A Local's Guide to the Perfect Tokyo Experience

Condé Nast Traveler

27-05-2025

Transcript
I'm Melinda Jo, a food writer based in Tokyo
for more than 15 years.
Over that time, I've helped a lot
of people navigate this confusing
but beautiful city that we call Tokyo.
Today, I'm gonna curate my perfect Tokyo experience,
looking at a number of recommendations from the internet,
but ultimately I would like to take you
to some places off the beaten track.
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When you come to Tokyo, of course you have to eat sushi.
Tokyo is the birthplace of Nigiri sushi,
which is the kind of sushi that we all know and love.
We have so many options here in Tokyo from your cheap eats,
standing sushi
or the Kaiten sushi, which is the revolving sushi bar
to the little neighborhood run
mom and pop style sushi restaurants,
and of course the high end Omakase style sushi restaurants.
When you're looking for sushi in Tokyo,
you're gonna see a ton of recommendations,
especially concentrated around Oshiage
where the old fish market was.
So one of the main ones will be Sushizanmai
which is of course a very solid chain.
My recommendation is Sushi Kadowaki in Ginza.
It's a relatively newly open space,
and the reason I love it is that it's traditional style,
but with innovation,
and you have a very, very charming sushi chef
that makes you feel very comfortable.
[both speaking in Japanese]
Of course, this is an Omakase course
so it's all chef selection, seasonal,
and whatever the chef thinks is best on the day.
One of the things that's really special is how he uses fish
that is not actually found in a lot of other restaurants.
Instead of getting the fish from the market,
he has direct relationships with fishermen
and with special distributors.
Mm!
[Takatoshi speaking in Japanese]
[Melinda speaking in Japanese]
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[all laughing]
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There's only one way to take in
the staggering scale of Tokyo,
and that's with a view from above.
Let's take a look at what the internet says
for recommended views.
Alright, yeah, Mori Tower in Roppongi of course,
a great choice.
Oh, the metropolitan building in Shinjuku.
That's a great idea, especially if you want
to get a view without having to pay an entrance fee.
So if I'm going to pick a place with a view,
I feel like we should also have some time to enjoy that view
with a great drink.
And so my pick is the Ritz Carlton Tokyo.
For me, the bar at the Ritz Carlton Tokyo achieves
the trifecta of great location, wonderful view,
and world-class cocktails.
Also, it opens at 3:00 PM
and I'm a big fan of day drinking, so this is my choice for
where to go when you wanna have an afternoon tipple
and watch the sunset, I'm gonna meet my friend, producer,
Erico Miagawa
and we're going to have some drinks mixed
by one of my favorite bartenders in Tokyo, Wada-san.
So it looks like the menu is based on the seasons.
Yes, if we see, oh, this is a beautiful season with Japan,
it's easy, but that's pretty much anyone does.
So why don't we go further,
which is sweet Wind travels around the season of Japan.
Okay, so what do you recommend for us today?
Why don't we introduce our spring cocktail,
which is Usui, Sakura Zen Sen.
Oh, this is based on American rye whiskey,
and honey comes from Kurume City
and lemon comes from Hiroshima
and Aromatized with a little bit of matcha.
Matcha comes from Kyoto Uji.
[Melinda] You said that this has a story?
What you see leaking is Tears of Geisha.
Oh. Isn't that so cool?
That's so cool. Drink.
Comes in waves. Right? Yeah.
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If you're coming to Tokyo for the first time,
of course you wanna have ramen.
I was the same way when I first came to Tokyo
oh so many years ago, I had ramen all the time.
It was such an easy way to go get something
that was delicious and filling
and great for just one person.
There are so many great places to choose from.
Let's see what the internet says.
We have ramen Ichiran, the Shinyokohama Ramen Museum,
also Ramen Street in Tokyo Station.
Actually, these are all great choices.
Shinyokohama Ramen Museum is so much fun, actually,
it's like going to the Disneyland of Ramen.
The Ramen Street in Tokyo Station is also a really good way
to see what's going on in the ramen scene today,
all in one place.
What I really recommend is an experience
that you can have only in Tokyo,
and that's why I wanna take you to Ginza Hachigou.
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[Melinda speaking in Japanese]
[Yasushi speaking in Japanese]
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The balance is really important,
and that's what I'm finding in this bowl of ramen.
You have the texture of the noodles,
which is both delicate and pliant
and with enough chew
to make you feel like you're really eating noodles,
but you see that they are thin so
that they don't feel too overpowering.
There's not a trace of heaviness in this for me at all.
It's really the natural flavor
of the ingredients coming through.
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Well, of course, Kyoto is the capital of temples in Japan,
but in Tokyo we also have a lot of cool temples to visit.
So let's take a look at what the recommended ones are.
The very first one that comes up is of course,
Senso-ji in Asakusa
and it is a beautiful temple.
It is iconic, it is huge.
And if you need to get your Instagram moment,
then of course I think you should go there.
But I recommend
for a really unique experience
right here in the middle of Tokyo, Fukagawa Fudo-do.
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One of the things that makes the temple so unique is
that every day, five times a day,
they perform a Goma ritual, which is a fire ritual.
That is a time that people can pray
for different wishes and come for spiritual purification.
It doesn't matter if you are yourself religious,
it's just more you get a sense of
how these institutions are still very much
a part of people's lives here.
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When people come to Tokyo,
they always ask me about Kobe beef,
but I think there's a little misunderstanding
about what exactly Kobe beef is.
Kobe beef refers specifically to a brand of beef
made from cattle grown in a certain prefecture in Japan,
Hyōgo prefecture.
It is one kind of beef in the category of Wagyu.
Kobe beef is of course delicious.
It's strictly regulated,
but there are many other brands of Japanese beef
or Wagyu that are also wonderful.
So where can you taste this succulent beef?
Let's see what the internet says.
Okay, so it's so popular that tons of things come up,
and I'm sure that a lot of them are great.
But I would like to take you to
what I think is maybe the best Wagyu experience.
Wagyumafia. [crowd cheering]
There's no way to put into words the intensity of the energy
and the pure flavor that they deliver here at Wagyu Mafia.
[both speaking in Japanese]
[Melinda] I mean, really spectacular.
It's not like at a restaurant at all,
and it's not like at a house.
It really feels like a performance.
[both speaking in Japanese]
You are such a big personality.
When people think about Wagyumafia,
they think about the performance
and they think about indulgence.
Food has to be fun, food has to be enjoyable.
Before Wagyumafia, you sit down quiet for two hours,
very end of the meal,
you get a tiny bit of Kobe beef,
but you're not allowed to talk big, you know?
With Wagyumafia, I wanted to create excitement
'cause I think the happiness is new part of our money.
People shout and I have a 93-year-old lady
as a one of my regular customers.
She can understand that. She said, oh, I feel young now.
This is a food I wanna serve to my family.
Right, right. And my friends.
And I want to eat. Yes.
Yeah, day off, no, I come back to Wagyumafia to eat it.
[both speaking in Japanese]
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Tokyo's drinking culture
and its bar scene is legendary, not only for the precision
and craft of bartenders at high-end cocktail bars,
but also for the sheer breadth
and variety of the drinking establishments
that we have here.
We have lively Izaki
where you can get a cheap and easy drink.
We have bars that are standing room only
where you can drop in to say hi and have a beer.
And then we have experiences
that you can only find here in Tokyo.
I'm gonna take you to a one of a kind place called Twillo.
The best way to describe it is that
it's a kind of food truck meets high-end cocktail bar
that moves around the city in a different place every night.
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[Shotaro speaking in Japanese]
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I'm gonna drink poison. Hm...
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One of the things that makes the city
so dynamic is the way that you have old
and new right next to each other.
You might have a restaurant that is a hundred years old
next to a really tiny contemporary restaurant
with only eight seats.
Or you might find the most unusual shop stuck
in a high rise building with no real sign.
When you walk around Tokyo,
you will always find something new.
There's so much to see in this city.
You have to just be open with all of your senses
and start taking a look.
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