Touring in Tokyo

I am usually not a fan of capital cities; mainly because I was yet to find a city that could beat London with both its unfamiliar and familiar duality, but Tokyo had far exceeded that for me. The city was busy, bustling and completely foreign but its safety and serene spaces cocooned me quite nicely into my happy place.

We travelled to Japan at the perfect time of cherry blossom (sakura) season. Along with the stunning light pink petals that were in full bloom across the country, the whole season was very festive in a manner that is similar to Christmas. Products were sakura inspired and flavoured and there were wonderful illuminations and hanami (flower viewing) festivals across cities.

I don’t think you can ever get tired of Tokyo; we stayed for 6 nights and we certainly didn’t do everything. However here are the top spots and tips not to miss out on…

*As a side note, when travelling, I do enjoy seeing the usual tourist spots, but I much prefer to seek out hidden gems and experiences. 

Green spaces:

Cutest couple picnicing at Chidorigafuji

Chidorigafuji-  A really beautiful park set with sakura (cherry blossom) trees everywhere when in season- a really nice park to take a leisurely walk through.

Ueno park– As it was sakura season, Hanami festivals were taking place in public parks. Hanami (flower viewing in Japanese) festivals are essentially picnic parties whereby families and friends gather under the beautiful trees and enjoy an evening of feasting under a stunning display of illuminated lanterns. Top tip is to bring snacks. We picked a perfect spot to people watch (a favourite pastime) and ended up sitting next to wonderful people who shared their food with us- a wonderful exchange of dried anchovies and prawn and cocktail crisps took place that evening. British crisps are an absolute hit!

Illumination at Ueno Park

Yoyogi park-This park had a lot more green space and seemed to attract a younger crowd of students. The neighbourhood was nice to walk around but I think I preferred Ueno park.

Shinjuku gardens– This park has an entrance fee but the walk around the space was really peaceful and serene. Definitely a hit if you like flowers- loads of them!

Don’t miss:

Mount Fuji- This is an absolute must visit! A day trip may be ideal but we managed to get there by 10am, walk across the lake to get a perfect view of the mountain and eat the regional (and awesome) hoto noodles before making it back to central Tokyo for 3pm.

The town was very picturesque

Fuji san

 

 

 

 

 

 

After researching and asking for recommendations, we decided against going to the actual mountain as we didn’t plan to hike and instead looked for the best location to sight Fuji san. Fuji Five Lakes (disembark at Kawaguchi Station) seemed like the best spot and it certainly was. Luckily, the sky was bright and clear and we managed to site the beaut in all her glory. The town was really quaint and quiet, and there were not many people around while walking around the area. If you are going, definitely try and go early as the more cloudy the day gets, the less the likelihood of viewing the snowy white top of the mountain.

The famous shibuya crossing

Shibiya, Harajuku and Otemasando– Spend an afternoon and evening just walking around the golden triangle of neighborhoods and cross at the famous shibuya crossing (to be honest, it was just a giant crossing but fun none the less).

Imperial palace- Again this was incredible to just walk around to see the architecture and natural elements around it.

Neka Meguro– We walked around the canal in the evening after a day of exploring as the illumination was on. Worth a visit if you like leisurely walks by the water front. A side story is that I bumped into an Egyptian friend from university (which is located in London) but had not stayed in touch with for the past 4 years- if you are intrigued, come over here to read about it.

Little Ido

 

Little Ido (Kawagawae)- This was a real wonderful find. It is about an hour out of central Tokyo and as nearly tourist-less!  A lot of the buildings have been preserved from centuries back- it was as though we were walking through old Japan.

 

Hidden gems:

Shimokitazawa- This neighbourhood was hipster town- the Shoreditch of London and really pretty to walk through.The area had trendy cafes and restaurants and hardly frequented by tourists (with the exception of us!) while we were there.

My friend and I had already visited a cat café in penang (Malaysia) and felt like visiting an owl café that was in the vicinity was against our principles as animal lovers. Visitng a bunny café seemed like a fair balance. The experience was interesting while it lasted, before realising the cafe was essentially just a pen for rabbits who were not the slightest bit interested in you and did not want to be picked up. My friend got bitten by one, and things turned sour soon after. Basically, once you visit one animal cafe, you have really visited them all but go for it if you are still a newbie!

Jimbocho- While in Tokyo, we had the opportunity to meet up with a friend of a friend who took us to an amazing local ramen place in this area. The area is known to also be quite trendy and is known as ‘book town’, as lots of books are sold on the street. Unfortunately it was raining when we went, so no books were in sight, but I am told it is quite nice to walk through and peruse the used books on offer.

Aayama flower market tea house- This was a treasured find my friend discovered. Located in Otemanesando, the tea house was part of a flower shop and had a very beautiful and modern feel to it. Definitely a must visit for a spot of tea but probably best to avoid for the allergy sufferers.

 

Purikura– This is a must. In fact, visiting an arcade is a must. Purikura is a photo booth that quite brilliantly churns out a very strange and doll like version photo of your normal self. The experience is fun with company and the end product is really quite fascinating. It definitely makes you think about the difference in beauty ‘standards’ across cultures.

Karioke– This is also a must. The Japanese take their karaoke very seriously and the 10 story buildings dedicated to a good sing song is testament to that. I am definitely one for a good sing song and did not hold back. An interesting tidbit for you is that karioke rooms and internet cafe rooms are often hired by people for the night as a cheap version of a hotel. I can see how this would work as the rooms are private, cosy and dark- perfect for a night sleep.

We had sushi at a really local sushi place (not even sure where we were!). The atmosphere was authentic and the food was great!

Food– If you don’t eat meat or fish, you will probably find it difficult to eat in Tokyo. Aside from an amazing shabu shabu dish at one of the few halal japanese restaurant in the city (we visited Gyomen in Shibuya but looks like there are a number of options), we only ate vegetarian food twice, the rest of the time was noodles or rice with sea food in the form of sushi, sashimi and unagi.

 

 

What we missed out on but may be worth a visit:

Fish market- come here early morning for a sushi breakfast. Unfortunately we didn’t make it here but managed to get to one in Osaka.

Harbour– This is apparently a nice spot.

Pokemon centre– for all those childhood memories.

Ghibli museum– book in advance; my friend, an avid shibli lover did not manage to get tickets for the time we were there.

This about covers it- next stop: Kyoto and a day trip to Nara!

S

Other blog posts on Japan:

Thoughts on Japan 

Kyoto 

Osaka