Here are seven ways to hit all your must-see Tokyo attractions,
then discover the other incredible things to see nearby!
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Quick “7 Perfect Days” navigation buttons, if you already know where you’re going
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Perfect Day #1
Art Aquarium, only-in-Japan theater, shopping gold & the world’s best coffee
Start at Art Aquarium, then roam to…
The best department store food hall in Tokyo • Sip the best cup of coffee in the world • Shop for pens and paper galore at Japan’s most fabulous stationery store • Experience crazy kabuki theater • Ogle the digital waterfall & artisinal souvenir shop • Taste great sake for a bargain price at the Nagano Antenna Store
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Perfect Day #2
From Samurai Village to WWII,
plus a fire ceremony, drums & a garden of pure serenity…
Start at a WWII museum with a distinctly Japanese perspective, then…
Go to a fire ceremony at a temple that also has a hall of glow-in-the-dark gods, ten thousand crystal Buddhas, and a wishing fountain guarded by dragons • Stroll back in time to the museum where you can walk through a life-size samurai town • Renew your inner calm at the most serene Japanese garden in Tokyo
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Perfect Day #3
A Stroll Through Traditional Japan
Walk through a tunnel of orange torii gates at the most beautiful red & gold shrine in Tokyo, then visit…
Studio where they craft handmade art lollipops • Traditional Japanese shops that have been in business for generations • Old-fashioned shopping street with food & drink stands, traditional goods & hidden cats • The satirical puppet maker • The Edo Era woodblock paper store • The best mochi donuts in Japan
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Perfect Day #4
Unforgettable Only-in-Japan Experiences
Immerse yourself in digital fish, exploding flowers & more at TeamLab Planets, then…
Visit an insanely detailed miniatures museum with hilarious easter eggs everywhere • Browse the 1960s souvenir street • Take crazy impossible photos at the Trick Art Museum • See the five-story Gundam Unicorn robot that lights up and moves
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Perfect Day #5
Plastic food, the world’s sharpest knives, Japanese foodie goods & more
Absorb the best of Japanese culture by…shopping!
Get dressed in a kimono at Tokyo’s grandest Buddhist temple and stroll its traditional shopping street and try only-in-Japan soft serve flavors • See the world’s most beautiful lollipops • Browse for Japanese kitchen tools, dishes, lacquerware and chopsticks in the kitchenware district • Buy the best fridge magnets at the super-realistic plastic food stores • Take a sake tasting break
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Perfect Day #6
Kamakura: Weird, wild & wonderful shrines and temples
The most entertaining shrines and temples in Japan can all be visited in a single day in Kamakura, just an hour from Tokyo!
Biggest bronze Buddha in Japan • The temple with a three-story tall golden Kannon, a gigantic prayer wheel & a cave of wonders • The Fox Shrine • The Money-Washing Shrine • A grand red & gold shrine with dueling lotus ponds • The Dish-Breaking Shrine • The Bamboo Temple • The temple with amazing moss steps • The Divorce Temple • The temple with a secret garden
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Perfect Day #7
The world’s most immersive digital museum, PLUS…
Start at TeamLab Borderless, the world’s most incredible digital immersive environment, then roam to…
The Tomo Museum, which is as much a work of art as the ceramics treasures in its collection • Zojō-ji Temple with its hundreds of red-capped Jizo figures holding spinning pinwheels • Tokyo Tower • Memento Mori cacao mixology bar
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Three Perfect Evening Stolls in Tokyo
Neon Tokyo Lit Up At Night
Tokyo at Night #1
See Senso-ji Temple lit up like a diva • Party boats strung with lanterns motoring under neon-lit bridges as you walk along the Sumida River • Meander the neighborhood for a taste of Tokyo streets unchanged for generations
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Tokyo at Night #2
See the giant 5-story robot that lights up and moves • See killer views of the Tokyo skyline and Odaiba as you walk across the Rainbow Bridge
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Tokyo at Night #3
Stroll the red light district of Kabukicho
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If you’d like to browse all the gardens or shrines or individual neighborhoods in Tokyo, links are on The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
If you’d like info on seasonal secrets and beyond Tokyo destinations, subscribe to my monthly e-magazine Japanagram (it’s free!)
and if you’d like to discover super quirky things to do, do a search at Only In Japan
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly e-magazine Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
Jonelle Patrick writes about Japan 