Journal · Tokyo
Four Tokyo neighborhoods at an easy pace: Shimokitazawa, Harajuku and Omotesando, Ebisu, and Yoyogi Park
Vintage shops, architecture you can walk into, a noisy food alley and a park that changes completely by the hour. What I wrote about each, and when to go.
Tokyo isn't one city, it's dozens of neighborhoods. These four are from our 2018, winter 2019 and later trips. Each is easy to do in half a day, which is how I'd plan them.
Shimokitazawa: vintage shops and small streets
Shimokitazawa is a maze of narrow streets packed with vintage clothing and small shops, a couple of stops from Shibuya. "I loved the little shops and vintage stores. There were so many different things to look at." The streets are mostly flat and too small for heavy traffic, which makes it a relaxed place to wander.
Harajuku and Omotesando: crowds and calm, side by side
- Omotesando is a wide, tree-lined avenue of design-led stores. At Prada Aoyama, a glass building covered in diamond-shaped panes, I wrote: "It's always such an amazing experience to wander through a building and be surrounded by architecture." I'm not usually one for high-end fashion shops, but the building alone is worth the walk.
- Café Kitsuné in Aoyama and bio ojiyan cafe in Harajuku both got four stars from me; good places to sit.
- I gave Bakery Cafe 426 in Omotesando three stars, honestly: "In America I may give a much higher rating, but Japan has high quality baked goods everywhere. It's not bad or anything, just not great." Translation: don't go out of your way for any one bakery, there's a good one on every corner.
- On our winter 2019 trip we visited an otter café in Harajuku ("Cute little otters and other little critters. Worth a stop"). Animal cafés are debated, so if you go, look for one with good reviews about how the animals are kept.
Ebisu Yokocho: dinner in a food alley
Ebisu Yokocho is an indoor alley of about 20 tiny eateries, open from the evening until very late. "The food was fantastic! Very crowded but worth the trouble to find a seat."
- Seats are stools at shared counters. If stools are hard for you, go early in the evening when it's easier to find a spot with a wall to lean on.
- It's loud, smoky from the grills and very social. That's the point.
Yoyogi Park: go early
We went to Yoyogi Park twice. "Once in the early morning, which was nice as it was very empty and beautiful. The second time was in the late afternoon and it was kind of a madhouse."
That's the whole tip. Go early, pair it with Meiji Jingu next door (see my gentle Tokyo guide), and leave the afternoons to the crowds.
A quiet bonus: Hotel Gajoen
In Meguro, Hotel Gajoen Tokyo has an art museum in a historic building and a lounge looking onto a waterfall and koi pond. "I did not stay in the hotel, but I stopped by after visiting the attached art museum. Get a cak[e] set and enjoy their absolutely gorgeous waterfall and koi pond. Amazing."
Physix Gear Compression Socks (20-30 mmHg)
Long flights to Japan and 20,000-step city days are both hard on legs. Graduated compression socks are a common choice for both.
Compeed Advanced Blister Care Pads, Mixed Sizes
Hydrocolloid pads cushion a hot spot before it turns into a blister. Worth having for any city day measured in tens of thousands of steps.
The kit for this guide
Osprey Daylite Plus Daypack (20L)
A small, ventilated daypack is the right size for a trail day when your main bag is being forwarded to the next inn.
Also in this guide
Opening hours, routes and rules change; check before you go.