I don't see a lot of posts calling Tokyo refreshing or relaxing, especially in late August (Aug 27-Sept 6 to be exact). But for us, that's exactly what it was.
It was myself (44f), bf (56m), and three boys (18, 20, 21). We stayed in an apartment in Taito City, equidistant from Akihabara station and Okachimachi station. It was ideal for us: quiet, no tourists, and easy to get anywhere. We made heavy use of trains/subways and 15k yen on suica card was just the right amount.
Most of the time, the boys went off on their own for the day while my bf and I did our own thing. We stayed together only for special trips. We had no itinerary so each morning we'd look at Google maps, see what was around, and head out. We did have two must-dos that we do in every country we can and that is to visit IKEA and Costco. So we went out to Shinmisato on one day and hit both of those. On Sunday, we all took a steam train to Chichibu and walked around there. So lovely!! The temple was amazing, and we had fun walking around so I could find as many Doko Ikubees as I could. We also took a day trip to Enoshima Island on another day which was wonderful.
A few things:
Yes it was hot and the last day we had heavy rains from the typhoon but it wasn't terrible. The boys actually went to Disneyland that day despite the rain. If you've had experience with the southeast US or even Missouri, it'll feel normal. We currently live in Idaho (I prefer snow and cold) and it seriously wasn't as bad as reddit makes it seem. We didn't even feel like we needed neck fans or parasols.
We split up our flight to Tokyo and spent two days in Hawaii beforehand, which resulted in having zero jet lag when we got to Tokyo. Definitely worth it.
We averaged around 11k steps a day, which is actually what we normally do on a workday at home. That's just the way it worked out for us (not done on purpose) so if you are worried about the redditors saying you have to be ready to do 20+k steps a day, thats them. You do you. No special shoes or anything. We wore our regular vans.
If you have any experience with public transportation like in NYC or Paris (or even LA), Tokyo is just as easy or easier to figure out. It's bigger, but there are signs everywhere and its just lovely. We did notice that the "rule" about talking on trains was situational – morning commuter subways/trains were totally silent; mid-afternoon there was usually some talking. Just be aware of what the locals are doing and always use your library voice.
Some of the main places we ended up going in Tokyo:
Takashita street for one particular store
Tsukiji Hongan-ji Temple and stayed for a "service"
Tokyo station
Kappabashi kitchen street which was underwhelming – ended up a few blocks away
Round 1 Ikebukuro
Metropolitan government building
Shinjuku Gyoen
Holy Resurrection Cathedral
mAAch ecute Kanda Manseibashi
Yaesu shopping mall
Lots of book stores and stationary stores
All in all, we loved it so much and it felt so comfortable and homey we are going to make more regular trips and explore more of Japan.
by RandomGalOnTheNet