Beginner’s Guide to 9 Major Tokyo Areas

If you’re thinking about traveling to Japan, you’ll most likely be trying to learn as much as you possibly can about Tokyo and the various areas you can visit. It’s a huge, sprawling city with a ton of different settings that can be found, so it can be a little overwhelming. Having been to Tokyo multiple times and explored all the different wards and areas inside the city, I think I can help you.

A lot of sites will give you a list of tourist destinations, written sort of like a travel book. But that’s not what I’m going to do here. I’m just going to talk about some of the Tokyo areas that I’m familiar with and give you the honest rundown on what it’s like and what my impressions were, and the places I definitely recommend you check out.

Shibuya – Tokyo Areas

Shibuya, which is the name of a large district, or ward, but also the name of a particular area inside that ward, is a nonstop party. This is where the famous Shibuya Crossing is. Which is cool, but it’s just a crosswalk dudes. There’s a Starbucks on the corner there.

Shibuya is awesome and it’s one of the coolest things about Tokyo. It’s essentially a party district. If you’re ever feeling bored, you can ride the train to Shibuya and boom, you’re in the middle of a giant, city-wide party where everyone’s invited. It’s really easy to meet new people in Shibuya. Just pop into a 7-11, buy a strong zero, Japan’s version of the regrettably outlawed Four Loko, step directly outside and strike up a conversation with the other people who are drinking outside a 7-11, trying to figure out where to go next.

Shibuya is full of amazing restaurants. It has a ton of clubs. A lot of people compare this area to Time Square in New York, but I don’t think that’s quite right. It really is it’s own thing. It’s, like I said, basically a city-wide party.

There’s a really famous park in Shibuya area called Yoyogi Park, which has a large shrine called the Meiji Shrine attached. It’s a nice park, but personally, I think the Shinjuku park described below is a more beautiful park, and as far as shrines go, the shrines in Kamakura (not in Tokyo), Kyoto (not in Tokyo) and Asakusa are more compelling. But all the shrines in Tokyo are pretty rad. Hard to go wrong with a shrine visit in any of the Tokyo areas.

Harajuku – Tokyo Areas

Harajuku is a street near Shibuya, inside Shibuya Ward. I realize that’s confusing. There’s a bigger area called Shibuya Ward, and inside that area, there’s a town (?) called Shibuya, and that’s the party city. Anyway, the point is if you take the train to Shibuya, Harajuku is a street that’s roughly one train stop away, which is walking distance.

As far as Tokyo areas go, this one is Shibuya’s famous fashion district. It is a pretty interesting place. I’m not 100% sure that I understand the worldwide fame of it, because ultimately it is just a single street. You can walk from one end to the other in just a few minutes. It has sort of a giant flea market vibe. Tons of boutique clothing stores and street food vendors.

Invariably, if you go here, you can see some people dressed in a bunch of different ways that exist along a spectrum between high fashion and cosplay. I saw a guy dressed to the nines in an all white tuxedo there, coattails, top hat, cane and everything. Yamikawaii is really big there, which is like… goth combined with moe moe maid style. If you want to buy a really interesting, unique souvenir, Harajuku would probably be the place to do it.

Shinjuku – Tokyo Areas

Shinjuku, like Shibuya, is a big district that also has an area inside of it that the district is named after. There are a lot of similarities between Shinjuku and Shibuya. I guess the difference would be that where Shibuya is like a nightly party, Shinjuku is more like an entertainment district. It’s got all sorts of arcades, movie theaters, restaurants.

If you stay past 11 PM or so, a Nigerian guy will probably ask you to come get a blowjob in a seedy bar for like 6 bucks. I haven’t tried that particular activity, I hear what they really do is drug your drink and steal your wallet. You can try it if you like.

Shinjuku has a movie theater with a giant Godzilla statue poking out of it, which it pretty cool. It’s also home to Golden Gai, which is a little maze of streets with a ton of tiny bars, and Kabukicho, which is sort of like a carnival. You know what, that’s what I’d say the overall distinction is. Shibuya feels like a party and Shinjuku feels like a carnival.

Kabukicho has this thing called the Robot Restaurant, which is sort of like Medieval Times except with a robot-themed dance performance. I highly recommend you do this, because it’s ridiculous and it smells like waffles in there for some reason.

Shinjuku is also home to Shinjuku Gyo-en, which is a huge and extremely beautiful park. That’s one of the cool things about Tokyo. It has all this serene, tranquil nature, and then you can walk 3 or 4 blocks over and be inside a dazzling city lightscape reminiscent of the Vegas strip or Times Square.

Finally, Shinjuku has the Tokyo Park Hyatt, which is the hotel from Lost in Translation and is probably the fanciest place I’ve ever been. I’m pretty sure I met a member of the Illuminati at the Tokyo Park Hyatt bar.

Odaiba – Tokyo Areas

This probably says a lot about me, but Odaiba is my favorite of the Tokyo areas. It’s a waterfront port town that’s full of malls, museums and art exhibits. teamLAB Borderless is there, which is an immersive art exhibit, as well as the Miraikan which is a museum about future technology. Mirai means future in Japanese. Kan means like… big building/palace/mansion.

An old guy started yelling at me for taking pictures on a dock that you’re not supposed to go on here. I pretended I didn’t know what he was saying. That probably makes me a bad person.

Anyway, there’s a ton of really cool architecture in Odaiba and the waterfront is breathtaking. Like, so breathtaking you might want to trespass on a dock to get a really good picture there.

As I mentioned, Odaiba has a bunch of malls which are somewhat confusingly called “cities”. Aqua City, Diver City, etc. These malls are way cooler than your average American mall. Diver City, probably the biggest one, has a skate park, a tennis court, a whole floor dedicated to restaurants, a giant Gundam museum, an arcade, VR rides and a full-size concert venue.

If Odaiba was a Pokemon town, it would be Cerulean City.

Ikebukuro – Tokyo Areas

They call Ikebukuro a giant anime town, but there’s more to it than that. For one, it has another one of Tokyo’s insanely cool malls, Sunshine City, which has a planetarium, an aquarium, an indoor amusement park, an observatory, a convention center and a hotel. It also has a very busy shopping street called Sunshine 60 street, which, when I was there, was literally a sea of human bodies. It was insane.

Personally Ikebukuro is not my favorite of the major Tokyo areas because it’s sort of like a jack of all trades city, and it’s insanely crowded. Sunshine 60 street is a lot like Shinjuku, but more crowded and not as fun, Sunshine City is like Diver City, but more crowded and not as fun, the anime vibe is like Akihabara but more crowded and not as fun… you kind of see where I’m going with this.

That said, you can get lunch with a penguin here.

Ota – Tokyo Areas

Ota is a giant prefecture south of most of the major metropolitan areas of Tokyo, and it feels a bit more suburban, with smaller cities like Kamata. The reason I bring it up is you can get a cheap hotel room there, and it’s a pretty cool place to stay and use as a home base.

You can experience all the typical, more every day Tokyo things. Like KFC, and casual ramen bars, Don Quixote, hole in the wall jazz clubs, BIC CAMERA, subway station crepes, vending machine Boss Coffee, coco ichiban, mos burger which will surprise you. It looks like a burger but… it’s not. It’s more like a spicy meatball sandwich in the shape of a burger. Also, getting solicited by old Filipina prostitutes.

All that stuff I just listed is stuff you can do in any of the Tokyo areas, but in Ota it’s kind of all you can do, which is still pretty cool. I really like Ota. It’s quiet. It feels somewhat more suburban. Only in Ota can you truly appreciate that Tommy Lee Jones’s face is on every street corner in Japan, since he’s the mascot for Boss Coffee.

Ota has Honmonji Temple/Cemetery/Park in Ikegami, which is probably where I’d want to live if I lived in Tokyo. Not in the park, in Ikegami. Honmonji Temple is not one of the major temples people will tell you about like the Meiji Shrine or Sensoji in Asakusa, but it’s probably my favorite temple in Tokyo. Very serene, has a hiking trail and a park and has a cemetery. One of my favorite Tokyo areas.

Shinagawa – Tokyo Areas

As far as Tokyo areas go, I view Shinagawa as being this very business oriented place that, like Ota, is more about day-to-day living than tourism, but with a little bit more of a city/business feel. It still has stuff to see. Personally, I haven’t spent too much time there. I’ve been there a few times but it basically strikes me as, just like I said, a kind of typical business district.

Akihabara – Tokyo Areas

This is the somewhat overhyped area of Chiyoda ward that anime fans love to visit. And it is pretty cool. You can get Xenogears merch there. They have a bunch of street vendors, a surprising amount of sex shops, maid cafes, etc. One of the coolest places I visited here was a traditional maid cafe. Traditional as in, it was like a Westworld version of an old German countryside inn. It reminded me of the anime Monster. Not like the zany moe moe maid cafes and ninja theme restaurants you can visit in Akihabara. It’s called Cure Maid Cafe.

They also have a Square Enix restaurant here called Eorzea.

There’s an old vintage game store in Akihabara called Super Potato which is kind of the mecca for gamers in Tokyo. It’s a cool shop that has a little vintage arcade you can smoke in on the top floor, it’s got a statue of Snake from Metal Gear Solid, and you can probably find a Japanese version of any game you want for any vintage console here.

If you’re a gamer or a geek of any kind, you should probably check out Akihabara, but it’s not the kind of place you can hang out for multiple days. It’s kind of a fun day trip.

From what I understand, if you’re an old Japanese pervert, this is also one of the Tokyo areas where you go to try to start a relationship with a high school student who’s trying to become an idol.

Taito – Tokyo Areas

Taito ward has Asakusa in it, which, in turn, has Sensoji Temple, which is probably the most… temple-y of temples in Tokyo. If you want the full temple experience, Sensoji would be the place to get it. It is a bit crowded and a bit of a tourist destination, but only in the same way as like, Notre Dame or something. That shot above is incredibly unrealistic. Imagine ten times as many people. Sensoji is also nearby Tokyo Skytree, which is a really cool tower that has an aquarium, several floors of shops and restaurants, and an observational deck.

Conclusion – Tokyo Areas

That’s just a really basic rundown of some of the coolest Tokyo areas. Obviously there’s a ton more to do there, but I feel like that’s a good amount of information for a brief introduction. There are also two cities adjacent to Tokyo as you go south, Yokohama and Kamakura, that are probably worth their own article.

Some activities in Tokyo areas I highly recommend: getting a drink at the Tokyo Park Hyatt at night. The view is otherworldly. Visiting Honmonji Temple during the day. Partying in Shibuya. Shinjuku Gyoen. Drink boss coffee and try a strong zero.

This is beginner’s guide to Tokyo areas is the first travel article for the site, so hopefully it’s been informative. I’ll try to do more of these in the future. Click here for more Travel Guides & Stories.