Japan Blog: 3 Day Tokyo Itinerary

This is the first of a 5-part Japan Blog: 3 day Tokyo itinerary – everything we did and ate in the first 3 days of our Japan trip. Warning: We walked almost everywhere with taking the subway really only when we wanted to or needed to! It truly is the best way to find what you didn’t know you were looking for and be spontaneous 🙂

Day 1

Hotel in Nihombashi

I was looking for “unique” stays throughout our trip and mostly tried searching for “arts hotels;” I stumbled upon BnA Wall (wanted BnA Akihabara but it was sold out), and it was a very nice, quaint spot that was perfect for us. It is situated in a very quiet part of Tokyo called Nihombashi just south of Akihabara. I wanted to remain closer to some of the things I knew we were going to do such as our reservation at Daigo, short visit to Asakusa, and relative walkability to Ginza (and if we had gone to the Tokyo Skytree this would have been closer as well). But overall I do recommend staying closer to a station and closer to the bustling areas of the city, specifically Shinjuku or Shibuya.

That evening we just pushed ourselves to walk around after sitting in the plane for 15 hours. We walked all the way to T’s TanTan inside Ueno station had delicious vegan ramen, there’s one in Tokyo Station as well which I ate at last time. In Japan is that it’s not abnormal to go to a train station to eat at a restaurant or even shop a little!

Akihabara

We then headed to “Akihabara Electric Town” in Akihabara. The anime and gaming central was so much less lively than the first time I went 4 years ago, but still an otaku spectacle and worth visiting especially for its multi-story gaming centers with claw machine, arcade, and video games! Ronak won me a Pikachu after we both tried several times on several claw machines (that often felt rigged lol).

Day 2

The next morning we breakfast from a convenience store (konbini). Konbinis (Lawson, FamilyMart, 7-11), are a must for all your snacks and drinks needs! It’s so easy to pick up a breakfast on the go, my go-to is always the drinkable yogurt of all sorts of flavors and a packaged coffee or tea.

Asakusa

We then met my fellow exchange student Yukiko from 2006 at Senso Ji Shrine in Asakusa. I literally could not stop crying when I met her after 17 years, we were just standing there for the longest time exchanging stories about how the exchange program and each other’s families impacted us back then and over the years.

Kaminarimon Gate leading to Senso-Ji is tourist central but also a must-see. The gate is crowded but grand and worth taking a photo of. There is a market with stalls of authentic goods that leads to the Senso Ji shrine, one of the best places for souvenirs. Last time I got a couple pretty convincing-looking Shirukens for Ronak and Bhai! They also have street food stalls by the shrine a bunch of which are vegetarian friendly, we got a chocolate banana! We then ate at another vegan place nearby called Marugoto Vegan that had some delicious Japanese Curry.

Shinjuku

We then took a subway to Shinjuku Gyoen which is a beautiful, large Japanese garden with a variety of different types of plants, I can’t imagine how beautiful it must be when the grass is all green and the cherry blossoms are all blooming (we caught a few!). Apparently this is the first in 4 years that outdoor picnics are allowed again in Tokyo parks so people were definitely out taking advantage of this and it really is a great idea that I recommend. This time we didn’t walk around too much in Shinjuku itself but I do remember the area around the robot restaurant had some interesting things to see. Robot restaurant was a whole other experience that I do recommend if you have time to see at least once, it’s definitely a fun spectacle.

Harajuku

The famous Takeshita Street known for its quirky style and bright colors is just off the station which is nice. The best part was venturing to a small, quiet area away from the massive crowd nestled a few streets down where we stumbled upon Las Dos Caras and ate vegan nachos, dragonfruit gelato, and drank a pitcher of margarita.

Takeshita Street is known for its crepes. However, I was on a mission for the rainbow cotton candy at Totti Candy Factory! They also had a couple boba spots that looked good. After some more exploring we found Bar dAZE on the third floor of a nearby building. We then came back to the Las Dos Caras area for the TikTok-famous Spontini pizza. It was fluffy with a nice crisp (but oily) crust and worth trying in my opinion. BUT I am not a pizza snob and will eat pretty much anything 🙂

Day 3

Ginza

The next morning we tried not to eat much in preparation for Daigo and began our day by walking through the multitude of shops in Ginza, most of which were not yet open. We stumbled upon an amazing shopping mall called Ginza Six. It had the most ridiculous stores that I had never even seen before such as Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen, the best part was the Eataly and Tsukaya Book Store at the top floor, truly worth visiting just for its beauty. Here is Ronak enjoying a gelato exactly one hour before our Michelin Star meal reservation *facepalm*.

Daigo

My second all vegetarian Michelin Star Restaurant after TIAN in Vienna, Austria! I booked in advance on Pocket Concierge, the one-stop shop for reserving a high-end restaurant in Japan. We had a private room with a zen garden view and 6 food courses. It was truly marvelous in every way. I highly recommend reserving one fancy lunch or dinner (try through Pocket Concierge) to experience the finer food Tokyo has to offer!

Roppongi

We mostly went through the Roppongi area to walk off our meal and explore. The Mori Museum of Modern Art is located here which is great. This time we only stopped by the National Gallery which had cool architecture and an interesting calligraphy exhibit. However, I definitely recommend Mori or TeamLab (located farther away).

Meiji Jingu

No Tokyo itinerary is complete without a stop at Meiji Jingu! A must-see, I would recommend pairing it with Harajuku since it’s right there.. The walk to the shrine and back is beautiful and peaceful. We even got to sit down and enjoy a soft serve.

Taste of Shibuya

A short walk from Meiji Jingu we thoroughly enjoyed the HARRY Hedgehog Cafe. The hedgehogs were the sweetest! They immediately curled up into a ball and went to sleep in our hands as soon as we picked them up. That same street of the bougie Omotesando Hills area is lined with high-end stores in Shibuya. This area is worth seeing especially at night. We took the subway back to Ginza where we had found a great Indian called Bombay Sizzlers then headed home. Check out my blogpost on our one night in Shibuya on our way back from Osaka!

Here is us on the Shinkansen to Kyoto the next day.

This blogpost was all about our 3 day Tokyo itinerary! As the largest city in the world, Tokyo has so much to offer! What other stops would you add?

Check out my other Japan blogposts on Kyoto, Osaka, and Japan Travel Tips!