I am going to be in Tokyo (staying in Shinjuku) from September 6-13.
I already have some idea of what I would like to do, and am getting feedback from friends as to places to go. For example, I plan on visiting Harajuku and the Meiji Shrine on Sunday, I plan on taking the JR line out to Kyoto to see a friend, I plan on going up the Tokyo Municipal Government building to look out over the city.
I wanted to check with the masses as to things to do in Tokyo (or anywhere in Japan a tourist can reasonably get to for a day trip outside Tokyo by taking the JR system, for example).
This is actually my first international trip ever (why start small?). I don’t speak Japanese (other than phrases I have picked up such as would be useful in polite exchanges).
I would like to experience the historical culture more than anything, though seeing the drama of the city comes with the territory of staying in Tokyo.
If you’re only there for a week and already going to Kyoto you’ll have a busy time!
Harajuku is a must, but better on a Sunday when all the dressed-up Goth kids are at the park. Also go to Shibuya, just to see the crossing outside the station - IIRC it’s the busiest intersection in the world.
Get lost in Shinjuku station - just cos you will - and go up the stairs at the east exit to the big TV screen Studio Alta in the evening. It’s where everyone meets up so an interesting place to see, and if you look to your right up Shinjuku-dori you’ll think you’re in Blade Runner.
Definitely spend an evening in Shinjuku, just wandering around visiting bars and food places, and try and get to a karaoke booth place if you haven’t experienced them already.
Everyone is different in what they want to see in Japan of course, but I lived there for two years and found that for me, one shrine was pretty much like another, and that the real Tokyo I wanted to see was just wandering about places like Shinjuku, Shibuya and Harajuku at weekends.
There is a great department store called Tokyu Hands I’d recommend spending an hour or two in - some very wacky stuff to be had and not too expensive either by Japanese standards. It’s just off the south exit of Shinjuku station (and then you can go up the street a little bit and check out Dubliner’s Irish pub ).
And I’m sure you know this anyway, but it will be freakin’ hot even in September!
Have a great trip. Tokyo is an amazing city and one everyone should visit at least once!
We had dinner at a great little yakitoriya in Shinjuku, and walking around afterward was a real trip.
My god, yes. And to this desert dweller, it was so humid too. Ten minutes after leaving the hotel I’d be drenched in sweat.
I recommend Ryougoku and Odaiba. Ryougoku is home to the Edo-Tokyo Museum, which is a very interesting place as museums go. They offer free English-speaking tours, and the elderly gentleman who took us through was very charming. It’s also where all the sumo stables are, and if you wander around (we did this in the morning just before the museum opened) you may be able to catch sight of the sumos doing some exercise outside. We got lucky and encountered a ton of them in an alleyway doing stretches, and they were more than happy to have their pictures taken.
Odaiba is expensive compared to the rest of Tokyo (which is saying something), but it’s got some interesting attractions and fantastic architecture. We had a great time just walking the length of the island and checking out all the interesting buildings.
(ETA: Just noticed you’re more interested in the history than anything, so Odaiba may not be for you. It’s very modern, or at least what people thought was modern in the 80s. )
I was not a big Tokyo fan when I was, just too many people for me, and a bit too intense for me but I used to love going to the zoo. It is an excellent zoo, very nice pace and a great place to people watch. It always gave me a chance to catch my breath and visit.
The aforementioned Ryougoku (with its museum) is also very good. Of course you have to see the Imperial Palace.
For history, I applaud your trip to Kyoto and seeing the history there. I always saw Tokyo as the commercial center of Japan and Kyoto the historical and emotional center of the country.
When my husband and I went to Japan last year, possibly our favorite thing of the whole trip was the Oedo-Onsen Monogatari, accessible via the Tokyo subway system but a bit out of the way. It’s a hot springs-fed bathhouse built to look like a 1700’s-era village. You get a bar-coded locker key-wristband and your choice of yukata (patterned cotton kimonos) when you come in. You leave your stuff (including your wallet) in your locker, and change into your yukata, then stroll through the little ‘shops’ selling food or games to the baths. (They’re nude, but separate-sex. Women’s areas have red curtains, and men’s have blue ones, so even though there’s very little English anywhere, you can pretty much figure out what’s going on.) If you want to buy something, they scan your bar code and put it on your tab. It’s all very relaxing. We were there after nine on a weeknight, so there were people there but it wasn’t mobbed. (They’re open except between 9 and 11 am, although the ‘shops’ and special massages close at night.) We were the only non-Japanese people there, but everybody was very helpful and nice. I highly recommend it as a relaxing evening activity.
Unfortunately, the Autumn Sumo tournament doesn’t start until the 14th, that might have been fun to see. Even so, Ryogoku stadium (where the Tokyo tournaments are held) has a lot of interesting things to see regarding the history of the sport. Most of the sumo stables are located in that area as well, so your chances of seeing one of the wrestlers walking around is pretty good (they’re hard to miss - yukatas, topknots, and twice the size of anyone else. “ambulatory roadblocks” is how one writer described them). The Edo musuem right next to it is also a great place, as Bosstone mentioned.
Kamakura is a reasonable distance from Tokyo (just over an hour from Shinjuku by the JR lines. It was the seat of the Shogunate in the 12th-16th centuries and is full of beautiful temples, shrines and other historic sites.
And even though you said you’re more interested in history, the Akihabara electronics district is a fun place to check out (and a good place to pick up souvenir gadgets). Akihabara is just a 5-minute train ride (20 minutes on foot) from Ryogoku.
About the weather: September can be unpredictable. The summer heat and humidity usually carries over into late September, but this is also the typhoon season so check the weather map before you go to see if big storms are heading in. You’re not in any danger from them around Tokyo, but you will get drenched, so you may want to set that day as your subway-travel and department-store-shopping time.
I second Kamakura - it’s a really nice day trip. Make sure you ride the teeny little train to see the Great Buddha!
Also, if you’re a history buff like me, don’t miss the Tokyo National Museum. Simply fantastic arrays of stuff (I could spend hours just looking at the picture scrolls, screens, etc. - the detail is freaking amazing, and doesn’t really come out in reproduction photos).
A third recommendation: Asakusa. This is a massively fun area and is one of the oldest in modern Tokyo (it’s actually where my husband and I prefer to stay when we’re in the city). The temple is beautiful and the shopping street (which has origins dating back to the 1700’s, at least) has all kinds of cool stuff to look at, plus there are some great shops in the area that specialize in things like washi paper, swords, etc. (and some great restaurants).
Tokyo is fun. You already have a lot of great suggestions. The only thing I would add is, if you get tired of the hustle and bustle, you could also check out one of the Japanese-style gardens in the city. Some of them having surprisingly long histories. There are a few main ones–Rikugien, Koishikawa Korakuen, and Hama Rikyu. My favorite is Hama Rikyu, located on Tokyo Bay, near the jaw-dropping futuristic Shidome district. The contrast between the beautiful greeness of the garden and the huge sleek skyscrapers behind it is really cool. You can take a waterbus from Asakusa directly to the garden, or you can take the train to Shimbashi Station.
I’m thirding Kamakura. In addition to the beach, the shrines and the big buddha that you can walk inside of, there’s a shop near the Diabutsu that sells bird cookies. They’re great! The Tokyo Tower is an attraction to tower watchers, but I wouldn’t make a special trip to see it. I also wouldn’t waste the time to go all the way to the top. The view isn’t that much different than the main level. The mascot, though, is, um, innnnnnteresting. While you’re in one of the train stations, pick up a box of Tokyo Banana.
Language in Tokyo won’t generally be a big problem. Most signs are dual language and many people understand enough English to get through transactions. Print out the “how to get to us” page from your expected destinations (including hotel) so you can show it to locals when you get lost or are taking a taxi. Especially for the taxi drivers because Japanese buildings aren’t well marked by their addresses.
As I tell any American who’s traveling overseas, be sure to pack plenty of manners. Speak quietly. Be patient and don’t complain about “how things are different here.” It’s rude and puts people off. Speaking of packing, take as little as possible with you. Rooms are usually have minimal storage space, taxi trunks are small, and it’s a major pain dragging lots of luggage through train stations and onto/off of trains. Having lived out of a suitcase in Japan for a few months, pm me if you have questions about typical hotel accommodations.
God, yes. When we got to the station near our hotel, it was already nighttime and we weren’t wholly sure how to get to the hotel. So three Americans trundling a ton of luggage around Iidabashi, not an American-centric neighborhood in any case…a little embarrassing.
One of my favorite things we did in Tokyo was get up at 5am and take the subway to the Tsukiji Fish Market. It is an awesome sight to behold and a lot of fun to wander around in, plus nothing beats fresh sushi at dawn. Although it’s a short walk from the subway station, it’s easy to find–just follow the crowd (at that hour, they’re all going to the same place), especially if they’re carrying styrofoam tubs.
The Tsukiji Market may not be an option anymore, as many of the fish wholesalers have started complaining about all the tourists getting in the way. I don’t know what, if anything, has been decided, but there’s been talk of closing it to tourists or only allowing guided groups.
In any case, you’ll only have a little while to go there, as the market’s going to be moved to a new site in the next few years.
Restrictions on access to the market have been much more strict since April. There’s still at least one tour operator doing small group tours though. Probably worth having a guide just so you can have some information about what’s going on.
Second the recommendation to visit Kamakura when you’re in the Tokyo area. The locations I would suggest around Tokyo have been covered; Akasaka; Harajuku, especially the park and/or the cosplay groups on Sunday; Shibuya; maybe Akihabara or Ueno park. Ginza on a Sunday is also an interesting experience since they shut down the street traffic to defer to pedestrians. You can see a bunch of very upscale shops there.
Kyoto is probably still “historical” in a few places, and of course the (many, many) temples are pretty cool. Avoid the tour buses because they’ll funnel you to tourist traps between temple stops that you’ll be stuck at until the bus moves on. When I was there last time, about 2005, a lot of it had been modernized, including the area around the new eyesore of a train station. There are some nice little areas that look like they haven’t changed much in a couple of hundred years if you look for them though.
Nara, and if possible a trip to Himeji-jo are day trips from Kyoto.
If you haven’t gotten one already, look into getting a Japan Rail Pass. It’s possible to save significant money on train travel with one of these, and you can’t get them in Japan. Contact one of the offices linked on that page for details.
Of course you’re going to have to prioritize. You won’t be able to cover all the recommendations made here in just a week. The trip to Kyoto from Tokyo will eat up about half a day all by itself, and you probably won’t be up to much touristy stuff after you get there.
Yeah, really. Don’t go overboard with planning. We only went for a week, and we only managed to cover a few neighborhoods of Tokyo plus Kamakura.
I’ll add my voice to the support for Kamakura. It really is a change from Tokyo, and a very pleasant place to walk around (although, again, especially in September, the humidity is bad). Daibutsu and Hasedera/Hase Kannon are well worth seeing, and there’s a bunch of other shrines in town as well. If you do go to Kamakura for a day, look for a little second-floor okonomiyaki shop on the street leading up to Hasedera. It’s a very tiny place, but they’re friendly to English speakers, and it’s a fun experience, especially if you’ve ever gone to a teppanyaki restaurant like Benihana.
Although it’s a short walk from the subway station, it’s easy to find–just follow the crowd (at that hour, they’re all going to the same place), especially if they’re carrying styrofoam tubs.