All Guides
Every guide on the blog, written first-hand by a Tokyo local: free hidden gems, day trips, trains and airports, food, and souvenirs.
Every guide on the blog, written first-hand by a Tokyo local: free hidden gems, day trips, trains and airports, food, and souvenirs.
Riding Trains Shinkansen Green Car vs Local Train Green Car, Fares, Seats and Tickets (Part 3 of 7) JR uses the name Green Car for two different things. On the shinkansen it is a reserved first-class seat that needs a limited express ticket. On Tokyo's JR local trains it is an unreserved double-decker car you can ride with a Green Car ticket from ¥750. Here is how they differ, what a Japan Rail Pass covers, and the mistake to avoid when you change trains. 
Riding Trains Taking a Suitcase on Tokyo Trains, Green Cars, Limited Expresses and the Shinkansen (Part 6 of 7) Riding a Green Car, a limited express or the shinkansen with a big suitcase? On the Tokaido Shinkansen, bags over 160 cm need a reserved seat with a baggage area. JR East trains need no booking, and Tokyo's local-train Green Cars have no space for large luggage at all. Here are the rules, where to put your bags, train manners, and how to send luggage to your hotel instead. 
Riding Trains Private Railway Limited Expresses and Liners in Tokyo, How to Book and How They Differ from JR Green Cars (Part 7 of 7) Odakyu Romancecar, Tobu limited expresses, Seibu Laview, Keisei Skyliner, Keio Liner, Tokyu Q SEAT and Keikyu Wing. On Tokyo's private railways you buy a ticket for a specific train and seat. Here is how each company sells tickets, when sales open, sample prices, refunds, and how it all differs from a JR local-train Green Car. 
Riding Trains Special Trains from Tokyo, Restaurant Trains, Observation Seats and a Steam Train (Part 5 of 7) Some trains from Tokyo are worth riding for the ride itself. Seibu's restaurant train 52 Seats of Happiness, JR's all-Green Saphir Odoriko, Tobu's Spacia X with its cockpit suite, the observation seats of the Odakyu Romancecar, and Chichibu Railway's SL Paleo Express. Here is what each costs, when booking opens, and which trip each one suits. 
Riding Trains Tokyo Train Types Explained, Rapid, Express and Limited Express and Which Ones Cost Extra (Part 4 of 7) Local, Rapid, Express, Limited Express. On Tokyo trains the name alone does not tell you whether you need an extra ticket. It depends on the railway company. Keio, Keikyu, Tokyu and Keisei Limited Expresses are free to ride with your normal fare, while Odakyu, Seibu and Tobu Limited Expresses need a ticket. Here is how to tell them apart. 
Riding Trains Tokyo Train Paid Seats Explained, Green Cars, Limited Expresses and Liners (Part 1 of 7) On Tokyo trains, a seat can cost a little extra in five different ways: JR Green Cars, JR limited expresses, the shinkansen, private-railway limited expresses and commuter liners. The names and the rules change from company to company. Here is how they differ, and which one suits your trip. 
Free Things to Do Autumn Leaves Near Tokyo 2026: Where to Go, Week by Week In Japan, autumn colour does not arrive all at once. It walks down from the mountains, about two months from the highlands of Nikko to the streets of central Tokyo. Here is where to find it, week by week, from early October to mid-December. 
Free Things to Do Play Inside a Picture Book at PLAY! PARK ERIC CARLE An indoor play park for children aged 0 to 12, built around the picture books of Eric Carle, author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar — directly connected to Futako-Tamagawa Station. Prices, weekend sessions and the rules worth knowing before you book. 
Free Things to Do A Pokémon Card Vending Machine at Ogikubo Station, Tokyo An official Pokémon Card Stand in the underground passage of Tokyo Metro's Ogikubo Station, outside the ticket gates. Genuine packs at the suggested retail price — when they are not sold out. 
Day Trips Where Tokyo Children Learn to Ride: Suginami Children's Traffic Park A small ward park with real traffic lights, road signs and a level crossing, where bicycles and pedal go-karts are lent out free of charge — and a retired steam locomotive sits at the far end. 
Day Trips Misotsuchi Icicles: Six Weeks When the Valley Freezes For about six weeks each winter, spring water seeping out of a cliff above the Arakawa freezes into a wall of ice roughly ten metres high. Half of what you see is natural and half is made on purpose — and the difference is worth knowing before you go. 
Day Trips The Paleo Express: A 1944 Locomotive Still Works This Valley The Chichibu Railway runs a steam locomotive built in February 1944, rescued from a school playground, along 56.8 km of river valley. Here is what it is, how to book it, and why the ordinary trains on the same line are worth a look too. 
Souvenirs Ichiro's Malt: The Whisky Finished in the Chichibu Valley The Malt & Grain Classical Edition is a world blended whisky, married and re-matured in Chichibu. An honest look at what it is, what it is not, and how to carry a bottle home. 
Day Trips Nagatoro: The Rock That Came Up From Twenty Kilometres Down Ninety minutes from Ikebukuro, a river runs across a pavement of grey stone that formed twenty to thirty kilometres underground. Japanese geology began here. You can walk on it, ride a wooden boat past it, and still be back in Tokyo for dinner. 
Riding Trains JR Green Cars on Tokyo Local Trains, Fares and How to Buy with Suica (Part 2 of 7) JR East local and rapid trains around Tokyo carry two double-decker Green Cars that anyone can use for a small extra charge, from ¥750 with a Suica card. There is no reservation and no limited express ticket. Here is how they differ from shinkansen Green Cars, how to buy the ticket with a Suica card or Welcome Suica Mobile, and what to do once you sit down. 
Day Trips Utsunomiya: Gyoza, and Japan's Newest Tram Line 109.5km from Tokyo, and 49 minutes by shinkansen — yet you will barely see another foreign visitor. A brand-new light rail line opened in 2023, a city that argues about dumplings, shaved ice made from natural Nikko ice, and a stone gyoza statue with an unlucky history. 
Souvenirs The Utsunomiya LIGHTLINE, in 1/150 Scale Tomytec's Railway Collection model of the Utsunomiya Light Rail HU300 series, unit HU302, in the same yellow as the real thing. An island platform is included. It is a display model, though — running it on track needs a motor unit sold separately. 
Souvenirs Shinjuku Curry Arare: 1927 Curry, in 10-Gram Sachets In 1927 a Shinjuku bakery put real Indian curry on its restaurant menu at eight times the going rate, and sold out. Nakamuraya still makes that spice blend — and dusts it over rice crackers in single-serve sachets that weigh nothing in a suitcase. 
Getting Around Shinjuku Underground: The City Beneath the World's Busiest Station Guinness lists Shinjuku as the busiest station on earth — 2,704,703 people a day. Underneath it lies a second Shinjuku of lit tunnels and shopping streets, where you can cross the district in the rain without going outside, and where hardly any foreign visitors go. 
Souvenirs Kawagoe's Kura, One Building at a Time A Japanese book that takes eighteen of Kawagoe's kura merchant houses one at a time, each with its history and an old photograph beside a new one. Made by a one-person publisher from Kawagoe itself. 
Souvenirs Fruit Sauce from Ashikaga's Old Sauce House A gift set of fruit sauces from a sauce house founded in Ashikaga in 1895 — strawberry, mango, and yuzu with honey. Over ice cream, into yoghurt, or stirred into hot water. 
Souvenirs A Photobook of the People of Tsukiji A Japanese photobook shot over roughly seventy visits in the two years before Tsukiji closed. A4, 184 pages — and the subject is not the fish. It is the people who worked there. 
Souvenirs LEGO Architecture Tokyo — The View, on Your Desk Several of the buildings you can see from the Tokyo government tower are in this LEGO set. 547 pieces, ages 16 and up — but it is a retired product. 
Tokyo Food Lunch in the Tokyo Government Staff Canteen On the 32nd floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku, the staff canteen is open to visitors too. How to get in, when it opens, and when to stay away. 
Free Things to Do The Free Observatories of the Tokyo Government Building Two observation decks 202 metres above Shinjuku, both free of charge, and after dark the wall of the building itself becomes the screen. How the north and south decks differ, and how to plan the day. 
Souvenirs A Paper Model of the Tokyo Government Building The one building you cannot see from the observation deck is the one you are standing in. This kit lets you build Kenzo Tange's split tower out of paper. 
Souvenirs Kōjō Yakei: A Photo Book of Japan's Factory Nights Japan's first photo book of night-time factories, drawn from a city-run photography contest, with maps and viewing points for five industrial cities. A5, 127 pages, about ¥1,540 — flat, light, and almost entirely pictures. 
Souvenirs Hasegawa 1/35 Construction Workers: The Crew in a Box A Japanese model kit of four road-paving workers — a rake hand, a plate operator, a shovel veteran and a man with a wheelbarrow. 1/35 scale, about ¥1,540, and small enough to forget it is in your bag. Unpainted, and glue is not included. 
Free Things to Do Wet Paint, in Eighteen Languages: Japan and Its Notices On an ordinary Tokyo back street, a freshly painted railing post had two signs beside it. One was the standard issue. The other was home-made, and said "wet paint" in eighteen languages — including Croatian and Slovenian. A small look at why Japan is covered in notices. 
Tickets Yokohama Factory Night Cruise: 90 Minutes Through the Keihin Canals A boat leaves the Red Brick Warehouse at dusk and turns away from the pretty side of Yokohama, into the canals of the Keihin industrial belt. Ninety minutes of refineries, flare stacks and steam. Here is what it costs, when it sails, and what to expect. 
Souvenirs Taking Ichiran Home: The Hakata Thin Noodle Set, Five Servings The bowl from the solo booth, rebuilt in your own kitchen. What is actually in the five-serving take-home box, the official cooking method, and the one customs question you should settle before you fly. 
Souvenirs A Kyoto Autumn in 144 Pages: Kyoto no Ishō — Kōyō A photo book of 133 autumn scenes in Kyoto by Katsuhiko and Hidehiko Mizuno, with captions in both Japanese and English — one of the few Japanese photo books an English reader can actually read. 
Souvenirs The Book the Museum Director Made: 『岡本藝術』 Four hundred works, arranged in order, edited by the man who runs the Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum. Work titles and commentary carry English alongside the Japanese — which makes it one of the few Japanese art books that travels usefully. 
Free Things to Do Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum: Art Is an Explosion, One Street Behind Omotesando The house and studio where Taro Okamoto lived and worked for over forty years, hidden one street behind the Omotesando flagship stores. Small, loud, and full of things you cannot buy anywhere else. 
Day Trips Kawagoe: The Edo Street That a Fire Built Kawagoe is called Koedo, "Little Edo," and its dark warehouse street looks four hundred years old. Most of it was built after 1893 — because in the fire of that year, the warehouses were the only buildings left standing. Fifty minutes from Shinjuku. 
Tokyo Food Restaurant SAKAKI: A Michelin-Listed Kitchen Where Lunch Is a Hamburger Steak A Kyobashi restaurant whose dinner is in the Michelin Guide Tokyo 2026, and whose weekday lunch is honest yōshoku with a queue outside. One rule the shop states plainly: everyone in your party must be present before you join the line. 
Tokyo Food Breakfast at Toyosu Market: What to Eat, and What to Skip After the tuna auction, the market feeds you. But Toyosu is not Tsukiji Outer Market — there is no street food, the good shops close by lunchtime, and one thing on the menu I would ask you not to order. 
Free Things to Do Toyosu Market Tuna Auction: How the Free Lottery Actually Works One hundred people a day are allowed onto the observation deck beside the tuna auction floor, at 5:45 in the morning, free of charge. You must apply the month before and win a lottery. Here is how it works, and what to do if you do not win. 
Day Trips Ashikaga Gakkō: Japan's Oldest School, and the Best Detour from the Wisteria A walled school of thatched halls and old pines, called the oldest in Japan and recognised as Japan Heritage. It is twenty minutes from Ashikaga Flower Park — so if you are going to see the wisteria, go here first. 
Souvenirs Where to Buy Hanegumo Dorayaki at Haneda Airport and Online Where to buy Hanegumo dorayaki at Haneda Airport, how to order it online and pick it up, which payment methods work, and how long it keeps. Shop names, prices and shelf life checked against the maker's official page. 
Free Things to Do Kansen-ji: Kyoto-Style Autumn Colour, Inside Tokyo, for Nothing A Zen temple in a Suginami backstreet where the gate frames the maples like a picture. Free to enter, almost unknown to visitors, and at the end of November it looks like Kyoto. Here is when to go, and how to find it. 
Free Things to Do The Ad Museum Tokyo: Four Hundred Years of Japanese Advertising, and It Is Free A museum devoted entirely to advertising — Edo woodblock handbills, Meiji posters, and the television commercials you half remember. It sits in a basement in Shiodome, it costs nothing, and it is one of the most quietly enjoyable hours in Tokyo. 
Free Things to Do Caretta Shiodome Free Observation Deck, How to Reach the 46th Floor, Hours and the View A free viewing deck 200 metres above Tokyo Bay, reached by a glass lift from the station basement. Opening hours, cost, how to get there from Tokyo Station, Haneda and Narita, and what to know if you are coming for a Shiki Theatre show. 
Souvenirs Yunohana: Real Hot-Spring Crystals for Your Bath at Home Not a bath salt — actual mineral crystals grown from volcanic steam in thatched huts at Beppu, by a method Japan designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. Light, flat, and remarkable. But please read the warnings before you buy. 
Souvenirs The Bonbonnière: Japan's Imperial Sweet Box, and Why It Makes a Lovely Gift A lidded box small enough to hold in your palm, created for the Japanese Imperial court in the 1890s and still given at celebrations today. Here is the story of the bonbonnière — the little vessel in which happiness is said to live. 
Souvenirs Hida Shunkei Lacquer: The Japanese Bowl That Shows Its Own Wood Grain Most lacquerware hides the wood beneath black or red. Hida Shunkei does the opposite — a clear amber finish that leaves the grain visible. Light, warm to hold, and made to be used. Here is why it makes an unusually good souvenir. 
Free Things to Do The New Year Greeting at the Imperial Palace: Japan's Ippan Sanga On 2 January the gates of the Imperial Palace open and anyone may walk in — free, no booking — to see the Emperor and Empress appear on the balcony. Here is how the day works, gate by gate, and the one small piece of etiquette that matters most. 
Tokyo Food Ichiran Natural Tonkotsu Ramen: The Solo Booth, the Order Sheet, and the Red Sauce A bowl you eat alone, in your own small booth, exactly the way you asked for it. Ichiran has around eighty shops across Japan — here is what makes it different, how to order without speaking a word, and what to take home afterwards. 
Tokyo Food Karina: The Sandwich Shop That Opens at Six in the Morning A tiny counter beside Kami-Igusa Station, making soft, hand-cut sandwiches since the 1980s. Twenty-four kinds, from ¥150, and a queue before the shutters go up. Here is how to catch one before they sell out. 
Free Things to Do Inside Japan's Parliament: The Free Tour of the House of Councillors The National Diet Building was finished in 1936 after seventeen years, built almost entirely from Japanese stone and Japanese timber. You can walk through it for free — no booking, eight tours a day. Here is what to see, and exactly how to join. 
Free Things to Do Fukuzōin: A Quiet Neighbourhood Temple, and the Meaning of Its Bell A five-hundred-year-old Shingon temple in a quiet corner of Tokyo — the temple that even gave its district its name. A gentle look at Fukuzōin, its bell tower, and the deep meaning of the Buddhist temple bell, including the 108 strokes of the New Year. 
Souvenirs A Souvenir for Railfans: "The World of Seibu Railway" Mook A Japanese railway mook packed with fleet photographs, route diagrams, and even a guide to trackside photo spots. Flat, light, and impossible to find outside Japan — a quietly perfect souvenir for anyone who loves trains. 
Day Trips Ashikaga Flower Park: The Great Wisteria, and Nights from the World of Demon Slayer A single wisteria more than 150 years old, trained into a floating canopy of flowers — and at night, an illumination that feels like stepping into the world of Demon Slayer. Here is how to visit Ashikaga Flower Park, and why you must check the bloom before you go. 
Free Things to Do Kami-Igusa Station: A Quiet Railfan Crossing in West Tokyo (with a Gundam at the Gate) It is not only the Enoden in Kamakura that lets you stand an arm's length from a passing train. At little Kami-Igusa on the Seibu Shinjuku Line, trains stop right at the crossing — a beloved local photo spot, watched over by a bronze Gundam. Here is how to enjoy it, and how to stay safe. 
Souvenirs Buying Matcha in Japan: An Honest Guide to Grades, Prices, and the Real Thing The traditional, top-grade matcha you are hoping for is not on the supermarket shelf. A Tokyo local explains how matcha grades and prices really work — and how to choose the right one. 
Day Trips Fifty-two Seats of Happiness: Seibu Railway's Restaurant Train to Chichibu A moving restaurant with just 52 seats, gliding from Tokyo into the mountains of Chichibu while chefs cook beside you. Here is how the "52 Seats of Happiness" works — and how to reserve, because you must. 
Souvenirs Kayanoya Dashi: The Taste of Japanese Home Cooking, in Your Suitcase Kayanoya dashi is the quiet secret behind good Japanese soup — natural umami in a simple sachet, made by Kubara Honke. Light, shelf-stable, and one of the best food souvenirs you can bring home from Japan. 
Day Trips Kusatsu Onsen: Japan's Greatest Hot Spring, and How to Reach It by Bus from Tokyo Kusatsu is often called the finest hot spring town in Japan — a steaming yubatake at its heart, deep snow all around it in winter. Here is how to get there by direct bus from Tokyo, and how the ¥100 town bus works. 
Airport Access Haneda Airport to Tokyo: Every Way into the City, and When to Use Each Monorail, Keikyu train, limousine bus, taxi, and private transfer — how to travel from Haneda into Tokyo, with honest local advice for rush hour, evenings, and late-night arrivals. 
Airport Access Narita Airport to Tokyo: The Complete Transport Guide, Hour by Hour Narita Express, Keisei Skyliner, budget trains, limousine and low-cost buses, taxi and private transfer — every way from Narita into Tokyo, with honest advice for rush hour, evenings, and late arrivals. 
Free Things to Do Nezu Museum: A Quiet Masterpiece in the Middle of Aoyama An ancient art collection, a beautiful modern building, and a hillside garden that makes you forget the city. The Nezu Museum is Tokyo at its most graceful. 
Day Trips Hakone Day Trip from Tokyo: The Classic Loop, Done Well Open-air art, a smoking volcanic valley, a lake with a floating torii gate, and a hot spring before the train home. Hakone has a little of everything. 
Souvenirs The Best Souvenir from Japan Might Be a Pair of Kitchen Shears Forged in Seki, a town with 700 years of blade-making history. These take-apart kitchen shears by Kai are a souvenir you can use every day, for many years. 
Day Trips Nikko Day Trip from Tokyo: Shrines, Waterfalls, and Mountain Air Golden shrines deep in a cedar forest, a sacred red bridge, and one of the most famous waterfalls in Japan. Nikko feels much further from Tokyo than it really is. 
Tickets Shibuya Sky: The Best View in Tokyo, If You Book It Right An open-air rooftop 229 meters above the famous crossing. Shibuya Sky is wonderful — and the sunset slot disappears days in advance. Here is how to plan it well. 
Tickets teamLab Planets Tokyo: A First-Visit Guide You walk barefoot, sometimes through water, inside art that responds to you. teamLab Planets is one of the most memorable experiences in Tokyo — with a little preparation. 
Free Things to Do Toei Animation Museum: A Free Anime Pilgrimage on the Edge of Tokyo Dragon Ball, Precure, Devilman and 70 years of anime history. A free museum on the grounds of the studio where Japanese animation was born. 
Tokyo Food Bistro Fève: Honest French Cooking Hidden in Nishi-Ogikubo A tiny reservation-only French bistro near Nishi-Ogikubo station. Game meat, handmade bread, and a hostess who runs the whole room with warm, cheerful energy. 
Free Things to Do Shimokitazawa: The Tokyo Neighborhood Where Locals Spend Their Weekends Vintage shops, live music, careful coffee, and very few tourists. Shimokitazawa is a Tokyo neighborhood that still belongs to the people who live there. 
Tokyo Food Best Ramen in Tokyo: An Honest Guide by a Local These are the ramen shops that Tokyo locals actually visit, with simple ordering tips so you can walk in with confidence. 
Day Trips Kamakura Day Trip from Tokyo: A Complete Guide The Great Buddha, bamboo groves, seaside temples, and excellent matcha. Kamakura is a wonderful day trip from Tokyo, and this guide shows you how to enjoy it well.