Tokyo activities

[Sport_Turismo_GTS]

After creating a post a few weeks back about ideas for spending a few days in Seoul (I’d lined up a trip to the DMZ, a great Korean BBQ location that is ideal for single diners, and a good museum) the itinerary for my business trip has been revised and I will no longer have any spare time in Korea.
However, that does give me a few extra days in Tokyo instead, so I’m keen to receive some ideas of what to do there instead! I know there have been lots of threads about Japan, but these mainly seem to be for first-time visitors, helping to determine which cities to spend time in etc. I love Tokyo and have visited for both vacation and business on multiple occasions, so I’ve done most of the ‘obvious’ activities.

I’m staying in a hotel in Shibuya for the first couple of days and then will be staying near the office in Marunouchi for a couple of days.

Possible Activities:
This year I’m thinking about doing the Tokyo Street Karting from Shibuya and also visiting the Tokyo sword museum.
I’d been tempted to ask my Sendai to try and arrange a training session at JKA HQ but in reality I’ve not been training regularly for quite a while so I’m going to save this for another visit.
Having been lucky enough to attend one of the ‘honbasho’ during a previous visit I was thinking about a guided tour of a Sumo stable / training session, but the dates don’t seem to work out.

PossiblevRestaurants::
Hoping to pay a visit to the Tapas Molecular bar at the MO hotel (I’ve done this twice before and it was a great experience).
Have also been recommended to have dinner at Nihonryori Mochizuki.

Any other suggestions?!

[Sto3nor]

Sport_Turismo_GTS said:

After creating a post a few weeks back about ideas for spending a few days in Seoul (I d lined up a trip to the DMZ, a great Korean BBQ location that is ideal for single diners, and a good museum) the itinerary for my business trip has been revised and I will no longer have any spare time in Korea.
However, that does give me a few extra days in Tokyo instead, so I m keen to receive some ideas of what to do there instead! I know there have been lots of threads about Japan, but these mainly seem to be for first-time visitors, helping to determine which cities to spend time in etc. I love Tokyo and have visited for both vacation and business on multiple occasions, so I ve done most of the obvious activities.

I m staying in a hotel in Shibuya for the first couple of days and then will be staying near the office in Marunouchi for a couple of days.

Possible Activities:
This year I m thinking about doing the Tokyo Street Karting from Shibuya and also visiting the Tokyo sword museum.
I d been tempted to ask my Sendai to try and arrange a training session at JKA HQ but in reality I ve not been training regularly for quite a while so I m going to save this for another visit.
Having been lucky enough to attend one of the honbasho during a previous visit I was thinking about a guided tour of a Sumo stable / training session, but the dates don t seem to work out.

PossiblevRestaurants::
Hoping to pay a visit to the Tapas Molecular bar at the MO hotel (I ve done this twice before and it was a great experience).
Have also been recommended to have dinner at Nihonryori Mochizuki.

Any other suggestions?!

For a repeat Tokyo visitor, the two you’re missing:

The Imperial Palace — the palace itself is closed to the public, but the East Gardens (Kokyo Higashi Gyoen) are free and excellent, with the old castle foundations, guardhouses, and seasonal gardens. It’s a short walk from your Marunouchi hotel, so easy to slot in without a special trip. If you want more than a stroll, they run limited public tours of the inner grounds (advance registration via the Imperial Household Agency site) that get you past Nijubashi bridge.

Akihabara — the electronics/tech and otaku shopping district. Yodobashi Camera’s flagship near Akihabara Station is worth it just for the sheer scale, and Super Potato is fun for retro gaming even if you’re not buying. It’s a couple of stops from Marunouchi, so pairs well with your second half of the trip.

A few other ideas given what you’ve already done multiple times over:

• teamLab Planets (Toyosu) — if you haven’t done the newer immersive digital art space, it’s a different experience from Borderless.
• Golden Gai (Shinjuku) for a very different bar-hopping evening than Shibuya’s usual scene — tiny, eccentric, owner-run bars, some seat only 5 people.
• Kappabashi (kitchen town) if the sword museum interest extends to craftsmanship — knife shops there sell handmade Japanese blades and you can watch some being finished.
• Given the karate background, the Budokan area (Kitanomaru Park, next to the Imperial Palace moat) might appeal even just as a walk-by.

[Sport_Turismo_GTS]

Sto3nor said:

The Imperial Palace the palace itself is closed to the public, but the East Gardens (Kokyo Higashi Gyoen) are free and excellent, with the old castle foundations, guardhouses, and seasonal gardens. It s a short walk from your Marunouchi hotel, so easy to slot in without a special trip. If you want more than a stroll, they run limited public tours of the inner grounds (advance registration via the Imperial Household Agency site) that get you past Nijubashi bridge.

Thanks - I’ve stayed at the Palace hotel a few times, so used to do some jogging around the Imperial palace in the mornings, but doing a proper tour is definitely worth considering.

Sto3nor said:

Akihabara the electronics/tech and otaku shopping district. Yodobashi Camera s flagship near Akihabara Station is worth it just for the sheer scale, and Super Potato is fun for retro gaming even if you re not buying. It s a couple of stops from Marunouchi, so pairs well with your second half of the trip.

It’s not something I’d thought about but will certainly try and pay a visit.

Sto3nor said:

A few other ideas given what you ve already done multiple times over:
teamLab Planets (Toyosu) if you haven t done the newer immersive digital art space, it s a different experience from Borderless.

I’ve seen this advertised, but never investigated further.

Sto3nor said:

Golden Gai (Shinjuku) for a very different bar-hopping evening than Shibuya s usual scene tiny, eccentric, owner-run bars, some seat only 5 people.

Definitely on the agenda!

Sto3nor said:

Kappabashi (kitchen town) if the sword museum interest extends to craftsmanship knife shops there sell handmade Japanese blades and you can watch some being finished.

Sounds interesting, thanks.

Sto3nor said:

Given the karate background, the Budokan area (Kitanomaru Park, next to the Imperial Palace moat) might appeal even just as a walk-by.

Thanks

[//j17]

Sto3nor said:

Akihabara the electronics/tech and otaku shopping district. Yodobashi Camera s flagship near Akihabara Station is worth it just for the sheer scale, and Super Potato is fun for retro gaming even if you re not buying. It s a couple of stops from Marunouchi, so pairs well with your second half of the trip.

It s not something I d thought about but will certainly try and pay a visit.

Deffinetly go if you've never been as even if you don't want anything the whole "I seem to have walked into Amazon" experience is one I doubt you can get anywhere else in the world. And if you have small relatives you want to buy random gifts for as one of the floors has what must be 500 Gashapon machines so you can grab a random selection and hand them out 'lucky dip' style.

Something else you might not have done is head over Ueno way and spend a bit of time in WASAKE Sake Experience. You can pay for the format tasting experience if you want - of just pay for some tokens and help yourself. Basically a decent range of different sake in automated dispensing machines that take 1, 2, or 3 tokens per serving depending on the cost of the sake so you can try some of the stuff you'd only normally get sold by the bottle.

Just around the corner is Sensō-ji which is meant to be good place to wander around when the sun goes down - before hitting the back streets around Ueno station for beer and food.

[Sport_Turismo_GTS]

//j17 said:

Deffinetly go if you've never been as even if you don't want anything the whole "I seem to have walked into Amazon" experience is one I doubt you can get anywhere else in the world. And if you have small relatives you want to buy random gifts for as one of the floors has what must be 500 Gashapon machines so you can grab a random selection and hand them out 'lucky dip' style.

Something else you might not have done is head over Ueno way and spend a bit of time in WASAKE Sake Experience. You can pay for the format tasting experience if you want - of just pay for some tokens and help yourself. Basically a decent range of different sake in automated dispensing machines that take 1, 2, or 3 tokens per serving depending on the cost of the sake so you can try some of the stuff you'd only normally get sold by the bottle.

Just around the corner is Sens?-ji which is meant to be good place to wander around when the sun goes down - before hitting the back streets around Ueno station for beer and food.

I’ve obviously been around Akihabara previously but never really spent much time there - I’ll consider making it a more focussed trip!
The Sake experience sounds interesting - I’ve done WSET sake tasting level 1 in London, so not sure I will pay for a formal tasting, but will check it out!
I’ve done Senso-ji and Asakusa on a couple of occasions but it’s a decent area to wander in an evening.

[gotoPzero]

As you have visited Tokyo a lot before how about a couple of days down in Osaka?

Its not too far on the train.

Or, hire a car (GR Yaris!) and blast over to Kanazawa through the Alps via Shirakawa?

If you want to do that Mario Kart thing you 100% need IDP (you prob already know).

[Sport_Turismo_GTS]

gotoPzero said:

As you have visited Tokyo a lot before how about a couple of days down in Osaka?

It’s not too far on the train.

I was in Osaka, Kyoto and Hiroshima a couple of years ago - will definitely return with my wife, but this is just a chance to do some more things in Tokyo while I’m in Asia on business.

gotoPzero said:

Or, hire a car (GR Yaris!) and blast over to Kanazawa through the Alps via Shirakawa?

Not this time!
I’m now looking at a morning trip to Mount Takao

gotoPzero said:

If you want to do that Mario Kart thing you 100% need IDP (you prob already know).

Yes thanks. I have found the nearest place I can get that, so I am sorting that next week.

[matrignano]

I’m pretty sure you can hire R34 GTRs near one of the famous Touge runs about 1hr from Tokyo, remember looking into it last time I went but didn’t manage to fit it in.