Travel Tokyo - Seeking assistance prioritizing

[Braverman310]

My wife and I are headed to Tokyo this weekend! We could not be much more excited!!! We have about 2 and a half days in Tokyo when we arrive (we head to Hakone, Kyoto, Osaka and a few other places) and about 1 and a half days as we leave. I've only heard good things and we love *in this order* food, some shopping, culture, craftsmanship and history! I've made a list of things we are interested in but I know we have too much to see and not enough time to see it all.

We need help...If anyone can help letting us know which we
*Must Visit,
*Should Visit
*If we have time and its' near visit
(which are the greatest places to visit (I know it's subjective) AND the order (best route) in which to do the following...)

Thanks in advance for any help

Western Central Tokyo[/U]

• Harajuku
• Shinjuko Gyoen beautful garden details 新宿御苑[/U]
• Meiji-jingu Shrine 明治神宮
  [*]Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building 東京都庁
  [*]Owl bars and various bunny bars (Rabbit and grow fat) Ra.a.g.f Rabbit Café 原宿店 ma
  [*]Shinjuku Station 新宿駅
  [*]Shinjuku Places to Eat section for recommendations.
  [*]Shinjuku's Takashimaya - Food.
  [*]Yoyogi Park Details
  [*]Kizuna Sushi - Trip advisor all you can eat
  [*]Isetan stores. Shopping
  [*]Takeshita Street. Quirk shopping - good food - walk street
  [*]Omotesando High end shopping and food.
  [*]Park Hyatt - NY Bar
  

• Owl Cafe
  [*]Nezu Museum and tea area and gardens
  

• Take the train or subway to Shibuya. explore this retail paradise.
• Some options Shibuya district page Places to Eat section.
• Dinner and drinks in Ebisu Details

• Tokyo Tower Details The upper deck (250m) of Tokyo Tower is currently closed for renovation until summer 2017.
• Take train to Roppongi and visit the Roppongi Hills complex to get a view over the city.
• Eat dinner in Roppongi? Roppongi district Places to Eat section & nightlife sections.

Near Roppongi

• Ise Sueyoshi 伊勢すえよし

The quintessential meal of Japan is kaiseki, a lengthy dinner. At Hinokizaka, on the 45th floor of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel iAkasaka section, one evening’s kaiseki menu, at 12,000 yen,

Eastern Central Tokyo

• Tsukiji Market 築地市場 Details
• Ginza - High end shops details
• Yurakucho
• East Gardens of the Imperial Palace.
• Edo-Tokyo Museum in Ryogoku edo-tokyo-museum.or.jp; admission 600 yen)\
• Tokyo National Museum in Ueno. - Great Wave - Hokusai
• Asakusa. Tokyo Skytree night view. Tokyo Travel: Asakusa

From Hinode Pier at the edge of Tokyo Bay, take a cruise into the heart of the city on the Sumida River, (Tokyo Cruise; 81-3-0120-977311; suijobus.co.jp; 760 yen.) When your boat docks in the old riverfront district of Asakusa, join crowds pouring toward Sensoji, a Buddhist temple founded in the seventh century.from down river.

Tokyo station options map
Walk from Tokyo Station to the Imperial Palace East Garden. Exit via the Kitahanebashi-mon, walk north through Kitanomaru-koen Park and visit Yasukuni-jinja Shrine and the interesting Yushukan Museum. For details on this area, see my Imperial Palace Area page.

• Ginza (upscale shopping galleries etc) Details of area
• Take the Ginza subway entrance line to Ueno. Details of Ueno visit the park and the museums.
• Take the train to Tokyo Station. Eat lunch in or around Tokyo Station. See the Tokyo Station Area Places to Eat section for some picks.
• Visit the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum the Bridgestone Museum of Art.
• Return to your hotel for a nap and a shower.
• Eat dinner in Shinjuku, Ginza, Marunouchi or someplace close to your hotel.
• If you've still got the energy, go out for a drink in a place like Roppongi, Shinjuku or Shibuya.

North East

• Visit Senso-ji Temple Details 浅草寺

Sensoji Temple's pagoda is being renovated through September 2017 and covered up by scaffolding. However, the works have only a minor impact on a visit to the temple.and nearby Asakusa-jinja Shrine. 浅草神社audiovisual attack in Akihabara, gamers/fans of anime, geeks In Don Quijote (4-3-3 Kanda, Chiyoda-ku; donki.com), a store that seems to sell everything, take the elevator to the eighth floor and work your way back down to the street, floor by floor. Akihabara - electric town.

• Asakusa (浅草) is the center of Tokyo's shitamachi (literally "low city"), one of Tokyo's districts, where an atmosphere of the Tokyo of past decades survives. Details MAP

Ueno Station area
Ameyoko Shopping Street details 1 and 2
(further north) Yanaka (谷中) is one of the few districts in Tokyo where the shitamachi atmosphere, an old town ambience reminiscent of Tokyo from past decades, still survives. Nearly residential

 

[Majestic]

Well you've got quite a lot there, so its hard to go through and shift all of that around into a manageable schedule. Its enough to fill a small book - in fact, something like Lonely Planet comes to mind. A lot of these are in the Harajuku/Omotesando area. Actually Harajuku is the name of the train station that is closest to Meiji-jingu shrine, so I would start there and then work your way to Nezu Museum (taking a very slight diversion down Takeshita dori, and then getting back on Omotesando).

Meiji-jingu
Harajuku
Takeshita-dori
Owl/Cat Bar
Omotesando
Nezu Museum

Maybe also see the Ota Ukiyoe Museum in Harajuku/Omotesando. Spend some time at Omotesando Hills (a posh shopping mall on Omotesando). This could easily fill a day.

 

[mdchachi]

• Harajuku <== yes, especially if you can go on a Sunday morning.
• Shinjuko Gyoen beautful garden details 新宿御苑 <== skip unless the sakura are in bloom.
  
• Meiji-jingu Shrine 明治神宮 <== You can safely skip temples & gardens since you'll be going to Kyoto.
  [*]Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building 東京都庁 <== Worth it only for the free view. But don't go if the weather is poor or you're going to Tokyo Sky Tree.
  [*]Owl bars and various bunny bars <== sure, why not?
  [*]Shinjuku Station 新宿駅 <== Yes. You'll likely be going through here anyway. Make sure to view the Beastie Boys Intergalactic video before you go.
  [*]Shinjuku Places to Eat section for recommendations. <== Lots of good places to eat near here. But not mandatory.
  [*]Shinjuku's Takashimaya - Food. <== Yes but any large department store would be an acceptable substitute.
  [*]Yoyogi Park Details <== no need to go inside the park unless something is in bloom.
  [*]Kizuna Sushi - Trip advisor all you can eat <== Looks good.
  [*]Isetan stores. Shopping <== Yes but any large department store would be an acceptable substitute.
  [*]Takeshita Street. Quirk shopping - good food - walk street <== Yes, better for people watching than actual shopping.
  [*]Omotesando High end shopping and food. <== Not worth a special trip but certainly if you're nearby yes. You can walk there from Harajuku. Make sure to check out Kiddy Land and Oriental Bazaar.
  [*]Park Hyatt - NY Bar <== You can skip unless you're a big movie fan. Or are staying near there.

==> Not familiar with Owl Cafe. You might want to skip the museum if you will be visiting locales heavy on the culture in Kansai. I wouldn't make a special trip to Shibuya or Ebisu or Roppongi if there's nothing specific you want to see there. There are plenty of food options all over the city. Skip Tokyo Tower of course.

• 
  
  • Owl Cafe
    [*]Nezu Museum and tea area and gardens

• 
  
  • Take the train or subway to Shibuya. explore this retail paradise.
  • Some options Shibuya district page Places to Eat section.
  • Dinner and drinks in Ebisu Details

• 
  
  • Tokyo Tower Details The upper deck (250m) of Tokyo Tower is currently closed for renovation until summer 2017.
  • Take train to Roppongi and visit the Roppongi Hills complex to get a view over the city.
  • Eat dinner in Roppongi? Roppongi district Places to Eat section & nightlife sections.

Near Roppongi

• 
  
  • Ise Sueyoshi 伊勢すえよし

The quintessential meal of Japan is kaiseki, a lengthy dinner. At Hinokizaka, on the 45th floor of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel iAkasaka section, one evening’s kaiseki menu, at 12,000 yen,

=> Tsukiji is certainly worth seeing. Make sure to check the schedules and that it's not an off day. And go very early. (So sometimes it's best to go first if jet lag is getting you up early anyway.) Skip the palace gardens. I would also skip that whole Tokyo station area walking tour. Museums could take a lot of time. Just depends on you. Skip the Sky Tree if the weather is poor of course. If Sensoji is covered in scaffolding and you're going to Kyoto anyway you can skip it. It does have a unique (souvenir) shopping arcade leading up to it though. Ameyoko-cho is definitely worth walking through. From Ueno to Okachimachi along the train tracks.

Eastern Central Tokyo

• 
  
  • Tsukiji Market 築地市場 Details
  • Ginza - High end shops details
  • Yurakucho
  • East Gardens of the Imperial Palace.
  • Edo-Tokyo Museum in Ryogoku edo-tokyo-museum.or.jp; admission 600 yen)\
  • Tokyo National Museum in Ueno. - Great Wave - Hokusai
  • Asakusa. Tokyo Skytree night view. Tokyo Travel: Asakusa

From Hinode Pier at the edge of Tokyo Bay, take a cruise into the heart of the city on the Sumida River, (Tokyo Cruise; 81-3-0120-977311; suijobus.co.jp; 760 yen.) When your boat docks in the old riverfront district of Asakusa, join crowds pouring toward Sensoji, a Buddhist temple founded in the seventh century.from down river.

Tokyo station options map
Walk from Tokyo Station to the Imperial Palace East Garden. Exit via the Kitahanebashi-mon, walk north through Kitanomaru-koen Park and visit Yasukuni-jinja Shrine and the interesting Yushukan Museum. For details on this area, see my Imperial Palace Area page.

• 
  
  
  • Ginza (upscale shopping galleries etc) Details of area
  • Take the Ginza subway entrance line to Ueno. Details of Ueno visit the park and the museums.
  • Take the train to Tokyo Station. Eat lunch in or around Tokyo Station. See the Tokyo Station Area Places to Eat section for some picks.
  • Visit the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum the Bridgestone Museum of Art.
  • Return to your hotel for a nap and a shower.
  • Eat dinner in Shinjuku, Ginza, Marunouchi or someplace close to your hotel.
  • If you've still got the energy, go out for a drink in a place like Roppongi, Shinjuku or Shibuya.

North East

• 
  
  
  • Visit Senso-ji Temple Details 浅草寺

Sensoji Temple's pagoda is being renovated through September 2017 and covered up by scaffolding.

• 
  
  
  • Asakusa (浅草) is the center of Tokyo's shitamachi (literally "low city"), one of Tokyo's districts, where an atmosphere of the Tokyo of past decades survives. Details MAP

Ueno Station area
Ameyoko Shopping Street details 1 and 2
(further north) Yanaka (谷中) is one of the few districts in Tokyo where the shitamachi atmosphere, an old town ambience reminiscent of Tokyo from past decades, still survives. Nearly residential

 

[mdchachi]

Also make sure to make time for the cherry blossom viewing opportunities. Many places suddenly become very appealing and photogenic to visit during the one or two weeks that the cherries are in bloom. I think Tokyo might be better for you given your schedule. But check online for blooming forecasts for the places you are visiting.