I filled five small notebooks in seven days in Tokyo, one per rough neighborhood. Looking back at them now, the trip reads less like an itinerary and more like a slow accumulation of small corrections — where I got the trains wrong, where I got lucky, what I'd skip next time.
Notebook one: Shinjuku, and the train mistake worth repeating
I bought a Suica card at the airport and assumed it would work everywhere — it mostly does, but the first time you transfer between JR and a private line without tapping out properly, you'll eat a small penalty fare and a confused stare from the gate machine. Do this once early, cheaply, so you understand the system before it costs you a missed connection later.
Notebook two: Jimbocho, for the stationery
Jimbocho is a used-bookstore district that also happens to have some of the best stationery shops in the city. Kakimori lets you build a custom notebook page by page, cover to binding. I spent an embarrassing amount of time picking paper weight for something I could have bought pre-made in five minutes — worth every one of them.
The best souvenir from any trip is the notebook you actually used while you were there.
Notebook three: Shimokitazawa, for the record shops and coffee
Fewer tourists, more secondhand vinyl and small listening bars. If you're into music at all, this is a better use of an afternoon than most of the bigger, more photographed neighborhoods.
Notebook four and five: everything else
Notebook four was mostly food notes — conveyor belt sushi is genuinely great and not just a tourist compromise. Notebook five was almost entirely about getting lost near Yanaka, one of the few areas that still feels pre-war in scale, and not minding it at all.
What I'd do differently
- Buy a pocket Wi-Fi router at the airport before your phone plan's roaming fees add up
- Don't over-plan the first two days — jet lag will rewrite your schedule anyway
- Bring a notebook you don't mind filling messily; a "nice" one you're precious about will stay half-empty