Tokyo Travel Guide

After falling in love with Japan during my first short visits, I spent more than a year exploring Tokyo’s beautiful quiet neighborhoods by foot and bicycle. I was even interviewed about my experience on TokyoCheapo. This article contains some notes I’ve compiled to help you hit the ground running.

📱 Connectivity

If you don’t already have Google Fi, Head to any Bic Camera or Yodobashi location, or any phone shop in the airport, and pick up the Japan Travel SIM. You can choose between either 1 month (1 gb) for ¥2,500 or 3 months (2 gb) for ¥3,800. You can also add more data to your card by purchasing an IIjmio card at any convenience store (2 gb for ¥3,000). A few similar companies are popping up and offering data-only SIMs as well, and they’re likely just as good.

🏘 Neighborhoods

Generally, visitors like to stay within a few stations of Shibuya, since that is where many young people prefer to hang out. But, given that it is one of the most popular areas of the city, it is fairly expensive. Here are some of the popular neighborhoods around the city, and what they’re popular for:

• Shibuya / Ebisu: Lots of restaurants and bars, great for meeting friends and having fun, especially on weekends. Crowded.
• Nakameguro / Daikanyama / Omotesando: More expensive, good restaurants. Wealthy people live here.
• Shinjuku: More businessy than Shibuya, but also a popular tourist hub. Easy train access to most parts of the city from here.
• Chuo: The “financial district” of Tokyo. This is mostly high rise office buildings, especially around Tokyo Station.
• Odaiba: The futuristic feeling man-made island area.

🌳 Seasons

Spring: Beautiful. Cherry blossom season is a very popular time of year for tourists, so book accordingly. Accommodation costs are also much higher at this time. Not long after, is Golden Week. This is the busiest travel week of the year for locals, and many trians and airplanes will be heavily booked and sometimes sold out.

Summer: The temperature hovers around 28–34°c, sometimes reaching 40°. Nice weather, but people often complain about the humidity. June is fairly rainy.

Fall: Beautiful fall colors, getting chilly. If you’re around for Halloween, visit Shibuya.

Winter: Often sunny and clear days, with mid-day temps hovering around 8-12°c.

🛏 Accommodation

AirBnB is always a great option for both short and long term stays, if you’re willing to pay a bit more. There is a huge supply of airbnb apartments all around Tokyo, but try to book a bit earlier to see the good places at reasonable prices.

Share Houses are very popular in Japan, and the companies managing them offer both share house rooms (private dorm-room style housing), and entire private apartments for very affordable prices (roughly ¥60,000-90,000). The best part is, you can often book everything online before you arrive, and pay month-to-month. If you’re looking to live closely with a mix of both Japanese and foreign housemates, this is your best option.

Granted, you lose out on privacy if you’re in a building without private bathrooms and kitchens, and the houses can be dirty sometimes. I always opt for buildings with a private bathroom, shower, and kitchen inside the room itself. All listings will provide this information.

• Social Apartment: One of the better share house companies in the city. Well designed buildings, cleaners on staff, and often offer rooms with private bathrooms. This is the company I recommend the most.
• Borderless House: Friendly staff, clean houses, and low prices. There is a ¥10,000 yen refund for giving 60-day move out notice. Cleaning the house is up to the tenants since there is no cleaning staff, which is not so nice and never really works out.
• Sakura House: Another very large share house company. They have many share houses and private apartments in good neighborhoods. Read the fine print though, as there are a few hidden cleaning fees (around ¥10,000 iirc). They have weekly cleaners for the house, but the house I stayed in was still pretty run down.

For even more options, check out the aggregator Tokyo ShareHouse.

Internet Cafes and Capsule Hotels are fun for short term stays if you’re looking for an odd Japan specific experience.

If you’re looking for an actual apartment, leases tend to last for 2 years and the initial costs hover around 2-5x the monthly rent, granted they actually allow a foreigner to rent it out (they often don’t). Consider yourself warned. If you’re still interested, you can search for apartments on sites like Suumo.

🚌 Transportation

The public transportation network throughout Japan is incredible. Trains and busses can take you just about anywhere, and they’re always on time, but that means the network is also dauntingly large. Since many of the signs and maps are not in english, and with so many route options to choose from, your best bet is to use Google Maps on your phone to get around until you get comfortable.

Purchase a Suica card from any JR station ticket vending machine. This payment card will let you easily tap in and out of the train stations without needing to buy an exact fare ticket for every trip. You can easily refill the card with more money from any ticket machine, and you can even use it to pay at many places like convenience stores and vending machines.

Taxis are available all over the city at any time, but can be pretty expensive. A ride can cost you anywhere from ¥1,500 to ¥5,000 for a 10–30 minute ride. DO NOT touch the door handle when getting in or out of the cab, they will automatically open it for you.

My favorite way to explore the city is by bicycle. Bike share programs have been popping up all over the city. Docomo Bike Share and CogiCogi are two bike share programs you can check out, with Docomo being by-far the largest, with more than 500 stations scattered around every major neighborhood. You can also buy a new or used bike for pretty cheap (¥5,000 to ¥25,000), but keep in mind you’ll need to find a buyer before you leave. There is also some required paperwork involved to register the bike to your address.

Trains and busses stop running around midnight, so get home before then or be prepared for a pricey taxi ride.

💻 Workplaces

There are plenty of cafes scattered around Tokyo, but they tend to fill up during evenings and weekends. Coworking spaces are your best bet if you’re looking for a consistent place to work with a solid internet connection.

• Open Source Cafe: A cozy little coworking space in Shimokitazawa
• Case Shinjuku: A great coworking space in Takadanobaba, but a little pricey
• Forest: A cozy, low price coworking space in Ikeubkuro
• Weekend Garage: A cozy cafe just north of Ebisu station with good food
• Fab Cafe: A cafe in Shibuya with laser cutters and 3d printers. There is a coworking space on the 2nd floor
• You can also find Starbucks (w/ wifi & power) and Doutor (w/ power, no wifi) everywhere

There are tons of cafes scattered around the city, which you can search for via the hundreds of coffee shop lists / apps. I often resort to using FourSquare or Google Maps when I’m in a new area.

🚲 Activites

Simply walking and bicycling is easily my favorite things to do in Tokyo. I’ve wandered well over 100 km on foot during the past 2 months, and still have only seen a small fraction of the city. I’ll generally head to a big station like Shinjuku and hop on a random train, getting off at a random stop in an area I’ve never been before. Chain stores and restaurants tend to cluster around train stations, so I try to avoid those areas.

• There are plenty of great Meetup.com events all over the city (in English) like Tokyo Walk, Street Phography, Board Games, and Dodgeball
• Tech Events: If you're into technology / startup events, check out TechyTokyo
• Tokyo Cheapo maintans a huge list of events around the city as well
• For some hiking and other nature adventures, check out this list of Tokyo day trips

💴 Money

• 7-Eleven ATMs always accept foreign debit cards. Family Mart usually does, too. Sometimes bank ATMs will accept them.
• A Suica Card is a great way to pay for small purchases in a lot of stores, as mentioned in the transportation section.
• Visa cards are also accepted in a lot of larger stores and restaurants.
• If you need to buy something online, Amazon.co.jp allows you to ship your package directly to your local convenience store. This is much easier than figuring out your own address and making sure you're home to sign for it.

🙊 Important Phrases

• Su-mi-ma-sen: Excuse me / Sorry
• Ramen o-ne-gai-shi-mas: May I please have ramen
• A-ri-ga-to go-zai-mas: Thank you

Still have questions? Feel free to ask me! Enjoy this wonderful city!