Tokyo has sushi restaurants everywhere. It also has plenty of sightseeing buses. Someone has now decided to combine the two. The new SUSHI BUS Tokyo is a double-decker sightseeing bus fitted with a working conveyor-belt sushi lane on the upper deck. Passengers eat unlimited sushi while the bus travels through central Tokyo, turning what would … Read more
If you have a long layover, late arrival or early flight at Haneda Airport, you don’t necessarily need to travel into Tokyo just to find somewhere to sleep. Haneda has a capsule-style hotel inside Terminal 1, an airside transit hotel in Terminal 3, plus other airport hotels and rest options. The main capsule-style option is … Read more
A long layover at Narita Airport doesn’t necessarily mean spending the night sleeping upright in an airport chair. Narita has a capsule hotel directly connected to Terminal 2, along with showers and short-stay nap rooms inside the airport. For most travellers needing a proper overnight sleep, the main option is Nine Hours Narita Airport, a … Read more
Tokyo has one of the most respected cocktail scenes in the world. Behind anonymous basement doors, inside luxury hotels and several floors above busy streets, some of the world’s most recognised bartenders are producing drinks that attract cocktail enthusiasts from around the globe. But which Tokyo bars have actually won awards or appeared in major … Read more
Tokyo might be the best city in the world for discovering bars you would never find by accident. Some are hidden behind unmarked doors. Others sit several floors above busy streets with almost no indication of what is inside. There are basement cocktail dens, tiny drinking counters, speakeasies and bars disguised as something completely different. … Read more
January is one of the most distinctive times to travel in Japan. Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka are cold but often relatively dry, while Hokkaido, the Japanese Alps and the Sea of Japan side of the country can be covered in deep snow. It is also a month with two very different personalities. The first few … Read more
Finding good sushi in Shinjuku is easy. Choosing the right restaurant is harder. Around Shinjuku Station you can spend less than ¥2,000 on a casual sushi lunch, visit a conveyor-belt restaurant, sit at a traditional counter or spend more than ¥10,000 on a full omakase experience. That makes Shinjuku particularly useful for travellers because you … Read more
Shinjuku is one of the best places to eat in Tokyo. The challenge isn’t finding restaurants. It’s choosing between the thousands of places packed around Shinjuku Station, Kabukicho, Shinjuku-sanchome and Nishi-Shinjuku. You can eat excellent ramen for around ¥1,000–¥2,000, try tonkatsu or udon for lunch, spend the evening grilling Japanese beef or book a much … Read more
Shibuya has thousands of places to eat. That’s both the good news and the problem. Around Shibuya Crossing alone, you’ll find everything from ¥1,000 ramen and fast sushi to wagyu yakiniku, shabu-shabu and expensive omakase. If it’s your first time in Tokyo, choosing where to eat can quickly become overwhelming. This guide covers the best … Read more
Ordering drinks in Japan is much easier than it can seem before your first visit. You don’t need to speak fluent Japanese or memorise complicated sentences. In most bars, restaurants and izakayas, a few simple phrases — combined with pointing at the menu when needed — are enough to order confidently. If you only learn … Read more