It's also nearly twice the area of NYC.
So, there's plenty of places to go.
If you want to get around the centre of Tokyo, the JR 山手線(Yamanote Line) is probably one of the best. It goes around in a loop, and you can transfer to most lines in Tokyo from it, or get there quickly.
Where you go depends on what you want to do.
The Otaku Route.
The Shopaholic's Route.
The Sightseer's Route
The Otaku Route
If you clicked because you want to know what an Otaku is, I'll tell you. It's basically a nerd. It's usually applied to a games/anime/manga nerd.
And any good Otaku needs to start at 秋葉原,(Akihabara) the Otaku hub of Tokyo. Exit the station, walk, and you're in a mini-city with electric stores, anime retailers, collection shops, manga bookstores, internet cafès... basically, a nerd's wet dream. There is pretty much anything you could want here, and it's all reasonably cheap.
There's also a Burger King here, if you wanted to go (they're hard to find in Japan).
Next, you might want to head to 浜松町(Hamamatsuchō). "Why here, Aidan?" you ask? Well, I'll tell you why. Exit the station under the bridge, cross the road, go up the stairs and cross the overpass, and guess where you are? Outside the Pokèmon Center. That's right, the POKÈMON SHOP. There is all sorts of merchandise, a bunch of people outside playing their
There's a union room attached, where you can trade Pokèmon, and a GIANT WALL of PIKACHU, with an attendant who will be happy to take a picture for you.
If you are a lover of all things cute, you will love リラックマ(Rirakkuma=Relaxing Bear). There's a shop in Tokyo Station. I personally love it; I think it's much better than bloody Hello Kitty, but if you prefer Kitty-chan, you can find Sanrio shops at 新宿(Shinjuku) and 有楽町(Yuurakuchō) stations.
The Shopaholic's Route
Hello, my name is you, and I'm a Shopaholic.
Well, you've come to the right place.
Tokyo is really a fantastic place for shopping.
Where you go, though, depends on how much you are willing to spend, and what quality of product you want.
Let's start at 渋谷(Shibuya). Shibuya's a good place to start. It's the one with the big crossing. Go out the Hachiko gate, and you should be able to find your way to where you can cross to go shopping.
If you cut straight across and go up to your left, you should eventually come to the SoftBank store, which is good if you're looking for a phone. If not, keep walking. There are shoe shops, clothes shops, a six-or-seven-floor HMV, a McDonald's with a giant plastic cup of fries on the outside, and across from that, CONDOMANIA. I don't know what's inside, I was far to nervous/chicken to go in, but I took a photo nonetheless. If you turn right up this street and keep walking up, you should find a restaurant called Sweets Banquet or something, whatever it's called, it's a dessert buffet. Keep walking, you'll find a T.G.I. Friday's, and further up, an Apple Store (yay!). On the same street as this is a Disney Store. Disney is big in Japan, but everything at these stores is really really expensive. Look around these streets, though, you'll find classy-but-affordable stuff to classy-and-expensive stuff.
If you prefer classy-and-expensive, there's one place you should go that's not on the Yamanote line. Take the 東京メトロ銀座線(Tokyo Metro Ginza Line) all the way to 銀座(Ginza) and you'll find places like Tiffany's. There's a giant Casio watch on the side of building telling you the time, as well as a clock tower across from it. Further up the street is another Apple Store (woot), and there are plenty of expensive things on the way.
Back on the Yamanote line, a fantastic place for cheap-and-crappy/funny/alright quality stuff is 原宿(Harajuku). Directly across from the Station is 竹下通り(Takeshita Street), which is good for cute/cheap clothes, and crepes, among other things. There's lots of cute little knick-knacks to be found here. Down the other and is 表参道(Omotesandō), a street with higher-quality shops, and a Starbucks.
There are also plenty of good shops in 新宿(Shinjuku), with less expensive prices and variety than Shibuya. 上野(Ueno) is also a great place to go, with HEAPS of shops, and way too many for you to walk to them all.
Truthfully, you'll find shops worth going to everywhere in Tokyo.
The Sightseer's Route
There are plenty of traditional places, and feats of modern architecture in Tokyo.
At Harajuku Station, if you leave towards the right, you will soon arrive at 明治神宮(Meiji Shrine), a massive Shinto shrine dedicated to the spirits of the Meiji Emperor and his Empress. It's basically a giant garden with a shrine in the middle. It's actually quite beautiful, and inside at the shrine, you can buy charms, pay respects, write on an 絵馬(Ema), a wooden plaque that you write wishes and stuff on. You're allowed to read other people's, and there's Ema in all different languages, which is cool to see.
If you're going to Shrines, you should take the Ginza line from Shibuya down to 浅草(Asakusa), from where you can go to 浅草神社(Asakusa Shrine), one of the bigger Shrines. It honours the three men who created 金龍山浅草寺(Kinryūzan Sensōji, or just Sensōji, usually), the oldest temple in Tokyo. These both have great cultural significance to the Japanese people. It should be noted that Shrines belong to the Shinto religion, and temples to Buddhism.
Another interesting temple is 三縁山増上寺(Sanensanzan Zōjōji), which is beautifully situated right under Tokyo Tower. You can get there by walking from Hamamatsuchõ Station on the Yamanote Line, it's not too far a walk and there are some nice shops to look at on the way.
Then, of course, next door is Tokyo Tower. This is the tallest building in Tokyo, and you can either walk up the stairs, or take the elevator. I didn't want to wait for the eleveator, and my host mum is really energetic so we walked up the stairs. I am pretty unfit, so I nearly died, but to be fair, it's like 600 steps. Also, it was like 8 degrees Celsius, and I was sweating like a pig up the top. But it was a great sight from up the top. From the middle observatory, you can go anotehr 100m up to the Special Observatory. but it's a long wait for the elevator, so we just took the elevator down and left.
You can go over to 皇居(Kōkyo, The Imperial Palace), which has this massive garden around it where you can walk around; it's spacious and beautiful, with people exercising and taking pictures everywhere.
Obviously, you can't get into the palace, but just tell everyone you saw the Emperor, it's a good story.
Next, you could head to 上野動物園(Ueno Zoo), at Ueno Station. I didn't go, but a friend did, and she said it was fantastic.
You could also go to 東京カテドラル聖マリア大聖堂(St. Mary's Cathedral), which is the seat of the Roman Catholic archdiocese in Tokyo. It's a massive scary-looking building planned in the shape of a cross.
Lastly, 都庁(Tochō), The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building is worth seeing. You can go up the top, and there's an awesome view.
That is all :3
