Feel JapanesenessTokyo, one day at a time.

One day · The whole loop

Around the Yamanote line in a day of eating: soba in Kanda, unagi in Ueno, a tea house in a garden, tempura in Shinjuku, tonkatsu in Meguro and oden in Ebisu

The Yamanote loop takes an hour to ride and a lifetime to eat. This day rides it clockwise from Tokyo Station and gets off six times, once for each meal a body can reasonably hold: soba, unagi, tea, tempura, tonkatsu, oden. Every stop is from our station-by-station guide, verified on the date shown; walk times are from the station gates. Buy a day ticket and eat small.

Akihabara & Kanda · Ueno & Yanaka · Shinjuku · Nakameguro, Daikanyama & Ebisu · Ginza · 7 stops

One day · Tsukiji and Toyosu

Tsukiji at dawn to Toyosu by night: a morning service, sushi for breakfast, the market with a guide, a bath over the bay and teamLab in the dark

The fish market moved from Tsukiji to Toyosu in 2018, and the two halves now tell one story: the old outer market where the shops stayed, and the new island where the auctions went. This day follows the fish east. Book the guided walk and teamLab; the temple, the breakfast and the bath take whoever turns up.

Tsukiji & Toyosu · 7 stops

One day · Ryogoku and Kiyosumi

A sumo morning in Ryogoku: practice at a stable, chanko for lunch, the museum, a painted bath and a garden with a pond

Ryogoku is sumo's home town: the arena, the stables, the restaurants that serve the wrestlers' stew. Practice is the real thing and it happens at dawn, so this day starts before most of Tokyo is awake and rewards you with a quiet river, a garden and a bath by the afternoon. The stable visit is the one stop to book; Arashio-beya lets you watch through the window without one.

Ryogoku & Kiyosumi · 7 stops

One day · Nihonbashi

Nihonbashi, the old firms: a department store opening, a woodblock in the paper shop, sake from a merchant, a kintsugi lesson and a kimono measured for you

Nihonbashi is where Tokyo's oldest businesses are, and where most of them still trade from the same block. The day below is built on operators we have verified one by one: the bell at Mitsukoshi, a woodblock workshop in a paper merchant's gallery, sake at a shop that has sold it since the Edo period, a lesson in mending with gold, and a kimono shop that will measure you. It ends on the water. Book the woodblock, the kintsugi and the kimono; the rest are open doors.

Nihonbashi · 7 stops

One day · Ginza

Ginza, dressed up: a department store at the bell, one act of kabuki, a stationery floor, a sushi counter and a bar that knows its whisky

Ginza is where Tokyo goes to be seen behaving well. The day below is the polished version: a department store opening, a single act at the Kabukiza, lunch at a counter where the chef has been slicing for forty years, and an evening in a bar with a hundred bottles behind it. Every stop is a named operator we have checked; two of them need booking, the rest reward showing up on time.

Ginza · 7 stops

One day · Asakusa

A hands-on day in Asakusa: indigo before the crowds, a knife from Kappabashi, a woodblock print you pull yourself, tea to finish

Asakusa is the district visitors photograph and Tokyoites use for buying tools. Behind the temple lies a working town of dye houses, print studios and the kilometre of kitchen shops that feeds every restaurant in the city. This day is built around four operators we have verified, each of whom will let you do the work yourself. Book the indigo and the woodblock ahead; the knife and the tea can be walked into.

Asakusa · 7 stops

Ginza銀座

The grand boulevard of Tokyo — flagship stores, century-old shops, kabuki, and the quietest side streets of the city after dark.

8 places

Marunouchi & Tokyo Station丸の内・東京駅

The business heart between the station and the palace moat — restored red brick, a tree-lined avenue of galleries and restaurants, and the Imperial Palace gardens at the end of it.

6 places

Nihonbashi日本橋

Kilometre zero of Japan — the bridge every road was measured from, the oldest department store, and the shops that have made one thing for three hundred years.

6 places

Asakusa浅草

The old downtown — Tokyo's oldest temple, its longest-running street of shops, rickshaws, and the river with the Skytree across it.

7 places

Ueno & Yanaka上野・谷中

The museum park and, beyond it, the neighbourhood the fire-bombing missed — temples, cats, a wooden shopping street, and the most human pace in central Tokyo.

7 places

Akihabara & Kanda秋葉原・神田

Electric Town and, next to it, the oldest book quarter in the world — plus a shrine, a Russian cathedral, and the soba shops Tokyo measures itself by.

6 places

Roppongi & Azabu六本木・麻布

The art triangle — three major museums within a walk — the embassies, the best skyline view in Tokyo, and the village-like streets of Azabu-Juban below.

6 places

Aoyama & Omotesando青山・表参道

Tokyo's Champs-Élysées under zelkova trees — architecture by every living master, a private museum of tea ceramics with a garden, and the quiet back lanes of Aoyama.

5 places

Harajuku & Meiji Shrine原宿・明治神宮

A forest of a hundred thousand trees with a shrine at its heart, and, across one road, the loudest teenage street in Japan.

5 places

Shibuya渋谷

The crossing, the dog, the rooftop above it all — and the streets uphill where Tokyo's music, food and small-scale nightlife actually live.

6 places

Shinjuku新宿

The busiest station on earth, a skyline with a free observatory, the alleys of Golden Gai and Omoide Yokocho, and the most beautiful garden in Tokyo.

6 places

Tsukiji & Toyosu築地・豊洲

The old fish market's outer streets, still feeding the city at breakfast, and the new wholesale market across the water with its tuna auction and teamLab beside it.

4 places

Nakameguro, Daikanyama & Ebisu中目黒・代官山・恵比寿

The canal of cherry trees, the bookshop that started a movement, and the low-rise streets where Tokyo's taste is set — three villages joined by a walk.

5 places

Kagurazaka神楽坂

The old geisha quarter on a hill — cobbled lanes, black-fenced ryotei, a French institute, and the most Parisian evening in Tokyo.

4 places

Ryogoku & Kiyosumi両国・清澄白河

Sumo's home, the museum that explains Edo, and across the canal a warehouse district of coffee roasters, a contemporary art museum and a perfect stroll garden.

5 places

Kabukiza Theatre歌舞伎座

Kabuki every day of the month, and a single act for the price of a coffee.

90 min · Higashi-Ginza (Hibiya / Asakusa lines), direct from the basement

Chuo-dori and the Sunday promenade中央通りと歩行者天国

A kilometre of flagships that closes to cars on weekend afternoons.

60 min · Ginza (Ginza / Marunouchi / Hibiya lines)

Hama-rikyu Gardens浜離宮恩賜庭園

A shogun's duck-hunting garden with a tidal pond, ringed by the towers of Shiodome.

75 min · Shiodome (Oedo line) or Shimbashi (JR), 10 minutes on foot

Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building東京駅丸の内駅舎

The 1914 red-brick station, its domes restored, with a gallery, a hotel and a city of food underneath.

45 min · Tokyo (JR / Shinkansen / Marunouchi line)

Imperial Palace East Gardens皇居東御苑

The site of Edo Castle — the great keep's stone base, the moats, and a garden open free to anyone who walks in.

90 min · Otemachi (five subway lines), exit C13a, straight to the Otemon gate

Nihonbashi Bridge日本橋

The zero milestone of Japan — a 1911 stone bridge with bronze kirin, under an expressway that is finally coming down.

30 min · Nihombashi (Ginza / Tozai / Asakusa lines) or Mitsukoshimae (Ginza / Hanzomon lines)