

And the last and the best things to do is to walk around the city center of Tokyo that street continue endlessly. Fortunately Tokyo is one of the safest mega city in the world, so as long as you keep your basic sense of cautious just like you do in your country, you can walk around enjoying the freedom and that you had opportunity to visit this country.

The good thing of Tokyo is it’s safe to walk around even late night, you can enjoy freedom of walking around the streets endlessly continues, but please make sure not to follow anyone if someone talk to you, also keep the basic sense of caution especially if you are a female solo traveler.

My favorite course is to walk from Nogi shrine near Nogizaka station to Omotesando. It’s an area with lots of greens and you still see city sky lines of Roppongi and Shinjuku in distance. You will also go through Aoyama cemetery that Shibuya’s symbol dog Hachi and his owner Professor Ueno sleeps together.

After Thoughts

So that was my list of 100 things to do in Tokyo. Tokyo has a lot more than this 100 things. It might be one of the fun to find your favorite shops, find Your secrets photogenic spots… I hope you can  find your own way of enjoying Tokyo. Thank you for reading this long list until here.

Have a great trip to Tokyo!