We almost didn’t make this trip. My husband threw his back out at the end of September and his pain was so extreme, he had to be admitted to the ER—twice. But, as idiopathic medical issues often do, after x-rays and an MRT, followed by visits to the orthopaedist and physiotherapist, his sorted itself out in time for us to make the trip of a lifetime: a month in Japan.
On October 30, we flew Qatar to Doha and then on to Bangkok, where we spent two nights to break up the flights rather than my husband’s back. From Bangkok we flew JAL to Tokyo, arriving in the evening on November 1st.
November 1, 2025 - Taito Ward
We had made all of our accommodation arrangements from Berlin through booking.com last January, with the right of cancellation. Because we wanted to spend a significant portion of our trip in Tokyo, we rented an apartment for nine nights in Yanaka, part of a quiet neighborhood referred to in the Lonely Planet Pocket Guide to Tokyo as Yanesen (Yanaka, Nezu, Sendagi). This is an excellent guidebook. We used it for sightseeing all over Tokyo.
The HATa apartment (below) is located in the Taito Ward, Tokyo's smallest ward, and specifically within the general area described as the Ueno, Asakusa, Senju, Ryogoku district, near Nezu Station. It was as advertised on Booking, located in a 3-story, single family residence with a shop selling bio fruits, vegetables, juices and some baked goods on the ground floor, and a 2-story apartment with balconies above.
TIP: Google Maps is your best friend in Japan. It works even in the depths of the metro, sometimes four stories below ground. The Chiyoda Line (our closest line) is only two levels below street level. The Tokyo metro forms a vast underground city with small retail and service shops, grocery stores, department stores, and restaurants. The distance between exits at the same station can be as far as 650 meters away. Google Maps will tell you what car to get into and what exit to take to reach your destination. Amazing!
TIP: You want a SUICA transit card in Japan, good on most trains, metros, and buses. You check in and check out at the turnstile entrances and exits and can top up the cards in most stations. Very convenient.
Quick note on 7-11. This chain is owned by SoftBank and, as the ownership name suggests, many 7-11s in Japan have ATM machines. This is very important, because you will not infrequently need cash in Japan, and your bank card is an international card not recognized by most Japanese banks' cash machines.
TIP: 7-11s are open 24/7 and you can get the cash you need there at a not-horrendous exchange rate. And, their fabled egg salad sandwiches really are that good.
November 2, 2025 - Yanaka
On our first full day in Tokyo, we did the Walk Yanaka itinerary. A word about the walking tours. There are so many ways to see Tokyo, a metro area of 847 square miles with 37 million people, I would need at least six months to feel that I had “seen” Tokyo alone, much less Japan. Figuring out how best to spend your limited time without missing a "Don't miss!” can be seriously overwhelming. To avoid paralysis and also to stay above ground, where we could get a better feel for neighborhood adjacencies, local sights and sounds, as well as people watch, we opted for walking tours. Lonely Planet details ten neighborhood walking tours and we had eight days, so this seemed a good approach.
Lonely Planet says
Sleepy Yanaka is a neighborhood rarely seen in modern-day Tokyo, possessing an unassuming, old-world charm where time seems to stand still. Largely undamaged by natural disasters and WWII bombings, the wooden buildings, humble temples and understated shophouses here show a snapshot of Tokyo before rapid development work.
Among the sights that first day were:
- Yanaka-reien cemetery (below), where the last shogun, Tokugawa-Yoshinobu, is buried.
- Tenno-ji, founded between 1394 and 1427, one of Tokyo’s oldest Buddhist temples. The gate is modern and the bronze Buddha dates from 1690.
- Asakura Museum of Sculpture, Taito. The sculptor's traditional house with tatami rooms was built around a courtyard with carp pond and has a rooftop garden with splendid views over Yanaka.
- Yanaka Ginza, where we ate salt ramen for lunch--the best ramen of our entire trip--with pork slices grilled on a charcoal brazier at the counter.
November 3, 2025 - Nihombashi
Nihombashi is Tokyo's central business district, where the Bank of Japan is headquartered and one of Tokyo's plushest department stores is located. We took the Chiyoda Line from Nezu Station, transferred, and got off at Otemachi Station (below)--less complicated than it looks.
After a cappuccino, we began our walk to see:
- The Bank of Japan Head Office and its Currency Museum, where you can make your own numismatic stamps. Which I did. Big fun and a fascinating history of Japanese currency.
- Mitsukoshi Department Store. Unbelievably elegant outside and in, with a rooftop garden where you can buy the very old bonsai Japanese Maple (below) for 5,500,000 Yen (ca. $35,000). There was also an impromptu high fashion show going on across the street from the Mitsukoshi. TikTok moments and Instagram dreams.
- Coredo Muramachi shopping complex, incorporating into its design traditional elements of Japanese cedar typical of the Edo Period (1601-1868).
- Fukutoku-jinja, Shrine of Prosperity. What better location than the central business district?
- Imperial Palace and Gardens
We missed the Imperial Palace and its gardens, which had just closed as we arrived. We resolved to return but didn't make it. You just can't see everything, no matter how hard you try.
November 4, 2025 - Ginza and Tsukiji
Lonely Planet says
Ginza has a reputation for being Tokyo’s swankest neighborhood, attracting Tokyoites to shop, dine and have tea with friends in its many shops and cafes. Name a luxury fashion house, and you’ll likely find one of their boutiques here. Meanwhile, a short 20-minute walk from this ritzy neighborhood takes you to Tsukiji, where Tokyo’s biggest wholesale seafood market used to be before relocating to Toyosu in 2018. The... [old] market still thrives as the go-to spot for wholesale seafood….It’s the best place in Tokyo to try the freshest seafood at unbeatable prices....
The only thing I would add, is that you will find more than one address in Ginza for many of the luxury brands. In fact, you will find multiple locations for most of them in the upscale areas of Tokyo. I have never seen so much high-end retail anywhere! I have to say, though, that the architecture in the Ginza felt a little arbitrary, with every building battling for attention.
Our walk began in Ginza at:
- The Kabuki Theater
- Ginza Shopping District
- Tsukiji.
As for the fresh seafood, it was fantastic, but at tourist prices, truth be told.
- Hama-rikyu Onshi-teien.
After lunch, we walked to Hama-rikyu Onshi-teien, a lovely landscaped park with a tea house and several ponds formed by Tokyo Bay inlets, nestled right in the middle of downtown.
- Shishimbashi Metro Station
To return to our apartment, we took the metro from Shishimbashi Station, one of those mega-stations with multiple levels and lots of shopping and exhibition space. That day Sorajiro, Nippon Television's weather forecast mascot, entertained small children who were dressed up as Sorajiro. It's never too late for Halloween, nor too early for Instagram and TikTok!
Marilyn
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