‘25 Tokyo | 4 Days in Tokyo
My Stay in Tokyo
Dormy Inn is a Japanese chain hotel that I have stayed at a few times in different locations, and I’ve enjoyed their complementary amenities and facilities they provide.
The Dormy Inn Premium in Ginza is quite a decent location, about 5-8min walk from the closest metro station, close to the major Ginza shopping area, and near Tsukiji Market.
For my first time in Tokyo, I wanted to stay in a familiar hotel chain with prime location where I can take the metro to all the major areas (Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ueno, Asakusa, TokyoSea, Tokyo Station).
Complimentary Amenities and Facilities:
Supper - Every night the hotel has free ramen available in their restaurant for a few hours between 9:30pm-11:00pm. For a free ramen, the quality is quite good!
Drink station - Available all day at the restaurant - coffee, matcha, tea, and soft drinks. They provide cups to have there for a quick drink or to-go cups if you wanna take it and go.
Onsen - Male and female onsen available for mornings and nights. There is hot onsen, cold bath, and sauna available. I did my evening showers in the public bath and enjoyed the evening onsen everyday for this trip (even at 3am). After a long day of walking and traveling in Tokyo, nothing is better than an onsen.
Manga, Icepop, and Yakult - Right outside of the onsen, if you enjoy manga, there is a large selection of manga available that you can read there or bring back to your room to read (but you need to bring it back of course). There is a yakult fridge (mornings) and icepop freezer (nights) where you can pick up free yakult/icepop right after a hot onsen!
Day 1 - Asakusa, Sensoji Temple, Kappabashi Street, Ueno
Asakusa is quite a popular tourist designation primarily for visiting the Sensoji Temple and the Kappabashi Street. This will take up a morning and afternoon.
Here is an itinerary you can consider, part 1
9:00-11:00am Kappabashi Street *depends on how much time you want to shop for kitchen, coffee, and matcha tools.
11:00am-12:00pm Stop by Asakusa Chicken for a quick bite along this walk.
12:00-1:00pm Walk through Nakamise-dori Street to arrive at Sensoji Temple. There will be quite a lot of cute Japanese food and souvenir stalls.
1:00-3:00pm Enjoy the Sensoji Temple *depends on how long you want to spend at the temple .
If you are done visiting the Asakusa area, you can consider taking the metro to Ueno, which is not too far.
Here is an itinerary you can consider, part 2
3:00-5:00pm Walk and shop through Ueno Ameyoko Shopping Street, which is filled with really cool street wear and local designs. Best shops we found on this street are the HINOYA ONE for a good selection of Japanese selvedge jeans and BEAVER for Japan only select street items.
5:00 - 6:00pm Quick dinner at Gyukatsu Motomura Ueno. This brand is quite famous for their Gyukatsu and if you can dine before 5:30pm, you can beat the long lines (there is probably less tourists at this location compared to the one in Shibuya).
Day 2 - Tokyo DisneySea
For my first time in Tokyo, I decided to spend 1 day dedicated to DisneySea and skip Disneyland this time.
Here is a timestamp of my DisneySea experience.
6:27 - 7:00am - Uber from Ginza to Tokyo DisneySea. I definitely could have saved money and took the public transportation. But waking up early and knowing that this would be a long day, I wanted to commute in comfort. The cost was about 40USD (if you split with 3 other people, it’s not too bad).
7:00am - I arrived at Tokyo DisneySea and the queue was already very long, and it only continued to grow longer and longer.
8:30am - The park will start letting people in.
9:15am - The queue was so slow and long, I didn’t enter until around 9:15. By this time, the DPA and Standby Passes for Frozen were already all out.
3:15pm - Finally snatched DPA for Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey! *we spent the whole day refreshing the app to find new tickets
5:30pm - Leave Tokyo DisneySea
Within the time I was at the park, I was able to get on; Journey to the Center of the Earth, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Tower of Terror, Soaring, Raging Spirits, Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey, Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival, Peter Pan’s Adventure.
Whenever I go to Disneyland, I like to leave the park around 5:00-6:00pm to avoid the traffic and rest up. I find it much more comfortable to do a refresh at the hotel after a long day at the theme park, and enjoy a nice dinner out (especially since theme park food is usually overpriced and not that great).
Day 3 - Omote-Sando, Harajuku
Omote-Sando is similar to Rodeo Drive, holding quite a few luxury brands and flagship stores. And is located between Shibuya and Harajuku, so I arranged for Omote-Sando and Harajuku together for 1 day.
Here is an itinerary you can consider:
9:30am - Start queue for the famous Koffee Mameya.
10:00am - We were able to enter in the first round, as the 2nd group in line.
11:00am - Started queue for I'm donut? Omote-Sando Store, which took about 30min. There are a few I'm donut? stores, so you could find a less busy location but we were already in the area.
12:00pm - MoMA Design Store in Omote-Sando for select, curated art and designs
12:30 - 2:00pm - Shop the Omote-Sando & Cat Street: NIPPON MADE, Kiddy Land, White Atelier by Converse, On Flagship Store Tokyo Cat Street, niko and ... TOKYO.
2:00pm - We checked out the famous Menchirashi for their carbonara udon, but the queue was extremely long and slow moving, that I gave up after 20 min. It’s not a ticketing system, so if you want to try their place, you have to queue in person and patiently wait. *we grabbed a light bite from a small cafe as we were starving at this point.
2:30pm - Matcha break at The Matcha Tokyo Omotesandō, which was not bad, but quite busy as well.
3:00pm - We slowly walked our way out of the area towards Harajuku and passed by the HUMAN MADE Cafe by Blue Bottle Coffee, which is 1 of 2 stores in Japan (the other in Kyoto).
3:30pm - From HUMAN MADE Cafe, we made a small walk towards the Takeshita Street, which is the most busy street in the Harajuku area. If you are a fan of Gachapons, you can definitely find quite a few stores here to spend your money on.
By late afternoon, it’s a good time to go back to the hotel to rest, drop off shopping bags, and freshen up for a nice dinner out. There are quite a few dining options in Ginza that is within walking distance from Dormy Inn. I tried Sato Yosuke Ginza Inaniwa Udon , which is known for their thin udon noodles. *note: they don’t allow customers to queue inside the restaurant so you may have to be prepared to stand in the cold if you visit during winter season.
Below are a few other famous dining options I found around the Ginza area, but didn’t have the opportunity to try:
Day 4 - Tsukiji Outer Market, Ginza
When I travel, I like to “explore” the neighborhood I stay at last. Somehow, it seems more strategic to start a travel trip by traveling to further destinations *just in case I need to make another trip back, I still have time before I leave. I dedicated my final full day in Tokyo to enjoy exploring the Ginza area, which starts from the famous Tsukiji Outer Market.
8:00am: Tsukiji Outer Market - I tried the famous uni bowl from Tsukiji Unitora Nakadori and it was amazingly fresh and delicious. I had it again the following day before heading the airport. It wasn’t particularly cheap, but for the quality of ingredients, it was definitely good value for money.
9:00am: Before leaving the Tsukiji Market, I grabbed a cup of Matcha at Matcha Stand Maruni TOKYO TSUKIJI. This spot is quite famous, but I found the matcha to be a bit underwhelming especially with the long queue.
10:00am: BONGEN COFFEE Tokyo Ginza - Slowly make your way to checkout this famous coffee shop. I passed by, but the queue was ridiculously long and slow so I gave up. If you are interested in their coffee beans, you can find them at the Ginza Loft - which is part of today’s itinerary.
10:30am: Age.3 GINZA - The shop opens at 11:00am and I started queueing at 10:30am, making me the 1st person in line. By the time it opened and I made my purchase, the long was unbelievably long and crossed over to another block. They sell fried sandwiches and the egg salad flavor was chef’s kiss.
The rest of the day, you can explore all the amazing shops in the Ginza area. I’ve listed a few below, which are worth checking out:
Marimekko
gelato pique *for cute fuzzy pajamas
Ginza Itoya & Ginza Loft *for stationary
MUJI - Ginza Flagship Store
#C-pla premium *for more gachapons!
Onitsuka Tiger Ginza Store
GU Flagship Store & Uniqlo Ginza Flagship Store
If you have time, definitely try out Godaime Hanayama Udon Ginza for lunch or dinner at Ginza. This udon was one of our favorite spots on the trip, and because it is so viral right now, I suggest going before the dining hours open to pick up a queue number to secure a spot. I even ended up buying a few boxes of Udon set from their store to bring home. *must order their flat udon!
