Tokyo

We were in Tokyo a total of 7 days: 5 on the front end and 2 on the back.  While Tokyo is massive (the size of New York City times five) it can have a cool neighborhood feel depending on where you are and is very different from area to area.

There are tons of great parks which we really enjoyed.  We liked the big, popular ones like Ueno Park, the Imperial Palace grounds and Yoyogi Park, but probably two of our favorites were Hama Rikyu Gardens near Tsukiji and Arisugawanomiya Memorial Park in the Roppongi Hills.

The Tsukiji Fish Market is a sight to behold.  You can get there at 5am for the early morning auction, which we skipped, or just go on a bustling Saturday.  Bring plastic bags for your shoes if you want to venture around the wholesale area and mind the “no photos” signs.

For the museum lover, the Tokyo Edo museum is very well done and traces the history of Tokyo from its birth to modern day.  The National Museum in Ueno Park is also well worth the visit.  We just loved the Toyokan building which has art and relics from across Asia from the Middle East, (Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Egypt), through India, Thailand, Cambodia and China.  We also checked out the Art Museum in Roppongi.  All three were worth our while.

We stayed at the foot of the Roppongi Hills our first several days (and loved the neighborhood) and at the Tokyo Station Hotel on our final leg.  Tokyo Station offers tons of eating and shopping options as well as being well located to catch a train back to the airport.  Its a splurge for sure, but we thought it was worth it.

For our top 10s in Japan and Tokyo check out our post on those topics here.