Day 1: Asakusa, Ryogoku, and East Tokyo
The historical core: temples, kitchen supply streets, and the city's best shoyu ramen
Morning
Buddhist Temple
Start at Sensoji, Tokyo's oldest Buddhist temple. Arrive before 9am if you can. The crowds build fast and the light is better early. Walk through Kaminarimon gate, then up Nakamise-dori to the main hall.
Shopping Street
From Sensoji, walk ten minutes west to Kappabashi Kitchen Supply Town, a full street of professional cookware, hand-forged knives, lacquerware, and the plastic food displays you've seen in restaurant windows. Even if you're not buying, it's one of the more unusual streets in the city.
Afternoon
Museum · Ueno
Take the metro to Ueno for Tokyo National Museum, the oldest and largest museum in Japan. The Japanese Gallery (Honkan building) is where to spend your time: 11 rooms of sculpture, lacquerware, samurai armor, and paintings spanning 10,000 years. Budget two hours minimum.
Evening
Ramen
Head south to Ryogoku for dinner. This is sumo territory; the Kokugikan stadium is a few minutes' walk from the station, and the ramen here is a Tokyo classic. Yoroiya does a clean, traditional shoyu.
(Asakusa, just back the way you came) is worth the slight detour if you want something more refined. Their shoyu with extra char siu is the order.
If you have time in Ryogoku, the , which was closed for a full renovation until early 2026, has now reopened. It covers the city's history from the Edo period through the 20th century. Worth an hour if the museum pace suits you.
Other places you might like
Day 2: Harajuku, Shibuya, and Shinjuku
Ukiyo-e first, then the loudest street in the city. The contrast is the point.
Morning
Ukiyo-e · Harajuku
Start at the Ota Memorial Museum of Art, five minutes on foot from Harajuku Station. The museum holds over 14,000 ukiyo-e prints and rotates its exhibitions monthly. Check the current show before you go. Admission is around ¥1,000. Give it 45 minutes to an hour. Coming here before Takeshita Street is the move: the quiet hits differently when you're about to walk into one of the most overstimulating streets in Tokyo.
Lunch
Pedestrian lane
Takeshita Street is a 400-meter pedestrian lane of teenage fashion, themed cafes, and snacks. The crepes are the thing to eat here. Long queues form at the better stands for a reason.
Also worth trying: croquettes, soft serve, and whatever the seasonal limited-edition item is that week.
Afternoon
Shopping walk
Walk south from Harajuku through Cat Street and into Aoyama for one of Tokyo's best boutique routes: Laforet Harajuku, BEAMS, United Arrows, Tomorrowland, Studious, Comme des Garcons Aoyama, Issey Miyake Aoyama. The vintage and resale shops on Cat Street are worth time if that's your thing.
Evening
Landmark · Shibuya
Finish in Shibuya. Scramble Crossing, dinner nearby (the depachika basement at Shibuya Scramble Square is a full meal in itself: ramen, gyoza, wagyu sandwiches, pastries), and drinks in Ebisu or Shinjuku.
For a proper cocktail evening: , , and make a solid Shibuya-area circuit. Keep each stop unhurried and skip one if there's a queue.
Other places you might like
Day 3: Ginza, the Imperial Palace, and Central Tokyo
Old Edo geography in sequence: market, merchant quarter, and castle gardens.
Morning
Food market
Get to Tsukiji Outer Market by 8am. The wholesale market moved to Toyosu in 2018 but the outer market, the rows of small vendors and stalls surrounding it, stayed, and it's still the best food morning in Tokyo.
The order: tamagoyaki (sweet rolled egg) from one of the older stalls, grilled scallops or crab leg, onigiri, then mochi or daifuku, then coffee or matcha. It takes about an hour to eat your way through properly.
Late Morning
Shopping district
Walk ten minutes north into Ginza. This is Tokyo's most expensive shopping district and worth seeing for the architecture alone: GINZA SIX (the flagship complex, with a Tsutaya Books several floors up), Dover Street Market Ginza, Matsuya. The street quiets to pedestrian-only on weekend afternoons.
Midday
Lunch · under the tracks
Duck under the elevated tracks at Yurakucho, the strip of small yakitori, gyoza, and korokke stands here is one of those Tokyo things that shouldn't work as well as it does. Lunch or a late snack.
Afternoon
Historic district
Walk to Nihonbashi, the old commercial heart of Edo, where all distances from Tokyo were historically measured. The Nihonbashi Bridge is still there (now under an elevated highway; a long-running debate about tearing down the highway is ongoing). Mitsukoshi here is Japan's oldest department store, worth a walk-through.
Gardens
Then to the Imperial Palace East Gardens. The outer gardens are open for walking freely. The East Gardens (Higashi Gyoen) require no reservation, but check the schedule: they close on Mondays, Fridays, and national holidays.
Evening
Other places you might like
Day 4 (Optional): A Slower Morning in Yanaka
One of the few Tokyo neighborhoods that survived WWII bombing intact
Morning
Shinto Shrine
Start at Nezu Shrine, one of Tokyo's oldest, tucked into the Yanaka neighborhood and largely unknown to tourists. In late April the azalea garden is extraordinary. Year-round it's a quiet 30 minutes.
Shopping street
Walk into Yanaka Ginza, a short shopping street with the texture of Tokyo from 40 years ago. The butcher next to the barber, the confectionery next to the watch dealer. More than 70 Buddhist temples are scattered through the few surrounding blocks, many unmarked, most open. The streets themselves are the draw here.
Late morning
Walk-through
Yanaka Cemetery is at the east edge and worth the walk through, particularly in early April when the cherry trees along the main path are in bloom.
Midday
Park
Close the morning with a walk south into Ueno Park. The National Museum is here if you skipped it on Day 1. Otherwise, just the park, it connects back to the east-side metro lines.
Other places you might like
A few food swaps worth knowing about
These didn't have a clean geographic slot in the days above but belong on the list.
The splurge dinner. Any evening in the Days 1 to 3 itinerary can swap to a sushi or tempura omakase. Tokyo has the highest concentration of Michelin-starred restaurants in the world. Book at least two weeks ahead for anything worth eating at; some of the better counters require months. If you're doing one splurge dinner, sushi omakase is the move.
The monja evening. Casual, social, very Tokyo: monja is the runnier, older cousin of okonomiyaki that Tokyo claims as its own. is the neighborhood for it, a short metro ride from Ginza. Good for groups.
The cocktail night. If you want a serious bar evening rather than an izakaya crawl: , , and make a clean Shinjuku-area circuit. Keep the stays short and the order of stops loose. Skip one if the timing feels off.