What to Do / Eat in Tokyo, Japan

Disneyland – Though it can’t quite hold a candle to DisneySea, Tokyo Disneyland is still a magical place.

DisneySea – Best theme park ever?  Best theme park ever.

Imperial Palace East Gardens – This is one of many amazing parks you can (and should) wander around in Tokyo.

Kirin Brewery Tour – If you’re interested in beer, this tour is definitely worth doing — plus, it’s free and you get beer at the end.  How can you go wrong?

Nezu Shrine – Tokyo does a great job of balancing out its in-your-face modernity with laid back parks and shrines.

Pizza Studio Tamaki – Holy crap, the pizza here.  The pizza.  It’s mind-blowing.  You might be thinking that pizza is a waste of time in Japan, but trust me — you need to try this place.  It’s incredible.

Sega Arcade in Shinjuku – Japan is one of the few places in the world (or the only place?) where arcades are still thriving.  It’s delightful.

Seiko Museum – For someone with even a mild interest in watches, this free museum is a must.  If you’re not interested in watches, however, you can easily give it a pass.

Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden – It actually costs a couple hundred yen to get into this park, but it’s totally worth it.  I think it might have been my favourite park in Tokyo, and there were a lot of great parks in Tokyo.

Star Wars Store – Alas, I think it’s gone now, but there was a store in Tokyo that sold nothing but Star Wars stuff, and it was great.

Super Potato – Super Potato is a multi-level shrine to classic video games.  It’s amazing.

Tokyo City Hall – Tokyo City Hall lets you go to one of the top floors of the building to get a magnificent view of the city.  The best part?  Unlike the Tokyo Tower or Tokyo Skytree, it’s absolutely free.

Tsukiji Market – The world’s biggest fish market.  I blew it and showed up late, thus missing the most interesting part, but I was still able to see (and eat!) some memorable stuff.

Yanaka Cemetery – Wandering around a cemetery might seem grim, but there’s something oddly compelling about it.

Yoyogi Park – Another day, another seriously memorable park in Tokyo.

Baby Castella – There’s a street food stall near Yoyogi Park selling these little pancakey balls, and they’re absolutely great.

Beard Papa – Beard Papa sells delicious cream puffs filled with deliciously creamy custard.  They’re the best.

Cup Noodles Museum – I hate to say it, because I was really looking forward to this, but the Cup Noodles Museum is kind of a waste of time (especially if you don’t speak Japanese).

Disneyland/DisneySea – The food at Disneyland and DisneySea in Tokyo was shockingly good.  It was so much better and more interesting than typical amusement park food.

Fuunji Ramen – Of the many mind-blowing things I ate in Tokyo, the tsukemen ramen (dipping ramen) from Fuunji Ramen might have been the mind-blowingest.  It was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten.

Hashimoto – The Michelin-starred unagi at Hashimoto is a thing of beauty.  It’s almost improbable how delicious it is.

Hayashi – Maybe my favourite bowl of ramen in the city (and in Japan, and in the world).  Crazy good.

Hinoya Curry – This is a chain katsu curry place, so it’s not going to blow anyone’s mind, but it’s quite tasty for what it is.

Kanda Matsuya – This place has been serving up delicious soba noodles for over 130 years.

Kantaro: The Sweet Tooth Salaryman – I ate every dessert from this delightful Netflix TV show.  I also ranked all the desserts here.

Kitchen Nankai – The katsu curry at this place is rich and amazing.

Melon Pan Kyuei – If you’ve never had a melon pan before, it’s kinda like a pineapple bun, but better.  And the one they serve at Melon Pan Kyuei is outstanding.

Nakajima – Nakajima is a Michelin-starred restaurant that sells delightfully affordable lunches revolving around the humble sardine.

McDonald’s – Alas, despite Japan’s status as a top-tier food country, their McDonald’s is pretty poor.

Ramen Jiro – Ramen Jiro serves a bowl of ramen that’s basically a roundhouse kick of fatty, salty, porky, garlicky flavour.  It’s actually kind of insane.

Ramen Restaurant – I’m not sure this restaurant near Monzen-nakacho station even has an English name (Google Maps just refers to it as “ramen restaurant”), but it serves a solid bowl of ramen.

Ramen roundup – I tried a bunch of ramen and crammed it all into one post, including a ranking.

Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum – This “museum” (it’s mostly just a food court) is made to look like 1950s Tokyo, and features some seriously great ramen vendors.  If you like ramen (and who doesn’t like ramen??), don’t miss it.

Starbucks Reserve Roastery – I didn’t manage to even get inside this place, which was a complete madhouse when I visited (it was still new), but it’s the world’s largest Starbucks, so it might be interesting I guess?

Taiyaki – Taiyaki is a delicious red-bean-filled cake that’s shaped like a fish.  It’s a Japanese street food classic.

Takano – The Michelin-approved ramen here is phenomenal.

Tempura Imoya – Crispy, delicious fried goodness.  Don’t miss it.

Yanagiya Taiyaki – This place serves legendary taiyaki — a waffle-like cake filled with red bean — and has the lines to match.