Top Things To Do In Tokyo In 1 Day

Short on time in Tokyo? Tokyo is one of the largest metropolitan on Earth, so it’s pretty much impossible to see all of Tokyo in one day. But, you can cover a lot of the main attractions. Here are the top things to do in Tokyo in 1 day, including Tokyo Tower, Shibuya Crossing, temples, shrines, transportation tips and more.

We only spent one day in Tokyo proper during our weeklong Tokyo Disneyland trip, and this Tokyo day trip itinerary left us feeling totally satisfied with our one day in the city. Obviously, adjust your one day in Tokyo as necessary depending on your trip group size, whether your traveling with children, sleep needs, etc. We were only traveling as a couple, which made completing this face-paced itinerary much easier than if we had kids.

Table of Contents

Kaminari Mon

You’ll want to start your one day in Tokyo bright and early. We woke up at 5:00 a.m. because we were staying outside of Tokyo proper closer to Tokyo Disneyland. But, if you’re staying near these things to do in Tokyo in 1 day, you may get by with sleeping in another hour or so. Either way, you’ll want to get an early start to see as much of Tokyo as possible.

First, we took the metro to Kaminari mon, located in the Asakusa district of Tokyo. The Tokyo metro is fairly easy to navigate with Google Maps if you’re familiar with navigating public transportation in large cities. You can easily tap to pay for Tokyo’s public transportation by adding the Suica card to your Apple Wallet and preloading money to your Suica card before your trip. I preloaded each of our Suica cards with 4000 yen before our seven day trip to get us started. If needed, you can easily reload more money with Apple Pay.

Kaminari mon, meaning “thunder gate,” is the iconic entrance gate to the Senso-ji Temple (more on this next) that features a huge traditional red paper lantern hanging in the center. Expect heavy crowds here — as well as most of Tokyo’s main attractions. However, despite the crowds, the gate is certainly worth the visit on your way to the next two things to do in Tokyo in 1 day. Pro tip: if you want the best chance at a photo of Kaminari mon without crowds in the background, walk to one of the sides of the temple instead of taking a photo straight on.

Nakamisa Shopping Street

Next, you’ll walk toward Senso-ji Temple via Nakamise Shopping Street. Nakamise Shopping Street is a great place to purchase souvenirs and street food. We wound up having some type of delicious fried meat street food here for breakfast, but there is a variety of street food — both sweet and savory — to choose from. The view in front of you as you walk Nakamise is the famed Senso-ji Temple, which is your next stop on this Tokyo one day itinerary.

Senso-ji Temple

Senso-ji Temple is the oldest and most famous Buddhist temple in Tokyo. Upon arrival to Senso-ji from Nakamise Shopping Street, you have the opportunity to buy and burn incense if you wish. Then, explore the temple grounds. The temple grounds feature the temple itself, a beautiful five-story pagoda, views of Kaminari mon and paper fortunes. Visiting the temple is free, as is visiting Kaminari mon and the shopping street.

Although, I highly recommend paying the 100 yen (cash only) to pick a paper fortune. Picking our fortunes was one of the most fun things we did during our one day in Tokyo. All you have to do is drop your 100 yen into the coin box, shake the fortune sticks in their metal container, draw a stick, and find the paper fortune that correlates with the number on your stick. These paper fortune stations are scattered all around the temple, so you shouldn’t have to wait in line long or at all.

Tokyo Tower

A day in Tokyo wouldn’t be complete without paying a visit to the iconic Tokyo Tower. Around 10:30 a.m., take the metro toward Tokyo Tower. I would recommend forgoing a trip to the top of Tokyo Tower to save time. However, seeing the tower from below is certainly worth the quick metro stop. For a quieter, less crowded view of Tokyo Tower, I suggest walking down one of the smaller side streets near the tower. We walked down the single lane street across from Maple Waterfall, and we had a spectacular, crowd-less view of Tokyo Tower.

After taking your Tokyo Tower photos, grab a quick konbini (convenience store) lunch at a nearby 7/11, Lawson or FamilyMart if you’re short on time. Alternatively, if you’re doing well on time, you can take the metro to Takeshita Street for exciting Japanese street food, such as glazed candied strawberries, giant rainbow cotton candy, crepes, fried potato snacks, mozzarella sticks and more. Then, by around 2:00 p.m., make your way to Meiji Jingu shrine.

Meiji Jingu Shrine

In contrast to Senso-ji, which is a Buddhist shrine, Meiji Jingu Shrine is Tokyo’s most famous Shinto shrine. What makes this shrine particularly unique is that it is surrounded by a 170-acre forest, as opposed to the urban streets that surround most of Tokyo’s temples and shrines. On the Meiji Jingu shrine grounds, you’ll see big torii gates, plenty of gardens, as well as the consecrated sake barrels that appear in many Tokyo Instagram photos. The main grounds are free to visit. But, note that the grounds are not open to the public 24/7. Meiji Jingu is open sunrise to sunset, so check the forecasted sunset time on your Tokyo itinerary day before making the trek to the temple. It could close as early as 4:00 p.m. if you’re visiting in the winter months. I made this mistake visiting in November, and we weren’t able to walk inside the gated grounds.

Shibuya Crossing

Finally, end your one day in Tokyo by taking the metro to the legendary Shibuya Crossing in the Shibuya district. Shibuya Crossing is the world’s busiest crosswalk, averaging a whopping 2.4 million pedestrians per day. That’s anywhere between 1000 to 3000 pedestrians crossing per green light. Have fun crossing the Shibuya Crossing as the city begins to light up for the night. Then, grab conveyor belt sushi for dinner at Mawashisushi Katsu Seibu Shibuya.

Mawashisushi Katsu Seibu Shibuya is located on the 8th floor of the Seibu Shibuya department store. You can order a la carte off of the menu, and/or you can take whichever rotating sushi looks good to you on the conveyor belt. The conveyor belt sushi is priced by plate color and is really affordable. So, eat up! We had a huge stack of plates by the end of our meal, and the whole meal, including soda and a la carte menu items, only cost about $35 for two of us.