The Ultimate 4-Day Tokyo Itinerary: Best Things to Do, Eat and See
I recently returned from a nine-day trip to Japan, four of which we spent in Tokyo. This was my first trip to Japan, and I learned a lot through my research and travels. Before you start planning your trip, make sure to check out my other blog post with Japan First-Timer Tips. This will help you get started before planning your trip.
Given the time change and long travel day, I’m calling our first evening in Tokyo, day zero. We experienced flight delays and a long customs line, so day zero was shorter than expected. When planning your trip, buffer for these types of delays.
Here’s my Ultimate 4-Day Tokyo Itinerary: Best Things to Do, Eat, and See.
Day Zero
After a long day of travel, our Delta flight arrived at Haneda airport. We waited in the customs and passport lines before grabbing our JR passes. My first-timer tips blog post covers all the pre-trip must-knows.
We got in the Taxi line and headed to our hotel. We stayed at the AC Hotel Tokyo Ginza, my personal favorite of the three hotels we stayed in in Japan. As a note it’s definitely more “American” than some of the other options. It also has a great bar in the lobby for afternoon drinks.
After an 18 hour travel day we took a shower and headed to Omoide Yokocho for dinner. Commonly known as Piss Alley, this alley is filled with dozens of tiny eateries. You can’t make reservations here, so we picked the first spot with four open seats at the counter. The place we landed on served different skewers where she cooked them in front of us. There’s multiple signs to not take photos, so you’ll have to trust me on this one.
We were too tired for drinks after, but if you’re in the mood, someone recommended Bar Albatross t0 me and it looks like a really cool spot.
Day One
We kicked off our morning with an early breakfast at Tsukiji Fish Market. We got here around 7:40 after many blogs warned me about the crowds and lines. Apparently, Daiwa Sushi and Sushi Dai are the most common but we made our way around to the different stalls trying fried chicken, sushi, wagyu, uni, and ice cream.
It was our first day, so we decided to walk 40-minutes to our Team Labs reservation at 10 am. We got there at 9:30 to get in line and ended up entering before our time slot. This is something I would definitely buy tickets ahead of time.
We only spent about 30 minutes in Team Labs before heading to Asakusa, the spiritual heart of Tokyo. We took an uber, but you can map to Kaminarimon Gate no matter your mode of transportation. The main attraction is Sensō-ji, so we walked through the shops towards the temple. As you can see from my photo holding my fortune, there’s many spots along the way to pull a fortune.
Next we headed to the Akihabara District. If you’re not into Anime and gaming I’d recommend skipping this section. We got ramen at Hyakunen Honpo [3-chōme-8 Sotokanda, Chiyoda City, Tokyo 101-0021, Japan] before we hit the shops. You would walk right by this hole in the wall without an address.
Some of the must visit shops include Yodobashi Camera Multimedia Akiba Store and Animate. The first you can find cameras, and other high-tech equipment. Animate sells anime and manga merch. While this is not my expertise, I did some light research, so my brother knew the hot spots to shop on his birthday.
For dinner we had a reservation at Mantensushi Nihonbashi. The restaurant is small and this is a hot spot, so I made a reservation a month in advance for 4 people at the counter. We knew we wanted to try an Omakese dinner, but the average $200 per person price tag was unappealing. I found this spot on TikTok which ended up being around $50 per person. For 26 courses and a few drinks, this place is certainly worth the hype.
Click here to watch my Day 1 in Tokyo Vlog.
Day Two
On day two we’re heading to West Side Modern Tokyo. I love an aesthetic coffee shop, so we started the morning at White Glass Coffee.
This shop is walking distance from our next stop Faithful Dog Statue in Hachiko Square. It became the joke of our trip to take photos with every dog statue, because we somehow missed this stop. I had it listed further down on my itinerary, and it didn’t make sense to circle back once I realized we missed it. It’s one of Japan’s unofficial landmarks paying homage to the faithful Akita who waited at Shibuya Station everday for his owner, even after he passed away.
Next, head to Shibuya Crossing the famous crosswalk that stops traffic from every direction, so you can cross any way. We crossed a few times for photos and because it was fun before making our way to Meiji Shrine. We decided to walk to see the city and took a pit stop at Yoyogi Park. You can definitely skip this one, but if you’re in the mood for a morning walk or a visit to the dog park this is a nice pit stop.
We made our way to the Meiji Shrine, one of my favorite shrines we visited. We got lucky enough to see a wedding procession go through here. After spending about twenty minutes inside (and a long walk to get there) we kept walking to Harajuku. On Sundays, traditional Harajuku Girls dress in costumes and anime. We missed this by a day, but I got myself a crepe, the real reason for our journey. After walk down the shopping street Takeshita Dori. There’s vintage shopping like Amore on this street. See Day Four for our route.
We did some serious walking this day and headed to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden from Harajuku. The entrance fee was cheap (under $5 if I remember correctly) and I noticed the machine took Suica Cards as payment as well. This park was one of my favorites. I would go back and have a lunch picnic here.
If we hadn’t gone to Omoide Yokocho the first night I would recommend this for lunch. Next, I dragged my family to Alpen Shoes because I saw it on TikTok. To my disappointment, the Adidas selection was incredibly sparse, so we didn’t buy anything.
We took our daily siesta before dinner at Ginza Bairin. This Tonkatsu restaurant was one of my fav meals during our trip. This restaurant was near our hotel, not the rest of this day’s itinerary. If you’re looking for something in the area check out our day three dinner spot, Uobei Shibuya Dogenzaka, conveyor belt sushi. It’s walking distance to Shibuya Crossing.
Click here to watch my Day 2 in Tokyo Vlog.
Day Three
We started off day three with Starbucks by the hotel as most breakfast places aren’t open early in Japan. I made a reservation for Kimono Tea ceremony - Maikoya ahead of time, so we could experience a traditional matcha ceremony. I would highly recommend this experience it was my family’s favorite activity. The Kimono aspect made it feel even more authentic. We did the group one, but they offer private ceremonies as well.
Next we headed to Ueno Park. This park hosts the zoo and a pond with paddle boats to rent and take for a spin. I would skip this if you’re tight on time or looking for a more leisurely day. We took an uber from the ceremony to the park, then walked to Nezu Shrine. If you’re going to skip a shrine, you could live without seeing this one. The only “cool” part is a line of red gates that looks like a smaller version of the Fushimi Inari in Kyoto.
After we headed to Yanaka Ginza, one of my favorite shopping streets for little knick knacks and Ceramics. This is where I bought my new matcha bowl, powder and whisk. This would be the place to grab cute chopsticks, keychains, etc.
Next, we hopped in another Uber (I had no idea how spread out Tokyo was) to Pizza Studio Temaki- Higashi-azabu location. You have to make a reservation in Japanese to secure a table here and they were full when we tried to walk in. We landed on Savoy Tomato and Cheese around the corner which served Italy level delicious pizza. I didn’t realize Tokyo had diverse food options, but apparently Italian is a hot spot in this neighborhood.
After lunch we headed back to Ginza for some shopping. Around the corner from our hotel was Ginza 6, a multi-story, massive indoor mall.
We stayed in Ginza last night for dinner, so back to Shibuya for Uobei Shibuya Dogenzaka for dinner. This was another really fun experience. The line appears really long, but moves quickly. Once you sit down, each seat has an iPad and you order to your seat. Once you place an order, the food comes out on the conveyor belt and stops at your seat. We ate a substantial amount and only spent $40 for the four of us. I vlogged this day as well as our whole trip, so if you want to see how the restaurant works make sure to check it out.
Click here to watch my Day 3 in Tokyo Vlog.
Day Four
Similar to Day Zero, we didn’t have a full day due to the train we chose back from Kyoto. We saved last minute shopping for this afternoon and headed back to Takeshita Dori and Harajuku, because we didn’t do any serious shopping when we first visited this neighborhood. We started at Amore for some vintage purse shopping, then Vintage QOO. Amore was mostly Chanel, so we didn’t buy anything and the line at Vintage was too long for me to justify waiting. After our failed Vintage attempt, we stopped by Zara and a few shops in Harajuku.
Finally, we had one of the best dinners of the trip at Sky Lounge Aurora inside our hotel, KEIO Plaza Hotel. I would recommend this restaurant 100x over, but this was my least favorite of the three hotels we stayed in. It gave Vegas vibes, and definitely did not have the Japanese charm I felt in our other hotels.
Click here to watch my last day in Japan Vlog.