Don’t Stay in the Wrong Part of Tokyo! We Almost Did (Watch Before You Book)
Planning a trip to Tokyo, Japan? Don’t make the mistake of staying in the wrong neighborhood! In this Tokyo travel guide, I break down the city using the famous Yamanote Line to help you find the perfect home base for your trip. (Where to stay in Tokyo)
From the neon lights of Shibuya and the skyscrapers of Shinjuku to the underrated value of Ikebukuro and the traditional vibes of Ueno and Asakusa, we cover the pros and cons of every major district. We also reveal the one area you should AVOID staying in if you want an authentic Tokyo experience.
In this video, you’ll learn:
-How to navigate the Yamanote Line like a pro.
-The best neighborhoods for shopping, culture, and nightlife.
-Must-try food spots (including the best ramen in Ikebukuro).
Why we almost made a huge mistake booking our hotel in Shinagawa.
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This link includes (Aki’s food tour Eat and drink like a local), Sumo experience, and other Tours/Food tours I recommend.
🌟 Visit Japan Web (Official Site): https://www.vjw.digital.go.jp
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27 Comments
Tokyo is a magically city and one of my all time favs. The food, the culture, the people all perfection. Great video!
If you’ve been to Tokyo before, which neighborhood was your favorite to stay in? And if you're planning your first trip, which one of these sounds most like your vibe? Let me know below! 👇
This arm chair traveler LOVED this video. Great information. ❤
Very nice video, it's very informative.
A few years back I stayed in Tamachi, Tokyo.
Quiet area but very convenient for jumping around. Also I found that staying near one of the smaller stations is WAY better than the major ones.
Ueno nightlife is for middle aged folks as opposed to Shibuya and Shinjuku's night life for young adults. Shinagawa is pretty boring… the temple of the 47 Ronins is pretty neat though.
Hey, don't dis Shinagawa. 😉 I used to live there. There are some great restaurants and bars. And considering you will be traveling to see most things, it is convenient for trains.
Great video!
How do you feel about staying in akasaka
We stayed in Asakusa during golden week last year [2025].. great choice for us.
I travel to Japan regularly and have visited all these city’s But last November 2025 in Ikebukuro it was hell, as soon as I got off the train it was shoulder to shoulder in the station and on the street, I have seen less of a crowd at a football match you had to take very small steps just to move very slowly I will never go there again. Ueno & ASAKUSA are in my opinion the best city’s there are some brilliant walks you can walk for miles with out a map just look out the Skytree as a navigation point
Great guiding video!
But unfortunately you have some errors. You mispronounced some names of places, wrong pictures for places.
Tempra Miya has good reputation from locas, too, but they don't use PONZU SAUSE for tempra. They take pride in their original TEMPRA TARE. PONZE SAUCE is one of Japanese traditional dipping sauces for hot pot. It is made from the juice of Yuzu Japanese citrus, vinegar, soy sauce and fish broth, tastes nicely tangy, while Miya's original tempra tare is thick, sweet and savory.
I used Asakusa as home base. Very happy with my stay there
Good video, thanks for sharing. I'll re-visit it before my subsequent Tokyo trips – got my accommodation locked in for my first-time visit next month. The final minute of this video.. great info! Thanks so much.
Cheers from Australia.
A lot of people will get an IC card and think that's the best/most efficient way to get around in Tokyo but while it's convenient, you shouldn't rely on just the IC card for getting around in Tokyo.
-> Get the "Tokyo Subway 72-hour Ticket" – it's like 1500yen for adults and 750yen for children. It tracks the complete 72hours so if you get it in the afternoon, say 14:00 of day 1, you can use it until 13:59 on day 4 (not 3!).
Google maps shows which subway lines you can use. There are only very few private lines that you can't use, most of go to the outer parts of Tokyo. Basically it's all the lines with one letter inside a circle. If it's a JR line then it has two letters and it's inside a square.
It may be abit of a crime but we didn't ride the Yamanote line once, I think. We stayed slightly further outside (near tokyo skytree, walking 5 minutes to oshiage station) and most of the time we just went straigth through tokyo via subway with maybe 1 transfer to anywhere we needed to go. Everything was within 30 minutes.
In short, I think if you don't find a hotel at or near the yamanote line, check the metro subway map. Don't get too far away from inner tokyo, you don't want to lose like 45 minutes every day to just get into tokyo. But staying outside the yamanote ring isn't some vacation death sentence, especially if it's the difference between having to pay 200 bucks a night for 2 bed room or 70bucks a night for your own complete apartment. We paid 66€ per night total living next to oshiage station. That's an easy 100 bucks per day saved that either keeps the budget of your trip down or that you can spend on souveniers, food, atractions instead..
I always base at Ikebukuro everytime I visit Tokyo. I have self-declared it as my secondary hometown. Reason why I pick this place is that I am already familiar with it and I always love to listen to the melody at Ikebukuro station whenever a train is coming. Oh and yes… Mutekiya ramen shop is the best. I love the thick and juicy pork slices they add on their ramen. Definitely worth queueing for!!!
My best recommendation is to stay around Omote Sando/Gaienmae Metro stations if you have already been to Tokyo a few times and have already experienced the buzz of Shinjuku etc and want somewhere convenient but more relaxing/less touristy.
When I First visited Tokyo I stayed in Ryokan Sawanoya Tokyo 旅館 澤の屋 in the Ueno / Nippori Area. It is an affordable familily run traditional Ryokan with georgous (shared) Onsen Bathrooms and small Tatami Rooms with sinks. The Area is also perfect, in the Center of the City, well connected to everything but it also is an authentic calm low rise residencial neighborhood which feels like a small Town, not the biggest City ik the World, with old Temples and traditional Shops and Restaurants. If you want to feel that you are in Japan when you arrive in Tokyo this is the place…
I wouldn't suggest staying in any of the "super busy" areas, visit them during your stay by all means but from my experience it's better to stay somewhere quieter.
Sugamo, is the jewel of Tokyo 💎
Found the Sugamo (/Otsuka) area on the Yamanote line on my 8th stay in Tokyo. Best place I've stayed out of 8 different spots.
REAL traditional local vibe, quieter, cheaper restaurants and shops, thrifts, street market 3-times each month, JR rail, Subway, and Sakura Tram.
The hustle and bustle of Tokyo is only a few stations either direction without being constantly in it and you're centralised between east and west Tokyo city.
It's a real advantage to start your day and end each day in the quieter area of Sugamo.
Still, most tourists will stay in one of the hectic busy areas of Tokyo and overlook this gem of a location, but maybe that's ok and it will leave it being the 'jewel in the crown' that it is 👑.
Sugamo #1 👍
5:03 Golden Gai isn't Piss Alley. That's the old name for Omoide Yokocho. They renamed it after a big fire in the 90s and they had to rebuild. It was named that because the drinking establishments were so small that the urinals faced out into the street.
@chiphtree what can you say about Akasaka neighborhood? Is it good for transportation? What about overall vibes of tghe place?
Though it does not exist on new maps of Tokyo, I would definitely avoid Sanya … the Kamata neighborhood is also bad and filled with prostitutes …. but … nothing will match the quiet and beauty of Mitaka …
You did a great job. I agree with most of what you pointed out. But I think you could give Shinagawa a better score. On the east side of Shinagawa station, there is a block that holds hundreds of izakayas next to each other. And you can find fine izakayas on both sides widely spread out. Besides big office towers often have restaurant floors underground to 2nd floor. True, they do not have super popular sight seeing spots. But they certainly have some places to visit. Horse race track and Gotenyama park, Yakatabune ports are the ones of them.
Don't forget to visit kappabashi dori and get yourself some high quality kitchen knives! 🔪 ☺
If you see black people, then you're in the wrong part of Tokyo. Everywhere they go, they create nothing but trouble.
Great video! I am brazilian, my grandparents were japanese and I am planning my first trip to Japan. The video graphics goes in and out too fast, I had to pause the video so that I could read them.
Line names and station names consist of relatively simple hundreds of characters. Before coming to Tokyo, practice writing them several times so you can read them in Japanese. This will be useful in various aspects beyond just using the railways. For you guys who mastered English, the world's most difficult language, this should be easy, right?
This video is super easy to follow and makes each city attractive by pros and cons ! Me. As the Japanese live overseas.. on coming travels to Tokyo, one stay in Roppongi ✨, and another night in SHIBUYA ✨ asI found good hotel fees in # AGODA
Hotel booking APP 😊
Thank you for uploading this fabulous film