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The obvious question here is, Why would you want to do Tokyo in one day!? I went to Japan on a family summer tour of a number of cities. The schedule was rapid-paced, covering numerous cities in the span of only seven days. Tokyo happened to be city number one. We didn’t plan to arrive in Tokyo early, but instead we opted to extend our stay at the end of the tour. If you find yourself in this type of situation (in Tokyo for only a day or two), here is what I did with my one day, along with some tips.

Start Your Day Early

I woke up at 5 am to ensure I’d be able to grab a quick snack and shower before meeting up with Ed Lau. Our plan was to head out to the Tsukiji Fish Market for a one-of-a-kind epic sushi breakfast.

When you’re on a fast-paced schedule, you can’t waste time lying around…er…sleeping! This was good too since Ed and I ended up getting slightly lost on our way there. Nothing we couldn’t handle. Besides, sometimes getting lost is the fun part! Just remember to give yourself enough time in case you do.

Research Your Transportation

The getting lost part leads to my next tip: make sure you research your transportation to your best ability. Some cities are walking-only cities, some are car-only cities (Los Angeles for the most part), some have good public transportation, and some have the most advanced public transportation you’ll ever see in your life (i.e. Japan!). Taking public transportation in Tokyo means you should know which train to get on, how to find your stop, which side of the station to exit, and which direction to head. The hardest part is finding the right train in which direction since there can be a number of different trains on different platforms leaving from any one station.

Ed and I had the problem of heading the wrong direction out of the station. This can be a problem if you’re not too keen on reading maps. The huge maps next to the train stations don’t always point North and South according to the top and the bottom of the map (North may be pointing 20 degrees to the left, for instance, which is indicated), so make sure you have a map on hand to compare direction.

I don’t know what I would’ve done without Ed. I definitely would have studied the system more, but I’m glad he had a few weeks to figure it out for me In Japan, however, once you’ve figured out the system it’s pretty much a piece of cake after that.

Create Your Game Plan

One of the biggest time savers is already having an idea of what you want to do or see when you’re in Tokyo. I don’t need to tell you that there are endless possibilities, so make your plan beforehand and commit to it.

As for myself, since I love food, my day mainly revolved around meals and filling in the time between meals with shopping. Therefore, I had to secure lunch and dinner and the rest was icing on the cake! Ed and I had planned to eat at Sushi Dai in the fish market (line in front of entrance shown left), which he heard was the best restaurant there, then head to Harajuku for some fun shopping. Sounded good to me. We got to the market by 9 am and waited in line for two hours. Feel free to read about the entire adventure here.

It was definitely worth the wait. Some of the items I’d never had before, like clam, uni (sea urchin), swordfish, and shiraebi (baby shrimp). Each one had a unique flavor and texture that I won’t be able to find here in terms of freshness, but that’s OK. This adventure hasn’t ruined sushi for me, just given me a newfound appreciation for it! If you find yourself at an amazing sushi restaurant, go ahead and let the chef choose the items if you feel up to it. We ordered the “Trust the chef” set, as it is actually called. Check out this video that Ed put together:

After our epic sushi adventure and Harajuku/Shibuya scramble (post and pictures to come), I headed back to my hotel to meet up with my college friend Asuka for dinner. Being from Japan, she was gracious enough to locate an izakaya for us called DDSK just a couple train stops from my hotel. Izakaya is basically a Japanese pub restaurant where you can drink and eat small plates, sort of like Spanish tapas but Japanese style.

How we ended up there was interesting. She chose two restaurants, both of which were full (remember, most of the good restaurants are pretty small). The second restaurant suggested we try their sister restaurant which was next door and down a stairwell. We were assured we could order their yakitori (grilled appetizers) from there. Awesome. And if you weren’t looking for it, you wouldn’t find it…my kind of place. We descended down the steep path to find a quaintly dark and narrow room. One table, a small bar, and a private room with space for a small dinner party. That’s it.

DDSK Tokyo, near Shimbashi Station

Variety of fresh sashimi

DDSK’s version of the “trust the chef” yakitori set, which Asuka requested. Grilled chicken parts: thigh, skin, gizzards, cartilage, breast, and liver. Oishi!

We ordered two additional dishes which I forgot to snap pictures of. The first was a tofu sample dish with two types of fresh tofu: regular and peanut. Yep, that’s right, peanut tofu is a regional specialty of Okinawa and is served up at DDSK. It had a sweet, pasty quality to it, sort of like peanut butter custard. It was outstanding. The regular tofu was so incredibly fresh, I would visit DDSK just for the tofu, it was that amazing. The second dish was a grilled cod, which was also cooked to perfection.

Be Adventurous About Food

When I travel, experiencing different cultures (even in different States) means trying new foods I hadn’t thought of trying before. Being closed off to another culture’s food means rejecting their most essential bond. I try to take an Andrew Zimmern approach when traveling (although I don’t seek out the bizarre) — trying everything at least twice before making my final judgment. My best tip when traveling is to try to be open when it comes to food. You never know, you just might end up loving chicken liver!

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