How not to love Tokyo?
The capital of
Japan, Tokyo is sooooo cooool, we were really sad, when we had to leave. Thinking it's just a big busy city, a concrete jungle illuminated by neon lights where everything is robotic and all the hotels have only capsules is so wrong.
Tokyo has also beautiful green and blooming parks, intimate small Japanese style hotels and quiet temples and shrines winded with the scent of incest smoke.
How long to stay there depends on you – how much time do you have and what is interesting for you. Money isn't that important, as food isn't expensive, you can find quality accommodation for a reasonable price, the entrance fees are lower than in Europe and transport is excellent.
We stayed in
Sumidagawa hostel – a lovely small house with dorms and Japanese style rooms near the centre of Tokyo. We stayed there for 5 nights and we could easily stay one or two more. Still we packed a lot into our sightseeing list, but we had also some quiet and relaxing moments – don't think we ran from sight to sight.
What we can recommend is:
This is probably one of the most famous crossings in the wold – thousands of people cross the street from all directions at the same time, with huge neon signs blinking like crazy.
The second highest building in the world is really worth a visit, as it offers amazing vistas over the city. If you're lucky, you even might see Mt. Fuji! And in the evening the tower is nicely illuminated and reflects from the nearby river. Romance alarm.
This Shrine is dedicated to Emperor Meji and his wife Empress Shoken and it's my favourite Shrine in Tokyo. It's in a lovely park, on the way to the shrine huge torii gates will greet you and colourful sake barrels can be seen on display. If you're lucky, you even may see a traditional Japanese wedding.
When we visited this temple for the first time, we didn't like it – it was crazy packed with people, the shopping street leading to the temple was way too busy to our taste. We came back in the evening – you can't go in the temple, but everything else is accessible. So our secret tip (if you don't feel the urge to see the temple from inside): go there in the evening.
For the biggest and busiest fish market in the world you'll have to get up early – at least if you want to see the tuna auction. Only 120 people are allowed to see it and they choose on first come first serve basis. If you're not a morning person, if you come there at 9AM, you're still good. The market has an outer and inner market – and the outer market has no restrictions for visitors at any time. Just enjoy your freshest sushi ever.
Ueno is a park in the north of the city. It's very popular in the time of cherry blossom or sakura, but worth a visit also in other months. With museums, galleries, a zoo and beautiful pathways you can get lost for the whole day. We liked the most the swan-looking paddle-boats (¥700) in one of the three ponds just a few minutes from the entrance.
You can find more tips for Tokyo and the rest of Japan on our blog
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