Tokyo Metropole & Greater Kanto · Tokyo, Ginza
Tsukiji, Hamarikyu Gardens and Ginza: fish in the morning, luxury in the evening
Tsukiji Outer Market at its best, a garden that belonged to the shogun with a tea house on the water, and in the afternoon the Ginza boulevard: a department store, kabuki for half an hour, and the main street that closes to cars on weekends. In the evening Yurakucho, and you finish in front of Tokyo Station, lit up.
A day of food and of Ginza. You start with a breakfast from stall to stall in Tsukiji Outer Market, walk to Hamarikyu Gardens on the water, and eat lunch at the edge of Ginza. In the afternoon you walk the main avenue and sit for one act of kabuki and for coffee in an old kissaten. In the evening, as the signs light up, you go down to a cocktail bar in Ginza and to the izakaya under the tracks in Yurakucho, and finish in front of Tokyo Station, lit up, where you head back to the hotel. Almost everything is on foot, about 6 km between the stops, and if you get tired, cut the last stretch short with a one-station ride.
The day on a map
9 stops, in order
- Stops
- 9
- Walking minutes
- 68
- Tsukiji Outer Market, then Walk 10 min
- Hamarikyu Gardens, then Walk 15 min
- Lunch break in Ginza, then Walk 8 min
- Chuo-dori, then Walk 5 min
- Kabukiza Theatre, then Walk 5 min
- Coffee in Ginza, then Walk 5 min
- Ginza at night, then Walk 5 min
- Dinner in Yurakucho, then Walk 15 min
- Tokyo Station
The same stops with the same numbers, and the way from stop to stop. On a phone it opens in the app, and that is what you navigate with in Japan. Pin names on the map are in Hebrew.
Getting there: Start at Tsukiji Station (Hibiya Line) or Tsukijishijo (Oedo Line). The outer market is a 3-minute walk away.
Stop 1MarketMust
Tsukiji Outer Market: breakfast from stall to stall
You start at the market. The wholesale market moved to Toyosu, but the 400 shops of the outer market stayed, and you eat breakfast here from stall to stall: tamagoyaki on a stick (¥200), fresh uni, sashimi in a bowl, matcha tea. Arrive by 09:00, because by 11:00 you can no longer move. Many shops are closed on Sundays.
Walk to Hamarikyu Gardens
On the way you can stop at:
- Namiyoke Inari Shrine: The market's Shinto shrine, which protects the merchants from the waves of the sea. In the courtyard there is a giant lion head, 3.3 meters wide.
Stop 2GardenRecommended
Hamarikyu Gardens: a seawater pond and a tea house
A garden of the shogun's family from the 17th century, surrounded by skyscrapers. The pond fills with seawater with the tide, and the Nakajima tea house stands on the island in its middle: matcha and a sweet for ¥850. In March a yellow mustard field blooms here, and in September cosmos.
Up to lunch in Ginza
On the way you can stop at:
- The Nippon TV giant clock: A karakuri clock 12 meters high on the wall of the tower in Shiodome, designed by Hayao Miyazaki. A mechanical show of about 3 minutes, several times a day, free from the street.
Stop 3LunchRecommended
Lunch break in Ginza
At midday Ginza serves sets at lunch prices, even in places that are expensive in the evening. Enter the neighborhood from its south end, and choose:
Up to the main avenue
Stop 4ShoppingRecommended
Chuo-dori: a 12-floor Uniqlo, Itoya, Ginza Six
Ginza's main avenue. On Saturday and Sunday afternoons it closes to cars and tables are brought out into the street. On the way you pass the Itoya stationery store, 12 floors of paper and pens, and the largest Uniqlo in the world, and go up to the green roof of Ginza Six for a free view.
On to the kabuki theater
Stop 5CultureRecommended
Kabukiza Theatre: one act only
No need to sit for 4 hours. A ticket for one act (makumi) in the top gallery costs ¥500 to ¥2,500, depending on the length of the act. Buy online from 12:00 the day before (by credit card, with a reserved seat), or at the ground-floor counter on the day itself, about 20 reserved seats, by cash or credit card. An English audio guide is available to rent. The audience shouts the actors' names, and that is part of the tradition.
Break
A rest at the hotel, if you are staying nearby
This day starts at 08:00 and ends at 20:45, and the evening still holds a bar in Ginza, the Yurakucho izakaya and Tokyo Station lit up. If your hotel is in Ginza, Shimbashi or near Tokyo Station, go back now for an hour. To Ginza and Shimbashi you walk. To Tokyo Station: the Marunouchi Line from Ginza, one station, 2 minutes, ¥180. At 17:15 head out again, to Ginza in the evening. If you are staying in Asakusa, Ueno, Shinjuku or Shibuya, do not go back: from Higashi-ginza Station under the theater it is 12 minutes to Asakusa on the Asakusa Line (¥220) and 15 minutes to Ueno on the Hibiya Line (¥180), and from Ginza 15 minutes to Shinjuku on the Marunouchi Line and 16 minutes to Shibuya on the Ginza Line (¥210 each). With the walk to and from the station, the ride eats most of the break. Your rest is the next stop, coffee and cheesecake in a quiet kissaten, a few minutes on foot from the theater.
Sit down for coffee
Stop 6BreakIf there is time
Coffee in Ginza: an old-school kissaten
If you skipped the hotel, sit down here. A cafe from 1936, with waiters in vests and ties. Order the café au lait, poured at the table from two pots, and the éclair, filled only after you order. The kissaten, the old Japanese coffee house, is an experience in itself: quiet and slow. Cards are accepted. Usually closed on Tuesdays.
Down to a bar in Ginza
Stop 7NightIf there is time
Ginza at night: the signs and the whisky
As the Ginza signs light up, you go down to a classic Japanese cocktail bar. Many of the bars sit on the upper floors of gray buildings: a bartender in a suit, hand-carved ice, a cocktail for ¥2,000, and a seating charge is customary. Bar High Five, in a basement in Ginza 5, opens at 17:00 and is closed on Sundays and holidays. One drink before dinner, and if you do not drink, carry on straight to Yurakucho.
On to dinner
Stop 8DinnerMust
Dinner in Yurakucho
In the evening office workers in suits leave the Marunouchi offices and sit down under the tracks. If you want quiet, eat at Tokyo Station, the last stop, and there are two options there:
Finish at Tokyo Station
Stop 9ArchitectureRecommended
Tokyo Station: the red bricks at night
You finish in front of Tokyo Station. The station building from 1914 has been restored, and in the evening it is lit up, and from Marunouchi square you see it reflected in the glass of the towers. On the roof of KITTE, opposite the station, there is a free view over the platforms and the shinkansen, open until 23:00 on weekdays and until 22:00 on weekends and holidays. From here you head back to the hotel, from Tokyo Station itself.
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Written as a draft and verified by hand against official sources. Opening hours and prices change, so check before you go.