Hello everyone and welcome to the good stuff. This is the first of several juicy Jam-Packed Japan articles relating to the cities we discovered. It’s all about the attractions, activities and our top highlights in each city. I’ve told you what we did overall, I’ve shown you where I laid my head, and how much it all cost me. This article will describe to you my lovely reader the top Tokyo attractions, activities and our must-see highlights.
Now, it’s time to dive in and we’ll start at the beginning, in Towering Tokyo…
Intro to Tokyo
Originally established as Edo, this huge city had fairly small beginnings, until 1603 when the shogunate was established and it was forever changed. Growing in popularity and with the assistance of trade and politics, Edo grew into a vital city for Japan. In 1868, it was decided that Edo would become the capital city of Japan (previously Kyoto), and its name would be changed to “Tokyo”. In post-war Japan, Tokyo has gone from strength to strength in terms of construction and technology and today, many people consider Tokyo to be the centre of modern technology and computer innovation.
Tantalising Tidbit: Did you know that officially, Tokyo is not officially the capital of Japan? In fact, in 1950, there was a law which confirmed Tokyo’s capital city status among other things, although this was abolished in 1956. A new law reared its head in its place, although the paperwork stipulating that Tokyo is the capital city went missing. The government’s position is that Tokyo is accepted by society as a whole as Japan’s Capital City. An interesting timeline of the city’s history can be found here.
Our Fabulous Itinerary
Alright, so I’ve already shared with you the itinerary version we used while out there, and a post-return version with the differences highlighted.
Here’s another one for you: an updated, revised Tokyo-specific itinerary. It’s based on our experiences with the must-see, Top Tokyo Attractions, and those that were advertised as must-see, but in fact were a bit of a let-down. I did leave in the fancy posh bar, because we didn’t actually go but who knows? Maybe it’s awesome. I also left the Red Tower VR Theme Park in (in red), because you may wish to go if you have children, although please see below to decide yourself. One thing which we immediately identified was that Akihabara needed more time.
Also, the itinerary is, of course, built on a route based on staying in several hotels. If I was to do this trip again, however, I would try to pick one or two central hotels, and utilise more the public transport to get to the Top Tokyo Attractions. As a result, we’d have less to carry every day and could truly appreciate the city a bit more.
Terrific Top Tokyo Attractions, According to Us: The Must-Sees
Get Ready to Begin
Our time in Tokyo was diverse, interesting, occasionally peculiar and peculiarly awesome. We obviously packed a lot in, for better or for worse, but firstly I want to share with you our Top Tokyo Attractions. Specifically, they’re what we liked best and might differ from the ‘norm’ or someone else’s experience. You’ve got to just go and do it yourself to really know. But trust us, these shouldn’t be missed 😉
They aren’t in any strict order, but I have stuck to a traditional “Top Ten”, in any case. Are we sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin….
Top Tokyo AttractionS: The Must-Sees
teamLab Borderless: MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM
This blew our mind. I ain’t dancing around the fact that I didn’t really know what to expect with this place but I was bowled over. Walking to the building on that sunny morning, our first morning waking up in Japan, was pleasant. So many new things to look at and even looking back, this could easily be the nicest part of Tokyo. Indeed, the area reminded us of a ‘city from the future’, a garden paradise meets the city kind of area, with nature woven into the modern buildings and everything so clean.
Finding the museum was a bit of a challenge, despite finally locating the correct building (a massive, unbelievably tall tower). We had to ask for help, as there were no signs either to the building nor to the attraction once inside and it didn’t seem to be well known. You had to trek through the shopping mall food hall and find an escalator to go down, and then walk right down to the end and take a couple of turns.
I’ve obviously included photos but they do not do this must-see attraction justice. You could feel this artwork. The lights, and immersive-ness of it all around you, the slight smells. Absolutely amazing. All sorts of digital art that was alive and moving through the exhibition. There is no set path; you can wander around and even when you re-enter a room, the art could have changed and “escaped” from a neighbouring room. It was quite awe-inspiring.
Top Tip
Touch the walls and watch the light bend around your touch, butterflies die, or artwork react and wave to you.
Some rooms you must wait in a short queue for, as they limit the number of people so as to not ruin the effects. I think some rooms wouldn’t be wheelchair accessible, although despite the hills and sometimes long corridors, I believe lower-mobility individuals could still get a lot out of this must-see attraction.) I think the price was reasonable at 4,400 yen each (around £23). You must leave large bags in the free lockers, and lock up your umbrella in the dedicated stands.
Top Tokyo AttractionS: The Must-Sees
Akasaka Station – Harry Potter Plaza
This was magical. I’d go so far as to say this station and small retail complex was almost as exciting as Harry Potter World in the Universal Studios. I can, hand on heart, say that the Harry Potter shop was miles better.
Across the road from the station, you can find a glorious Hedwig and letters statue. Keep an eye out for all the silhouettes dotted around the whole area, like this wee Scabbers. Once there, you turn to face the station, and you’re met with a beautiful long staircase, with the haunting music from John Williams floating out to meet you. A Time Turner takes precedence in the centre. Descending the staircase, emotions bubble to the surface as portraits line the walls and the music swells. A cavernous underbelly greets you with ‘stone’ columns, lanterns and ‘windows’ with house colours.
The Mahou Dokoro Harry Potter shop attached to the main station building is a treasure trove of both exclusive merchandise and excellent displays. I could have spent all day there. When I say exclusive, I mean to that particular store, which is very exciting. A blue circle on the price tag indicates this. I didn’t buy anything exclusive to the shop but I did buy some merchandise which I’m fairly sure you can’t get outside of Japan instead, so that’s good enough for me 😊
There is a bakery and a separate café. There are also certain small gifts which are exclusive to the bakery, and you must purchase a food or drink item to be allowed to purchase said gift. I bagged myself a wee spoon (in above picture), alongside fancy Slytherin drink’s bottle for my partner (full of green kiwi juice with real fruit).
Unfortunately, we were not able to sample some wizarding grub in the Harry Potter Café, although it looked awesome when we went to try. Evidently, you need to book in advance because it is rather popular and not very big. Overall, I would say that the merchandise and food stuffs on offer were actually better than the shops at the Universal Studios: I couldn’t see any of the stuff for sale there we saw here. So, this is without question one of my Top Tokyo Attractions.
Top Tokyo Attractions: The Must-Sees
Sensō-ji Temple and Asakusa Shrine Complex
Absolutely phenomenal. The quantity of people was insane, but the Sensō-ji temple complex itself was just incredible. This Buddhist temple is said to be one of Tokyo’s most colourful as well as oldest temples.
Huge, red, bright and beautiful, I felt this was the jewel of the Japan temples and shrines. One of the Top Tokyo Attractions, without a doubt. There were so many people coming to look at it, but still people worshiping. Japanese people dressed in kimonos everywhere really added to the spirit and sentiment of the area.
This is one of the only locations you can find tourist shops. Loads of them, all in a row. They form a boulevard leading to/from the temple. A large, impressive, red gate stands at the start of this shopping street, as well as another at the other side of the complex.
Asakusa Shrine
The Asakusa Shrine is a Shinto shrine honouring the three men who founded the neighbouring Sensō-ji. Hidden towards the back of the Sensō-ji Temple complex, we had a bit of an issue finding it at first. It’s colourful and pretty, and fairly small in dimensions. In front of the shrine, there is a food market selling some local produce and fair-type fare. Everything here is free to visit.
The Temple Building 
The Temple and Pagoda 
Entering the Temple 
Entering the Temple 
Temple Decorations 
The Huge Lamps of the Hozomon Gate 
The Huge Lamps of the Hozomon Gate 
Kaminarimon Gate (inner) 
The Inner Side of the Hozomon Gate 
Entering the Sensoji Temple 
Temple Decorations 
The Temple Ceiling 
Nakamise-dori Shopping Street 
Me Paying My Respects 
Kaminarimon Gate (Outer)
This complex is a photographer’s dream with so many angles and beautiful pictures to capture. We went inside the temple and followed the motions of praying as we learnt when we first arrived and it was such a great experience. The woodwork is pretty incredible and has clearly been rebuilt over the years and centuries. This is truly a must-see attraction; culture, shopping and food! What’s not to like?
Please take the time to flick through these photos on the left. They have wee captions too and you’ll see how much there is to see.
ULTRA SUPER HELPFUL TIP: Lockers in Asakusa Station
Lockers: A mini-review. We left our bags in a locker in Asakusa Station. In brief, it took a while to figure out how to use them. Nobody spoke English and only a couple of people really wanted to help (locals don’t seem to care much for tourists at all). Nobody in the station seemed to know how to use the lockers as it wasn’t to do with them. We finally figured it out and it was fairly simple in theory, but not well explained so it makes you pretty uneasy leaving your entire belongings behind…
Everything was fine, however, and you pay the price displayed for up to a certain number of hours. If you go over this time, you can pay an additional fee per hour. If you exceed 24 hours, your items may be removed. This website explains everything with photos and I wish I’d seen it before we went. It doesn’t mention the time limit, however.
Top Tokyo Attraction: The Must-Sees
Akihabara Electric Town
Manga shops, animé stores and curiosities. If there one was improvement to be made to our original itinerary, I would schedule more time for this area (see revised itinerary, I did!). Many model shops with so much to look at (if you’re into collectables and/or animé, of course). All in all, there weren’t many tourist shops. We found one large one with good prices and regret not buying things there, although carrying them for the next 2.5 weeks would have been a challenge. Mount Fuji was hard enough…
In brief, there were many, many shops and themed cafés, with the popular one being a “Maid Café” (Coming Soon – click here for our experience in one!). In any event, I’d highly recommend booking one of the ‘better’ Maid Cafés as they are so popular that the wait time is more than 2 hours on walk-ups. There are girls stood out on the streets, not for that, but to get you into cafés and bars, depending on the time. They can be in costume or not but it’s fun to see them in the costumes!
Colour and life in every corner, the word ‘distracting’ has never had a more accurate usage. Lights and signs everywhere you look: capitalism at its finest. Certainly, more time would be needed to properly explore, understand and get the most out of this area as there are lots of nooks and crannies with who know what where.
Top Tokyo Attractions: The Must-Sees
Meiji Jingu Shrine
Fresh of the boat, I mean, plane. This was our first attraction, and luckily for us, we deemed it one of the Top Tokyo Attractions and a must-see by the end of the trip. A Shinto Shrine dedicated to the souls of the Emperor and Empress Shoken, it burnt down in 1945 and was rebuilt 1958. It was quite an impressive start to the trip, despite the awful pouring rain.
A huge gate compared to which we felt like Polly Pockets, it was a long-ish walk to the shrine through Yoyogi Park. The park itself was pretty and had little gardens to go and see, but we’re not really garden people, especially when it’s chucking it down.
There were amulets and poems to buy in the big square in front of the shrine, as we saw in every temple and shrine we visited for the rest of the trip. There were large golden doors to this big shrine which were super cool although we were not allowed to photograph the main shrine building. Large wooden doors to the square gates were equally impressive. It’s free to visit.
In the main shrine, colourful, horizontal curtains hung next to beautiful mahogany-coloured wood. It was a tranquil and special place. It was pristine and clean, and you could see real monks hurrying about their business in amongst the wooden columns. There were signs with instructions on how to follow the prayer movements for paying respects in a shrine or temple, which we found useful and we followed along. Simply put: Bow twice, Clap twice, Make your prayer/wish and Bow once more. My partner loved the size of this shrine, particularly the gate, rows of sake barrels and appreciated that it looked like one would imagine a Japanese shrine to look.
Top Tokyo Attractions: The Must-Sees
Kimono and Tea Ceremony Experience and Samurai Museum
Even if this isn’t an attraction per say, more of an activity, I have to put it with the must-sees, one of the top Tokyo attractions, because it was fabulous.
Firstly, you can find the experience by clicking here. Correct as of June 2024, we paid around £42 each (8100 yen) but we can both agree that it was worth it. It includes both the kimono and tea ceremony walk-through, plus a guided visit around the Samurai Museum and a ninja interactive demonstration.
Kimono Experience
You arrive and are immediately separated per gender and directed to your respective changing rooms. Presented with a hanging rail of colourful kimonos in your size, you must choose just one: this is hard! Then, you choose your sash colour: be creative! You’re given a pretty material bag for your valuables and the rest of your belongings are stored on a shelf in the changing room.
Women who aren’t so gifted in English help to dress you like a queen and set about sorting your hair into a pretty and traditional style: you can choose the hair ornament too! This took me some time to make my choice, it isn’t my strong suit! IMPORTANT: The women do not touch your makeup. I was tragically under the mistaken impression they would do my makeup, so I purposely didn’t wear any that day. How sorry I was when they didn’t, and I didn’t have any makeup on me as it was a rare day we left the luggage behind in a locker. So, make sure your makeup is sorted before turning up!
The tea ceremony was instructive, easy to follow and interesting. The tea itself was not very tasty, nor the tiny sweet treats, but the process of preparing it was engaging and very cultural.
Next, we donned little clog-like shoes and went outside into an area designed to replicate a shrine: false grass, vegetation and a red shrine gate. Let the photoshoot commence! We did our best…
The kimonos are gorgeous, amazing quality, and you feel really special. There are so many layers! I felt all trussed up so I could barely move! In the waiting area, there are laminated information sheets that also present a challenge: the winner of which wins a prize. My partner and I spent a while working it out, and I told a helper in the changing rooms the answer (as instructed). I choose a men’s handkerchief for my love, thinking it would be a nice surprise. I was unaware that he had also told male helper the answer, and chose a pretty hair accessory for me! You couldn’t make it up, how lucky I am <3.
Samurai Museum
Then, you walked not even five minutes to arrive at the Samurai Museum. There was a very interesting guide and a good explanation of the history and the tactics. Not really my thing, but the interactive ninja throwing was quite fun and my partner got into the final three of the “competition”. Shame he didn’t win. I believe the winner received the ninja star as a prize.
You’d need around 75 minutes to go around, and I’d recommend going back to the start after the tour to catch up reading the museum part hidden behind the curtain on the first floor. A timeline of the samurai involvement in Japan history and the wars and such.
Top Tokyo Attraction: The Must-Sees
Kanda Shrine
An absolutely gorgeous place. Very much one of the Top Tokyo Attractions. A huge and beautiful red gate gives way to a community centre humming with local activity and a togetherness. Tourists make up half the visitors but the space is shared between culture and tourism. Smaller parts of the shrine also attract prayers and worship from the locals, and the gift shop naturally attracts the tourists.
Such detail on the gate, such colour and really it is worth a look. You see here a circle and gate system. This is a tradition/ritual where you walk through the circle and then to the left or right. Pass through the circle a second time and choose the opposite direction, quite like the infinity sign. I saw people do this multiple times – they must have gotten quite dizzy!
A Mikoshi – A portable shrine which serves as a carriage for the Gods
- Left – On display at the Kanda Shrine. At festivals, people gather around and hoist it onto their shoulders in order to worship the Gods.
Top Tokyo Attractions: The Must-Sees
Pokémon Skytree Centre
A bit hard to miss as it has a large statue of Rayquaza joining floor and ceiling, with a wee Pikachu along for the ride. Having never been to a Pokémon Centre, it’s true to say that it’s a large shop. We didn’t see any area for playing games, but I believe some meetings or activities may indeed take place there. In any case, there are a number of Pokéstops there on Pokémon Go to spin; and it feels quite cool to do that at a “proper” Pokémon Centre.
Trust me, this was the best thing about the Skytree, as you will read later on. The other elements were a bit meh, or utterly outrageous.
The large shop sells a wide range of items although the Pokémon cards were only available at the counters. Homeware and accessories with Pokémon images were on sale, as well as hundreds of “mystery boxes” which are crazily popular in Japan.
You buy a box from a range of toys/models and they have the options you could get pictured. It’s a mystery, however, so you can get any one and there’s no indication to the contents. Two now sit on our TV table, quite pretty 😊
Top Tokyo Attractions: The Must-Sees
Hanazono Shrine
Dedicated to Inari, the kami (God/Deity) of worldly success and fertility. Constructed in the Edo period but even today, this place was pretty magical. A world apart from the towering buildings on its doorstep.
You’d never know this place existed. A piece of history conserved within the modernity. Down an alleyway, it opens into a square with the shrine. Local people come here to pay their respects during their working day. Despite the busy surrounding area, this place is peaceful and as if time has stood still. Bizarre but brilliant.
Top Tokyo Attractions: The Must-Sees
Ueno Park
I will start by saying that we did not expect this park to be laid out in this way. It’s a nice park… but you cannot walk through it. One must walk around it. This is due to a humongous pond covered in lily pads and vegetation. Walking around the pond lake takes time, and I might suggest a longer time here as there are not only other shrines, but also a local market here with food stalls and the likes.
A Zoo is also located within the park boundaries, which we did not go to. It was particularly hot and very humid with the pond water and plants. In brief, Ueno Park is one of Japan’s five oldest public parks – built in 1873 on lands formerly belonging to Kan’ei-ji temple (located just outside the park these days).
Not Quite the Top Tokyo Attractions, In Our Opinion: The Meh-Sees
To the mediocre, mediocrity is a form of happiness
– Friedrich Nietzsche
The word “meh” was first attributed to the 1990s, used to describe unenthusiasm, or even mild disappointment. It’s as much an opinion as the opposite “Must-See” although not as hard as “Must-Avoid”. That’s what makes up the majority of this list: attractions that we went to, saw and weren’t bothered about getting the T-shirt.
On the other hand, a couple of attractions listed below I would categorically, downright insist that you do not waste your time and frustrations with. Live and learn, as they say. We’ll go alphabetically, because why not? Remember, for timings of how the days were planned out, you can consult the itinerary.
- Not Quite the Top Tokyo Attractions, In Our Opinion: The Meh-Sees
- Asahi Beer Tower / Asahi Craftsmanship Brewery at the Asahi Annex
- Godzilla Head
- Imperial Palace East Garden
- Kiyomizu Kannon-dō Temple
- Rainbow Bridge and Statue of Liberty
- Red Tokyo Tower : A VR Theme Park
- Shibuya
- Shibuya Sky
- Shinjuku
- Shinjuku Golden Gai
- Togo Shrine
- Tokyo National Museum
- Tokyo Skytree Observation Deck
- World Beer Museum
- Yasukuni Shrine
Not Quite a Top Tokyo Attraction: The Meh-Sees
Asahi Beer Tower / Asahi Craftsmanship Brewery at the Asahi Annex
Okay, so we’re starting on an attraction I actually really enjoyed; it just didn’t make list for one of the top Tokyo attractions. The Asahi Beer Tower is the headquarters for Asahi Breweries, and in short, the building is meant to resemble a pint. Honestly? In the right light, it really does! I can see where they’re coming from. The black building adjacent is the Asahi Beer Hall and the curious golden squiggle is the Asahi Flame. Eye-catching and unusual. We focused our attentions on next door though.
In the Asahi Annex building you can find Tokyo Sumidagawa Brewing, a subsidiary of Asahi Brewing and they brew craft beer. The brewery restaurant is nice, comfortable, despite being a bit pricey. The beer is really good, although I shan’t say too much right now as more will be revealed in the Japan Beer article. Be excited…
Not Quite One of the Top Tokyo Attractions: The Meh-Sees
Godzilla Head
Quite literally a giant statue of Godzilla’s head. Periodically, it roars to life with glowing eyes and smoke. We didn’t see it with glowing eyes, but as other travellers have said, it’s not the biggest/most impressive thing. In fact, it’s quite small compared with all the huge advertisements and buildings all around. In truth, we felt quite nonchalant about this replica reptile. Very meh.
Can you see it…?
Not Quite One of the Top Tokyo Attractions: The Meh-Sees
Imperial Palace East Garden
Perhaps this one is on me and my ignorance but when creating our fabulous itinerary and prior to arriving, I imagined there to be a large palace in the middle of Tokyo. The “Imperial Palace” where once lived the emperor. Admittedly, I tried not to look too carefully at the attractions, with the exception of logistical information, so as not to ruin the experience for myself in person. I was aware that we could not visit the palace’s insides at all, although I did believe we could view it from the outside from the gardens.
There is no longer an original Imperial Palace. You can visit the park in which it once stood, you can view some foundations and see a guard house. But see an impressive, Japanese’s beating heart, towering castle palace you cannot. There is a modern 1960’s-built palace, however this is not visible from the gardens. We entered a guard house to try to catch a glimpse, rather unsuccessfully. The area from which I was told you could catch a peek, was all cordoned off. Typical.
Not Quite One of the Top Tokyo Attractions: The Meh-Sees
Kiyomizu Kannon-dō Temple
Mentioned in our Top Tokyo Attractions: The Must-Sees, Ueno Park is home to several shrines, temples and tadpoles (probably… with all those lily pads). Tokyo’s oldest temple, built in 1632, also resides in Ueno Park. No word of a lie, it’s rather underwhelming.
A curious circular pine tree stands outside of it and I suppose this is the “highlight” with the exception of its history. Visually, it’s a wee log cabin you’d expect in a forest and you’d camp the night. Sing Kumbaya etc.
I’m willing to bet a proper tour guide will brighten it up and sell it well, and the cherry blossoms make it shine, but it wasn’t for us on this day. Not one of the Top Tokyo Attractions.
Not Quite One of the Top Tokyo Attractions: The Meh-Sees
Rainbow Bridge and Statue of Liberty
It’s not rainbow. No rainbows here. Absolutely mis-sold. The closest we came to a rainbow, was the graphics on the bus stop. Apparently, it’s only rainbow in December. One Month. When we first went over it, it wasn’t even lit up. Once it was, however, it was very pretty to stand and take in the Tokyo skyline. A lot of effort, so don’t bother if you’ve got something else to do. This was our last night, so it was a relaxed and simple last-minute wander.
The statue of liberty is not so tall, but it does look quite lovely nonetheless stood against the city. Some great photos to be taken, and is a pleasant evening. Definitely a bit on the more meh side, though.
Not Quite One of the Top Tokyo Attractions: The Meh-Sees
Red Tokyo Tower : A VR Theme Park
This opinion relates solely to the “VR Theme Park” and not the tower itself nor any other restaurant or attraction. And my opinion was that it was Pretty Crap. Null.
The entrance was by and large the most impressive bit, with a red corridor lined with mirrors and lights. They market it as a VR theme park, whereas the reality is there is a handful of “VR”-type games and one “ride” I may liken to a theme-park. Glasgow’s Willy-Wonka event comes to mind…..
The main, fancy, VR equipment was as soon as you entered, and the wait time was in excess of 2 hours, with only a handful of people waiting. This is due to the limited amount of equipment and the supposed complexity of the introduction and rules. Anyway, we tried as many of the other stuff as we could. The VR shooting game modelled by my partner in the image was okay, but had many limitations, lags and restrictions. There were other games that used motion sensors and touch-pad style floor: I kicked backside at the Squid Game’s Red Light, Green Light game they had.
We operated very small, irritating insect-like drones around a cage, played a Mariokart-type game with a VR headset in a car, and I attempted the fancier racing car simulators on the top floor. Many had minimum height restrictions I was not tall enough for… but either way I was pretty rubbish at it anyway. But I kicked butt in the aforementioned Mariokart-type game 😉
Finally, we did have a reasonable time, but it wasn’t a scratch on what we expected. It was a glorified (and not even really) kid’s games room, not the super cool VR Theme Park we believed. Not worth the money, nor an adults’ time.
Not Quite One of the Top Tokyo Attractions: The Meh-Sees
Shibuya
This district is one of Tokyo’s shopping Meccas. Shibuya Pedestrian Crossing is the busiest and most famous and photographed pedestrian crossings in the world. Once you’ve done that though, it’s just shops and store chains. In the pouring rain, it’s miserable. And we don’t go travelling to shop in high-street or store chains. It’s the tacky tourist shops, or local product shops we like 😉
Do the crossing, take a photo or a video, try survive not getting whacked by an umbrella and then skedaddle.
Tantalising titbit: All of Japan, especially in Tokyo, there are capsule shops and arcades. So many of them, it’s crazy. The Japanese love to gamble, it seems. There are adult places, but the arcades with countless claw machines to win all sorts of plushies, gadgets or popular animé figurines are open to everyone. We tried a couple, specifically in Akihabara, although here in Shibuya, we encountered our first capsule shop on the first day in Japan. Shelves and shelves, every way you look, full of capsule machines all to win collectable small plastic toys. Food, doors, even metro trains all have their own range. And it goes without saying all the big popular culture names. With 68% of Japan’s youth population inside at any given time. Colourful, crazy and a cacophony of sounds.
Not Quite One of the Top Tokyo Attractions: The Meh-Sees
Shibuya Sky
The tallest building I had ever seen in my life. It’s almost indescribable how small you feel in comparison, and how you think this world must have been made by and for giants. Commercial giants, in this case.
It’s a huge shopping centre, with an interesting bakery/food hall on the lower floors and more shops than I’ve had hot dinners inside.
The rain on this day messed everything up. We couldn’t so much enjoy the extensive views of Tokyo from the tower, as it was hard to see stuff. Furthermore, they had closed the Sky Roof outside section due to the weather. To get to the observation deck and indoor panorama, you take a life and the roof of which shoots you into space with bubbles. Yeah, this was kind of cool. We were actually above some of the clouds, if you can believe. That’s how tall this building was: rather tall. The drops on the windows from all the rain also made taking photos a bit tricky. Therefore, mine are a bit naff.
Useful Tip:
Booking tickets to the Shibuya Sky Observation Deck gives you discounts in a couple of these shops and restaurants: the link is here. As it’s in Japanese, and/or badly translated, it’s hard to understand exactly what you get and how. So, I tried it out so you don’t have to.
PAUL & JOE BEAUTE – Free gift with presentation of Shibuya Sky ticket in shopping centre store.
You find the specific section for this brand of the large department store on the makeup floor and you show your ticket to get a “sample”. They hand you a cute looking bag with literally the tiniest thing in the world inside: a teeny sample of face powder and primer (?). But hey, it worked.
On the day we went, I wouldn’t say this was one of the Top Tokyo Attractions, I’d say it was a wee bit of a waste of time.
Not Quite One of the Top Tokyo Attractions: The Meh-Sees
Shinjuku
The area is quite overwhelming with so much going on: restaurants on every floor of the towering buildings, shops and businesses galore. We found this was indeed the more expensive area of Tokyo, with seemingly the most foreigners. All your brand names and high street shops, mixed with local ‘higher-end’ stores. Gambling places were everywhere too, with their bright colours and lines of machines (not visible or permitted to under 18s).
I did in fact find a nice bar, very pub-like with a great range of Kirin beer, tasting notes and all in all, I had a lovely experience. Just stayed for one, although they served food. Not that we had it, but I could have spent more time here, a respite from the outside towering chaos.
Not quite one of the Top Tokyo Attractions, but we came across a department store running a competition with a huge ball filled with Daruma dolls. Behind me, in this image to the left, you can see a shelf with various Darumas. The colour of the Daruma you win from the machine, dictates the prize you win. For 500 yen (£2.50~), we gave it a bash. Having 0 clue what we were doing, we obviously caused great amusement to the locals. We won… two local snacks! Big bucks here man…
Other than that, we weren’t impressed with this area and it wasn’t for us.
Not Quite One of the Top Tokyo Attractions: The Meh-Sees
Shinjuku Golden Gai
The Golden Gai is a couple of close-knit alleyways with tiny bars (both upstairs and ground floor) which holds no more than a handful of punters. Originally black market stalls, then prostitution establishments, and moving onto an art and film scene in the mid 20th century, these alleyways have gained fame and interest for tourists and is often noted as one of the Top Tokyo Attractions. Not for us.
We were not able to get dinner here, although we did get drinks. The down side isn’t the space, as you’d think, but actually the prices. There is a cover charge to pay in most of the bars, to count on top of your drinks prices. This can range between 500 yen (£2.50) and 1000+ yen (£5+) per person. A couple of the bars we looked into were simply rooms with a countertop bar in them. Barely anything on the walls, and barley any bottles behind the bar. A very weird setup. Similar to that very weird ‘party’ in Akihabara where we gate-crashed an empty, trashed, room. More on that in a future article….
The drinks are very expensive too and with barely any air conditioning or air to breath, you get rather sticky and sweaty, and a bit gross. Head outside into the tiny alleyway and aircon units blow hot air in your face as a greeting, so no escape from the heat. Expensive area especially with cover charges left right and centre.
At this point, we were pretty tired from our sightseeing around Japan, and our day at DisneySea, so we weren’t really in the party mood. For this reason, we didn’t stay very long. Luckily, there wasn’t too many people in the alleyways, although the bars had bums on seats. The highlight was, of course, the craft beer bar at the beginning of one alleyway where I could sample some local Japanese beers. More about these later. The bar itself was quaint, and had some character and I’d say that was one of the nicer places with interesting drinks that you’d actually enjoy being there for.
Not Quite One of the Top Tokyo Attractions: The Meh-Sees
Togo Shrine
A small-ish Shinto shrine to worship Heihachiro Togo’s spirit (one of Japan’s celebrated admirals). This was hands-down a “Meh-See” place. Certainly not a Top Tokyo Attraction, although I’m sure in sunny weather it has its merits. In the rain, it’s slippery, wet and miserable. Even the sheltered part isn’t really sheltered as it’s made with branches, so the drips leak through. A large koi pond and some Japanese garden-type surroundings in the bustling city.
Not Quite One of the Top Tokyo Attractions: The Meh-Sees
Tokyo National Museum
At the far end of Ueno Park is the National Museum and it costs 1000Y to enter. It’s fairly sizable, in bite-size chunks. In other words, there are a couple of different buildings and so you can pick and choose where you go and what you see. With something for everyone, we spent roughly 1.5 hours here.
It is disability-friendly, with wheelchairs for borrow/hire at the entrance to the buildings and elevators for the buildings.
In reality, there were some truly fascinating historical pieces such as the Minature Shrine for the Wisdom King Aisen, Buddhist Sutra Box and lid and a Saddle from the 13th-14th centuries which once belonged to a feudal Lord. Essentially it served as a nice introduction and overview of Japanese history and art but in the end, we could take it or leave it.
Saddle
13th – 14th Century
Considered a masterpiece of Japanese lacquerware because of its meticulous decoration. Tiny pieces of mollusc shell are inlayed to depict chrysanthemums, dragonflies and butterflies. An elite samurai or nobleman would have used the saddle on ceremonial occasions.
Miniature Shrine for the Wisdom King Aizen
Kamakura period, 13th Century
The doors open to reveal a painting of Buddhist gods and goddesses gathered around Enmaten, the god who rules over the Buddhist Hell. Responsible for judging the souls of the dead, he sites atop an ox while emitting sacred flames.
Lacquered Sutra Box
Aichi
Buddhist monks used this box to store the Great Wisdom Sutra, a collection of sacred writings in 600 volumes. On the lid, a god worshiped as the embodiment of wisdom sits on a lotus throne in the centre. He makes a demon-banishing gesture with one hand. Surrounding him are the guardian gods who defend the teachings of the sutra.
Ancient Coins
Casting Mold Fragments and Bronze and Silver Coins: 8th Century
Coins known as wado kaichin, which were minted in 708 represent the first serious effort in Japan to mint coins for circulation. Subsequently, twelve kinds of coins were minted in the Nara and Heian periods (up to 1192). However, the minting of coins ceased by the latter half of the 10th century due to the use if imported bronze Chinese coins becoming prevalent.
Something which made us laugh was the modern art exhibition. In one room of the standard exhibition, a woman was stood “guard” over what appeared to be two large jam jars, one with water and one without, stacked on top of each other. I naturally assumed there was a leak above, and so scanned the ceiling intently. I did not find it. The woman offered no explanation, but stood guarding it. A visitor actually bent down to properly examine this “artwork” because it was in fact a piece from the modern art exhibition, held in another location. Our tickets didn’t cover this, but we caught a glimpse through the door and, I kid you not, saw multiple of these stacked jars, with people actually paying more money to go and look at them… Madness.
Not Quite One of the Top Tokyo Attractions: The Meh-Sees
Tokyo Skytree Observation Deck
Strap in, cos this is a biggie.
Our ticket was the: Evening Entrance with Drink Offer (~£13.50 each)
Despite booking advance online, we had to stand in a huge queue on arriving and then to show our ticket. Without a double, it was heaving. In fact, they had also sold out for that day. We saw signs about strong winds effecting elevator. So, there was one lift out of order. We didn’t realise that this was the start of an evening at a Top Tokyo Attraction in the Dastardly Dreadful category…
40 minutes after arriving, we had finally made it to waiting for one of the two lifts that were working. The views are fairly nice, and the viewing parts are quite nice, but you cannot relax and enjoy anything because of the lack of space to move. The bar in which you can “relax with a drink” is anything but relaxing. There are no comfortable seats, you’re perched on the end, desperately trying to make yourself as small as possible so as not to be in the way of people, and you’re next to some dirty bins too. Any comfortable seating space was already taken 4 years ago by large groups, not helping the space situation. The bar was obviously pricey, so it was a good job we had the special offer.
The Pokémon special which was ongoing at the time of our visit consisted of a short screening of an episode and music videos, as well as some themed stickers. You had to pay extra to visit the exhibition floor where I assume there were posters and more “stuff”. We spent roughly an hour looking around, the Pokémon effort and the bar drinks.
We then discovered that to exit the attraction, we must wait in a ginormous queue. There was next to no organisation of said queue, no information at all, and people were restless and frustrated. The queue seemed to go on forever, one big disorganised herd all stood grouped around the direction of the exit, although no exit was in sight. There is a glass floor advertised, where you can see right the way down to the ground floor, but this couldn’t really be enjoyed as you’re stood a sardine in this huge group waiting to just leave. You just want to leave.
All in all, we were waiting to leave the building more than ONE HOUR. One whole mother-loving hour and another 20 minutes or so. To get a lift to get OUT of the place. An absolute joke. Into the second half hour, your legs are painful (also from walking all day), there’s no space or place to sit, and everyone is upset, thirsty, soaked with sweat from the heat. I, myself, was close to passing out.
One lift was broken, and so they were using just one or two lifts to transport hundreds of people down. Don’t get me wrong, the lifts transported possibly 20+ people in one go, but they were absolutely overwhelmed by all the people. We missed out on dinner, and our feet and legs were screaming. We left feeling very angry at the management and organisation. Just when we thought it was over, we turned a corner to see another side of winding queue, with beams in the way you had to duck around in a bottle-neck type fashion. Quite a dangerous situation.
All in all, what an absolute farce. Just herding cattle. The visit itself was alright, in theory, but the sheer quantity of people they allowed up to the top was ridiculous, considering they did not have the space nor the lifts to allow people to leave. We were trapped like sardines at the top of an 634m high tower and physically unable to leave. God forbid there was a fire…. It was AWFUL!!
Not Quite One of the Top Tokyo Attractions: The Meh-Sees
World Beer Museum
Okay, so we arrived here already in a raging temper and profound disappointment from the previous attraction (Skytree Observation Deck), and with this in mind, it could be our opinion slightly tainted.
But, this place was also rather crap. Where to start… the beer was expensive with only one or two Japanese beers on draught, the pour of the beer was diabolical, the place felt like a shopping mall food court, the place didn’t even serve food at that time, and it was a ghost town.
It wasn’t the most relaxing of places nor the kind of place I’d expect for a beer museum/enthusiast location. We were there around 10pm, much later than planned thanks to the Skytree Sack of Crap, and it was pretty dead and closing up although I guess if there was more atmosphere, it’d be fun. Strange place to put an establishment like that, and to have it close so ‘early’ considering the nature of the establishment. I’d perhaps suggest going to the Pokémon Centre, then maybe here earlier in the day, and perhaps the food court market on the lower floors as that looked so good, but that’s it for Skytree.
Not Quite One of the Top Tokyo Attractions: The Meh-Sees
Yasukuni Shrine
Whilst we liked this place, it wasn’t anywhere near one of the Top Tokyo Attractions, compared to other sites. It consisted of a pretty shine with a museum nearby but what drew us to include this shrine was its controversy. In truth, it’s an interesting historical place. Established in 1869, this shine is dedicated to the spirits of those who have perished whilst fighting for the emperor since 1853, with the list of names continuing to grow since it’s conception. Basically, it also includes 14 Class A war criminals from World War II, responsible for some pretty nasty deeds. This website gives more information.
The adjacent military museum was opened in 1882 and contains tanks, weaponry and more. We found a large steam engine in there, which is my father’s passion and so we stopped for a quick inspection of this.
Model C56 Locomotive No. 31 from the Thai-Burma Railroad
This locomotive was produced in 1936 by Nippon Sharyo, Ltd. And ran in the Nanao region in Ishikawa Prefecture. It was commandeered to the south for the Greater East Asian War. As one of 90 cars that played an important role in Thailand, this Locomotive No. 31 took part in the opening ceremony of the Thai-Burma Railroad. After the way, it was used by the Thai national railroad. In 1977, the engine was due to be retired, but members of the southern forces field railroad squadron who were involved in the construction of the Thai-Burma Railroad clubbed together and bought it back from the Thai national railroad. In 1979, it was dedicated to Yasukuni Jinja.
And there you have it. Everything we experienced in Tokyo that’s not edible or drinkable, described in this mega article. Well… there’s still DisneySea which I’m giving its own article… so hang fire for that!
I hope it was useful, I hope it was fun and I hope you’re all not asleep by now! Do you have any questions? Do you want more photos, or to rack my brain for anything I might have left out? Leave me a comment, or get in touch and I’ll get back to you! I’ve got a shiny new Instagram for this blog: Beersandbonvoyage
Join me next for either Murderous Mount Fuji, or an article about DisneySea (still workshopping the name), much love!
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