Tokyo, Japan 5 Day Itinerary
Tokyo, Japan 5-Day Itinerary
Tokyo’s fish market moved out of Tsukiji back in 2018, not in 2023 as some outdated guides still claim, and the wholesale operation along with its famous tuna auction now runs at Toyosu. If you want to see the auction itself rather than just wander the outer market stalls, you need to apply for a free observation ticket through the Toyosu website roughly a month ahead, the lottery opens for a seven-day window at the start of the prior month. Miss that and you can still watch from the free public walkway, just arrive by 5am since the auction itself starts around 5:30.
Day 1: Arrival and Shinjuku
Landing at Narita means budgeting real time and money to reach central Tokyo, the Narita Express runs about 3,250 yen one way and takes roughly 80 to 90 minutes to Shinjuku, though the special N’EX round-trip ticket for foreign passport holders is a flat 5,000 yen and worth grabbing at the airport counter before you even clear the platform. Haneda is closer to the center and considerably faster if your flight routes through there instead.
Get a Welcome Suica or a mobile IC card set up on arrival, physical card shortages that plagued Tokyo a couple of years back have eased, but the tourist-specific Welcome Suica is still the simplest option and works across every JR line, subway, and most buses without separate tickets.
Once you’re settled in Shinjuku, Ichiran’s main branch does a genuinely good private-booth ramen experience if you want a low-stress first meal after a long flight. Shinjuku Gyoen is worth the walk for its manicured gardens, a real contrast to the district’s neon-and-concrete reputation, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building’s free observation deck gives skyline views without paying for one of the city’s pricier towers. In the evening, Golden Gai’s cramped alleys of tiny bars are touristy by now but still worth an hour, just don’t expect every bar to welcome walk-ins, some are locals-only in practice even if not in policy.
Day 2: Asakusa and Akihabara
Senso-ji, Tokyo’s oldest temple, gets crowded fast, so arrive early if you want photos without a wall of other visitors in frame. Nakamise shopping street leading up to the temple is touristy but genuinely fun for grabbing street food on the walk in rather than sitting down for a full breakfast.
Akihabara in the afternoon is Tokyo’s electronics and anime district, and it rewards wandering rather than a checklist, multi-story arcades, retro game shops, and maid cafes cluster within a few blocks of the station. Skip committing a full afternoon to any single themed cafe unless you’re genuinely curious, they’re pricier than they look and better as a twenty-minute novelty than an extended meal. Yakitori skewers from a small counter restaurant in the evening beat a chain izakaya here, look for the ones with a line of locals rather than an English-language sign.
Day 3: TeamLab and the Waterfront
Here’s an update worth knowing before you plan this day: teamLab Borderless is no longer in Odaiba. The original location closed in 2022 when the Palette Town complex it sat inside was redeveloped, and the museum reopened in 2024 at Azabudai Hills, a different part of the city entirely. Book tickets for the new location well ahead, it draws well over a million and a half visitors a year and sells out particularly on weekends.
If you still want a waterfront day, Odaiba itself remains worth visiting for the Rainbow Bridge views and the seaside park, just don’t build the day around a teamLab visit there anymore, that chapter of Odaiba’s tourism draw has closed. A relaxed alternative is treating Day 3 as Azabudai Hills for teamLab in the morning, then a separate trip to Odaiba for the bridge and waterfront views if you have energy left, rather than trying to combine both in the outdated way older itineraries suggest.
Day 4: Toyosu, Ginza, and a Correction Worth Making
Start early for the Toyosu Market tuna auction if you applied for tickets, otherwise head over mid-morning once the wholesale rush has died down and enjoy the outer market’s sushi breakfast spots instead, several do excellent fresh sets for a fraction of what a formal restaurant charges later in the day.
From Toyosu, Ginza is a short ride away and worth an afternoon of window shopping even if you’re not buying, Ginza Six alone is worth a walk-through for its architecture. One correction: the Hachiko statue is in Shibuya, not Ginza, a mix-up that shows up surprisingly often in generic itineraries. If you want to see the famous loyal-dog statue and the scramble crossing behind it, that’s a separate stop on the Yamanote Line, not something to bolt onto a Ginza afternoon. Round out the evening with dinner in Ginza proper if you want a splurge, or head toward Roppongi if you want livelier nightlife instead.
Day 5: Meiji Shrine and Harajuku
Meiji Shrine’s approach through Yoyogi Park is one of the most genuinely calm walks in central Tokyo, a real gear-shift from the rest of the trip, and it costs nothing to wander through. From there, Takeshita Street in Harajuku is the opposite extreme, dense with fashion shops and crepe stands, fun for an hour but exhausting much beyond that if crowds aren’t your thing.
Omotesando Hills nearby gives a calmer, more upscale version of the same shopping impulse if Takeshita Street wears you out fast. Skip trying to add a formal Aoyama Cemetery tour unless you have a specific interest, it’s a quiet, contemplative spot but doesn’t need a guided visit to appreciate, a quick walk-through suffices for most visitors. For a last dinner, look for a small neighborhood spot rather than a chain, Tokyo’s real food strength is in tiny, specialized restaurants that don’t show up on the standard tourist maps, and Harajuku still has a few tucked behind the main strip if you’re willing to walk one block off the crowds.