Things to See in Tokyo

This place has been making a single, perfect dish in the same button-maker's house since before the turn of the last century. Come prepared to sit cross-legged on bamboo mats as chicken sukiyaki (meat cooked in broth in an iron pan with vegetables) simmers over a charcoal brazier, allowing ample time and opportunity to pick up the scent of prewar Tokyo.

Set in a converted public bathhouse, Maisen is rightfully famous for its tonkatsu - choose from shrimp, pork or premium kurobuta (black pig). There's also a takeaway window for picking up bent of tonkatsu accompanied by packets of Maisen's savoury dipping sauce.

Fujimamas is hugely popular for its Asian fusion cuisine - like pan-seared salmon with wasabi cream on a curried corn pancake - and its quality Californian wines. Upstairs are airy rooms in what was once a tatamimaker's workshop. Fujimamas also offers a great children's menu. The restaurant is in the first alley south of the Omote-sand and Meiji-jing intersection. Reservations are recommended.

Since 1930 tempura at the much esteemed Ten-Ichi has rightfully earned its reputation as supernaturally light and nongreasy. The dignified dining area at the flagship Ginza shop is a pleasure, though you can expect to spend significant coin for the privilege of dining here. Ten-Ichi is regarded as the city's best tempura, which means you're going to need a reservation if you want to dine among those in the know.

Back near the railway tracks, this is one of Tokyo's most celebrated izakaya (Japanese-style pub). A little Japanese language ability is helpful here, but the point-and-eat method works just fine. It's hard to spot the sign, even if you can read Japanese; better to look for the rustic, weathered façade.

This is Tokyo's favourite DIY store, with hardware and materials for home projects. What defines it is the sheer diversity of eccentric goodies: clocks that tick backwards, hand-blown glass pens and vibrating reflexology slippers. This is eight floors of oddball, functional stuff you never realised you needed. If you hit one store during your stay, let this be it. There's another huge store in Shinjuku's Takashimaya Times Square.

Before Issey Miyake put Tokyo on the fashion map, Japanese designers were known to copy Western trends after they'd already hit the runway. Miyake's work has changed such conceptions. Check out the A-POC garments - each made from a single piece of fabric.

Carrying a wide selection of antiques and tourist items at very reasonable prices, Oriental Bazaar is an excellent spot for easy one-stop souvenir shopping. Good gifts to be found here include fans, folding screens, pottery, porcelain and kimono. The branch at Narita airport opens at 07:30 for last-chance purchases.

If it lives in the sea, it's probably for sale in the Central Fish Market, where acres and acres of fish and fish products pass hands in a lively, almost chaotic atmosphere. Everything is allotted its own area, and a quick scan of the loading docks will reveal mountains of octopus, rows of giant tuna, endless varieties of shellfish and tanks upon tanks of live exotic fish.

If you're only here for a few days and are seeking a peek into the Tokyo art scene, stop here. Several of the best commercial galleries in town inhabit the five-storey, aptly named Complex. Spaces are a mix of styles and intentions, a conflation of more established exhibitors such as Ota Fine Arts, known for showing big names like Kusama Yayoi as well as newer galleries.

If you visit only one museum in Tokyo, make it this one. The Tokyo National Museum's grand buildings hold the world's largest collection of Japanese art, and you could easily spend an entire day perusing the galleries here. The building dates from 1939, and is in the imperial style, which fuses Western and Japanese architectural motifs.

Yeah, ew. Probably the grossest museum in Japan, this spot was established in 1953 by Satoru Kamegai, a local doctor concerned by the increasing number of parasites he was encountering in his practice due to unsanitary postwar conditions. The grisly centrepiece is an 8.8m-long tapeworm found ensconced in the body of a 40-year-old Yokohama man.

What the Tsukiji Central Fish Market is to the food trade, Akihabara is to Japan's legendary electronics industry: bustling, busy and fun to watch. Bonus: you don't have to get up early in the morning to catch the action (afternoon is prime time).

Tokyo's oldest public park has several names: its Sunday name, which no-one ever uses, is Ueno Onshi Ken; some locals dub it Ueno no Oyama (Ueno Mountain); and English speakers call it Ueno Park. Whichever you prefer, Ueno Ken makes for a pleasant city escape.

When you saw Spirited Away by Miyazaki Hayao (or Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, My Neighbour Totoro and so on) you probably fell in love with its mythical themes, fanciful characters and outrageous landscapes. Needless to say, do did every kid in Japan, which means you need to arrange tickets long before you arrive at this museum of the work of Ghibli, Miyazaki's animation studio.

Tokyo's grandest Shint shrine, this 1920 edifice enshrines the Emperor Meiji and Empress Shken, under whose rule Japan ended its isolation from the outside world. Destroyed in WWII bombings and reconstructed in 1958, the shrine buildings occupy just a corner of the precinct's 70 forested hectares (175 acres). In fact, its 100,000 trees are said to have been donated by 100,000 visitors from all over Japan.

Performances and times vary from month to month at Kabuki-za so check with the TIC (Tourist Information Center; ) or the theatre for programme information. Be sure to rent a headset for blow-by-blow explanations in English, and pick up a bent downstairs. A full kabuki performance comprises three or four acts (usually from different plays) over an afternoon or an evening (typically 11:00 to 15:30 or 16:30 to 21:00), with long intervals between the acts.

This well-respected, quarter-century-old Tokyo live house, whose chequerboard stage has hosted the feedback and reverb of many a Tokyo punk, is often grungy and smokey - with just the right level of sweaty intimacy. The music is always loud and usually good.

While not really traditional theatre, the all-female Takarazuka Gekij revue, with a bloodline running back to 1914, exposes Tokyo's knack for complexity. These musicals are in Japanese, but English synopses are available. A mostly female audience swoons over actresses in drag. If you love camp, this is for you.

This bar for boys and gals has been the gateway to Tokyo's gay neighbourhood, Ni-chme, for many a moon. A cavernous place with a dancefloor and intimate booths, Arty Farty is open to all in the community.

Located in the stratosphere, both physically and socially, the New York Bar towers over the city on the 52nd floor of the Park Hyatt Tokyo in west Shinjuku. With magnificent views, strong drinks and live jazz, this is a swank lounge for that special date.

Well-placed on the west side of Ueno Park, the gais is just the place for museum buffs. Its mostly Japanese-style rooms are reasonably priced, and the hotel provides excellent access to Ueno Park as well as to several rail lines.

South of Sens-ji temple in the Shitamachi (Old Town) area of Tokyo, this spotless and atmospheric ryokan (inn) has mostly Japanese-style rooms and baths with views to kill. This is the place for a full-on traditional inn experience without breaking the bank.

Pretty and bright, recently renovated and a step up from neighbouring business hotels, this Nikk is on the upscale end of midrange. Prices may seem a bit steep for what you get, but it's spotless, the staff is professional and friendly, and to be fair, real estate in Ginza is ridiculously pricey.