Tokyo: Between Ancient Tradition and a Future That Arrived Without Asking

Unfiltered Tokyo guide 2026: temples, neighbourhoods, ramen, hanami and teamLab. Jet lag warning included.

I went to Tokyo for the Tokyo Game Show. This is important context for everything that followed.

TGS runs four days. The first two are industry — if you know someone in game development, you can get in. The last two are open to the public: four-hour queues for ten-minute demos and a density of human beings per square metre that would make the Yamanote Line at rush hour look spacious. Perfect. That's exactly what I expected.

What I did not expect was Akihabara. I went "just for a quick look" on the first day, between the airport and the hotel. I emerged three hours later with a limited-edition collector's figure from an anime I had discovered in that exact building an hour earlier, which cost roughly the same as three nights in a hostel. No regrets. The figure sits in my studio and I see it every day and it reminds me that Tokyo has a unique ability to make you need things you didn't know existed.

That said: Senso-ji at dawn, before 7am, is one of the most peaceful experiences available in a city of 14 million people. to understand what's happening with the incense rituals and the offerings. The atmosphere before the first organised groups arrive is so quiet it contrasts so brutally with Shibuya at 11am that it barely feels like the same city.

Shibuya is the world's most famous crossing and yes, it's worth the visit if only to say you've seen it. The strategy: go up to the Starbucks in the Tsutaya building, order whatever, and watch from above as 2,500 people cross simultaneously in every possible direction. It's spontaneous choreography they've been practising for decades without ever agreeing on it.

Shinjuku Gyoen in spring (March-April, confirm dates because hanami timing varies year to year) is an impressionist canvas that justifies any detour from your itinerary. Over 1,000 cherry trees in bloom, families eating under the branches, photographers with lenses the size of telescopes. And amid all of it, surprising silence for the centre of Tokyo.

teamLab Borderless is non-negotiable, but it requires planning: because they sell out weeks ahead. It's the most impressive digital art installation I've seen, and I've been to visual arts festivals on four continents. Bring a camera, wear shoes you can easily remove, and be prepared to get genuinely lost inside the installation — that's part of the design.

The Tsukiji street food scene is the plan I'd recommend to anyone arriving hungry and without complications. is the smart way to navigate the stalls and understand what you're eating and why it costs what it costs. The train back to the hotel with the sushi still in your stomach and the list of tomorrow's good intentions already forming: that's Tokyo at its best.

Two practical notes before you arrive: hotel and café wifi works, but for unlimited data without relying on anyone, — some services have geographic restrictions in Japan and the VPN also proves useful at busier hotels. And if you're doing any adventure activities or simply travelling this far from home, — travel insurance costs considerably less than you'd expect and in Japan, medical assistance without cover can be expensive.