Tokyo

Why go

Tokyo works. About 14.3 million people live in the Tokyo Metropolis, yet the subway is quiet enough to hear a page turn, trains leave when the timetable says they will, and a ride across town on the Tokyo Metro starts at ¥180 (about US$1.15). Prices in this dossier use ¥158 to US$1, the rate on 12 October 2026.

Tokyo is a few hundred neighbourhoods, each built around a station. Asakusa smells of incense and grilled rice crackers, and Yanaka keeps its wooden houses and temple lanes. Shimokitazawa runs on secondhand clothes and basement music venues. In one day you can stand in Sensō-ji's courtyard at dawn, drink hand-dripped coffee in a Ginza café that opened in 1948, and end the night at a yakitori counter in Shinjuku's Omoide Yokocho, an alley that grew out of a postwar black market.

The best meals are often the plainest: Tokyo-style shoyu ramen at Harukiya in Ogikubo, serving since 1949; cold soba at Kanda Matsuya, open since 1884; tempura fried to order at Tsunahachi, a Shinjuku fixture since 1923. A lunch at counters like these costs around ¥1,200, the crowd-sourced average for a cheap restaurant meal.

The lay of the land

Think of Tokyo as a loop with spokes. The JR Yamanote Line circles the centre through 30 stations, and most of what you will want sits on or inside that loop, with subway and private lines radiating out.

The west side is the Tokyo of neon and crowds. Shinjuku has the skyscrapers, the Kabukicho entertainment district and Golden Gai's warren of tiny bars. Harajuku and Shibuya sit just south, with the forest of Meiji Jingu between them and Yoyogi.

The east side is older and calmer. Tokyo Station and Marunouchi face the Imperial Palace gardens, Ginza's department stores run south from there, and Ueno's park holds the Tokyo National Museum and the zoo. Asakusa and Sensō-ji are a few stops further, on the Sumida River, with Tokyo Skytree across the water.

South of the loop, Roppongi and Azabudai mix art museums with late bars. Shinagawa is your hub for the Shinkansen and Haneda. On reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay, Toyosu holds the wholesale fish market and teamLab Planets.

Two orientation rules save hours. Addresses are numbered by block, so lean on a map app. At big stations, find your exit number before you start walking: Shinjuku and Tokyo stations are towns in their own right.

When to go

Tokyo's best windows are late March to mid-April and November. The Japan Meteorological Agency's 1991–2020 normals put the first cherry blossoms around 24 March and full bloom around 31 March. Rooms fill and rates jump that fortnight, so book months ahead. November brings average highs of about 17°C, mostly clear skies and gold ginkgo trees from late in the month.

Summer is harder going. The rainy season usually starts in early June and lifts in mid to late July, and August averages a high of 31.3°C with heavy humidity. Typhoons arrive from late summer into autumn, which is why September (225 mm) and October (235 mm) are the wettest months on the JMA record. January and February are cold and dry, and January is the sunniest month of the year.

Plan around Japan's holiday peaks. Golden Week, from 29 April to 5 May, and Obon in mid-August send the whole country travelling. Over New Year, many shops and restaurants close from about 29 December to 3 January. Events worth timing a trip around include the Sanja Matsuri in Asakusa on the third weekend of May and the Sumida River fireworks on the last Saturday of July.

Treat Halloween with care. Shibuya bans drinking on its streets and in parks around the station from 6pm to 5am every night of the year, and in recent years the ward has asked visitors to stay away at Halloween, screened off the Hachikō statue and asked shops in the zone to stop selling alcohol.

If Mount Fuji is on your list, mind the calendar. The 2026 climbing season ended on 10 September. Every trail charged a ¥4,000 hiking fee in 2026, and gates closed from 2pm to 3am to anyone without a mountain-hut booking. The official site published the 2026 rules in March, so expect next season's details in spring.

What it costs

Tokyo is cheaper than its reputation for eating and getting around, and expensive for sleeping. A shoestring traveller can manage on about US$70 a day with a hostel bed (typically ¥3,500–6,000), konbini breakfasts and ramen lunches. Mid-range travellers should plan on about US$180, most of it the hotel: a plain 3-star double typically runs ¥15,000–25,000 a night, and more in blossom season. Luxury starts around US$600 a day once a five-star room, omakase dinners and taxis enter the picture.

The everyday things are cheap. Numbeo's crowd-sourced averages put a cappuccino at about ¥560, a pint of draft beer at ¥600 and an inexpensive restaurant meal at ¥1,200. Sensō-ji and Meiji Jingu are free, and so is browsing the department-store food halls.

Some costs rose in 2026. Japan's departure tax tripled to ¥3,000 per departure on 1 July 2026; it is added to your air ticket. The visitor-only Tokyo Subway Ticket now costs ¥1,000 for 24 hours, ¥1,500 for 48 hours and ¥2,000 for 72 hours after a 14 March price rise. JR East raised its fares the same day, and its minimum fare went from ¥150 to ¥160.

Tipping is not part of the culture. Service is included, and money left on the table may be returned to you.

Getting there and around

Haneda is the easy airport. Keikyu trains reach Shinagawa in about 15 minutes for ¥330, and the Tokyo Monorail runs to Hamamatsucho for ¥520. A Haneda flat-rate taxi to Shinjuku costs ¥9,000 plus tolls, or ¥10,700 between 10pm and 5am. From Narita, the Keisei Skyliner reaches Ueno in about 40 minutes for ¥2,470, and the Narita Express runs to Tokyo Station in about an hour for roughly ¥3,100.

Sort out a transit card on arrival. iPhone users can add Suica or PASMO to Apple Wallet, or use JR East's Welcome Suica Mobile app, which is built for visitors. That app is iPhone-only, and most Android phones bought outside Japan cannot add Suica, so Android users should buy a physical card from a station machine. Ordinary Suica and PASMO cards went back on sale on 1 March 2025 after a chip shortage. Either card works on almost every train, subway and bus, and in konbini.

Since 25 March 2026 you can also tap a contactless credit card at the gates of 11 Kanto rail operators, including Tokyo Metro, Toei Subway and Keikyu, with transfers between them. JR lines, including the Yamanote loop, still need Suica, PASMO or a paper ticket.

Taxis are metered and start at ¥500. Rear doors open and close automatically, so leave them alone. Most people hail through the GO app; Uber in Tokyo also books licensed taxis.

For Kyoto, the Tokaido Shinkansen's Nozomi takes about two hours and fifteen minutes and costs ¥14,170 one way for a reserved seat in regular season (¥13,970 through JR Central's smartEX). A return is ¥28,340, well under the ¥50,000 price of a 7-day Japan Rail Pass, and pass holders also need a ¥4,960 special ticket each way to ride the Nozomi. The pass pays only if you add long legs such as Hiroshima or Kanazawa, so price your actual journeys first.

Book ahead for a big suitcase. On the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu Shinkansen, bags whose length, width and height add up to 161–250 cm need a reserved seat with an oversized baggage area, which costs nothing extra. Board without one and you pay ¥1,000 and put the bag where the conductor says. Bags over 250 cm are not allowed. During the biggest holiday peaks, every Nozomi seat is reserved.

Where to stay

Shinjuku and Shibuya make the easiest first base, with rail links in every direction and food until late. Stay on the quieter side of Shinjuku Station or near Shinjuku-sanchome rather than deep in Kabukicho, where touts work the streets most of the night. Hotel Gracery Shinjuku, with the Godzilla head on its terrace, is the classic mid-range pick at the edge of Kabukicho.

Budget travellers get the most for their yen in Asakusa and Kuramae, along the Sumida River. Nui. Hostel and Bar Lounge in Kuramae has dorms upstairs and one of the area's livelier bars at street level. Ryokan Asakusa Shigetsu, a few minutes from Nakamise, has run as a Japanese inn for about 80 years and has a cypress-wood bath with a view towards Skytree.

If you want Tokyo Station on your doorstep for day trips and the Shinkansen, The Tokyo Station Hotel occupies the restored red-brick station building itself. Hotel Niwa Tokyo, near Suidobashi, is a quiet mid-range base for the east side.

Skip Narita-area hotels unless you have a dawn flight. And check how far a "Shinjuku" or "Shibuya" hotel really is from its station: ten minutes' walk with luggage feels longer than it sounds.

What to do

Start early at Sensō-ji. The main hall opens at 6:00 (6:30 from October to March), entry is free, and before about 8am you share the courtyard with joggers and worshippers instead of tour groups. Walk to Yanaka afterwards, then down to Ueno for the Tokyo National Museum (¥1,000, closed Mondays).

Meiji Jingu is the other big free sight. The shrine sits in a planted forest between Harajuku and Yoyogi, opening at sunrise and closing at sunset. Carry on to Shibuya and see the scramble crossing from above. Shibuya Sky costs ¥2,700 online before 3pm and ¥3,400 after, and sunset slots go first, so book when tickets open about two weeks ahead.

For art, teamLab Planets in Toyosu (from ¥3,800) has you wade barefoot through water among light installations. teamLab Borderless at Azabudai Hills is the drier sibling. The Ghibli Museum in Mitaka costs ¥1,000, but tickets are sold only in advance through Lawson Ticket, released at 10am Japan time on the 10th of each month for the month after.

Breakfast at the Tsukiji Outer Market belongs on a first trip. The market's own calendar sets 9:00 to 14:00 as public buyers' hours, and many shops close on Sundays and some Wednesdays.

At night, Shinjuku is the show. Eat yakitori in Omoide Yokocho, then drink in Golden Gai, where many bars seat fewer than ten people and some add a cover charge. Ask before you sit.

Day trips are easy. Kamakura, about an hour south by JR, has the bronze Great Buddha (¥300, plus ¥50 to step inside) and Zen temples in the hills. Nikko is about two hours from Asakusa on Tobu's limited expresses, for the carved and gilded shrines of Tōshō-gū and the waterfalls above them. Hakone, about 90 minutes on Odakyu's Romancecar from Shinjuku, offers hot springs, a lake cruise and, on clear days, Mount Fuji.

Eat and drink

Eat where locals queue. Lunch is the value play: many restaurants serve set lunches from about 11:30am to 2pm, then close until dinner. Ramen and soba shops often have a ticket machine by the door; pay there and hand the ticket to the cook.

Several of the best are also the oldest: Tsunahachi for tempura in Shinjuku (since 1923), Tonki for tonkatsu in Meguro (since 1939), Kanda Matsuya for soba (since 1884), Harukiya for Ogikubo ramen (since 1949) and Nodaiwa for charcoal-grilled eel, a business founded in the 1790s. For monjayaki, the runny griddle dish of the east side, go to Tsukishima's Monja Street. For coffee as ritual, Café de l'Ambre in Ginza has been hand-dripping since 1948.

Department-store food halls, the depachika, are some of the best free entertainment in the city. Start in the basement of Isetan Shinjuku, and come late in the day, when bento and sushi are often marked down before closing. Konbini such as 7-Eleven, Lawson and FamilyMart sell onigiri, hot snacks and decent coffee around the clock.

Etiquette is simple. Say "itadakimasu" before you eat. Slurping noodles is fine. Never pass food from chopstick to chopstick or stand chopsticks upright in rice, as both echo funeral rites. Izakaya usually bring a small paid starter, the otōshi, which works as a cover charge.

Practicalities

Money. Cards are widely accepted, including in taxis and most restaurants, but carry ¥10,000–20,000 in cash for small shrines, food stalls and older bars. 7-Eleven and Japan Post ATMs take most foreign cards.

Data. An eSIM is the easy route. Airalo's Japan packs start at about US$4, and unlimited data costs about US$26.50 for seven days (October 2026).

Water and power. Tap water is safe to drink. Sockets are Type A and B at 100 V, and Tokyo runs at 50 Hz. Phone and laptop chargers cope; check hair tools.

Entry. See the visa table above. JESTA, Japan's electronic travel authorisation, was written into law in May 2026 but is not running yet: the government will set its start date by cabinet order, no later than 31 March 2029. No official JESTA portal exists, so ignore sites selling "early registration". Visit Japan Web is free and optional, and gives you a single QR code for immigration and customs.

Medicines. Stimulant ADHD drugs such as Adderall are banned in Japan, and bringing more than a month's supply of some prescription drugs requires an import certificate from the health ministry. Check before you pack.

Safety. Earthquakes are a fact of life here. Install JNTO's Safety tips app, which pushes earthquake, tsunami and weather warnings in English, learn your hotel's exits, and call the Japan Visitor Hotline (050-3816-2787, 24 hours) if you need help. Police are 110; fire and ambulance are 119.

LGBTQ+. Tokyo is relaxed, and Shinjuku Ni-chome is the centre of gay nightlife. Japan does not recognise same-sex marriage, though the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has run a partnership certificate system since November 2022. Public displays of affection of any kind are uncommon.

Accessibility. Most central stations have lifts, and station staff will set up a boarding ramp for wheelchair users if you ask at the gate. Older bars and restaurants are often up or down steep stairs.

Phrases. Sumimasen (excuse me, sorry). Arigatō gozaimasu (thank you). Kore kudasai (this one, please). Okaikei onegaishimasu (the bill, please). Eigo no menyū wa arimasu ka (do you have an English menu)?

What nobody tells you

Shibuya Crossing is a crossing. Crowds surge over it every few minutes, but at street level you mostly see the backs of other people filming. Watch from above, then move on.

From about 7:30 to 9:30am, inner-city trains are packed tight, and rolling a suitcase on board is miserable for everyone. Send bags between hotels with a luggage-forwarding service, which hotel front desks arrange.

Big stations will beat you at least once. Shinjuku and Tokyo stations have many exits on several levels. Use the exit numbers in your map app and add ten minutes.

Bins are scarce. Carry a small bag for rubbish and take it back to your hotel or a konbini.

Summer heat can make you ill. With August highs averaging 31°C and heavy humidity, carry water, rest in the shade and take heatstroke alerts seriously.

The nightlife scam is old and still works. Anyone who approaches you in Kabukicho or Roppongi with a cheap drinks deal is a tout. Canada's travel advice describes spiked drinks, overcharging and visitors taken to cash machines. Choose bars yourself and keep your drink in hand.