Tokyo
Following what is now a common hostel format in Tokyo (conversions of old office buildings with a cafe-bar on the ground floor), Grids adds to the mix by throwing in four Japanese-style tatami-mat rooms (sleeping up to four; ¥20,000), as well as more private rooms with en-suite bathrooms. The dorms offer sturdy metal-frame bunks with good mattresses.
It's around a 10-minute walk to Akihabara across the Kanda-gawa. If this hostel is full, it runs a very similar one around 1km south.
1.55 MILES
If you visit only one museum in Tokyo, make it the Tokyo National Museum. Here you'll find the world's largest collection of Japanese art, including…
11.81 MILES
This museum is the heart of the Studio Ghibli world, a beloved (even 'adored') film studio responsible for classic, critically-acclaimed animated titles…
4.25 MILES
Golden Gai – a Shinjuku institution for over half a century – is a collection of tiny bars, often literally no bigger than a closet and seating maybe a…
5.17 MILES
Rumoured to be the busiest intersection in the world (and definitely in Japan), Shibuya Crossing is like a giant beating heart, sending people in all…
18.43 MILES
This impressively slick attraction is dedicated to, you guessed it, cup noodles. But in reality, its focus is more broad, with numerous exhibitions…
3.22 MILES
Digital-art collective teamLab has created 60 artworks for this museum, open in 2018, that tests the border between art and the viewer: many are…
1.81 MILES
The Imperial Palace occupies the site of the original Edo-jō, the Tokugawa shogunate's castle. In its heyday this was the largest fortress in the world,…
1.56 MILES
Tokyo’s most visited temple enshrines a golden image of Kannon (the Buddhist goddess of mercy), which, according to legend, was miraculously pulled out of…
0.74 MILES
A major exhibition space, smaller art galleries and creative studios now occupy this former high school, which has evolved into a forward-thinking arts…
0.76 MILES
On the ground floor of Ryōgoku Kokugikan stadium, this small museum displays pictures of all the past yokozuna (top-ranking sumo wrestlers), or, for those…
0.76 MILES
This late-17th-century stroll garden offers beautiful views across its central tidal pond and is well worth a visit if you're in the area. It used to take…
0.77 MILES
For visitors with a keen interest in Japanese sword-making – an art that continues to this day – this museum, which relocated to a new building in 2018,…
0.78 MILES
The hub of Ningyōchō, Amazake Yokochō is a delightful shopping street lined with age-old businesses, including several good craft shops. It's named after…
0.78 MILES
Tucked away amid the Sola City development is this exhibition space occupying a relocated 1917 storehouse once used by the area's book distributors. Check…
0.8 MILES
Tracing its history back to AD 730, this splendid Shintō shrine boasts vermilion-lacquered halls surrounding a stately courtyard. Its present location…
0.82 MILES
Stately wood panelling surrounds a small collection of traditional Japanese art and artefacts, including ceramics, paintings and nō (stylised dance-drama)…