Tokyo City Guide
Tokyo is a marvelous mix of modern living and old-fashioned manners, slick high-tech gadgets and cutesy cartoon mascots. It's terribly crowded, yet can be strangely quiet. It's home to the understated, and the wacky, and you often find them right next to each other on the sidewalk. That's the beauty of this not-so-pretty city — that, and the fabulous food and unparalleled mass transit system. There are shrines and stone lanterns and other traces of old Japan scattered among the skyscrapers, swanky shopping malls and hole-in-the-wall noodle shops. The trick is to sample it all, to visit the serene garden and the massive office tower with a sky deck. Here's how to see the loveliest — and liveliest — sides of Tokyo in in a day or two.
1. Tsukiji Fish Market
The world's largest, busiest fish market has long been a favorite destination for jet-lagged tourists with predawn hours to fill. But the main reason for going at 5 a.m. is to catch the live tuna auctions. Before you go, however, be sure to check this website to see if public access is permitted that day. If so, it will be on a first-come, first-serve basis, and limited to 120 people, admitted in two shifts of 60. You can register starting at 4:30 a.m. at the fish information center inside the Kachidoki Gate off Harumi Street. If you prefer to do your exploring at a more reasonable hour, keep in mind that by 9 a.m., business will have already started to wind down. You'll still see fishmongers filleting the day's catch, but you won't have to dodge so many trucks and trolleys.
It's been said that no visit to Tsukiji is complete without a sushi breakfast. There are plenty of sushi counters here, but to find best ones, you need to wend your way to the restaurant area near the wholesale fruit and vegetable market, just inside the main gate off Shin-ohashi Street. To get there, walk in from the gate, with the fruit and vegetable market on your right, pass the off-limits loading zone (with its stacks of polystyrene boxes) and turn left at the main road. Walk three short blocks, then turn left again down a small side street. Sushi Dai is the second shop on your right. Look for the faded green doorway curtains and very long line out front. Daiwa-Zushi, a bit farther down on the same side of the street (curtains are red), is just as good. Expect to pay between 300 and 800 yen per generously cut, amazingly fresh piece. Order the chu toro (fatty tuna). To help get your bearings, click on this map.
If the wholesale market smells too fishy for you, a less pungent alternative is Tsukiji's outer market, a warren of narrow streets packed with stalls selling fresh seafood and other specialty items, such as real wasabi. You can buy bowls and sashimi knives there too. Right in the thick of it is the reliably superb Sushizanmai's honten (main branch), open 24 hours.
2. Sumo
Forget kabuki; sumo is better theater. If you happen to be in Tokyo during one of the three grand tournaments — 15-day events in January, May and September — you can catch some of the action at Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo's National Sumo Hall. Bouts, scheduled throughout the day, usually last for just a few intense seconds (bodies lock, twist, ripple, drop) with a lot of posturing (stretching, stomping, salt-tossing) in between. Try to be inside the arena at the start of a new round, when the rikishi parade into the arena wearing ceremonial aprons over their loincloths, and sometimes a former champion demonstrates some classic moves. Note: The morning and midday contests are not usually well attended, so the hall will be quieter, the competition less stimulating, but tickets are easier to come by. Book ahead if you want to go on a Friday or Saturday evening, when the place is packed with cheering spectators who like to throw their seat cushions after a particularly heated match.