Getting the most out of your layover in Tokyo is tricky. Earlier this month, Jia and I started our journey as digital nomads by hopping on a flight from Chicago’s O’Hare Airport to Bangkok, Thailand. It’s a place we’ve always wanted to visit, and, because of it’s world-class infrastructure and low cost of living, felt like the perfect place to begin our travels.
After reviewing a few of the different options (8 hours in Taipei, 6 in Singapore, and 23 in Tokyo), our choice was obvious. Tokyo was a place we’d always wanted to visit, and 23 hours was just enough to get a good taste of the city (8 sounded much too stressful), so we booked our flights and jumped on the plane.
This seems to be a pretty common layover option when coming to Asia from the United States, so we decided to write up a little guide on what to do during your layover in Tokyo.
Understand the subway system BEFORE you leave for your layover in Tokyo
This was probably our biggest mistake before flying out of Chicago for our layover in Tokyo, and wasted a lot of time that would’ve been better spent exploring a city we might never return to.
We read online that the subway is super easy to use and mostly in English, but that was not the experience we had. While the Tokyo metro is one of the nicest we’ve ever been on, the sheer amount of lines makes it daunting if you’ve never used it before.
One of the biggest things you can do to make your layover in Tokyo go smoothly is to research where you’re trying to go and what stations you need BEFORE landing in Japan.
Also, make sure you have a Suica card fully loaded up and set up well in advance. They can be very tricky to set up, so give yourself a few more days than you think you’ll need. Don’t be like us and wait until the night before.
Make the most out of your layover in Tokyo by eating everything in sight
The food we ate was by far the best part of our layover in Tokyo. Literally everywhere you turn is another amazing little restaurant serving some of the best Japanese food you’ll ever have.
Getting a few great meals in your belly is one of the easiest ways to get the most out of your layover in Tokyo. It’s pretty difficult to have a bad time when you’re eating delicious food in a foreign country, taking in all the sights and smells.
Go get ramen in Shinjuku
We started our journey by heading to Shinjuku. After a 13 hour flight we were both starving, and decided to go to the first good-looking restaurant we found.
This brought us to a tiny local ramen spot tucked away in one of the back alleys of Shinjuku. None of the servers spoke much English, but after some pointing and Google translating, we were served some of the best ramen I’ve ever tasted.
It was so much spicier than any ramen we’ve had back in the USA (probably because we can’t read Japanese), and the broth was pure heaven. It was so good we ended up getting another bowl at the airport before flying to Bangkok.
Beware of scams
After getting Ramen and having a drink at an izakaya, we decided to go and get something else to eat to fuel our last leg of the layover, Tsukiji Fish Market. This is where our layover in Tokyo took a turn for the worse.
We stopped at this beautiful little restaurant on one of the busiest streets in Shinjuku to get some sushi and small bites. After sitting down and being allowed to order, a different server came over and demanded we buy expensive alcoholic drinks.
When I said that we didn’t want to drink and just wanted some food, they demanded that we pay for our food, a table fine, and that we wouldn’t be allowed to eat any of it. They literally threw it away in front of us.
I don’t want to go too deep into detail about this again, but we wrote a full overview on our experience getting scammed in Tokyo here.
Sushi at Tsukiji Fish Market
Tsukiji Fish Market was by far the highlight of our layover in Tokyo. After an incredibly tiring night wandering around Shinjuku (don’t be like us, get a hotel!), we were so exhausted that we were strongly considering skipping Tsukiji altogether and just heading back to the airport.
Whatever you do, don’t skip it. It’s one of the single best things you can do in all of Tokyo, and an excellent option for an overnight layover.
As soon as you get to Tsukiji Fish Market, you’ll be overwhelmed by the food options surrounding you. Everywhere you look is something delicious. Our biggest advice here is to just wander around, follow your nose, and eat everything in sight.
If you’re looking for sushi, just find a place with a line full of locals. Wherever that is, it’s going to be excellent. We ate at a super crowded chain restaurant and had three courses of delicious sushi for around $16 USD.
Stay flexible throughout your layover in Tokyo
Whenever you’ve got a limited amount of time in a new country, understand that things will go wrong. Unexpected incidents will surely occur, and you’ll have to adapt to what’s happening on the fly.
Remaining flexible throughout your layover in Tokyo is one of the biggest things you can do to ensure you have a great time. Leave your expectations back in your home country and embrace the craziness that comes with trying to back a whole vacation into a 23 hour layover.
Write down a list of everything you want to do, then cut it in half
If you’re anything like us, you’re going to come to Tokyo with a massive list full of things that you’re 100% certain that you have to do and see before getting on your next life.
Take that list and cut it in half, then do it again.
Seriously, there’s absolutely no chance you’ll get through it all by the time you have to leave, and that’s okay. We did maybe 1/4 of the things we set out to do during our layover in Tokyo, and still had an overall great time in the country.
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