A few friends have been asking me for advice on what to do when in Japan since I lived there for 1.5 years. Here’s a general list of things to do/places to go. There’s much more beyond this but any one of these should enhance the experience.
Shibuya
I highly recommend staying in Shibuya since it is central to everything. You can get most rooms around $100/night. Once you arrive in Shibuya you will see the crazy big Shibuya crossing
If you go to the Starbucks lounge you can watch this for hours. For night life walk left of the Starbucks and you’ll see a little spot on your right called Gas Panic which is a bar where you must have a drink in hand at all times. Lots of foreigns go there so ymmv, but it’s a fun place to hang out for a quick drink. Another place is Camelot (much further away), trip advisor is probably best for discovering night life. Friday and Saturday are the only nights that are good, everything will be dead otherwise!
Also down this same passage way, you will loop around and see a lot of good restaurants. If you walk a few blocks, on your right there should be a kaiten sushi. This is rotating conveyer belt sushi that is decent for 100 yen.
Rather than going down the little passage way to the left of Starbucks, keep walking left so you’re facing the left of this picture. You should see a tall building called Shibuya 109. There’s lots to sight see as you stroll along this path. On your right there are several good sweet shops.
Anytime you pass a Family Mart and you’re looking for something quick there are several items to try.
Family mart chicken and the tuna onigiri are solid. The hot dogs on a stick are also good for snacking. Some people also like the restaurant Moss Burger, which has a unique take on burgers using rice patties as the bread for some items. Personally it was a bit too sweet for me, but others really love it.
There’s a lot to see and do in Shibuya. Any curry shop you run into will most likely be good. Usually you purchase your ticket outside from a push button machine and then you bring it inside to get your meal. Look for Coco curry and don’t get the biggest meal they have, you won’t be able to finish it.
My favorite Izakaya is in Shibuya, it’s still fairly hidden but can get pretty busy around dinner hours.
The best way to get there is to go left of hachiko, under the huge bridge. Right after you cross the street and go under that tall building / bridge on your left you will want to make an immediate right.
Shibuya mark city will be on your right, Gaia pachinko on your left. Walk down this ally for about 5 minutes. You should pass a yakitori shop and then you should then see this on your left:
Make a left here so the Irish pub is now on your right. Then keep walking and you will see a little stairway leading down stairs that looks like this:
Madrid will be on the opposite side. Walk down these stairs and you will be at the hidden gem izakaya. It has a wartime theme and is decently priced. Make sure you get the english menu if you can!
Roppongi
Roppongi has a lot of nightlife and good sight seeing. Definitely go to Roppongi Hills to check out the different art installations. At the top floor, they usually have an art exhibit and you can also look at the entire city from up above. Tokyo tower is another good place to do that, but I’d just do it all at Roppongi Hills. There’s decent dessert shops in there too, I recommend finding the cake shop on the bottom floors. It’s called Harbs:
Most of the night life happens on this street in front of Don Quijote
Just like everywhere else, Friday and Saturday nights are the most lively. The right circle is where my local friends go for clubbing. Be careful on that street since theres a lot of shenanigans that go on. It can be fun to watch though.
Tsukiji
The main reason people come to Tsukiji is for the fish market and sushi. The best place I’ve found that rarely has a wait is next to the fish market. I ate there every other morning when we were staying there. The sushi literally melts in your mouth and you’ll only spend about $20-$50. When you see the big Jonathan diner you can follow this map to the place.
You should pass a knife store on your right, right before you get there. It sells really high quality stuff! So if you need a knife this is the place to get it. Then you will see 2 sushi restaurants, the one you’ll want to go to is the one where the lady is standing at the door, under the blue sign:
After that, you can walk over to Ginza and see all the baller things they have there. Head over to Manneken and get a fresh waffle:
Other things to see and do are the future museum (Miraikan) and the huge gundam. There are a lot of nice restaurants and shops where the Gundam is located. You should also go to the hot springs there as well.
Kyoto
Kyoto overall feels much more relaxed and slower paced. These days I prefer it over Tokyo because of that. You can visit a lot of temples. I mostly recommend visiting Fushimi Inari Shrine. It’s a little of a hike to get there.
As far as location goes, this spot was amazing
To the left of that pin on the corner is a Kaiten sushi place, curry house, and bakery. Right below the pin is a Katsu push button place. To the right of the pin and on the corner is a 24-hour Matsuya, which as all sorts of cheap rish/meat/curry dishes. Lastly to the right of the pin and down the little river are a ton of little bars, and an all you can eat and drink yakitori place. We ended up going there twice. To the left of the pin there are a lot of street shops, another nice place to explore.
I think snowboarding in Japan is also amazing, but I think it’s best to go with a local or have someone help you get there. You’ll have a great time even if you don’t hit any of these things. There’s just so much to explore and just wandering around the city you will find something nice. For example whenever we stayed in a new area, we would try local ramen shops we could find and 9 times out of 10 they were solid.
Enjoy your trip!