What to see in Tokyo, and what to skip
Three seen properly beats nine seen badly. Here's which three.
Every list of Tokyo sights is the same nine things in a different order, and following it end to end is the fastest way to spend a week feeling like you queued a lot. Some of those nine genuinely earn it. Some are better in person than any photo suggests, and get skipped because they don't photograph well. And a couple are famous for being famous. After years of answering this for hotel guests one at a time, the honest sort is below.
The ones that earn the trip
Senso-ji in Asakusa, early, before the shopping street fills. The Meiji shrine approach, which is a forest in the middle of the city and does something to the noise. And one high view, once, on a clear evening. That's the short list, and it's short on purpose. Each of them is worth an unhurried hour rather than a rushed twenty minutes with a phone held up.
Better in person than in the photographs
The things that don't photograph are the things people remember: a depachika food hall in the basement of a department store, which is a museum you're allowed to eat in. An ordinary residential street in Yanaka at five in the afternoon. A station at rush hour, watched from the side rather than fought through. None of these make anyone's list of nine, and all of them are what the city actually feels like.
The ones you can miss
Anything whose main feature is the queue for it. Observation decks charging for a view you can get from a hotel bar for the price of a drink. And any single street that a hundred videos have promised will change your life, visited at the exact hour those videos were filmed. Shibuya crossing is worth seeing and takes about four minutes; the mistake is building an afternoon around it.
Seeing it without the crowd
Timing beats destination. The same temple at eight in the morning and at one in the afternoon are two different experiences, and only one of them is the one in your head. Weekday over weekend, morning over midday, and the second street rather than the first. That's most of it. The rest is being willing to walk ten minutes away from wherever everyone is standing, which is usually enough.
What to see in Tokyo: common questions
What is the number one thing to see in Tokyo?
Senso-ji in Asakusa, if you only do one, and go early. It's the oldest temple in the city, it's free, and the approach to it is half the point. By late morning the shopping street in front of it is shoulder to shoulder.
Is Shibuya crossing worth seeing?
Yes, and it takes four minutes. Watch one cycle from above, walk it once, then go and do something else in Shibuya, which is a far better area than its crossing.
Do I need to pay for an observation deck?
No. Several hotel bars high up will sell you a drink with the same view and a seat, and some municipal buildings have free observation floors. If you do pay for one, pay for one, not three.
What is overrated in Tokyo?
Not much is overrated exactly, but plenty is over-scheduled. The famous places are fine and the mistake is giving them a whole afternoon each. Give them an hour and give the leftover time to the area around them.
How do I see Tokyo without the crowds?
Go early, go on a weekday, and walk one street back from wherever the crowd is. Tokyo empties out remarkably fast once you're off the main run, which is what most of the filmed walks on this site are actually showing.