I want to spend 2nd week of November based in Tokyo and do day trips out from hotel base. Could do day trips but would consider a highly regarded day tour trip. Independent mature traveller who last visited with fellow uni students in 1965 when in my prime! Would appreciate your suggestions for day trips, eateries and accommodation.
Was there for 4 weeks in January in 65 and travelled by train and went from Ibuski in South to Nikko in North. Hope to go back next year for longer trip. Many thanks for your helpful suggestions. Joy
Suggestions for 1 Week Based in Tokyo Please?
JoyVee on 06/10/2022 - 19:27
Comments
Obviously visit the big areas like Akihabara
Nope. It's literally just some shops.
Ueno
Tokyo National Museum in Ueno is amazing, and the best thing to do in Tokyo after walking around Tokyo station and the Imperial Palace.
Otherwise, avoid Ueno, too busy.
Asakusa on one day.
Avoid. Too busy. The original atmosphere has been destroyed in favour of tourist tackiness.
Shinjuku
Interesting to see at night (once). Otherwise: avoid.
Shibuya
Most overrated place in Tokyo. Literally nothing there.
Harajuku on another day.
Nope. It's just a shopping mall.
Really? When were you last in Japan? Because I was there recently, and none of it is over crowded or "too busy" right now.
I think you need to explore these areas a bit more than just the primary streets.
Asakusa is more than just Sensoji temple. There's a wide spaced mall with many shops near by which are great to look around. There's also a very large don quijote here which is great for souvenirs or food to bring home with you. Sensoji is still worth looking at, and I recommend seeing it at night time. The tourist oriented vendors are closed, and the temple is lit up very beautifully. You can easily walk from Asakusa to Tokyo Sky Tree as well, which will take you past the Kirin beer (golden poop) building.
Ueno also has a very beautiful park and a cheap zoo for those interested in going there. The zoo is only 600 yen and is probably one of the most well priced places in Tokyo. There is also Ameyoko street mall where you can see locals buying food, and many locals drinking after work. There's plenty of well priced restaurants along here.
Akihabara is a lot more than just shops, it's a look into Japanese culture. You can see countless maids lining the streets, anime shops, and if you walk into the back streets there's some electrical shops still around. AKB was born here. It's worth a walk through to see it at least once, and I recommend walking the back alleys more than the main street.
Shinjuku is great to see at night, but there's other things around here as well. There is the Square Enix building and Artnia cafe, for any lovers of JRPGs or Square Enix games. The building itself and fountain are also quite amazing. There's some cool back streets to see and a fairly nice temple here too. Plenty of great restaurants around Shinjuku station, and there is Shinjuku Gyoen if you enjoy parks.
Shibuya is not my most enjoyable place, but there is a lot of street graffiti and it's definitely worth walking around once. There are a few famous buildings and the scramble crossing which you can see. They're all close to each other and it is a great starting point for a day. I recommend walking from Shibuya through Yoyogi park and into Harajuku.
Yoyogi park often has festivals going on in their event square out the front of the NHK building. The park itself is often full of locals playing games and doing interesting things, and there is a large temple here as well.
Harajuku has a lot of interesting clothing stores, and while busy on the weekend if you go a bit earlier it's relatively empty on weekdays. You can walk from Harajuku into Omotesando and explore the interesting malls and shops along this street.You used "it's just shops" a lot as your reason for not to visit places in Japan, but the shops are a large part of the interesting things to see in Tokyo.
From your perspective Tokyo should just be avoided because it's all shops, except for the imperial palace, and many people would say 'it's just a garden' since you can't even go inside the palace except for 1 day per year.You are listing things that may be interesting to do in Tokyo if you're there for a very long time or living there.
If I had only one week in Tokyo, I would not want to waste it looking at shops, plain old parks (e.g. Yoyogi park), street graffiti, street crossings, malls, etc.
Shinjuku gyoen is OK, and during peak Autumn red foliage season or peak cherry blossom season it's worth visiting (although busy). But in my opinion the area around the Imperial Gardens is more interesting. It's not just the gardens, it's the area itself that exudes grandeur, and it's a totally different atmosphere from Shinjuku.
No suggestion other than eating lot of ramen at tokyo station ramen street
God I miss authentic Japan ramen
Nikko, great spot but if possible stay overnight. It's a local train trip, not expensive, around 1hr 15. Look up the website Tokyo Cheapo for good info, they also have a cheap online guide book as well, it's comprehensive and under $10. Enjoy!
kabukicho
Hakone is beautiful.
That's like someone asking for tips on a Melbourne trip but you send them to Geelong.
We did an awesome day trip from Tokyo to Hakone return which included about 4-5 really awesome experiences in 1 package, not sure if this was the exact pass https://www.hakonenavi.jp/international/en/discount_passes/f… but it was something similar
Or, you know, it's like answering OP's request for day trips
I've done Hakone as a day trip three times. Take the trains up, switch to the cable car, check out the volcanic vents, grab some black eggs, enjoy the views of Fuji, grab some lunch, catch the pirate ship across the lake, wander along the Tokaido, catch the ship back then do the rest in reverse. Highly recommend.
Good day trips from Tokyo are
Kamakura and Enoshima https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3115.html
Yokohama (which is basically tokyo)
If you want a longer day trip then Hakone / Mount Fuji https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5200.html or Nikko (which is about 2 hours each way so its a long day)
this page https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3051.html has a bunch of itineraries for Tokyo itself. Highly recommend at least the Western Tokyo and the Asakusa half day. I also suggest wandering around Nakano for 1/2 day and have a look at Yanaka and Shimo-Kitazawa for something slightly different. Akihabara I guess, depends what you like (but its mostly shops so unless you want to buy what they are selling, its just shops). Ameyoko is ok as well.
Not to forget Sugamo - ‘Harajuku for grannies’…
Places that arent that great - Ginza (unless you like expensive shops, although on the weekend its ok as the streets are closed), the Imperial Palace (Shinjuku Gyoen is a better garden and you can barely see the palace), Skytree, Shibuya crossing (its…a crosswalk), Roppongi unless you are 19, the fish markets (in a new boring building), maid cafes. Golden Gai is worth walking through during the evening but dont eat or drink there unless you have a very specific bar you want to go to, its expensive and you probably wont get that much good food. Try Omoide Yokocho around the corner instead.
Yokohama is ~1hour (can be 30mins if you're living west part of Tokyo) away and feels quite different, I really enjoyed it
Mt Takao is a nice little hike that's ~45 mins away, don't go on a weekend though it gets really crowded
See if you can catch a baseball game (might be finishing up around when you go though) or sumo match
Hakone for hotsprings is quite nice
Kawaguchiko (probably need more than just a day trip though) is really lovely, bike around the lake and just enjoy the peace and quiet
If you're looking for only Tokyo you'd probably need to list a few things you're into as there's quite a lot to do in the city such as just relaxing at the aquarium (I went to Shinagawa aquarium and spent a full day there enjoying the dolphin show and the pier/shopping centre for activities)
Kamakura/Enoshima are nice places for day trips also
You could probably spend a day on each side of Tokyo (East and West) to see the differences in the city and just walk down random streets eating, sightseeing, there's a shopping centre/building that has a rooftop that you can just relax and eat some snacks on from the grocery/food area
I would do a walking tour of Tokyo if it's been that long since your last visit.
I like Op Shops in Japan. So much stuff is pretty much brand new. When I was there a few years ago I found this awesome jacket in a second hand store on Cat Street made from horse leather. Damn thing was 1 size too small though.
I’ve been to Tokyo many times. The best thing to do inside Tokyo is to catch the train to Tokyo station, and walk from there to the Imperial Palace gardens (10 mins walk).
Not only are the imperial gardens amazing, with the backdrop of the Imperial Palace and its walls, but Tokyo Station is also very interesting and the entire area is amazingly spacious, clean and beautiful. From the Imperial Palace, it’s a short walk to Hibiya park, which is surrounded by massive government buildings, including the National Diet building.
In my opinion, this area exudes an aura of grandeur not found in other areas of Tokyo. It’s also not that busy or cramped, so you can relax more and enjoy the scenery.
Day trips from Tokyo:
I would avoid boring, super-busy tourist hot spots like Kamakura, Yokohama and Nikko. Wake up early, go further afield to places like Matsumoto (quiet, beautiful castle town) in Nagano.Wake up early, go further afield to places like Matsumoto (quiet, beautiful castle town) in Nagano.
5 hour train trip (once you get to Shinjuku station, so really 6 hours or so) and will cost Y13000 minimum. Its a long day trip. Yes you are in a train but its a big effort
The trip is less than 3 hours, with nice scenery. Leave 8am, arrive before 11am. Spend 4 hours walking around Matsumoto, then back to Tokyo by dinner time. Anyone going to Japan for 1 or 2 weeks without a JAPAN RAIL PASS (valid for Shinkansen) is mad, in my opinion. You will save so much money with this pass, and have quick access to so many interesting areas of Japan.
Anyone going to Japan for 1 or 2 weeks without a JAPAN RAIL PASS (valid for Shinkansen) is mad, in my opinion. You will save so much money with this pass
depends on what you do and where you go, we flew in osaka, and out tokyo..
so we had a one way trip on shinkanzen plus local train rides …wasn't economical to get JR pass for 6 people.
however our first trip with 4x people and return shinkansen trips from tokyo to osaka and kyoto was worth it.
3 hours each way = 6 hour trip, like I said. A Y29000 odd JR pass won’t pay off in a week based in Tokyo, unless you do several day trips long distance. Sure if you go to Matsumoto and to Kyoto or to Kanazawa it pays off but do people really want to be spending 5 or 6 hours on a train in a day? When you are 25 perhaps, not when you are grown up
You’re right, it was a long day when I went. There are plenty of interesting places though, if you don’t mind a few hours on the train, Personally, the places I found by chance or by travelling a bit off the beaten path were more interesting than the most well-known tourist sites, which often suffer from overcrowding. And, in my mid-40s, I find sitting on the Shinkansen or local train for a few hours much easier than queuing up or walking around densely crowded tourist sites all day.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Have found JR rail pass and SICA details on youtube
Day trips
Will base myself at Ueno staion and plan 3 train trips and 2 days around Tokyo and or suburbs.
Have allowed a full day to and from Tokyo each way. I want to relax and have stress free reintroduction to Japan. Will go to Nikko and Gokayama if weather is reasonable, want to be flexible. Have Japanese vocab of abt 20 words so far. Thanks for your great help. Joy
Really depends what you like, but for 2 of your days I would recommend Yokohama & Minato Mirai area (inc China Town) and Kamakura & Enoshima on another day. Other 5 days you could probably spend in Tokyo itself.
Kichijoji and Mitaka area is nice.
Odaiba used to be a great place to go, and probably still recommended but half of it is closed now.
Obviously visit the big areas like Akihabara, Ueno and Asakusa on one day.
Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harajuku on another day.
I guess that's 6 days used up if you did all that.