Dan and I first visited Tokyo back in 2013/2014 for my 30th birthday trip, which fell over New Year’s Eve (hence the two years)! We had the most amazing time, and our trip to Japan quickly became one of our top trips of all time. Last Thanksgiving, since we were going to be in South Korea, we decided to tack on a weekend in Tokyo to relive some of our favorite Tokyo memories!

Our Tokyo weekend began early on Thursday evening and ended on Sunday afternoon. Upon arrival from Seoul at Narita Airport, we took the Narita Express into Tokyo and eventually found our hotel, the Courtyard by Marriott Tokyo Station, which was within walking distance to Tokyo Station (yet still difficult to find). Since we were tired from our travels, and quite frankly hungover from a big Wednesday night out in Seoul, we dined in our hotel’s restaurant, Bar LAVAROCK, and called it an early night. We were super excited for an early morning exploring Tokyo! And for those planning trips to Tokyo, Tokyo is a huge city and where you stay will impact your trip. I would’t recommend first timers to stay near Tokyo Station, as its mostly a business area. We only stayed here because of a good points redemption with Marriott. Last time we were in Tokyo, we stayed at Hotel Niwa Tokyo near Suidobashi Station and enjoyed that area. It was much more residential. Our friends from We Leave Today recently stayed in Shinjuku and seemed to have a lovely time in that part of town.

Refreshed from a good night’s sleep, we started the first proper day of our Tokyo weekend with a stroll through “Electric Town” a/k/a Akihabara. Akihabara is an bright area of Tokyo filled with crazy lights, loads of electronic games, Sega branded stuff, and unique “gamer” things (for lack of a better word). We, well mostly Dan, really enjoyed this area when we visited in 2013, so we made it our first stop on our whirlwind weekend. Plus, Akihabara happens to be home the famous (at least amongst gamers) Square Enix Cafe. Dan is quite the fan of Square Enix games, so we started our morning with a breakfast at Square Enix Cafe. I would describe this experience as a Disney-ish “adult character breakfast,” but without the live characters. The food was absolutely terrible, but Dan seemed to enjoy all the Square Enix things. I am write a separate post on this, because it was just so freaking weird. A few other game companies, such as Gundman, have restaurants in this area if that’s your thing.

After our interesting breakfast, we walked around Akihabara for a bit, stopping into a multi-floor claw machine store (yes, they do exist and are extremely popular), multi-floor video game arcade, and watching the popular vending machine mini-toy trend. We eventually left Akihabara via the fantastically clean Tokyo subway. If you are planning a trip, Akihabara will be particularly fun for gamers and kids. Anyone can play the claw machines and video games, just be sure to have local currency. We had a difficult time finding a place to take out money in Akihabara. You can also jump on the mini-toy trend – you basically put in money and a small toy comes out. They are collectible and, as expected, there are a few hard to find ones.  Loads of these machines were all over Tokyo, with all ages trying their luck.

Our next stop was another of our favorites in 2013 – the Meiji Shrine. The Meiji Shrine is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife, and its one of Tokyo’s most famous and visited sites. Its also easily accessible and free. We spent about an hour walking around, and even saw a gorgeous Japanese wedding! The Meiji Shrine is particularly beautiful in the fall when the leaves are changing. Highly recommended to anyone spending time in Tokyo. We are at the Meiji Shrine in the 2013 pictures earlier in this post. If you are planning a trip, wear walking shoes (its more of a big park that 1 single shrine) and plan to spend at least an hour at the Meiji Shrine. Cafes, restrooms, and shop shops on premises.

Post-Meiji Shrine, we walked to the neighboring Takeshita Street in the Harajuku neighborhood. Takeshita street embodies Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Girls song and is a wild street to stroll down, complete with any and everything a tween girl could ever want, from candy to cheap jewelry and clothing to puppy stores. We enjoy Takeshita Street just because its crazy and totally different. If you are planning a trip, there is a decent brewery called the Harajuku Taproom down a small side street just past the below entry to Takeshita Street. This is a good respite from the craziness of this area, though they don’t open until 17:00 during the week… Aside from Takeshita Street, Harajuku is an upscale neighborhood with lots of nice shops, restaurants, and cafes, many of which are Western. Definitely a nice place to stroll, but not necessarily the most authentic Japanese experience.

After our horrible breakfast, lunch today was at a “rocket sushi” restaurant, Uobei. Uobei is a small chain in Japan and it offers a wide variety of sushi at reasonable prices. The “rocket” definition is because the sushi is shot out of the kitchen right to your seat on a conveyor belt. We ordered several different types, from tuna to fried chicken.  While not the best sushi in Tokyo, Uobei is really fun and makes a good choice for sushi lovers traveling with picky eaters. The best deal at Uobei, by far, is its $3 glass of red wine.

Continuing our whirlwind Tokyo tour, we next took the metro, which is SO, SO easy to use, across Tokyo to the small, yet interesting Yayoi Kusama Museum. Yayoi Kusama is an eclectic Japanese artist who is currently quite popular with installations all over the world. This is her museum in her home country of Japan, though she has lived all over, including NYC! While small, the Yayoi Kusama Museum took about an hour to visit and included one of her famous mirror installations and one of her pumpkins on the roof! If you are planning a visit, reserve tickets online well in advance. Entrance is limited to a set number of people and even in December, tickets were sold out.

Our dinner tonight was a late one at Restaurant 511, which specializes in Kobe beef, one of my very favorite things in Japan!! We both did the tasting menu, and it was excellent. However, it was not nearly as good as the Kobe beef we had in Kyoto in 2013!  It also came with a fried fugu course, the infamous poisonous fish. We ate fugu in 2013, and successfully had it again in 2019! If I were to return to Restaurant 511, I would probably have just ordered the beef (not the tasting menu), as it was too much food for me. If you are planning a trip, Restaurant 511 is convenient because you can make a reservation online, but the best Kobe beef is found further South, closer to Kyoto. We called it a night after our Kobe beef dinner, to rest up for our second full day in Tokyo!

On the second day of our whirlwind Tokyo tour, we started in another of our favorite spots in 2013 – the Tsukiji Market! Tsukiji Market used to be the huge seafood and tuna market in Tokyo. The bulk of the seafood and tuna market moved recently to the new Toyosu Market, but the Tsukiji Outer Market, the part with all the shops and restaurants remains! We started our morning a fatty tuna sushi breakfast at a restaurant called Tsukiji Sushidai Honkan. And, it was completely amazing. I can’t eat tuna sushi in the US anymore! Sadly, I am partially joking about that. If you are planning a trip, know that sushi breakfast is not cheap; ours cost about $130 USD with 2 cocktails.

After breakfast, we strolled around the Tsukiji Outer Market and made a stop at my absolute favorite pottery shops and for a beer at one of Tsukiji’s tiny bar stands! Now, going back to this pottery shop, its FABULOUS. I purchased the most beautiful bowls there in 2013 and several more things this time around. The name of the store is Takizawa Toki, and its located right in the heart of the Outer Market. If you are planning a trip, they take credit card and will wrap your things to take on the plane, but know that they close at 15:00 (and every Wednesday in August according to their website). 

Pottery in hand, Tsukiji Market has a series of tiny bars selling beer, wine, and sake. They look super fun and since it was raining, we popped in for a Japanese beer at the cutest little stand. Dan went dark and I did a light beer. The sweet lady working the stand took the below picture of us. If you are planning a trip, these little “bars” provide a good respite for those wanting to sit out for a while, but know there is very limited seating.

After a short break at our hotel to drop off our precious pottery purchases, we took the subway to Shinjuku for a sake tasting, followed by a food tour. The sake tasting took place at the cutest little bar, Sake Bar Doron. The tasting took us through 8 sake tastings and provided lots of information about sake, both historical and modern. There were also some small snacks served. The tasting took about an hour and was immediately followed by a food tour with Ninja Food Tours, the same company that put on our sake tasting.

After our sake tasting, we went on a food tour through Shinjuku, also with Ninja Food Tours. On this tour, was was fantastic, we explored Shinjuku and tasted everything from seafood to gyoza to matcha ice cream! We also explored some famous parts of Shinjuku, including Golden Gai and the much photographed Memory Lane. Golden Gai is at the top of my list for my next visit to Tokyo. We took the subway back to our hotel after the tour ended, hoping to find a bar. However, almost everything was closed at 22:30 on a Saturday night near out hotel. Another reason why you shouldn’t stay near Tokyo Station.

Our last morning in Tokyo was spent running around Tokyo Station trying to find the entrance to the Narita Express… Tokyo Station is HUGE, and we decided to find the Narita Express entrance before deciding on a lunch spot. Good thing, because by the time we found it, we had missed lunch, but this presented a perfect opportunity to try Bourdain’s beloved egg salad sandwiches from Lawsons and 7-11, two super popular convenience stores in Japan. 7-11s was the winner in my opinion, but both were quite tasty. If you are planning a trip, Lawson’s and 7-11 are both recommended for an inexpensive, tasty meal on the go. Very different than convenience stores in the US.

We arrived at the airport with enough time pre-flight to spend some time at the Korean Air Lounge (complimentary access with Priority Pass) before catching our flight back to the US. In total, a fabulously delicious weekend in Tokyo, particularly since we were already in North Asia!

STEAL OUR TRIP

Courtyard by Marriott Tokyo Station: 2-1-3 Kyobashi, Chuo City, Tokyo 104-0031, Japan. Tiny rooms. No lounge. Diamond Members enjoy self-serve complimentary water, soda, and beer from a cooler in the check-in area. Diamond Members also have access to a happy hour with complimentary drinks and small snacks in the GG Co. Cafe and Bakery downstairs. This was an unexpected perk.

Hotel Niwa Tokyo: 1 Chome-1-16 Misakicho, Chiyoda City, Tokyo 101-0061, Japan. Lovely hotel in a cute neighborhood.

Square Enix Cafe: Akihabara East-West Freedom Passage 1-6-1 Kuma Sakumacho, Chiyoda-ku , Tokyo 101-0025, Japan. Open daily 9 – 22:30. Easy enough to find and close to the subway. While everything I ready in advance said reservations, which as of December 2019 were only available to persons with a special Japanese app (or something like that) are mandatory, we walked in on a Friday morning and were two of the only people there. If its full, there is a take away counter.

Baird Beer Taproom Harajuku: 1 Chome-20-13 Jingumae, Shibuya City, Tokyo 150-0001, Japan. Open 17:00 – 00:00 Monday – Friday, 12:00 – 00:00 Saturday – Sunday.

Uobei Cafe: 150-0043 Tokyo, Shibuya City, Dogenzaka, 2 Chome−29−11. Inexpensive sushi chain with many locations throughout Japan. Reservations can be made online at some locations.  Otherwise, queue up. This is where we had our fun rocket sushi. A good choice for picky eaters, as there are non-fish things on the menu, like fried chicken.

Yayoi Kusama Museum: 107 Bentencho Shinjuku-ku Tokyo 162-0851 Japan. Very cool, yet small museum. Timed tickets are absolutely mandatory and sell out in advance. Buy online in advance.

Restaurant 511: 07-0052 Tokyo, Minato City, Akasaka, 4 Chome−3−28. 11:30 – 14:00, 18:00 – 22:00. Upscale restaurant in a fun part of Tokyo – lots of bars and restaurants. Reservations recommended.

Tsukiji Sushidai Honkan:  Chome-21-2 Tsukiji, Chuo City, Tokyo 104-0045, Japan. Open 11:00 – 22:00 Sunday, 10:30 – 21:30 Saturday, and 10:30 – 4:00 other days according to world wide web. I can confirm the opening times, but I would check the closing time.

Takizawa Toki: Open 6:30 – 15:00 daily, closed Wednesdays in August.  Much of the market is closed on Wednesday anyway.

Ninja Food Tours: Great Tokyo food tours, as well as Kyoto and Osaka. Book online in advance. We did the Best of Izakaya Tour for 9,500 Yen per person and the Tokyo Sake Tasting for 7,500 Yen per person. 

Sake Bar Doron: 160-0023 Tokyo, Shinjuku City, Nishishinjuku, 7 Chome−19−21. Open 17:30 – 23:00. Closed Sunday. Tiny sake bar with English menus. Limited food menu.

Narita Express: The best way to get between Narita airport and Tokyo. Information on the English website.