Tokyo to Go: 7 Days in Japan : Touring Tokyo

I had expected Tokyo to be insanely crowded and slightly lacking in architectural aesthetics. The streets and subway stations were certainly busy and bustling, but no more so than any other large metropolis. Many of the subway and train stations were incredibly vast, with extensive underground malls filled with restaurants, shops, and markets. You could live pretty comfortably and spend lots and lots of yen without ever coming up to the surface.

Speaking of underground, Tokyo has a great subway and train system that can take you just about anywhere in the city you need to go. Be sure to pick up a handy system map, available at any station.

Above ground, the urban scenery did lack some of the charm of cities like San Francisco or New York, but this is in part due to the fact that much of the city was destroyed by bombing raids during WWII. There’s very little left that’s older than half a century. According to my host, Tokyo city planners also have a habit of tearing down anything old and replacing it with something completely lacking in architectural refinement. Just like in LA! Even so, each district has its own distinct flavor and flair, and there are still small pockets of the traditional hidden behind all that contemporary steel and concrete.

You can get a feel for old Tokyo in the Asakusa district, a small collection of city blocks which still carries the stamp of the Edo era. Asakusa was the heart of the traditional downtown (‘Shitamachi’), and although it too sustained damage during WWII, you can still get a taste of the old city by trolling around the merchant stalls and temples that crowd the main draw, Senso-ji Temple. The entrance to the district is guarded by the Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate); just beyond you’ll find both the standard tourist trap stalls (chopsticks and kimonos for everyone!) along with some real local confectioners’ shops, selling every manner of rice candy you’d ever want or need. For 50 yen, you can feel like a real Japanese tourist from the provinces by picking up a freshly fried sembei (rice cracker) from a local vendor. In front of the temple stands a large incense burner. Wafting the smoke around you is supposed to cure what ails you, unless of course you succumb to smoke inhalation.

Another interesting destination is the Tsukiji Fish Market, which has been in its present location since the 1930s but will soon move to newer, bigger digs across the river somewhere. This is where all of that fresh fish comes before it gets auctioned off, sliced up, and served on beds of vinegared rice. Speaking of, outside the Fish Market is the best place to have a fabulous sushi breakfast, but more on that later. Inside the market, you can amuse yourself by dogging the homicidal trolley drivers who cart around fish and crustaceans. According to my hosts, these drivers would like nothing better than to knock off a tourist or two. I wish I could say I wouldn’t do the same if I had that job, but I think we all know me better than that.

Half way between the Fish Market and the Ginza shopping district, you can stop by the Kabuki-za Theatre to take in a few hours of a traditional Kabuki performance. A full performance can run longer than a bad Russian opera, but they sell discount tickets for two acts, which is just about all you’d want to see if you forgot to pick up an English language guide because you figured, Hey, I can follow the plot without understanding a word of Japanese, right?

The show I saw had something to do with an old guy on a beach. I think he had been exiled for doing something. At any rate, he seemed very depressed, and there was some mournful singing and dancing, until a boat showed up with an even older guy, a younger guy, and some samurais. After much back and forth, there was a sword fight! Then the exiled guy killed the other older guy, the boat took off, and the exiled guy cried on a cliff as he watched the ship disappear. Excellent!

If you’re in the mood to check out a museum or three, you can head over to Ueno Park, a lovely area home to a gaggle of museums. The centerpiece is the Tokyo National Museum, housing an impressive collection of Japanese art and artifacts, from pre-historic Jomon period figurines, to samurai swords, landscape paintings, and woodblock prints. The park is also a prime cherry-blossoming-viewing location, if you have better luck than me and actually manage to catch the cherry blossom season. Damn blossoms!