Tokyo

About

Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital and most populous city of Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is one of the most populous urban areas in the world. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes Tokyo and parts of six neighboring prefectures, is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, with 41 million residents as of 2024.

Summary excerpted from the Wikipedia article Tokyo, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Text may be clipped or paraphrased to fit this page.

Why visit

Visit Tokyo for the contrast between scale and precision: museums, small theaters, record shops, bookstores, gardens, shrines, department-store food halls, and neighborhoods with distinct rhythms. Ueno, Jimbocho, Ginza, Yanaka, Shibuya, Shinjuku, and Roppongi each give a different entry point into the city. For an arts-minded traveler, the best plan combines one museum or performance, one historic or religious site, one specialized shopping district, and enough time for trains, walking, and meals to become part of the experience.

When to avoid

Tokyo is efficient, but it is not simple. The city is enormous, and a plan that crosses too many rail lines will become tiring even when trains run well. Group days by district, reserve important restaurants or performances, and check museum closure days. Avoid Golden Week, New Year, and peak blossom weekends if crowds or hotel prices will spoil the trip. Summer heat and humidity are serious enough that museums, department stores, cafes, and evening walks should carry the middle of the day.

The next week in Tokyo

7-day forecast from Open-Meteo. UV badges flag days when sun protection matters (3 and above is moderate; 8 and above is risk territory for unprotected fair skin within 30 minutes).

Year-round climate

Monthly highs, lows, and rainfall (long-term averages, NASA POWER).

Airports near Tokyo

4 commercial airports within 100 km. Closest is Chofu Airport at 11 km.

Getting around Tokyo

Public-transit operators within 8 km of the city center. Click through to each operator’s site for routes, fares, and tickets.

Operators and modes aggregated by TransitLand from individual transit-agency GTFS feeds. Route classifications (subway / tram / rail / bus / etc) come from each feed’s GTFS route_type codes.