We went to Tokyo for eight days in October 2025. It was our first time in Japan. We are not really sightseeing people. We like eating and drinking and walking around and finding things, and Tokyo is probably the best city in the world for that.
We stayed at Nui. Hostel & Bar Lounge in Asakusa, or technically Kuramae, which is about a two minute walk from Kuramae station. We booked a private room because the dorms are supposedly noisy with the bar downstairs. It was about £42 a night which felt reasonable for Tokyo. The room was tiny but clean and the building itself is really nice, kind of industrial with exposed concrete and big windows. There is a cafe and bar on the ground floor which is good for a coffee in the morning. We mostly just used it for that and then headed out.
The location worked well for us. You can walk to Senso-ji in about fifteen minutes, Akihabara in twenty, Ueno in about the same. We walked everywhere for the first few days and then our feet gave up and we started using the metro more. Get a Suica card on your phone before you fly. You tap in and out and it charges the right fare. It works on every train and bus and also in convenience stores and some restaurants. We loaded about £26 each on the first day and only topped up once the whole trip.
First proper food experience was Tsukiji Outer Market. The main wholesale market moved to Toyosu a few years ago but the outer market is still open and still brilliant. We got there about quarter past seven on the second morning. Had tamagoyaki on sticks from a stall near the entrance, which is a sweet rolled omelette, about £1 each. Then we found a standing sushi counter where you point at what you want behind the glass and they make it right there. Eight pieces came to about £13. The tuna was a completely different colour to anything you get in the UK, almost translucent. We also had grilled scallops from a stall that was brushing them with soy butter while they cooked. Two for about £2.60. I would go back to Tokyo just for those scallops.
One thing to know is there are almost no bins anywhere. You buy something from a stall and you carry the rubbish around with you until you find one, which could be twenty minutes later. We started keeping a bag in my backpack for it. Annoying at first but you get used to it.
Convenience stores deserve their own section because they were a genuine surprise. Lawson, Family Mart, 7-Eleven. They are on every corner and the food in them is miles better than it has any right to be. Cal bought an egg sandwich from 7-Eleven late one night for about £1.30 and it was honestly one of the best sandwiches we had the whole trip. Fluffy white bread, perfectly seasoned egg mayo, nothing complicated but just done really well. We ended up buying breakfast from Family Mart most mornings. Onigiri are about 60p to 95p each, a coffee from the machine is about 55p. We would get those, sit on a bench, figure out what we were doing that day, and then go. If you are trying to keep costs down, the convenience stores are your best friend. We probably averaged about £3 each for breakfast.
The best meal of the trip was Omoide Yokocho in Shinjuku. It is a set of narrow alleyways right next to the station packed with about eighty tiny yakitori restaurants that seat maybe six people each. Some people call it Piss Alley, which is an old name from after the war when there were no toilets. There are toilets now. The alleyways are full of charcoal smoke and the smell carries from about fifty metres away. We went on a Wednesday at about half five because I had read that it gets very busy later on, and that turned out to be good advice. We got seats straight away at a place called Suzuya. Skewers were about 80p to £1.30 each. We had chicken thigh, chicken and leek, and a meatball one called tsukune. The chef was grilling them right in front of us. Cal had a beer, I had a lemon sour, and we just kept ordering skewers until we were full. The whole thing came to about £23 for both of us including drinks. That is about £12 each for what was easily one of the best meals of the trip. Go on a weeknight before six if you can.
Golden Gai was the other Shinjuku highlight. It is a few streets from Omoide Yokocho and it is a completely different vibe. Tiny bars, most of them seating four or five people, each with its own thing going on. Some have cover charges of about £2.60 to £5.20. We found one on the second floor up a narrow staircase where the owner spoke good English and was playing jazz records. Beers were about £3.60 each, cover was £2.60 per person. We ended up staying a couple of hours and chatting to a Japanese couple visiting from Osaka. Afterwards someone recommended a ramen place around the corner that did a niboshi broth, which is made from dried sardines. It sounded odd but it was thick and savoury and really good. About £6.80 a bowl. Cal talked about that ramen for the rest of the trip.
For cheaper meals on days we had already spent a lot on food, there are chain places everywhere that are perfectly fine. Yoshinoya does a beef bowl for about £2.60 that is filling and arrives in about three minutes. CoCo Ichibanya is a curry chain where you pick your spice level and toppings, about £4.20 for a big plate. Neither is fancy but both are good and everywhere.
We kept a running count of ramen bowls across the eight days and hit fourteen. Some were brilliant, some were fine, one was so salty I could not finish it. My favourite was a shoyu ramen from a small place in Shinjuku that I found on Google Maps. Clear golden broth, thin noodles, a soft-boiled egg that was cooked perfectly. About £5.50. Cal's favourite was the niboshi one from the Golden Gai night.
We did do some non-food things. TeamLab Planets in Toyosu is an immersive art thing where you walk barefoot through rooms with water and projections, about £17 each and worth booking in advance because it sells out. We went to Senso-ji temple early one morning before the crowds and it was really nice. Shibuya Sky has good views of the city for about £10.50 each. Harajuku and Takeshita Street are fun for about half an hour. But honestly the food was the trip. That was why we went and Tokyo is unbelievable for it.
Practical bits if you are going for the food: bring comfortable shoes because you walk far more than you expect. Get to Tsukiji early, before eight ideally. Do not queue for more than twenty minutes for any one place because there will be something just as good with no queue a couple of streets away. Use convenience stores for breakfast, it saves money and the food is better than you would think. And do Omoide Yokocho on a weeknight before six.
We flew out of Haneda which is much easier to get to from the city than Narita. Cal had a final bowl of ramen at the airport. I had an onigiri from the Family Mart at the gate.