Visit Gotokuji Temple and Stand Among Thousands of Lucky CatsTrek out to Gotokuji temple in sleepy Setagaya and stand among the thousands of white beckoning cats left by pilgrims. Make a wish, then quietly admit you came for the cats.Hidden GemMedium1 hr 15 min
Squeeze Into Drunkard's AlleyFind Nonbei Yokocho, a row of matchbox bars wedged under the train tracks in Shibuya. Perch at a counter built for four, order a highball, and become a regular for one night.Local DetailEasy1 hr
Eat a Cat-Tail Doughnut in YanakaWander old-town Yanaka and buy a doughnut shaped like a cat's tail. Eat it strolling the low-rise lanes that somehow survived a century of Tokyo demolishing itself.Food & DrinkEasy45 min
Lose to a Vending MachineFeed coins into the 500-plus machines at Akihabara Gachapon Hall until you win something gloriously useless, like a tiny bathhouse or a cat doing yoga. Walk away pretending it was the one you wanted.WeirdEasy20 min
Buy a Chilled BananaHunt down the Dole banana vending machine by Shibuya Station's Hanzomon line exit, where single bananas wait at a crisp 13 degrees. Buy one. Eat it solemnly. Tell no one why.WeirdEasy15 min
Get Anime Eyes in a BoothCram into a booth at Purikura Land NOA off Takeshita Street, let the machine inflate your eyes and airbrush your soul, then doodle on the prints. Emerge with stickers of a slightly improved you.Photo HuntEasy30 min
Date Night at the Parasite MuseumVisit the free Meguro Parasitological Museum and meet the 8.8-metre tapeworm everyone talks about. Browse the gift shop for merch you will absolutely regret buying.Rainy DayEasy40 min
Shop a Street With No TouristsStroll Togoshi Ginza, a long shopping street of hundreds of shops where you may be the only foreigner all day. Buy a croquette from a butcher and eat it like you belong here.CultureEasy1 hr
Burrow Into Nerd HeavenGet lost in Nakano Broadway, a faded mall stacked with vintage manga, obscure figurines and one suspiciously expensive robot. Find the weirdest thing and resist buying it.ActiveMedium1 hr 15 min
Crunch a CricketTrack down the insect vending machine at Ueno's Ameyoko market and commit to a bag of crunchy crickets or, if you are feeling bold, a scorpion. It tastes like a dare and a corn chip had a baby.SocialBold20 min
Run the Imperial Palace loop at dawnJoin Tokyo's serious runners on the flat 5km counter-clockwise lap around the Imperial Palace moat, palace always to your left, no traffic lights to break your stride. Show up around 6am and you'll be trading polite head-bows with salarymen and Olympians alike.ActiveMedium45 min
Run the Hidden Dirt Track in Yoyogi ParkSkip the pavement and find the hard-packed dirt loop the local runners carved themselves along the park's outer fence, softer on the knees and slightly hilly. Go early on a weekday before the picnic blankets and the Sunday rockabilly dancers claim the lawns.ActiveEasy40 min
Ride the snail monorail up Asukayama hillClimb the world's possibly shortest, slowest passenger monorail, a two-minute crawl nicknamed Asukarugo for looking exactly like an escargot. It's free, stroller-friendly, and at the top you'll find playgrounds plus retired steam trains for the kids to clamber over.FamilyEasy30 min
Find the Giant Slide Hidden Behind Shinjuku's SkyscrapersTucked behind the skyscrapers sits a free retro playground with a giant slide and a toddler-only zone, plus a lawn to flop on. In July and August the splash pad opens, and a guard literally checks the slide temperature so nobody scorches their legs.FamilyEasy50 min
Watch jets thunder overhead at Jonanjima Seaside ParkSpread out on the grass at this breezy bayside park right under Haneda's flight path and count the planes roaring in to land just above your heads. Bring a kite, dig in the sand, and let the kids gasp at every jumbo that screams past.FamilyEasy1 hr