As a capital of Japan, Tokyo is a big city and the most populous city in the world with over 14 million residents. The Greater Tokyo Metropolitan area which includes Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures has a population of 40 million residents in 2023. With such a big city and population, it can be a challenge for first time visitors to choose the places to visit considering a limited time to spend in Tokyo. In this article, I will describe five popular places to explore when you are in Tokyo. Of course, the list is not exhaustive since there are many other places that are also popular and worth to visit if you have enough time.
1. Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
There are three large parks or gardens in Tokyo, Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, Yoyogi Park and Ueno Garden. Each garden has its unique feature. However, if this is your first visit to Tokyo and you are wondering which garden to go first, I recommend you to go to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden.
Located just a short walk from Shinjuku Station, with 144 acres (58.3 hectares) in area and 3.5 kilometers in circumference, Shinjuku Gyoen provides a relaxing and refreshing escape from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo city center around it. There are three main gardens in Shinjuku Gyoen: Japanese Garden, French Formal Garden and English Landscape Garden.
The Japanese Garden is located at the southwest of Shinjuku Gyoen. It is the oldest garden with large ponds dotted with bridges and islands. The shrubs and trees surround the ponds are regularly well-manicured. A traditional Japanese tea house and pavilions can be found within the garden. At the eastern part of the Japanese Garden, you can find “Kyu-Goryo-Tei” (Taiwan Pavilion) perched along a serene a pond. Due to the beauty of the location, this spot is often used by people to take wedding pictures. This garden is also a favourite spot for people to view cherry blossom. You can see large crowds in this area during cherry blossom season in late March and early April.
The French Formal Garden which is located at the east part of Shinjuku Gyoen, is popular especially during spring time when most of the flowers bloom. The main attraction inside French Garden is rose garden that are in full bloom in early May. Here, you can find hundred different types of rose you may never know the name of it.
English Landscape Garden is a little bit different from Japanese Garden and French Garden. It is basically a wide open-space lawn surrounded by flowering cherry trees here and there. Every year between late March up to early April, this area is very crowded with people viewing cherry blossom from hundreds of cherry trees. As well, you can find many people picnicking at this garden by laying out mats under shady trees with drink and food to eat.
There are restaurants and cafes inside Shinjuku Gyoen that offer lunches, drinks, sweets and snacks. You can also buy souvenirs, ice cream and drinks at the teahouse. At the northeast part of the garden, you can find a Western-style greenhouse that houses thousands of tropical and subtropical plants, flowers and used for preserving and displaying endangered plant species.
Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden is not only popular during spring. It is also nice to visit the garden during autumn when leaves (especially the beautiful maple tree leaves) change their color. You can also enjoy the garden to view the greenery in summer and visit greenhouse in winter.
2. Asakusa and Sensoji Temple
Asakusa is an area in north of Tokyo where you can find the iconic Kaminarimon, Sensoji Temple, the famous Nakamise shopping street and many more. It is a historic neighbourhood and is one of the most visited tourist destinations in Tokyo because it blends traditional with modern culture. Going there is like experiencing the life of Japanese people during Edo period. During that period, Asakusa was the centre of kabuki theatre, geisha houses and red-light district. Later on, modern entertainment like movie theatres appeared in Asakusa in mid of 20th century. Although, you can still find some of kabuki theatres there, Tokyo’s modern entertainment and red-light districts have moved to other area, such as Shinjuku, Shibuya and Roppongi area.
One of the eye-catching structures you can see when you visit Asakusa is Kaminarimon (literally means “Thunder Gate”). It is the iconic gate to enter Nakamise street that leads you to Sensoji Temple at the end of the street. The gate painted in red is 12 meter tall and 11 meter wide with a giant red lantern in the middle of the gate and statues of Shinto and Buddha gods on the left and right side of the gate. This spot is crowded during busy season. Chances are you may need to wait and take turn if you want to take pictures in front of this iconic gate.
After passing through Kaminarimon, you can stroll the vibrant Nakamise shopping street that stretches over 300 meters from Kaminarimon leading up to Sensoji Temple. The street has more than 50 shops and food stalls on the left and right selling souvenirs, handmade crafts, kimono, traditional Japanese snacks and sweets. If you like sweets, you can try to grab a melon pan, a famous melon shaped bun, taiyaki or buy matcha ice cream. Traditional Japanese street foods such as dorayaki, deep-fried mochi, skewers and manju buns can easily be found here at Nakamise street. If you like to shop like you are in the mall, you can find a newer addition to Nakamise shopping street called Shin-Nakamise (“New Nakamise”), a covered shopping arcade that is perpendicular to Nakamise street, not too far from Kaminarimon. This new shopping street is not too crowded like Nakamise street.
Right after you reach the end of Nakamise street, you can find the famous Sensoji temple, the most popular and oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo. This temple is dedicated to Kannon (Avalokitesvara), the god of mercy, with over 30 million visitors annually. Due to its location at the end of Nakamise street, this temple is always busy during the day. To avoid crowds, you need to visit the temple early in the morning or late afternoon. If you want to experience traditional Japanese culture, this temple is a must-visit for any first-time visitors to Asakusa.
If you visit Sensoji area at the third week-end of May, you have an opportunity to watch the biggest Shinto festival in Tokyo, Sanja Matsuri. It is a festival where more than one hundred portable shrines (mikoshi) are paraded along Nakamise street area with traditional Japanese music, such as flute and taiko drum, are played. People believe that the tradition of carrying mikoshi can bring luck to the local residents and businesses. During this festival, hundred of pop-up stalls are erected in the area for the vendors to sell souvenirs and foods. This festival attracts around 2 million people during the three days week-end.
3. Harajuku, Takeshita-dori and Shibuya Crossing
Harajuku that is located in Shibuya district, is famously known as the center of Japanese teenage fashion and culture. It is a place where people gather to express their unique and trending fashion in a safe environment because Harajuku is a land of spirited fashion. You can find people wearing anime character clothes through cosplay, having their heads covered with colorful wigs, and many other unique or exotic styles.
The most vibrant street that are always jump pack with many visitors Harajuku is Takeshita-dori. It is located just steps from Harajuku station. This 400 meters long pedestrian shopping street is lined with many trendy shops, fashion boutiques, accessories stores, used cloth stores, food outlets, cafes, and the famous crepe stands. You can also find stores selling kawaii (cute) stuffs (accessories) such as Sanrio store. Most of the goods here are sold at reasonable prices.
If you are animal-lovers, you can also find many animal cafés at Takeshita-dori. One of the famous ones is Mame-Shiba café. It is a small café that houses Mame-Shiba Inus, a smaller version of Shiba Inu dog. It is incredibly popular and the queues can be very long. Although the café opens at 11:00 am, you can see people line up to buy the ticket as early as 10:00 am. You can pet or tickle the dog, but not allowed to lap it, unless the dog come to you. Visitors enter and leave in batches to prevent overcrowding so the dogs won’t get too stressed out.
In about 10 minutes walk from the end of Takeshita-dori, you can arrive at Omotesando, a stretch of street/boulevard with plenty of fashion flagship stores and international luxury brand boutiques, such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Hermes. It is one of the most expensive and luxury shopping districts in Tokyo (other than Ginza). Here, you can find many cafes, bars and restaurants for people to eat and also gossip. During the normal busy time, you can see a lot of people shop, pass through the street or just relax sitting at many benches over there under the shade of trees along the street.
After you spend some time shopping or relaxing at Omotesando, it is a good idea if you continue your trip to Shibuya Scramble Crossing. You only need 10 minutes to take Hanzomon Subway Line from Omotesando station to Shibuya station.
Shibuya Scramble Crossing, also known as Shibuya Crossing, is the world’s busiest pedestrian crossing with as many as 3,000 people crossing the multi-cornered intersection at a time in every two minutes green lights. It is called scramble because pedestrians can cross from all directions at the same time. There are three large video screens and many neon advertising signs mounted on the buildings at corner of the intersection. This area is very popular for people to hang out and is often features in films and television shows or news broadcasts. This famous place is comparable to Time Square in New York City. To best view the “organized chaos” of people crossing the intersection from above, you can go to Starbucks at Shibuya Tsutaya where you can overlook the crossing from the oversized glass windows at second floor of the building.
Shibuya Crossing is just steps from the famous Hachiko Statute, the statue of a loyal dog who waited for his master at Shibuya corner for 9 years, not knowing that his master would never come back because he had died.
4. Shinjuku Station
You may be wondering why a train station can become a prime tourist destination. Well, Shinjuku station is not just a station. There are numerous department stores, shopping centers and dining places for visitors to shop, eat and explore at Shinjuku station. It is a centre for urban lifestyle and culture.
With an average of 3.6 million passengers per day, 36 platforms and more than 200 exits, Shinjuku is the busiest station in the world. There are eight ground-level platforms with two overhead and two underground concourses. Shinjuku has three main entrances and exits located at the East, South and West of the station. You can go to different areas of Shinjuku station through four passages: the underground Central passage, underground North passage, above ground South exit concourse and the Busta Shinjuku Miraina Tower overpass.
The biggest railway company operating at Shinjuku is JR East. Other railway systems operating at Shinjuku are Keio Corporation, Odakyu Electric Railway, Toei Subway and Tokyo Metro. There is a bus terminal at the West exit servicing local and long-distance buses, and a new JR Highway Bus Terminal (Busta Shinjuku) located at the New South Gate. From Shinjuku station, you can go to anywhere in Japan. The Odakyu line located at the West side of the station can bring you to reach Hakone, a popular sightseeing spot famous for its hot springs in western Tokyo.
Many shopping centres are built at Shinjuku station. Lumine 1 shopping mall and Shinjuku Mylord (southwest corner), Lumine 2 shopping mall (Easts of the South Gate) and Lumine EST shopping mall (East side) occupying between 7 to 11 floors and basements offer fashion, accessories and dining options. The newer addition shopping mall, NEWoMan, offer a mix of fashion, food shops, cafes, restaurants and bakeries. At the south-east side, you can find a 16-storey building called Takashimaya Time Square, the renowned Japanese department store that offer a wide selection of luxury goods. Lastly, on the West side of the station, you can find Keio Department Store, a major retail company owned by Keio railway company. If you want to find electronics, cameras or other digital gadgets, you can go to Bic Camera or Yodobashi Camera, two largest electronics retailers, not too far from Shinjuku station.
If you want to relax after you spend your time shopping and exploring Shinjuku station, you can go to New South Exit area. There, there is a 2,000 square-meter plaza and promenade deck overlooking NTT DoCoMo Yoyogi Tower. Alternatively, you can go to Alta Shinjuku on the east side of the station where it is considered as a popular meeting spot with large video screen.
Lastly, if you want to see Tokyo from above, you can go to the free observatory at the top of Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building located not too far from the West Exit of the station. If you are lucky, during clear days or Winter, you can see Mount Fuji from the observatory.
5. Kabukicho
Kabukicho is an entertainment district for leisure and pleasure in Shinjuku where you can find plenty of bars, restaurants, cinemas, game centers, souvenir shops, nightclubs, pachinko parlours, hostess clubs, “love hotels” and many other entertainment establishments. It is considered as one of the largest red-light districts in the world, without official red-light prostitutes.
Although Kabukicho is a good place to visit during day time when the district is quiet, the best time to explore and feel the atmosphere there is at night when all the fun starts, streets become alive and where the colorful neon lights flash from dusk to dawn in the neighborhood. It is a very popular area and nice place to hang out among local people and international tourists.
One of the notable buildings in Kabukicho is Tohu Shinjuku Building with its 12-screen Toho Cinemas and the Hotel Gracery Shinjuku. On the rooftop of the building, there is a 12 metres tall giant Godzilla head peaking out with its eyes light up, glaring angrily at the blissfully masses walking below. This Godzilla head has become a local landmark and tourist attraction in Kabukicho with many people snap photos and take videos when it roars and blows an impressive beam of light from its mouth hourly from 12:00 pm to 8:00 pm.
The newest tower in Tokyo, Tokyu Kabukicho Tower, is also located in Kabukicho. It is a Japanese largest hotel and entertainment complex which opened on April 14, 2023. It has 48 storeys and five basement floors with plenty to keep you entertained. There is a cinema, concert venue, gaming arcade, food hall etc.
The food hall called Kabuki-Yokocho food hall, is a fancy new food hall with about ten restaurants and live cultural performances. You can find classic Japanese cuisine such as okonomiyaki, soba, gyoza and more. There are also Korean and Taiwanese cuisine there. The venue crates a fun night out as it is decked out with state-of-art lighting and sound systems, DJ booth, karaoke, taiko drum show and many more.
