Navigating the chaos that is Tokyo, Japan

How long should I stay?
I would say 3-4 days would be more than enough time to get a ‘taste’ of Tokyo, because you’ll never truly be able to do everything in this huge city. You’ll find you can pack a lot into those few days, especially as the public transport is so goddamn phenomenal.

Public transport
Speaking of public transport, you absolutely must experience the train system in Tokyo. It’s incredible. If you miss your train, the next one basically arrives 90 seconds later - it’s like magic. It seems to always be busy; and weekends and peak hours are manic, but somehow it works in a type of “organised chaos”.

Bullet trains
Then there are the bullet trains. They reach speeds of about 500km/h and whizz throughout Japan. We caught ours from Nagano Station to Tokyo and the journey across the country barely took a couple of hours. It was definitely a bucket list item ticked off, to ride on the Shinkansen. It’s pretty easy to get tickets for this on the day of your departure, but you just have to get the next available. It does mean you could be waiting at the train station for an hour or two, if you don't pre-book. Alternatively, you can just book in advance, if you know you have to be at a certain place, at a certain time.

Where should I stay?
Given my earlier points about the excellent public transport, you could almost stay anywhere near the centre of Tokyo, and still be able to reach everything. However, we stayed at Shibuya both times and would recommend a place right near the train station. Because it does get chaotic in this area, the closer to the station, the better, so you’re not lugging luggage through these crowds.

We picked an Airbnb the first time, but the second time around, stayed at ‘All Day Place’ and really rated it, particularly for value for money. The only problem was the room was quite small and we could barely fit our suitcase down beside the bed. But I’d comfortably say that’s a common problem around most of Japan.

The other argument for staying in Shibuya, is that it’s close enough to walk to places like Harajuku, and anything further than that is easily accessible by a 150Yen train (around $1.50AUD depending on the conversion). It’s also out of the craziness that is Shinjuku. Alternatively, Harajuku is also a great district for that reason. It’s central to a lot of the main attractions, but a little less chaotic.

But if you want to be in the thick of it all, then Shinjuku is where it’s at. It has so much going on, at all hours of the day and night, I didn’t know where to look. Everything from dance battles in the gaming rooms, to dark alleyways in Golden Gai, full of dingy bars, to the blinding billboards that light up the whole area. (In fairness, there are A LOT of billboards in Tokyo, not just here).

Things I found interesting about Japan / Japanese culture

1.The whole place is very clean. It’s wonderful to see everyone be so respectful enough of the place that they live in, that they don’t litter.

2.There aren’t any bins, which seems counterintuitive to keeping a clean area, but it doesn’t matter - the Japanese take their rubbish with them until they can eventually dispose of it.

3.The Japanese don’t tend to ‘walk and eat’ very often, as it’s considered rude, so it makes take out really hard to do. They sit down and eat or drink, before getting up and going about their business.

4.The Japanese largely stick to the left when they’re on stairs and elevators, so people who need to get by quickly, can do so. So don’t take up the width of the elevator by standing next to each other - stand orderly in the queue, like the rest of the locals.

5. There are vending machine everywhere - for everything.