Mapping Tokyo's Neighborhoods Get your bearings & learn your way around.

Let's look at a map of Tokyo

It's a big place, but let's get familiar with it and suddenly it'll feel much more manageable

In this chapter, we're going to look at this map a bunch, and we're going to start to get familiar with the different neighborhoods and districts

Where they are, what they look like, and what they're known for so that you can decide where you might want to stay or what you want to do in each part of the city

Our goal is not that you memorize this map, but by the end of this chapter

hopefully it'll be fairly familiar so that when you're navigating and looking at your phone or a

paper map you'll have a gauge on where you are. Let's dive in and talk about the major landmarks

in Tokyo. The stuff that everyone visits when they go to Tokyo. Let's plot these on the map and start

to get an idea of where the big things are in this city. First let's zero in on the epicenter of

Tokyo's busy energy. This area right here. This is the Shibuya crossing which is perhaps the busiest

crosswalk in the world with up to 3,000 people crossing at a time. This is one of the most dense

and busy parts of Tokyo, and we'll talk more specifically about this later in the chapter

but for now just know where it is in the city. The next big iconic site to anchor your understanding

to this map is right up here. It's this giant forested area called Yoyogi Park. This is a

massive forest right in the middle of the city. And so it's a fantastic respite of nature in the

middle of a very busy city. You can wander through it, and then you can even visit Tokyo's largest

and most famous Shinto shrine, which happens to be right alongside Yoyogi Park. And it also happens

to be incredibly stunning. Another good anchor to have in your mind on the map is down here

right next to the bay. This is called Ski-ji Market. I know the pronunciation for this word

kind of seems weird because of its spelling, but just know that it's pronounced Ski-ji

Anyway, this is a really famous market in Tokyo, and it's a paradise for street food

Okay, so you've got a few markers now. Let's look up here more in the north of the city

where you have Ueno Park, which is a great place to get some quiet. This park is where most of

Tokyo's museums are, including Tokyo's National Museum, which if you choose to go to one museum

this should be it. It has the world's largest collection of Japanese art, and it really isn't

too busy if you go in the morning. Let's look at one other major landmark to get kind of a general

idea of this map, which is the Mori Tower, which is the only skyscraper that has an open air

observatory that affords you a really amazing view of the skyline. Okay, so let's look at all

of these landmarks. Remember, these are not all of the major landmarks in Tokyo. They're just some

big anchors for all of the regions of the city that you should start to internalize as we learn

this map. You can kind of get an idea that a lot of Tokyo's action happens over here. Next, we're

going to go into a more detailed view of the different neighborhoods of Tokyo. The point here

is that you can see what these neighborhoods look like and start to decide where you want to stay

and where you want to visit while you're in the city. Let's start with the dead center of Tokyo

If we had to give this part of town a name, we might call it the financial political center of the city

Your visual anchor for this part of town might be this big green space

which is the Imperial Palace. It's where the emperor sits. See if you can find this neighborhood without any of the markings

It's right here. Okay, so the Imperial Palace, this big green space with a moat around it

where the emperor sits. That should be your focus for the dead center of Tokyo

This is the part of the city that will probably be the first thing you see when you get to Tokyo

since this is where Tokyo's central train station is. It's right here next to the Imperial Palace

and it's right in the thick of the busy financial district of Tokyo. Let's see what it looks like

The train station is definitely worth a visit You can store your luggage here in lockers if you aren able to check into your lodging yet as you getting into town And the station is just generally huge with thousands of trains coming in and out every day

You'll find tons of really good, unique food and shopping opportunities in this station

If you walk outside, you'll see what you'd expect to see in a financial center of a city

Tall buildings and lots of business people. But this area also has some deep history that might be worth visiting

Here you'll see the Imperial Palace, which is home to Japan's emperor

The grounds are absolutely beautiful. But the only part that is open to the public on a day-to-day basis is this garden right here

Type in Kokyo Gae-en on your map to find it. The rest of the grounds of the Imperial Palace are only available through a booked tour

So you can decide to book a tour or do what a lot of locals do, which is go for a walk or jog around the perimeter of the Imperial Palace grounds

You can also walk a little bit and see this famous bridge, which if you look at a lot of Japanese historical art

you'll see this bridge depicted as quintessential Edo period Japan. This bridge used to be the very center of Tokyo

and in fact, it became literally known as the center of Japan

because all distances in Japan are measured from this point. So if you're in some other prefecture or town

and it says 80 kilometers to Tokyo, it's literally meaning 80 kilometers from this exact point

which is in the middle of this road. So when you come here, you're coming to the symbolic center of all of Japan

which is pretty cool. Okay, so that's the political and financial center of Tokyo

right here in the dead center of this city. You should stay here if you like that kind of traditional downtown feel

of big skyscrapers and a lot of business people walking around. There's a lot of good food options around here and access to public transport

So it's a pretty convenient place to stay. Here you're going to have a lot of hotels as well

They're going to be a little bit more predictable and less zesty as if you stay in other parts of the city

But they're solid options nonetheless. Next up, let's talk about the neighborhood right below, which is Tokyo's high-end shopping and street food districts

So just below this financial political center that we just talked about, you have a region of the city that's known for its shopping

We'll label this part of town the shopping and street food part of the city

The two main districts here are called Ginza and Tsukiji. Your visual anchor for this part of town can be all these strips of water down here

which are some man-made islands and a bunch of little pieces of land that go out into Tokyo Bay

Ginza and Tsukiji are known for their shopping. And when I say shopping, I mean both the lavish luxury shopping as well as street food shopping

If you go to this part of town, you'll know what I mean. Ginza is the shopping part

It's one of the world's most famous shopping districts. It's like Fifth Avenue in New York City

Here you'll find a bunch of designer stuff, but you'll also find more accessible and interesting stores like this 12-story clothing store Uniqlo

or this 12-story stationery store. Right on the main strip of Ginza, you have this big mall called Ginza 6

which if you go down to the second floor of the basement, you'll see this amazing display of food of all kinds

So go grab some food in the basement of Ginza 6 and then head to the elevator and hit R

which will take you to the rooftop garden, where you can eat your food and look over the busy, dazzling Ginza streets

So that was Ginza, which is right below that financial political center. But as you walk towards the bay, you'll wander into what feels like a maze of street food called the Skiji Market

Skiji is home to what was for a really long time a fish market

where they would buy and sell the catch of the day in the inner market, and then the outer market was the street food area

The inner market where they sold fish has since moved to a close by location, but the street food area persists

And today you can get everything from amazing snacks to Japanese cookware including a wide selection of Japanese steel knives which are considered some of the best knives in the world

Okay, so Ginza and Tsukiji are two must-wander-through parts of Tokyo. They hold some of Tokyo's most quintessential and iconic and best offerings

so you should definitely plan to visit. You can also plan to stay here too

There's a lot of fantastic hotels and even quieter parts of these districts that will give you quick access to all of these amenities and sites, as well as fantastic transportation access to the rest of the city

Next, we're going to talk about this area over here. We're going to call this art museums and nightlife, which seemed like a really weird combination, but you'll see what I mean

During the day, this area is peaceful and quiet You've got wonderful parks and gardens and public spaces that are really nice

And you have tons of art museums and galleries and shopping In this area, you'll also find one of Tokyo's most beautiful shrines

But at night, things change This area, and specifically Roppongi, is an epicenter for nightlife and clubs and party

culture in Tokyo. So if you're looking to go out late and have a good time while you're in Tokyo

this is definitely an area to consider going to. But again, during the day, this place can be very

peaceful with gardens and galleries sprinkled throughout. There are some really quiet neighborhoods

here and so this might be a good place for you to consider staying especially because it's in a very

central area where you can access a lot of other parts of the city. Next let's talk about Tokyo's

futuristic entertainment district. This area includes the neighborhoods of Shibuya and Harajuku

which look like this. this place is busy kind of at all hours but you should really come here at night which is when it

really comes alive shibuya is almost like the times square of tokyo it's where you have this

really busy iconic tokyo crossing that we talked about earlier but besides the crossing there's

also a lot of other reasons why you might want to come here walking through this place is sensory

overload. Tons of screens and shops and more screens, music and video games, robotics, fashion

You can really sum this part of town up as youth culture, but regardless of your age

you'll likely find Shibuya fascinating. There are also tons of food options, including this

robotic sushi place where you can order on a screen and have a high-speed conveyor belt bring

you your order within minutes. The ward next door to Shibuya is called Harajuku, which is known as

the epicenter of Japan's kawaii culture. Kawaii refers to this Japanese aesthetic of cuteness

stuff like this or this. This aesthetic and culture has spread throughout all the world

and you've probably seen examples of it in Hello Kitty or Pikachu. There's this one street called

Takashita Street, which is where you'll be inundated with this kawaii culture. While this

street is said to be the place where kawaii culture originated, beware that it's become

pretty saturated with visitors. And because of that, there's a lot more kitschy souvenir shops

that doesn't really represent the original culture very well. But even still, a stroll through

Takashita Street will certainly be a cultural experience regardless. More generally, Harajuku

has tons of other shopping opportunities, including lots of outdoors shopping and boutiques and great

coffee shops. To contrast from the busy entertainment district of Shibuya and the Kauai culture

district of Harajuku, this region of the city also includes an experience that is the exact

opposite of all this flashy youth culture, which is this park. It's really a forest, honestly. It has

over 100 trees It called Yoyogi Park and it has Tokyo biggest and most famous shrine right next door This region is quintessential Tokyo and it worth a visit You could start the day in the park and shrine and then move on to Harajuku and Shibuya

to experience the glowing nightlife. It's also a place you might consider staying because again

it's incredibly central and has a lot of Tokyo's best offerings very close by. Let's move up to a

very important part of Tokyo. It's called Shinjuku, and it's one of the densest, busiest places on the

planet. We're going to call this part of town the Everything District

Shinjuku is the Everything District because it has elements of everything we've talked about in

the other lessons. Skyscrapers, quiet expansive parks, glowing entertainment streets, big store

shopping, a thriving nightlife, a huge variety of food. What makes this district unique is the

sheer density of all of it in this one little area. So in Shinjuku, you can walk out of Shinjuku

Station, which happens to be the busiest train station on the planet, and then you can immediately

enter a multi-story department store. Then turn the corner and suddenly you're in a little alley

full of a bunch of crammed food stalls serving drinks and typical bar food. At the end of the

alley just a few more turns and you'll see a street exploding with neon tones. Shinjuku's

entertainment and red light district, full of 24-hour restaurants and robots and huge arcades

At the end of this street, there's a hotel where you can go up into the lobby and walk out onto a

terrace to see a giant replica of Godzilla. I mean, all this stuff within just a few blocks

Shinjuku truly is one of the densest, most packed parts of Tokyo, and it's definitely worth a visit

So if being close to all this intensity and entertainment and food is something you're interested in, consider staying in Shinjuku

It's a little bit further west and not as central as maybe Roppongi or Shibuya, but even still, it's very accessible and very well connected

The final place we're going to plot on the map is up here. We're going to call this place the Museum and Park District of Tokyo

If you want a big dose of museums and parks, head to this part of town. Here you're going to find Tokyo's biggest and best museums

Many all contained within this one park called Ueno Park. You'll also find beautiful traditional structures, gardens, and temples

All of this will tell you the story of Japan and its culture and history

So if you're into history and geopolitics and art, this is your place

Your main anchor for this part of town is going to be Ueno Park, where you have the highest concentration of museums in all of the city

as well as the city's zoo. But there's plenty more than just museums in this area

Here you can see the capital's oldest Buddhist temple, which is an absolutely stunning structure

You can also visit Tokyo's Dome City, which has a massive amusement park

We're calling this region of Tokyo the museum and parks region. It's got tons of good food and shopping

as well as really great sites in connection to the rest of the city. so it's worth a visit but may also be worth staying here if you're interested in museums and

history and want access to parks or you're traveling with kids because there are tons of

kids offerings in this area as well. Okay that's it we've gone over some of the major neighborhoods

and districts in Tokyo. I hope the map is starting to at least become a little bit more familiar

Again the point is not that you memorize every one of these neighborhoods but at least at this

point you understand the major parts of the city and what they have to offer. Hopefully you've

jotted down a few things that you want to visit or maybe you now know where you want to stay in the

city. Okay I'm going to say it one last time which is this is not everything. This is not all of Tokyo

We haven't mentioned every single little neighborhood. There's so much more to the city

What we've done is mentioned the major districts and cities that most visitors want to see while

they're in Tokyo. You should always be open-minded to explore other parts of the city that pop out at

you in your research or while you're wandering the city