Tokyo, the world's largest city, three wards at a time

Tokyo is the largest metro area in the world, and it reads exactly that big the moment you land. The trip is not seeing Tokyo so much as picking three or four wards and going deep on each. The food is the reason most people come. Plan by ward rather than trying to cover the whole city.

Getting in from the airport

Tokyo has two airports. Narita (NRT) is 60 km east of the center and handles most long-haul international. Haneda (HND) is 15 km south and handles a growing share of long-haul plus all domestic. If your booking site offers either, take Haneda.

Mode	Time	Cost	When to use
Narita Express (N'EX) from NRT	55 to 75 min	¥3,000 to ¥3,250	The default from NRT. Direct to Tokyo, Shinjuku, Shibuya. Reserve seats for peak hours
Keisei Skyliner from NRT	40 to 50 min	¥2,580	Faster than N'EX but only to Nippori and Ueno. Useful for hotels on the east side or for Asakusa
Keikyū Line from HND	15 to 25 min	¥330 to ¥630	The default from HND. Direct to Shinagawa with connections to the rest of the JR network
Tokyo Monorail from HND	20 min	¥520	Alternative from HND. Drops you at Hamamatsucho on the Yamanote Line
Airport Limousine Bus	60 to 120 min	¥3,200 from NRT, ¥1,250 from HND	Direct to major hotels. Useful with heavy luggage and no transfers
Taxi	60 to 90 min from NRT, 30 to 45 from HND	¥22,000+ from NRT, ¥7,000 to ¥10,000 from HND	Reasonable only from HND for late arrivals with bags

Tokyo by ward and by train

Tokyo doesn't have a single center. The city is a constellation of 23 special wards on the Kantō plain, each with its own gravity. The JR Yamanote Line (the green-painted loop on every map) connects most of the wards a tourist cares about and is the planning anchor for the trip. The line goes around clockwise. Most of the major wards are stops on it.

The Yamanote stops to know, in order:

• Tokyo Station / Marunouchi. The brick-and-glass central station, the Imperial Palace one block west, the Marunouchi business district, and Ginza two stops south. The "respectable adult Tokyo."
• Shimbashi / Ginza. Ginza is the upscale shopping and high-end sushi district (also the political-ad neon image). Mitsukoshi and Wako department stores anchor the corners.
• Shinagawa. The southern gateway. Bullet trains to Kyoto and Osaka start here. Lots of business hotels, less tourist energy.
• Shibuya. The famous crossing, the youth-culture and shopping headline, the Shibuya Sky observation deck. Loud, neon, big crowds.
• Harajuku. Takeshita Street fashion, Meiji Shrine across the tracks, Omotesando just south. The fashion-and-shrines pairing in one walk.
• Shinjuku. Tokyo's biggest train interchange (3.5 million people daily). Skyscrapers west, Kabukicho red-light east, Golden Gai's six-alley bar district right next to it. Big, loud, navigable.
• Ikebukuro. The northern shopping headline, Sunshine City, big crowds and few foreign tourists. Skip it unless the northern shopping districts are a priority.
• Ueno. Park, zoo, the major Tokyo museums (Tokyo National Museum, the Western Art Museum, the Science Museum). One stop from Asakusa.
• Akihabara. Electric Town. Anime, manga, games, electronics. A walk-through in an afternoon.

Wards off the Yamanote that earn the detour:

• Asakusa (Ginza Line, Asakusa Line). Old Tokyo. Sensōji temple, Nakamise shopping street, and the river. It pairs naturally with Ueno on the same northeast rail corridor.
• Roppongi (Hibiya Line, Oedo Line). Art-museum density (Mori, Suntory, National Art Center), late-night bar district. The "international Tokyo" feel.
• Tsukiji + Toyosu (Hibiya / Yurakucho lines). Tsukiji's outer market is still working for breakfast sushi and food walks. The inner wholesale market moved to Toyosu in 2018 for the tuna-auction visit.
• Shimokitazawa (Odakyu / Inokashira lines, 7 min from Shibuya). Indie record shops, vintage clothing, small-bar streets. Slower Tokyo for an afternoon.
• Odaiba (Yurikamome line). Reclaimed island in Tokyo Bay. Statue of Liberty replica, teamLab Borderless's predecessor venues, Odaiba Beach. Family-day-out shape.

Lines to know in shorthand besides the Yamanote: Ginza Line (orange) is the oldest subway line, runs Asakusa → Ueno → Shibuya across the east-west tourist spine. Hibiya Line (silver) runs Roppongi → Ginza → Akihabara → Asakusa, the second tourist spine. Oedo Line (magenta) is the deep ring that connects Roppongi to Tsukiji. Marunouchi Line (red) connects Shinjuku to Tokyo Station to Ginza.

Festivals and big annual events

Tokyo's calendar has three practical checks: cherry blossom, Golden Week, and New Year. The rest is about neighborhoods and day trips.

Event	When	What it changes
Cherry blossom	Late March to early April	Peak-bloom hotels rise fast. Book months ahead and follow forecasts from late February
Golden Week	April 29 to May 5	Japan travels. Avoid big day trips and long intercity transfers
Sanja Matsuri	Third weekend of May	Asakusa shrine festival. Stay near Asakusa or Ueno if this is the reason
Sumida River Fireworks	Last Saturday of July	Riverside near Asakusa fills hours before launch
Obon	Mid-August	Locals leave Tokyo. Small restaurants close and day trips stay busy
Autumn leaves	Mid-November to early December	Good city parks, but Nikko, Hakone, and Kamakura book heavily
New Year	December 31 to January 3	Closures, shrine visits, and a quieter city than usual

Where to stay

Tokyo's hotel range is the deepest of any global city. Pick by what you came for.

For a first Tokyo trip. Base near a Yamanote stop with good local food and easy transfers. Shinjuku for transit access and big-Tokyo nightlife, Ginza for upscale-and-quiet, Asakusa for old-Tokyo morning walks, Shibuya for shopping and youth culture, Marunouchi for the brick Tokyo Station feel.

Ward	Why pick it	Trade-off
Shinjuku	The transit hub. Bullet trains, every line. Restaurants and bars open late. Great for first-time visitors who want to move around the city quickly	Big, crowded, loud. Kabukicho on the east side is a separate ecosystem (see the scams section below)
Ginza / Marunouchi	Upscale, polished, quiet at night, walking distance to the Imperial Palace and the brick Tokyo Station. The "adult Tokyo" base	Quiet at night. Restaurants close earlier than Shinjuku or Shibuya
Asakusa	Old Tokyo. Walking distance to Sensōji and the river. Cheaper hotel rates than central Tokyo	Further from the Shibuya / Shinjuku scene. Plan more train time
Shibuya	Shopping, youth culture, neon, the crossing	Loud, crowded, you trip over influencer photo shoots
Roppongi	International-leaning, art-museum density, late-night bars	The Roppongi bar strip can get rough late (see scams). Hotel rates rise on weekends
Tokyo Station / Marunouchi	Inside the bullet-train hub. Easy onward to Kyoto, Osaka, Hakone	Business-district feel. Less street-level energy

For a longer trip or a return visit, base in a different ward each week and walk the local neighborhood at dinner before riding the Yamanote out for the day. The wards feel different at street level.

Getting around: Suica, JR vs metro, the JR Pass question

The Tokyo transit system is two networks stacked on the same map. JR East (Yamanote, Chuo, Sobu, etc.) and Tokyo Metro / Toei Subway (the underground lines). Google Maps treats them as one. Your fare doesn't.

• Get a Suica or Pasmo card. Reloadable IC card, tap on entry and exit, charges per leg, works across JR + Metro + Toei + buses + most convenience stores + vending machines. Buy one at any station vending machine or use the Mobile Suica via Apple Wallet. The two cards are interchangeable for travelers. Pick whichever vending machine has the shorter line.
• The JR Pass rarely pays off for Tokyo only. The 7-day JR Pass is ~¥50,000 and only pays off if you're doing multiple Shinkansen day trips or moving cities. A week of local Tokyo travel runs ¥3,000 to ¥5,000 on Suica. Buy the pass only if you're also doing Kyoto and back, or a Hokkaido leg.
• Rush hour is real. 8:00 to 9:30 on the Yamanote and Chuo is body-to-body. Avoid if you can. The 11:00 to 16:00 window is the calm.
• Last train is around 00:00. The Tokyo Metro stops earlier than London or New York. After midnight you taxi (a taxi from Shibuya to Shinjuku is ~¥2,000, from Ginza to Roppongi ~¥1,500).
• Address by district, not by street. Japanese addresses go ward → district → block → building number. Maps work fine. Following written directions doesn't. Use Google Maps' transit directions for everything.

The newer contactless Tap to Ride gates on Tokyo Metro and Toei are useful, but I would still steer most visitors toward Suica, Pasmo, or Welcome Suica. Those work across the broader rail/bus/shop world, while bank-card tapping is still more limited once JR and through-running trips enter the picture.

The famous sights, and how to book them

Tokyo runs a tighter advance-booking culture than most cities. A few must-book-ahead:

Sight	What to know	Booking
Ghibli Museum (Mitaka)	The Studio Ghibli (Totoro, Spirited Away) museum on the western edge of Tokyo. Tickets are released the 10th of the previous month at 10:00 JST and sell out the same morning	ghibli-museum.jp via Lawson. Book 3 to 4 weeks ahead minimum. ¥1,000 adult
teamLab Planets (Toyosu)	Immersive digital-art installation, walk-through-water rooms. The selfie-Tokyo headliner	teamlab.art/e/planets. Book 1 to 2 weeks ahead for weekends. ~¥3,800. Closes for renovation occasionally, so check the date
teamLab Borderless (Azabudai Hills)	The other teamLab venue, reopened 2024 in the Azabudai Hills tower	teamlab.art/e/borderless. Book 1 to 2 weeks ahead. ~¥3,800
Imperial Palace tour	The free 75-min English-guided tour of the inner palace grounds. Runs Tuesday-Saturday	sankan.kunaicho.go.jp. Book 1 to 4 weeks ahead. Free. Bring passport for entry
Imperial Palace East Gardens	The free walk-through of the outer-palace gardens. Different from the tour	No booking. Closed Mondays and Fridays
Toyosu Tuna Auction	The pre-dawn auction (5:30 a.m.) at the new wholesale market. Free observation deck OR ¥2,000 reserved viewing	shijou.metro.tokyo.lg.jp. Reserved slots: book 1 month ahead via the lottery
Shibuya Sky	360° observation deck on top of Shibuya Scramble Square. Sunset slot is the photo	shibuya-scramble-square.com. Book 1 to 2 weeks ahead for the 16:00-18:00 slots. ~¥2,500
Tokyo Skytree	The 634-m tower in Sumida (east of Asakusa). The Tembo Deck (350 m) is the standard ticket. Tembo Galleria (450 m) is the upsell	tokyo-skytree.jp. Walk-up works on weekdays, book online for weekends. ¥3,100 to ¥4,000
Senso-ji and Meiji Shrine	The two headline shrines. Both free, both walk-up	No booking. Sensoji opens at 06:00, which is the right shot before the crowd

Tour-guide note: most Tokyo sights are walk-and-read with the audio guide if there is one. The Imperial Palace tour is the rare one where the guide is the only access. teamLab venues are designed to be wandered through, no guide needed. The shrines reward a slow self-walk. The Spirited Away-style Sensoji backstory is on Wikipedia in two minutes if you want context.

Where to eat

Tokyo's food is its own argument: the highest concentration of Michelin-starred restaurants in any city on Earth, plus a casual side (conveyor-belt sushi, standing-only ramen counters, depachika department-store basement food halls) that the rest of the world copies. The picks below lean casual and accessible. High-end omakase needs reservations weeks ahead.

Spot	Style	Where
Kyūbey	Premium edomae sushi	Ginza
Ginza 300	Stand-up sushi at ¥300 a plate	Ginza
Manten Sushi Marunouchi	Reasonable counter omakase	Marunouchi
Himawari Sushi Shintoshin	Standing sushi bar	Shinjuku
Itamae Sushi Ginza Corridor	Counter sushi on the corridor strip	Ginza
Genki Sushi	Touch-screen-order conveyor belt	Shibuya
Uobei	Same model, cheaper, faster	Shibuya
Ippudo Roppongi	Ramen, the export chain at home	Roppongi
Maruka	Sanuki udon	Kanda
ANTCICADA	Insect-eating tasting menu	Nihonbashi

Kabukicho and Roppongi at night

Tokyo is famously safe. The exceptions cluster on two strips at night.

• Kabukicho (east of Shinjuku station). The red-light and entertainment district. The actual streets are safer than the reputation suggests, but two scams are real and recur. The bar tout scam: a man in front of a bar offers a "private show" or "all you can drink" deal at a strip-club-adjacent venue. The bill at the end runs ¥50,000+ and the staff hold the door until you pay. And the drink-spike scam at hostess clubs (rare but reported). Walk through Kabukicho if you want to see it, do not follow a tout into anywhere. Golden Gai (the six-alley bar district at the north edge of Kabukicho) is fine. Cover charges of ¥500-¥1,500 are posted.
• Roppongi. Similar pattern, slightly less aggressive. The strip from Roppongi Crossing to Roppongi Hills runs a few bait bars at the late hours. The cleaner option is the established venues (jazz bars, hotel-bar lounges in the major hotels, Roppongi Hills' rooftop venues). Avoid anything offered by someone on the sidewalk.

The rest of Tokyo, including walking home from any restaurant at any hour, runs as safe as any city anywhere. Lost wallets are returned with the cash. Phones left on tables are still there when you come back. The Kabukicho and Roppongi strips are the exceptions and they don't change the overall posture.