Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital and most populous city of Japan.
The population of the city proper was over 14 million as of 2023. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes Tokyo and parts of six neighboring prefectures, is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the world, with 33 million residents as of 2025.
Getting to Tokyo
In Japan, all roads, rails, shipping lanes and planes lead to Tokyo. Tokyo (TYO IATA for all airports) and the Kanto Region are served by two major airports. Narita International Airport (NRT IATA) is Tokyo's main airport for international flights, but also serves a handful of domestic flights, particularly on low-cost carriers, and is convenient as a transit airport for those travelling between North America to…
- 01Narita International Airport
Near the town of Narita nearly 70 km (43 mi) east of Tokyo.
- 02Tokyo Haneda Airport
- 03Ibaraki Airport
- 04Chōfu Airfield
Worth seeing
Tokyo has a vast array of sights, but the first items on the agenda of most visitors are the temples of Asakusa, the gardens of the Imperial Palace (in Chiyoda) and the Meiji Shrine (明治神宮 Meiji-jingū, in Harajuku). Tokyo has many commercial centres for shopping, eating and simply wandering around for experiencing the modern Japanese urban phenomenon.
Things to do
See the tuna auction at the Toyosu Market and eat a sushi breakfast at the former Tsukiji Fish Market. Take a boat ride on the Sumida River from Asakusa. Lose yourself in the dazzling neon jungle outside major train stations in the evenings. Shibuya and east Shinjuku at night can make Times Square or Piccadilly Circus look rural in comparison — it has to be seen to be believed.
Where to eat
Visitors from Western countries may be surprised to find that despite its justified reputation for being an expensive city, eating out in Tokyo can be surprisingly affordable.
Getting around Tokyo the local way
- Get inHitchhiking into Tokyo is pretty easy, but hitchhiking out is considerably more difficult.
- Get inIt's definitely possible for determined cheapskates though, see Hitchhiking in Japan for a detailed list of tested escape routes from the city.
- Get inKokusai Kogyo Bus (国際興業バス) Keisei Bus (京成バス) Keikyu Bus (京急バス) Keio Bus (Japanese Website) (京王バス) Kanto Bus (関東バス) Nishi Tokyo Bus (Japanese Website) (西東京バス) Odakyu Bus (Japanese Website) (小田急バス) Odakyu Highway Bus (小田急ハイウェイバス) Seibu Bus (西武バス) Tobu Bus (Japanese Website) (東武バス) Tohoku Kyuko Bus (東北急行バス) One of the great ports of the world, Tokyo also has domestic ferry services to other points in Japan.
- Get inHowever, none of the regular international ferries to Japan call at Tokyo.
- Get inThe main long-distance ferry terminal is , on an artificial island adjacent to Odaiba in Tokyo Bay.
- Get inThe main services from this terminal are: Ferries to the Izu and Ogasawara Islands leave from Takeshiba Terminal (竹芝客船ターミナル), adjacent to Takeshiba station on the Yurikamome line.
- Get inInternational ferries and cargo ferries that also take passengers can leave from other terminals too, enquire with your shipping company.
- Get aroundThe private lines are useful for day trips outside the city, and are usually slightly cheaper than JR.
From Wikivoyage: Tokyo, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.
Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Sergey Galyonkin (CC BY-SA 2.0), Wikimedia Commons.
