West of Tokyo are the trendy neighborhoods: Shibuya, Shinjuku, Roppongi, Harajuku… This is were fashion shops and nightlife are. There’s also Ikebukuro, the so-called “Akihabara for women”. Further West, you’ll also find Gotokuji, the famous manekineko cat shrine.
In total, we spent 10 days in Tokyo. In this post, I’m writing about the ones to the West, which represent about 2 days. Apart from these, we spent 5 days in the Eastern part of Tokyo and went three times on one-day trips leaving from the Japanese capital city.
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Here’s our complete Tokyo itinerary, with the content of this post in bold:
- Day 0 : arriving in Tokyo and free tour in Akihabara (our hotel neighborhood) ↗️
- Day 1 : Toyosu and Odaiba ↗️
- Day 2 : Ueno ↗️
- Day 3 : one-day trip to Kawaguchiko and Oshino Hakkai (mount Fuji views) ↗️
- Day 4 : Ochanomizu/Jimbocho, Ginza↗️, Gotokuji
- Day 5 : Ikebukuro
- Day 6 : Shinjuku et Shibuya
- Day 7 : one-day trip to Kamakura ↗️
- Day 8 : Asakusa and Tokyo Skytree↗️
- Day 9 : Imperial Palace and Tokyo Station↗️
- Day 10 : one-day trip to mount Takao (mount Fuji views) ↗️
It’s also worth mentioning that we are not shopping or nightlife aficionados, so we spent way less time in places like Shinjuku and Shibuya than many tourists visiting Tokyo, and also didn’t find them especially interesting.
Gotokuji ⭐️
That day was all about cats, as we started in a cat-specialized bookstore near Jimbocho (more in the article about Eastern Tokyo) and ended in Gotokuji temple, famous for its manekineko statues. This temple is not situated in the center of Tokyo, it took us two subway rides and a bit walking to reach it, going through residential neighborhoods, but as a cat lover, I think it was worth it!
Although it’s lying far from touristy areas, it’s pretty popular. They had to limit the number of Manekineko statues you can buy there, and some of their ema’s were already sold out. One thing that makes the temple truly impressive is that a lot of people buy a statue to leave it in the temple, for good fortune. You can then wander in the temple ground, observed by hundreds (or thousands?) of cats, some of them customized.
On our way back, we noticed another charming temple, dedicated to sumo wrestlers. The temple shop was already closed but we could wander on the temple grounds. It seems you can see sumo wrestling there in Autumn.
🔖Setagaya Miyanosaka Hachiman-sama
Ikebukuro⭐️
An Otaku neighborhood with a nicer vibe than Akihabara
Ikebukuro is often referred to as the “Akihabara for women”, especially the Otome road area. To this day, Ikebukuro is home to the biggest Animate in the world (9 floors of manga, dojinshi, manga and anime related goodies, CDs, DVDs, games…).
Our hotel was in Akihabara, and I could directly notice that both neighborhoods have a very different vibe: Ikebukuro is quieter, less touristy, in geek shops the alleys are wider, have a better light… and you don’t get harassed by visions of very sexualized characters, or by girls handing flyers to shady places…
However, Ikebukuro is not limited to “women” items (like shojo manga or dojinshi), you can find anything. It’s the only place I found goodies of the shonen manga Bleach for example!
⚠️ Please note most shops open at 11 AM in Ikebukuro
Other interesting places for Otaku’s:
- Capcom plaza, that has a games area and a goodies shop.
- Bookoff : this second hand books and games shop is a bit everywhere, but the one we visited in Ikebukuro was so much nicer, lighter, quieter and well lit (and I’ve heard prices might be a bit lower in Ikebukuro compared to Akihabara).
- Pokémon et Pokémon Go center in Sunshine city. The former is a classic Pokémon shop, the latter is a meeting place for Pokémon Go players. (Great for trading Pokémons.)
- There are other theme shops in Sunshine city either you’re a fan of Disney, Ghibli, Japanese pop culture, Marvel, One Piece…
- Namjatown, an indoor amusement park, also inside Sunshine city (we decided not to go because we didn’t feel in the mood and were not sure it was for us).
Eating in Ikebukuro
Ikebukuro is a popular area with many chains like Starbucks and Kura Sushi (a conveyor belt sushi bar that you can find in many places in Japan). We went for Kura, it was super convenient: everything is in self-service, special orders happen via a touch screen, you just have to drop your plates in a dedicated hole to get them on the bill, and you pay on a machine. Perfect for those not at ease with communication.
Don’t get fooled by how it looks: sushi’s are great quality for a low price, nothing to be compared to what we find in Western countries in terms of sushi’s.
Shinjuku and Shibuya
I enjoyed this part of Tokyo way less than the others. These areas are dedicated to shopping and nightlife. They are crowded and noisier than the other neighborhoods we visited.
⚠️ The most important information, if you’re easily overstimulated, is to avoid weekends and bank holidays at all cost! We made changes to our initial plans and ended up there on a Saturday, really bad idea.
Nakano broadway
We started by Nakano broadway, on the way to Shinjuku (a few minutes with public transportation). You’ll find covered alleys with Otaku shops (new and second hand) and a few other shops (candies and snacks for example). Unfortunately, we were there in the morning and almost everything was closed until 11 AM or 12 AM (and since it’s a series of independent shops, it’s really difficult to find information on opening times, especially when you don’t know which shops you want to visit).
We wandered a bit, in hopes some more shops would open. The few ones we visited were crowded with narrow alleys (back to Akihabara’s vibe). Since we don’t buy a lot and were just there out of curiosity, the place was not so nice for us.
Korean Town (Shin-okubo)
Next stop was Shinjuku. We passed by the well-known 3D cat at Shinjuku station, and the real-size Godzilla on our way to Shin-okubo (or just Okubo), the Korean town. Korean food lovers can enjoy a variety of dishes in the many restaurants there. We thought the prices were a bit high, compared to the ones of Japanese dishes. We tried one place but were not convinced by our meal, so I can’t recommend anything there.
Harajuku
In Harajuku, we first visited Yoyogi park, a breeze of greenery, until we reached the Meiji temple and were surrounded by crowds again.
We then headed to the little mall LaForet, where you can find a bunch of overpriced vintage clothes. I went there to visit a shop dedicated to Sailor Moon, but it was so small there was a 40 minutes waiting line to be allowed to enter. I’m not a fan to that point.
Shibuya
We ended with Shibuya, with a quick tour in the Jump and Nintendo stores. We already visited shops of those brands in other cities, it was not bigger nor had a better selection (and it was… more crowded, as you guessed).
Exhausted by the visit of Shinjuku and Shibuya, we went back to Akihabara: yes, shops are also tiny and crowded, but at least there are way less people in the streets.
Check out the blog posts about Akihabara, Ueno, Asakusa… (Eastern Tokyo), or the one about our three day-trips from the Capital city.