Tokyo

Why Tokyo works

Tokyo defies easy summary — it is simultaneously the world's most populous metropolitan area and one of its most orderly, a city where centuries-old shrines sit blocks from some of the tallest, most technologically dense skylines on Earth. Shibuya Crossing, where reportedly up to 3,000 pedestrians cross at once when the lights change, has become shorthand for the city's organised chaos, best viewed from the Starbucks or Shibuya Sky observation deck above. Meiji Jingu, a forested shrine dedicated to Emperor Meiji, offers a startlingly quiet counterpoint just steps from Harajuku's Takeshita Street, where teenage fashion subcultures and crepe stands draw a very different crowd. Senso-ji in Asakusa, Tokyo's oldest temple, anchors a district of traditional shopping streets (Nakamise-dori) selling rice crackers and souvenirs beneath a giant red lantern gate. Tsukiji Outer Market, though the wholesale tuna auctions moved to Toyosu, remains a working food market with some of the city's best sushi breakfasts. Shinjuku's Golden Gai, a warren of tiny alleyway bars each seating a handful of patrons, and the neon canyon of Kabukicho nearby, capture Tokyo's after-dark energy, while a day trip to nearby Kamakura or a clear-day view of Mount Fuji from Tokyo Skytree round out the essential itinerary.

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