Tokyo Bucket List: 17 Incredible Things to Do in Tokyo

teamLab Planets, Toyosu — The Most Immersive Hour You Will Spend

You remove your shoes and roll up your trousers before entering. The first room contains a shallow pool of water that reflects the floor-to-ceiling digital projections of enormous koi fish swimming around your ankles. The next is a room filled with living, breathing digital flowers that bloom and wilt in response to your presence. teamLab Planets is not like visiting a gallery. It is total sensory immersion, designed by an art collective that blurs the boundaries between the physical and digital worlds. Pre-book your timed entry slot several weeks in advance — this is consistently one of the most booked attractions in Japan. Allow two hours minimum. Avoid bringing a backpack, as large bags must be checked.

teamLab Borderless, Azabudai Hills — A World Without Maps

The newer, larger sibling to Planets opened in its current Azabudai Hills location in 2024. Where Planets has a fixed route, Borderless lives up to its name — the projections flow between rooms without boundaries, so artworks from one installation drift through walls into adjacent spaces. There is no map and no correct order. Visitors wander through ink-brush forests, floating lantern lakes, and rooms where the act of drawing on paper instantly materialises as a digital creature on the walls. Plan for three to four hours.

Shibuya Crossing — Stand in the Middle of It

The statistics alone are staggering: up to 3,000 people cross at each green light cycle, from all eight directions simultaneously. Standing at the centre of Shibuya Crossing when the signals change is one of those experiences that is simultaneously chaotic and perfectly ordered — everyone navigates the crossing without collision, without urgency, flowing through each other like water. Do not just watch it from above. Walk through it. Then watch it from above from the Mag's Park or Starbucks on the upper floors of the surrounding buildings.

Shibuya Sky — The Best Rooftop View in Tokyo

For the definitive overhead view of Shibuya Crossing and the city beyond, ascend to Shibuya Sky on the 45th and 46th floors of Shibuya Scramble Square. The outdoor observation platform at 229 metres offers a 360-degree panorama that on clear days reaches to Mount Fuji to the southwest and Skytree to the northeast. Book a sunset time slot specifically — watching the city transition from amber afternoon to blue dusk to full neon is an experience that justifies the 2,200 JPY admission entirely.

Akihabara — An Entire District Dedicated to Otaku Culture

Electric Town, as it is also known, evolved from Tokyo's post-war black market for electrical components into the global capital of anime, manga, and gaming culture. The multi-storey electronics stores give way to figures shops, cosplay costume retailers, maid cafes, and floors of retro gaming arcades. The sensory volume is high. Even visitors with no particular interest in anime find Akihabara fascinating as a cultural phenomenon — it is a neighbourhood that takes niche enthusiasm with complete seriousness.

Super Potato, Akihabara — A Time Capsule of Japanese Gaming

Tucked into an unremarkable building in the heart of Akihabara's shopping district, Super Potato stocks multiple floors of retro video game hardware and software from the Famicom era onwards. Original Famicom cartridges, early Game Boy units, Super Nintendo games still in their boxes — this is not a museum but a functioning shop with genuinely browseable stock. The top floor has a working arcade with vintage machines from the 1980s and 1990s. It smells exactly like every old game shop you have ever loved.

Street Go-Karting — Drive Through Shinjuku in Costume

Several operators in Tokyo offer street-legal go-kart rental, permitting visitors to drive custom-built open karts through real city streets on fixed routes. Drivers wear costumes — Mario characters are popular but the selection is broad — and the experience of navigating Rainbow Bridge, the Shinjuku skyscraper district, and the Odaiba waterfront at low speed in a Mario Kart hat while Tokyo traffic moves around you is as absurdly entertaining as it sounds. A Japanese driving licence or International Driving Permit is required.

Senso-ji Temple, Asakusa — Tokyo's Spiritual Foundation

Founded in 628 AD, Senso-ji is both Tokyo's oldest temple and its most visited. The broad approach path from the Kaminarimon Thunder Gate, lined with stalls selling traditional goods, leads to the main hall where incense smoke drifts perpetually into the air. Visitors wave the smoke towards their bodies for good health, then pull a paper fortune (omikuji) from a metal cylinder for 100 JPY. If your fortune is bad, tie it to a rack and leave it at the temple — the temple absorbs it for you. Arrive before 9 AM for quiet, or late evening when the gate and pagoda are illuminated in orange light against a dark sky.

Meiji Jingu Shrine, Harajuku — Forest at the City's Centre

The approach path to Meiji Jingu is lined with over 100,000 trees donated from across Japan when the shrine was established in 1920. Walking the gravel path through this forested quiet zone — with the noise of the city entirely absorbed by the trees — feels less like navigating a tourist attraction and more like entering a different dimension. The inner garden contains an iris pond that blooms spectacularly in early June. The shrine itself is dedicated to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken, whose reign opened Japan to the modern world.

Sumo Morning Practice (Asageiko)

Tokyo is home to dozens of sumo training stables (heya), and several allow public viewing of morning practice sessions (asageiko) from around 6 AM to 10 AM during non-tournament periods. Visitors sit silently along one wall and watch wrestlers weighing upwards of 150 kg run through drills, sparring sessions, and ceremonial exercises. There is no commentary and no performance — this is professional training. Check with your hotel concierge for current permissions, as policies vary by stable and some now require advance booking through specialist tour operators.

Takeshita Street, Harajuku — Where Youth Culture Happens

This 350-metre pedestrianised street connects Harajuku Station to the Omotesando boulevard and operates as the birthplace of multiple Japanese street fashion movements. Lolita fashion, decora, gothic kawaii, cottagecore — all have their origins or their present expression in the boutiques, vintage shops, and accessory stores that line both sides of the street. The harajuku crepe stands at either end of Takeshita serve layered creations loaded with fresh strawberries, custard, and whipped cream wrapped in thin crêpes. They are impossible to eat elegantly and excellent.

Tsukiji Outer Market — The World's Best Breakfast

The famous tuna auctions moved to Toyosu, but the outer market remains one of the most extraordinary food experiences in Tokyo. The stalls open at dawn and run until mid-morning, selling fresh sashimi, roasted sea urchin, grilled scallops still in the shell, tamagoyaki (rolled omelette) sliced to order, and dozens of varieties of pickled vegetables. Arrive by 8 AM, eat slowly, and accept anything offered as a sample. The grilled king crab leg from a stall near the entrance is worth the queue.

Omoide Yokocho, Shinjuku — Memory Lane

A tiny network of alleyways beside Shinjuku Station's west exit, Omoide Yokocho (Memory Lane) survived post-war redevelopment and has been serving charcoal-grilled yakitori skewers and cold draft beer since the 1940s. The stalls hold six to ten people at most; charcoal smoke hangs in the alley and workers share space with tourists without ceremony. Order the tsukune (chicken meatball), the negima (chicken and spring onion), and a glass of draft Sapporo. The whole experience costs around 2,000 JPY per person and feels like the most authentic thirty minutes in the city.

Golden Gai, Shinjuku — Six Alleys, 200 Bars

Just north of Kabukicho, Golden Gai survived repeated attempts at redevelopment through the collective resistance of its bar owners. The six alleyways contain over 200 individually themed bars, almost all with fewer than eight seats. Each bar has its own personality: one plays only 1980s city pop, another is decorated entirely with French New Wave film posters, a third opens its door to reveal a single counter where the owner speaks no English but makes an extraordinary highball. Walk in anywhere. The usual entry charge is 500–1,000 JPY per person (seating fee), and a drink costs between 700 and 1,500 JPY. Stay until the last train or until you have made a friend.

Shinjuku Gyoen — 144 Acres of Designed Calm

Originally an imperial garden, Shinjuku Gyoen contains three distinct garden styles — a French formal garden, an English landscape garden, and a traditional Japanese strolling garden — on 58 hectares in the middle of one of the busiest districts in the world. In late March and early April, over 1,000 cherry trees bloom across the grounds, making this one of the finest hanami (blossom viewing) spots in Tokyo. Alcohol is prohibited inside the park, which keeps the atmosphere considerably calmer than some other blossom-viewing locations. The greenhouse contains a collection of tropical plants including enormous cycads and towering palms.

Tokyo Skytree — 634 Metres Above the City

At 634 metres, Skytree is the world's tallest broadcast tower and the second tallest structure on earth. The two observation decks sit at 350 and 450 metres respectively; the upper Tembo Gallery features a glass-floored corridor from which you can look 450 metres directly down to the street. On clear days, particularly in winter when the air is dry, the view extends to Mount Fuji to the southwest and to the mountains of Nikko to the north. Book tickets online in advance to avoid queues and select a time slot for the golden hour before sunset.

Odaiba and Rainbow Bridge — Tokyo from the Water

The automated Yurikamome monorail from Shimbashi to Odaiba crosses Rainbow Bridge 52 metres above Tokyo Bay, offering a view of the city skyline that most visitors never see. Odaiba itself is a man-made island with a replica Statue of Liberty, an enormous Ferris wheel, and Decks Tokyo Beach — a waterfront shopping complex with views directly back across the bay to the city. Visit in the evening when the Rainbow Bridge is illuminated and the reflection of the Tokyo skyline shimmers on the water below.