5 Tokyo tips you never knew you needed
Insider tips for a city that has it all
When Time Out Tokyo asked us to help them judge the Love Toyko Awards, we packed our bags – and wore comfortable shoes – for three days of traipsing across Japan's capital to see what the city had on offer.
We saw just a few of the key places that inspires 12.5 million international visitors to pack their bags and head to Tokyo each year. We were off, walking, metro-ing and busing to incredible venues all over the city. And part of that experience helped us learn five tips you never knew you needed when visiting Toyko.
While other people may queue for almost two hours before deciding on take-out rather than visiting Kaneko Hannosuke, we lucked out with a nocturnal visit to just before it closed. We recommend sitting on the first floor by the bar with seven seats and watch as fresh seafood is converted into terrific tempura right in front of you.
Language isn’t an issue as there are only two choices: big or small portions. For the big portion, you get two huge prawns, squid and half a fish, all lightly battered and resting on a sea of rice. We swore we wouldn’t be able to finish but we did anyway.
And then thought about the possibility of stuffing ourselves with seconds...
When modern meets tradition, the results aren’t always great. An exception to this rule is Y & Son’s offerings in its stylish shop near the Kanda Shrine.
We loved that the boutique is only for men and within, it offers its signature T-kimono designed as a cross between Western suits and the traditional kimono.
While you can buy off the rack, we recommend waiting two weeks for a bespoke fit. As the winner in Love Toyko's best product category, it seems we weren’t the only ones that were wow-ed.
Just kidding. But what we found was just as iconic at Mitsukoshi Nihombashi, Japan's oldest surviving department store chain, housed in a Renaissance-style building completed in 1935.
Our morning visit saw us queuing with other shoppers waiting for its doors to be opened – a testament to its enduring popularity. Within, its well-preserved art-deco interiors hold monuments in its own right, with an imposing statue of Magokoro (the Goddess of Sincerity) presiding at the building’s main hall overlooking an ancient marble hall containing fossils from the Jurassic period.
Come during the weekend at noon (or at 10.30am-3pm) when its 1930's pipe organs are played while you browse nine floors of Japanese products. And if you get lost, just tell your friends to meet by the bronze lion statues inspired by the ones on Trafalgar Square and installed in 1914 by its main entrances.
And it’s hardly surprising, given the quality of coffee at its specialist cafes all over the city. At all hours of the day, these venues are filled with people sipping a cuppa.
Coffee shops in Toyko range from homely, neighbourhood spots such as Higashi-Mukojima Coffee-ten, jazzy warrens such as Monozuki to the achingly hip Cafe Kitsune. Higashi-Mukojima Coffee-ten was our top choice – its no-bake cheesecake possibly tipping the scales – despite the stiff competition, as Tokyo is one of the top places in the world to savour a cup of quality joe with its huge depth and breadth of cafes. Perfect for much-needed pick-me-ups after all that walking, then.
After our three-day trip, we discovered there’s just too much to see, do and, most importantly, eat throughout the city. We had three days to try out the best, but the rest ain’t bad. Check out our sister site Time Out Tokyo for its tightly curated picks of the city the next time you’re headed over.
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