1. Go to R Burger.
BEST. BURGERS. EVER. SERIOUSLY. (Don’t buy the tea though). There’s one in Roppongi that’s really near a CRAZY PET SHOP with baby monkeys in it. Paris Hilton has gone there. Therefore you should too!
2. Ghibli Museum in Mitaka.
Museum of Studio Ghibli films (like the Disney of Japan). You need to buy the tickets in advance from a 7/11 or other convenience store. Even if you don’t follow the films it’s worth going as it’s just the most cute/whimsical museum ever. They limit the number of people allowed in (hence the tickets in advance) which means the experience is really nice and not crowded. Really special place and no other museums are like it. Watch one/two of the films and it’ll mean a lot more though. It’s far out, but it’s nice to visit since you’ll see domestic Tokyo- it’s apparently one of the most sought after neighbourhoods to actually live in.
3. Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku.
Free to go up and you get skyscraper views over Tokyo. The audio guide is hella funky too. It’s free! Do it! Got a yummy bento box from a cool organic café from Shinjuku station on the way there too.
4. RENT BIKES! It’s only like… 200yen or something?
Really fun just for half a day or so. Cycle around the quieter areas like from Asakusa to Ueno and it’s a great way to see it. You will also feel superior to pedestrians and feel awesome for finally NOT being run over by other bikes. You can cycle on the pavement so it’s really safe.
5. Sensoji Temple in Asakusa.
Big fat cool temple which was in the area I stayed in. The Asakusa area is really nice and is super different to Shinjuku so it might be nice to visit! There’s lots of tiny family run restaurants round here and some cool old shops. There’s a street called “Kappashi-dori” that just sells cooking equipment…? There’s a really cute restaurant called “Sometarou” nearby which is in the Lonely Planet and it serves really cheap okonomiyaki in a fabulous setting. It’s like you’re in someone’s house, you have to get your own tap water and they give you slippers. But you get a hotplate and they cook your food in front of you AND there’s an English menu. Genuinely old building too. TOP MARKS!!
6. Harajuku on a SUNDAY on the bridge outside the Meiji Shrine.
I was unfortunately not there for a Sunday so I didn’t see this. But on a Sunday, cosplayers/crazy J-fashionistas gather on the bridge for photo shoots etc. After taking awesome Asian smiley photos of them, go to Yoyogi Park where everyone in Tokyo seems to be doing what they want there. People skateboard, practice dances and bands rehearse in the open. At least, this is what I was told (but I regrettably wasn’t there on a Sunday!!). Take a bento box and picnic whilst people watching here.
7. Harajuku on ANY DAY.
Go to Takeshita-Dori to see some crazy clothes! Closet Child / Bodyline / Jesus Diamante are some crazy clothes shops down this street which are pretty fun to look at. The staff will be dressed to the knees in the pinnacle of alternative fashion.
Down this streets are lots of side streets and totally awesome shops. E.g one where everything is 300Yen and it’s vintage clothes + weird accessories. There’s also a 3 floor 100yen shop (really good for presents, they sell typical looking “Japanese” stuff). There’s also a shop which only girls are allowed in (sorry Lew) but the concept of it is so trippy – there’s a cake shop on the top floor, photo booths and dressing rooms so girls can relax after shopping. Takeshita-dori is very near the Harajuku station exit. It has a banner over it.
There’s a department store called Laforet which has crazy clothes on the basement floors (and apparently golf on the roof??? I didn’t see this!) and is a department shop JUST for teenage girls. Basement floors have the most quirky stuff, the other floors are normal clothes. All the clothes only come in one size though… i.e tiny so it’s more fun just to watch.
Ometosando-dori is the main giant street in Harajuku that leads to Shibuya (but it just has expensive Chanel etc. which is pretty boring) so there is a street called Cat Street on your right as you walk from Harajuku to Shibuya which is more interesting. There’s a shop called “kiddyland” which is a big cute toy shop with.
Oh, and there’s a shop called Condommania in Harajuku near the station too. It just sells condoms. I think it’s opposite Laforet…
8. Get Lost.
You’re in Tokyo, it’s not cool until you just wander around aimlessly. Walk around without a plan sometimes. It’s cool! You’ll find cool shit everywhere! Plus, when you’re tired, there is ALWAYS vending machines.
9. Don’t go to Ginza.
It’s kinda shit here. I don’t recommend it. The emperor’s palace is here which is alright, but you can’t actually see much of it since it’s behind a MASSIVE WALLED COMPLEX and only opens 2 days a year (I was there one of them, inside it’s not anything impressive). It’s an interesting place to go to in terms of architecture, but it’s like visiting Canary Wharf in London (if the Queen’s Palace was in Canary Wharf and behind a wall). If you do go, BUY FOOD BEFORE YOU GO WALKING. Since there’s like 3732048 skyscrapers, it’s the only place in Tokyo we were stuck without any convenience stores and there’s no food in the park where the palace is. The park is nice, but not when you’re hungry damnit. Also, don’t get lost here. There’s nothing interesting to find except more skyscrapers. If you do go here, just go to the food hall in the department store, that’s alright and also the Tokyo International Forum is a nice looking building. If you go to Ginza, go with a plan, bring food, don’t get lost and then go do something else. Then you’ll have a nice time! My friends and I spent a day wandering around being hungry here.
10. Odaiba
I didn’t go here, but I wanted to. It’s far out. Research it!
11. Food.
CoCo Ichibanya (good curry!!!), MOS Burger (very small burgers, but fun to try), convenience stores (awesome), Ootoya (really good, cheap Japanese restaurant with typical food), Yoshinoya (cheap beef bowl chain, reaaally fun to go here at like 1am).
Careful: If you go to some restaurants (izakayas) there is a table charge and if you get given pickles or something, these are CHARGED TO YOU, THEY ARE NOT FREE. REFUSE THEM. At Ootoya there is no table charge and no shit like surprisingly expensive pickles, plus they have an English menu and the food rocked.
12. Roppongi - Roppongi Hills / Tokyo Tower / Zozoji Shrine
This stuff is all near each other. Don’t pay for Tokyo Tower, it’s short and it’s expensive. But it’s nice to see J. Zozoji shrine is next to it. I think you can walk to Roppongi Hills and the general Roppongi area where there is some FREAKING HUGE and NICE buildings. Proper classy area with ex-pat bookshops and generally ultra classy. This is the area celebrities get put up in a hotel when they visit. Tokyo MidTown and Roppongi Hills are 2 big shopping/office/housing complexes which are just NICE and CLASSY. Plus, R Buger is here.
13. Tsukiji Fish Market
Right, you don’t have to wake up at 4am to have a good time here like the guidebooks say. We went at 9/10am and the market was still buzzing. Only go at 4am if you want to watch the tuna auction. Also, no one follows the rules of “not being allowed in before 10am etc.” so ignore them. Aside from the fish market (which doesn’t smell btw, at least it didn’t in Winter) there’s general market-y goodness around here. Really nice atmosphere in the morning. Go for the buzz! And I ate tasty handmade riceballs (onigiri) here, eel (unagi) is the bomb btw. P.s don’t die. Little carts will try and run you over.
JAPANESE / NIPPON LESSON
Do you have an English menu? - Eigo menyu o- onigaishimasu?
Where is the metro? – metero wa doko desu ka?
Excuse me – sumimasen
All you need J
MOVIES
· The Girl Who Leapt Through Time – just a nice film.
· Watch Studio Ghibli stuff - Spirited Away, Laputa, Ponyo, My Neighbour Totoro
· Kamikaze Girls – chick flick based on a novel about crazy Japanese fashion.
· Densha Otoko – true story about a massive nerd (otaku) who saves a woman on a train from a perv and his story of how he falls for her. I think this is a drama not a movie. Watch the drama. Shows the Japanese nerd stereotype and changed the stigma against massive nerds “otaku” a lot.
ANIME SERIES
"Welcome to the NHK" - I haven't watched it, but it's a slice of life thing that everyone rates highly. About a TV show where they get people who are unemployed/not in school to kick start their life.
“Samurai Champloo” – gangsta’ samurais. Lol.
“Yakitate! Japan” – It’s about baking bread. Literally, about the life of a kid who bakes bread in Japan. Need I say more?
Err… and these are some classic animes which you might like since you are, after all, a DUDE. Don’t really show JAPAN JAPAN though.
Neon Genesis Evangelion – massively trippy, but about giant robots, woot! This is THE classic and you’ll see random logos/characters in shops/arcades etc.
Cowboy Bebop – SPACE COWBOYS. WOAAH.
MANGA
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