10 Things To Love About Tokyo | Japan

Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is a world unto itself or as some like call it a concrete jungle. It’s a restless city with endless activities for both, adults and kids. Tokyo has so much to offer that there is no way you won’t find an event or place to see that you won’t like. And it’s not only this that will make you love this incredible city. If you’re not convinced yet, here are 10 things to love about  Tokyo.

10 Things To Love About Tokyo

It was quite hard to narrow it down as I have an absolute crush on Tokyo since my first trip there in 2012 but I did it!

Also, if you’re planning a trip to Tokyo, you may want to take a look at my in-depth Tokyo Travel Guide to help you out.

 

#1 The cleanness

This city is squeaky clean, and it’s honestly EXTRA DUPPER SUPER lovely, to be honest. I have honestly never seen in my life, anywhere in Europe at least, such clean public transportation, public toilets (imagine this for a second, clean public toilet, it’s real I’m telling you) clean streets and so on. They take such good care of their infrastructures; it’s crazy I think some big cities could use some of this as an inspiration!

Recycling is also essential in Japan so thumbs up to this. There’s rubbish sometimes obviously, but it’s so little that you hardly notice it.

Okay, except if you’re coming out of bars/pubs at 5/6am in Shibuya or wherever else then it’s not so clean as it’s when the trashes are taken out but it’s in the process of being clean, so, yay to this. And just like any others big cities they might some areas that are overlooked.

#2 The public transports

It’s safe to say that if you ever took the public transportation in Paris, you know how much of a nightmare it can be, and if you don’t then trust my words, as a daily Parisian commuter, I can assure you it can be painful.

Tokyo’s subway is on a whole other level, it’s modern, extremely clean (some staff were cleaning the column of the station one day) and the best thing is, it is so RELIABLE. They are always on time!

However now there’s one con as nothing can ever be always perfect, it’s quite expensive.

#3 The Food

Naturally, I couldn’t write a 10 Things to Love about Tokyo without mentioning food. I think it’s impossible to say Tokyo/Japan without even including food. And I’m pretty sure most of us love to eat our way across a country!

Plus, you can find so many cheap street foods, it’s effortless to eat correctly in Tokyo without breaking the budget

I wrote an exhaustive list of 10 foods you need to try in Tokyo/Japan here on my Ultimate Tokyo Travel  Guide!

#4 Konbini/ Vending Machines

Feeling a little hungry in the middle of the night? Don’t you worry you won’t have to wait until the next morning you can pop by one of the countless konbini to get a snack or more if you feel like having an onigiri or whatever you fancy at that moment, no one will judge you.

#5 Restaurants

Restaurants are pretty different than your usual restaurants in the western world, I mean not entirely but there are undoubtedly some unusual yet super cool features such as the following ones:

• Food Display – before you enter any restaurants most of them have plastics foods displayed in their front windows so even if you have no idea what’s written if it’s entirely in Japanese you can still pretty much know what they serve! It comes in handy to pick a restaurant quickly.
• Machine to Order – In some restaurants, you can order directly outside from a device then all you have to do is to pick a seat/be seated and hand over your ticket, and the food will be brought to you shortly after.
• Call Button – Most restaurants have a call button on the table, which means unless you call for a waiter you got all the time you want to choose from the menu! Also if you need something, it’s much smoother with the call button, no need to spend minutes trying to catch the attention of a waiter – perfect!

Also, in Japan tipping is not a thing. It’s super easy to eat and order in restaurants in Tokyo even as a foreigner so no worries!

Some useful posts about Tokyo and Japan:

• Day Trip To Nara 
• Attending A Concert In Japan 
• Themed Restaurants In Tokyo 
• A quick guide to Disneyland Tokyo
• Day Trip: Hiking Mt Takao

BOOK A TRIP TO TOKYO

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#6 Modern Toilet

Yes, modern toilet. You read this right. Toilets in Tokyo and Japan are a bit more elaborated than your usual toilets.

By this, I mean that, if you use them you can drop the toilets paper as with those toilets as they do the washing of both your front and rear, seat warming and deodorisation. Most people I talked to either love it or hate it. I think it’s a bit weird but not so bad. However, whether you like it or not the heated seat is an excellent feature in my opinion.

Some toilets even lift the lid by themselves when you step into the room (which frightened me as I stepped into Pompompurin restaurants toilets in Harajuku).

 

This being said, what’s crazy is that while there some of the most technological toilet you can also find in some station toilets from what I would refer as an old toilet, by this I mean squat toilets. Maybe it’s just me, but I hate this kind of bathroom.

#7 Game Center

Tokyo is full of Game Center; you can find them in pretty much every hot spot. They offer a lot of different kind of games, and there’s also UFO catcher there, with stuffed toys, figurines or even foods!

They got a relaxed vibe to them, even if you don’t particularly like the video game or arcade it’s something you need to experience once! You can have plenty of fun there!

Usually, you can also find Purikura machines there, which, wait for it, is something you need to try as well!

Purikura Machines are pretty much photobooth, but you get to select a background, have your skin smothered to the moon and back, big aliens eyes (although you can choose the size) and very lanky members and decorated it at the end with stickers, doodles or writing. So, now that might you sounds the silliest thing to do, but it’s an excellent way to keep memories as the pictures come out as stickers and sometimes the outcome is pretty funny. There’s a wide range of machine offering different templates, backgrounds and so on!

#8 Perfect blend of modernity and traditionalism

It is well known that Japan and not only Tokyo is a country that despite being utterly modern has kept a lot of its culture and tradition. And it especially shows within the architecture of the country.
Even in big cities like Tokyo, it’s not only into a specific dedicated area that you can see bribe from the past, if you pay attention to details, it’s everywhere.
One minute you could be walking on a busy street, and a minute later you could find yourself in a Temple/Shrine.

As it is the case near the Tokyo Tower for example, with Zozo-ji!

#9 The Temples and Shrines

Following on with the what I said above, Japan is a country where Shintoism and Buddhism plays a large part in the culture so it’s not unusual to find shrine and temples in places you’d expect the least. Tokyo might be a big busy city, but there’s still around temples there!

Asakusa is the traditional part of Tokyo. This is where you can expect some beautiful temple/shrine and also tons of fantastic souvenir shops with craft items.

Each temple has their architecture and decorations, those religious places play an essential role in the Japanese life, and are honestly a delight to visit for travellers.

#10 Nature

I suppose that when you think of big cities nature isn’t the first thing you’d think about; however, nature is well present in Tokyo you can find countless great parks there.

The most famous parks in Tokyo are the following one, they’re all perfect for a picnic, strolling around or enjoy the cherry blossoms in Spring:

Or you could even go on a hike in Tokyo if you decide to take a day trip to Mt Takao as I did. It was one of the highlights of my last trip; it’s such a tremendous cheap activity. Also, excellent cardio to burn off the calories from all the yummy foods you ate!

And that’s a wrap on my 10 Things To Love About Tokyo! This list could go on and on, although I feel like I covered which, in my opinion, are the most loveable things about Tokyo.

Have you ever been to Tokyo? If so tell me what the thing you loved the most about this city was?

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Enjoy,
Lyne

 

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