I am an exchange student from Japan, and I live in Tokyo. When I was young, my parents took me to some sightseeing places, and I hung out with my friends at sightseeing places since junior high school. In Tokyo, we can hang out by subway or bus without our parents when we get older, like junior high school. I will introduce the top 10 spots you should go. 

Nov. 10 Tokyo University

Tokyo university is the smartest university in Japan. This university is famous for the red gate. If some TVshows use this university, the gate must be in. Their buildings are so pretty, and they have some places where we can feel old Japanese gardens like some flowers and ponds. The best season to go there is fall. There are many ginkgo trees in the fall season, and we can see and take pictures with ginkgo trees. I often went to there when I was young, but I hasn’t gone recently and I don’t have pictures of that, so I put pictures from the website (https://schoolynk.com/media/articles/7579533f-d9a3-4e62-9cc2-53d0339ba33c)

Nov. 9 Shibuya & Omotesando

Shibuya and Omotesando are the best shopping places and there are many fashionable stores, restaurants, cafes and places where we can enjoy hanging out. I feel like Shibuya is for teenagers and Omotesando is for older people. These are also good for traffic. They are next to each other, and those two stations are so big and we can use many kinds of subway. I often go there with my friends, but I can’t remember how to get the subway which I should ride. Also, some TVshows and commercials take good pictures and videos there, but usually, Shibuya and Omotesando are too busy and I can’t take pictures, so if you are interested in those two places, please google it. 

Nov. 8  Tokyo station & imperial place

Tokyo station is the station which is not only for the subway, but also for bullet trains which are faster than subway and normal trains, to go to other prefectures. (Prefectures are like states in America, and it means regional authorities comprising municipalities in Japan.) So, I feel like their stores are focused on souvenirs from Tokyo. Also, their lunch is traditional Japanese food and mostly, the taste for fishes, vegetables and others are based on soy sauce. When I go to my grandparents’ home with my family for New Year, we use this station, and we got lunch for bullet there. I guess most Japanese people eat lunch on bullet trains. Each station has local lunch at the station and it is fun to have those. There is an imperial place near the Tokyo station and their castle is popular for sightseeing. I like to run or cycle around there.  

Nov.7 Ikebukuro

Ikebukuro station is connected with some other prefectures by subway. It means it has good traffic for many people, and there are a lot of hang out places like shopping malls, restaurants, cafes, bowling, theater, aquarium, game centers, aquarium and observatory, so I often go there after school with my friends because it is close to school, and the center of all of our homes. I see many foreign people there. The picture is from Ikebukuro observatory. It is on 60 floors and 226 meters. 

Nov.6 Yu-rakucho

Yu-rakucho is the best place to have food and goods from all over Japan. There are many local stores for prefectures. Each store sells their popular things. I love to go to many stores and eat many kinds of food. For example, Hokkaido, the northernmost place in Japan, has the best softcream because they are famous for farms for milk. I went to the city with my friends and had some soft cream before the Covid year, and I knew that the softcream at the store is like actual soft cream in Hokkaido.

Osaka, the second biggest prefecture, is famous for “Takoyaki”. It’s like a round pancake which has octopus and vegetables and some sauce. It is so good and I have never met a person who doesn’t like Takoyaki in Japan. The prefecture famous for hibachi is Hiroshima. I heard some American people are fans of hibachi. The hibachi is pretty good. Also, Okinawa, the southernmost place in Japan, has the best noodles and donuts. My family goes to the island for our summer vacation, and the store’s food is similar to the actual one. Moreover, there is the best pancake restaurant. The pancake is fluffy and their original butter is good.

Nov.5 Teamlab

Teamlab is like an art museum which has many photo spots. There are a few pl

aces in Japan, and each place has a different idea of art. Tokyo has two places, and I went to one of them when I was 10 and last summer. Some spots were the same, but others were different. They keep changing what each spot looks like, so we can enjoy each time. The main five spots were all cool, they had many mirrors in every spot. I guess that’s because it is popular to take pictures with mirrors in Japan. Also, the big balls, flowers, water, lights and other stuff were so pretty. Moreover, we use Monorail to get there, and the view from there is cool.

Nov.4 Ueno

There is a famous zoo, park and museum in Ueno. Ueno zoo is famous for pandas. When I was young, I often went there with my family. I remember that many people came to the zoo for pandas and it was too busy every weekend. We don’t really have nature in Tokyo, so it is good for us to be in nature spots and look at animals. Next to the zoo, there is a park. The park has a huge pond and small ship which we use like bicycles.

Moreover, the museum is changed every season. Each season, different teams prepare for the museums and they have their own idea for it. I have been to three different team’s museums. All of them were so cool.

Nov.3 Tokyo Dome

Tokyo Dome is a famous baseball stadium in Japan, and it is not only used for baseball, but also live or concert. Also, next to the stadium, there is a big station, shopping mall, bowling, ro

ller skates, amusement park and game centers. It works as our downtown, and we can go there by walk or bicycle, so I often used it with my friends for hanging out when I was in elementary school and junior high school. It is safe and we can hang out with just kids and no parents. The mall is huge and there are 9 floors. Bowling and roller skates are similar to America. The only difference is there are no shops for pizza or drink. If we want to have some snacks or drinks, we need to use vending machines. The amusement park is smaller than Disneyland, but it is not too busy except for the roller coaster. My favorite attraction is the water roller coaster.

It is nice for summer because we get so much water on our clothes. And the ferris wheel. Every ferris wheel has a number and numbers of the multiple of 5 have Karaoke, and we can sing with mike. It is so fun to sing in the ferris wheel while looking at the view of Tokyo. Moreover, the game center is also fun. I love to hang out there. Also, they have many restaurants and all are good. My favorite store is a Taiwanese food store. Their Boba, sweets and noodles are so good. I go there for lunch with my friends. The downtown is so good and we have never gotten bored there.

Nov.2 Asakusa

Asakusa is one of the most popular sightseeing places in Tokyo. We can enjoy walking traditional Japanese roads and there are many stores for goods, food and drink. Their green tea, strawberry candy, rice crackers and mochi(rice cake) are so good. Also, the temple is popular. When you go to a temple, you can throw money in a box and wave a bell and then you should say thank you for something, and what is your goal and what you are going to do for it in your mind. Japanese people think if we do that, we can be close to the goal. It is a huge town for sightseeing and we can hang out all day.  

Nov.1 Disneyland 

Disneyland is my most favorite hang out place for my friends and me. I am pretty sure it’s a special place for everyone. Every building like Cinderella castle is so pretty and we feel like in the Disney Movies. Those all have lights up when it gets dark, and buildings look more pretty. We have three biggest roller coasters. First one is called “Big thunder mountain”. It has tight turns, and we get so much wend every time. Second one is Splash Mountain. It is a long flume ride, and we will get water on all of us. Third one is Star Tours. This is for StarWars and the roller coaster is inside and dark. We can not see the rail and no one knows which way we are going. Moreover, their food looks so pretty. For Example, Hamburger and chicken sandwich look like Mickey Mouse’s hands, also churro look like Mickey Mouse. Also, they have many kinds of popcorn like strawberry, chocolate, curry, charameru and others. Those are all good and trying many kinds of popcorn is my favorite thing.   

Extra information

People who live in Tokyo don’t really use cars, and we use bicycles for going somewhere. I was talking about that with my host mom, and then we knew that our bicycles, which parents who need to let their kids ride on, are different.

Parents who have two little kids need two seats for kids on the bicycle, and it looks like the picture. If you go to Tokyo, you will see many bicycles which look like this.

Conclusion

Do you like Tokyo? I am glad if you are interested in Tokyo by reading this article. We have a lot of places to visit as well so I can not introduce this article, but I guess you will have fun sightseeing in Tokyo.