Trip: October 2017
Below is our Top 5 Things To Do in Tokyo, part of the Just Carrying On – Top 5 Things To Do series. These lists are favorite activities, eats, and drinks from our travels around the world—in no particular order.
We visited this urban mega-city with our friends Rheanne and Kyle, part of a 12 day trip to Japan in October 2017.
1. Ramen
Ramen was our food of choice in Tokyo when eating out; it is reliably delicious and reliably affordable. We ended up at Ichiran twice (the Chipotle of Tokyo ramen?). The second time we didn’t realize it was Ichiran until we were in line and thought it looked awfully familiar. It was just as delicious as the first time around and we had no complaints. You place your order through a vending machine, then sit down at individual counters with wooden shutters between (they collapse when sitting near a friend, so you can enjoy the meal together). There are many many more great ramen shops, and more to the experience, but we’ll leave that for you to discover on your own.
2. Sumo Food at Chanko Tomogata
Our friends Taka and Yuki invited us out to enjoy sumo food, and the idea of what this actually was remained a mystery until we sat down to dinner to discover that this is, in fact, the food that sumo wrestlers eat to bulk up. At first this made me nervous, until I learned that sumo wrestlers eat multiple servings at a time with large bowls of rice. The food is called chanko, and is similar to what I know as ‘hot pot’. You dip large amounts of vegetables and meat into two different pots of simmering broth; one miso based and one soy based. We were even treated to a view of two real sumo wrestlers as our elevator accidentally went up to the fourth floor instead of down to the ground floor on our way out.
3. Tsujiki Fish Market
The fish market is famous and makes all the must-do lists for good reason. Getting into the ‘center’ early in the morning, however, requires some finagling. Since we were not interested in a 6am arrival, we opted to meander on down around 9am. We walked through the outer market, eating custards with strawberries, egg loaf, and oysters for breakfast, before moving onto delicious sushi that we ate on the rooftop of the Seafood Market. Next was our adventure into the fascinating Tsujiki Fish Market where the Japanese fishermen and workers were going about their business of selling whole large fish for distribution, despite the swarming tourists. Safety is a primary concern, with moving vehicles and large knives all around. On the way out we found coffee at Rupan (Le Pain) with warm chocolate croissants, cementing our love for this early morning experience.
4. Meiji Shrine and Garden
After enjoying a delicious coffee at L I F E S o n and the pastry shop next door, we meandered over to the Meiji Shrine on our way down to Shibuya Crossing. The urban streets of Tokyo are dense but we suddenly found ourselves immersed in a huge park with a beautiful Shinto shrine. We paid 500 yen/person to visit the inner gardens, which were beautiful and highly recommended. They offered a few moments to escape the masses of people and just sit and enjoy the beautiful oasis in the city.
5. Cat Alley shopping
For those who are interested, and even those who are not, shopping is ubiquitous in Tokyo. There are tantalizing, and less attractive, vendors everywhere. For the shoppers and non-shoppers among us, we found equal harmony along Cat Alley. Away from the hustle and bustle of Central Tokyo was a street lined with beautiful hand-crafted Japanese household items and you guessed it, lots of cat related paraphernalia. We arrived as golden hour approached, re-caffeinated at Yanaka Coffee, and poked into the charming little shops, trying not to purchase one of everything.
Honorable mentions
We enjoyed our first jet lagged evening at the Golden Gai with some cold Sapporos before turning in at 8pm and deciding to return to do it right later. Upon our return we were met with smoke filled bars blaring loud music and selling overpriced beers. Since two of the four of us find cigarette smoke to be a allergy and headache-inducing irritant the scene was not for us (or we are just getting old)??? But the idea is charming—lots of very small (think 6-8 person) bars lined up near each other on consecutive alleys so you can easily pop between them. Maybe next time, when we are younger.
Top 5 Things To Do in Tokyo is part of Just Carrying On – Top 5 Things To Do series, which offers our best travel recommendations from around the world.