For 91 Days in Tokyo

Adventures, anecdotes and advice from three months exploring Tokyo

For 91 Days, we lived in Tokyo, the world’s biggest city, and it went by in a flash. Three months is nowhere near long enough to experience everything this mega-city has to offer, but we made a good go of it! From pachinko parlors to palaces, we spent time in all the city’s famous districts and many which are lesser-known.

Whether you're planning your own journey to Tokyo, or just interested in seeing what makes it such a special city, our articles and photographs should help you out.

For 91 Days in Tokyo – The E-Book

For three crazy months, we dedicated our lives to exploring Tokyo. Every single morning, we'd leave our tiny apartment, hop on the subway and set off to discover something new and amazing in the world's biggest city. From sumo to kabuki, sushi to soba, gorgeous Japanese gardens, fascinating museums, distinctive neighborhoods, and wild nightlife, we tried to provide ourselves a well-rounded impression of the city... the only thing we really missed out on, was sleep!

Sayonara, Tokyo

91 days ago, we stepped out of a plane and directly onto the roof of a skyscraper, where a woman clad in a kimono was bowing to greet us. "Welcome to Tokyo! We're so glad you're here!" She beckoned us to the edge of the building, so we could gaze out upon the city's incomprehensible size. "Look at all that awaits you," she said. Then without warning, she pushed us off.

Tokyo at Night

It should come as no surprise to learn that the world's largest city lights up spectacularly at night. Whether you're in Shinjuku or Ginza, Tokyo changes completely once the sun goes down.

Sega Joypolis

It was our last day in Tokyo. Although we weren't leaving until the early evening, we had finished packing by 10am and found ourselves with time to kill. Should we go see one last museum? Take a leisurely farewell stroll through our favorite neighborhood? Or... should we scarf down a final fix of ramen and spend our last couple hours in Tokyo playing video games? Sega Joypolis, here we come!

Why Is Tokyo So Cute?

The Cute is everywhere in Tokyo, and you're not going to escape it. You shouldn't even try. This is a city with fluffy animals on every corner. Where buses prowl the streets disguised as pandas. Where every corporation and even the police force have their own charming mascot. The Cute cannot be avoided, so you might as well embrace it.

Bunkyo Azalea Festival at the Nezu Shrine

From late April to mid May, the garden of the Nezu Shrine bursts into life, as thousands of azalea bushes bloom, dabbing the green hills with their rainbow-colored foliage. This garden is over three hundred years old and contains a hundred different species of azalea.

Across and Above Lake Ashinoko

We had enjoyed a deeply restful night of sleep at the Mount View Hakone ryokan hotel in Sengokuhara, and awoke eager to tackle our second day in the mountainous Hakone region southwest of Tokyo. After an early breakfast, we were at the northern shore of Ashinoko, a picturesque crater lake nestled in the shadow of Mount Fuji.

The Mount View Hakone Ryokan Hotel

The forests, lakes, mountains and sheer natural beauty of the Hakone region are all great, but to tell the truth, we were most excited about the hotel which had invited us to stay for the night. The Mount View Hakone is a traditional Japanese ryokan in Sengokuhara, and we planned on taking full advantage of its baths, food, and relaxing atmosphere.

Escape from Tokyo: A Trip to Hakone

On our last weekend in Japan we abandoned Tokyo and headed for the hills of the Hakone National Park, in the shadow of Mount Fuji. Centered around a large crater lake, this is an area of hot springs, spas, traditional hotels, forests and mountains. It was the perfect antidote to the Big City Sickness with which we'd slowly but surely become infected.

The Shinyokohama Ramen Museum

It was 1958, and we were hungry. Luckily, we were near Narutabashi Station, where there are at least a dozen ramen shops to choose from. We sat down to big bowls of steaming noodles, and talked about the news of the day... Khrushchev seems a reasonable new leader for the Soviets, doesn't he? Then my cellphone rang and I remembered: this isn't 1958. And there is no train station called Narutabashi. The year was 2014 and we were inside Shinyokohama's Ramen Museum.