Tokyo Attractions

Tokyo does not have a short list of must-see monuments in the way Paris or Rome does, and trying to treat it that way produces a disappointing trip.

There are a handful of set pieces — Senso-ji, the Meiji shrine, the Shibuya crossing, the Imperial Palace gardens, the observation decks — and they are worth doing, most of them free or nearly so.

But the city’s real attraction is neighbourhood texture: picking an area, walking it, and finding what is on the third floor of an ordinary building. The interesting things in Tokyo are usually small, specific and not on a list.

Museums are strong and underrated — the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno, the Edo-Tokyo architectural museum, the Nezu, the teamLab digital installations.

Popular attractions with timed tickets, including teamLab and the Ghibli Museum, sell out weeks ahead.