Global Wanderer

27/9/25 – 29/9/25

Japan is currently the third-most visited country for Australian tourists, with almost 1 million Aussies travelling to the ‘land of the rising sun’ in the last year – it certainly felt time to see it for myself!

I flew across with Thai Airways, and despite a slight delay cutting into my already-minimal connection time at Bangkok, I made my flight to Tokyo with no stress at all. I landed at Narita, located about 80km away from the city – but not to worry, as the Narita Sky Express train whisked me through this enormous city’s suburbs in no time, and by 11am, I was standing in Asakusa, staring out at the towering Tokyo Skytree.

An intersection in Asakusa, with the Tokyo Skytree in the background

After dropping my bags off in Asakusa, it was time to check out the nearby Senso-ji Temple, one of Tokyo’s oldest and most significant places of worship. The shopping street leading up to the temple, Nakamise-dori, was absolutely packed with tourists – it was quite interesting though, how quickly the crowds of foreigners thinned out the further you moved away from key sites in the city (something I picked up on throughout my time in Japan)!

Nakamise Street, and the Senso-ji Temple Complex in Asakusa

Senso-ji, and the accompanying pagoda, are incredible examples of traditional Japanese architecture – the beautiful sloping roofs, distinctive patterns and iconography – are absolutely incredible. The crowds, as big as they were, however, paled in comparison to those at our next spot for the day – Shibuya!

Shibuya is one of Tokyo’s major commercial centres, housing a variety of attractions including the Meiji Shrine, Shibuya Station, and the famous Shibuya Crossing, the world’s busiest pedestrian crossing. According to some reports, around 3000 people cross the streets during each green light cycle! An interesting side note: I recently watched a documentary on NHK which focused on Shibuya Station and the surrounding architectural features – including the fact that the Shibuya River actually still flows through the area, and is carried through the station in a concrete tube!

You can watch the Scramble from a variety of vantage points around the area – however anywhere with a decent viewpoint will require you to either purchase food or drink (at a few bars and cafes that operate in the buildings around the scramble), or make you pay a fee to enter (some of the ‘clubs’ and ‘lounges’ that operate on the higher floors of these buildings). On the lower levels of these buildings, however, it is absolutely possible to get a sense of the scale!

Taking on the Shibuya Scramble Crossing

I’d read before visiting that one of the best places to get cheap, yet good quality meals, was in the food halls in the basement of major department stores. Shibuya is home to an enormous Takashimaya store, and so we headed down to the basement for a reprieve from the crowds, and a chance to fill up on a variety of croquettes, sushi, and as-yet-unidentified meat sticks (yes, they were tasty!). as the day winds to a close, they discount the fresh food (for obvious reasons) – which can make this an incredibly cost-effective way to eat out!

The food halls of major department stores in Japan are a great place to find cheap meals

Our last stop on this first-day whirlwind tour of Tokyo was the teamLab Borderless – a digital art museum which uses projections, mirrors, and objects to create an interactive environment you can walk through. It is hard to explain in words exactly how this works – hopefully the pictures below will help!

Some pictures from teamLab’s Borderless project

After a (very long) day of roaming, it was time to eat one of Japan’s culinary staples – ramen noodles – at Ichiran! As a first meal in Japan, it certainly didn’t disappoint! Interestingly, you can choose to sit in a private booth (as seen in the photo), where your order is placed by filling out your paper sheet and passing it to kitchen staff on the other side of the bamboo divider!

Ramen at Ichiran

The next day was spent in Nikko (which I’ll cover separately), but on return to Tokyo, we went to explore the lights of Shinjuku, home to such sights as the 3D cat (an enormous curved digital billboard featuring a 3D cat animation), and a statue of Godzilla. Shinjuku is absolutely pumping at night, and felt very much Times Square-esque. I then made my way to Ginza to meet up with a friend, where I stumbled across another Godzilla statue (much smaller than the Shinjuku one, but with a full body!).

Statues of Godzilla, and the lights of Shinjuku!

This brought my time in Tokyo to a close – it is an enormous city, and saying I barely scratched the surface would be a huge understatement!