Tokyo Asakusa and Sensoji Temple Walking Tours: How to Book

The fortune slip said “curse.” Not “mild inconvenience” or “minor setback” — the full, unambiguous Japanese word for curse. I was standing inside Sensoji Temple, Tokyo’s oldest Buddhist temple, surrounded by travelers grinning over their fortunes, and mine was essentially telling me I was doomed. The guide saw my face, laughed, and said: “Tie it to the rack over there. The monks will pray it away for you.” I did. And then I spent the next two hours learning that Asakusa has been absorbing people’s bad luck — and good money — for nearly 1,400 years.

Kaminarimon Gate with large red lantern at Sensoji Temple Asakusa Tokyo — The Kaminarimon — Thunder Gate — is the first thing you see walking toward Sensoji from the station. That red lantern weighs almost 700 kilograms. Most people stop for a photo and miss the two fierce guardian statues flanking it: Fujin (wind god) on the right, Raijin (thunder god) on the left. They’ve been scaring away evil spirits since the original gate was built in 942 AD.

Crowds walking through Nakamise shopping street toward Sensoji Temple in Asakusa — Nakamise-dori stretches about 250 metres from Kaminarimon to the inner Hozomon gate. Over 90 stalls line both sides. The walking tours usually start early — by 10am this corridor is shoulder-to-shoulder. If you come on your own, 7am gives you the street almost to yourself.

Asakusa is one of those Tokyo neighbourhoods that still feels like old Edo. The backstreets behind the temple are full of tiny restaurants, traditional craft shops, and side temples that most visitors walk straight past. The walking tours take you through all of it. Two hours, a local guide, and you’ll understand why this neighbourhood has been the beating heart of Tokyo’s working-class culture for centuries.

Short on time? Here are my top picks:

Best overall: Asakusa Walking Tour with Sensoji Temple Visit — $22, 2 hours, 1,583 reviews. The most popular option by far. Small groups, English-speaking guide, covers Kaminarimon, Nakamise, Sensoji, and the backstreets.

Best for depth: Old Quarter Asakusa Sensoji Walking Tour — $20, perfect 5.0 rating. Goes deeper into the old quarter beyond the temple grounds.

Best for old town: Asakusa Senso-ji Temple & Old Town Walking Tour — $23, 5.0 rating, 483 reviews. Combines temple history with residential backstreet exploration.

What the Walking Tours Actually Cover

All three tours follow roughly the same route through Asakusa, but the depth varies. You start at Kaminarimon Gate — that massive red lantern you’ve seen in every Tokyo guidebook — and walk through Nakamise-dori, the 250-metre shopping street that leads to the temple.

Visitors walking through Hozomon Gate at Sensoji Temple Tokyo — The Hozomon — Treasure House Gate — is the second gate you pass through after Nakamise-dori. Look up: the pair of giant straw sandals (waraji) hanging on the back side are over 4.5 metres tall. They’re renewed every 10 years by monks from Yamagata Prefecture, 400 kilometres north. The guides always point them out. Most solo visitors miss them entirely.

But the shopping street is really just the appetiser. The guides take you behind and around the temple complex, through narrow residential lanes that travelers rarely find on their own. You’ll learn about the omikuji fortune-telling system (100 yen per slip — and yes, you might get a “curse” like I did), the incense smoke ritual at the main hall, and the five-story pagoda that’s been rebuilt more times than anyone can count.

Five-story pagoda at Sensoji Temple against blue sky in Asakusa Tokyo — The five-story pagoda has been destroyed and rebuilt at least six times since the 10th century. The current version dates from 1973. It’s 53 metres tall and you can see it from blocks away — a useful landmark when you inevitably get turned around in Asakusa’s backstreets. The best photo angle is from the southwest corner of the temple grounds, where you can frame it with the main hall roof.

The best guides also cover the Asakusa Shrine (a Shinto shrine inside the Buddhist temple complex — Japan’s religious flexibility is something else), the Denboin Garden (usually closed to the public but visible through the fence), and Hanayashiki — Japan’s oldest amusement park, which opened in 1853 and still operates a rollercoaster that looks like it might collapse at any moment.

What makes the walking tours worth it over exploring alone isn’t just the history. It’s the navigation. Asakusa is a maze of side streets, hidden shrines, and unmarked restaurants. A guide who knows the neighbourhood can take you to a hundred-year-old tempura shop or a backstreet workshop making traditional paper lanterns — places that don’t appear on Google Maps and don’t have English signs.

The 3 Best Asakusa Walking Tours

1. Asakusa Walking Tour with Sensoji Temple Visit — $22

This is the one most people book, and for good reason. Over 1,500 reviews for a $22 tour — that’s hard to argue with. The guide covers Kaminarimon, Nakamise-dori, the main hall, omikuji, and the backstreets in two focused hours. Our full review covers what the guide actually explains at each stop, plus tips on timing. Julian from a recent visit summed it up: the guide explained everything and made it genuinely interesting.

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2. The Old Quarter of Tokyo — Asakusa Sensoji Walking Tour — $20

Old Quarter Asakusa Sensoji Temple Walking Tour — This tour goes deeper into the old quarter — the residential lanes and side streets where Asakusa’s personality really comes through. Less temple, more neighbourhood.

A perfect 5.0 rating across 560 reviews is rare for any tour, and at $20 it’s the cheapest option. This one leans more into the old quarter itself — the quiet lanes behind the temple, the local shops, the neighbourhood’s working-class history. If you already know the basic Sensoji story and want to understand why Asakusa matters to Tokyoites, our review breaks down what makes this one different from the standard temple tours. Michael, a recent guest, said he booked it on impulse and it turned out to be one of the best things he did in Tokyo.

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3. Asakusa Senso-ji Temple & Old Town Walking Tour — $23

Asakusa Senso-ji Temple and Old Town Walking Tour — The old town route adds context you won’t get from the temple alone — how Asakusa evolved from a fishing village into Tokyo’s entertainment district and what’s left of that history today.

Another perfect 5.0, this time with 483 reviews at $23. This tour bridges the temple visit and the old town exploration — you get the full Sensoji walkthrough plus deeper dives into the residential backstreets and the neighbourhood’s layered history. Our review covers the guide quality and specific stops. Stephen highlighted his guide Akari as someone who added genuine context you simply wouldn’t have had on your own.

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Walking Through Sensoji: What You’ll See

Even if you book a tour, it helps to know what’s coming. The temple complex flows in a straight line from south to north, gate to gate to main hall. Here’s the sequence.

Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate)

Close-up of Kaminarimon Gate at Sensoji Temple Asakusa — The current Kaminarimon dates from 1960, rebuilt after being destroyed in a fire in 1865. The Matsushita Electric founder Konosuke Matsushita (yes, the Panasonic guy) funded the reconstruction after recovering from an illness. The lantern and gate are his gift to the temple. Photo by Another Believer / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

This is where every visit starts. The red lantern is the most photographed object in Asakusa and probably one of the most photographed things in all of Tokyo. It weighs about 700 kilograms and hangs 3.9 metres off the ground. Most people take their photo and move on. But look at the bottom of the lantern — there’s a carved dragon that most visitors miss. And the two statues on either side, Fujin and Raijin (wind and thunder gods), have been guarding this gate since 942 AD. The originals were destroyed in fires multiple times. The current versions are mid-20th century replacements, but they still look intimidating.

Nakamise-dori (Shopping Street)

Crowds of travelers at Sensoji Temple complex in Asakusa — The temple grounds during peak hours. Sensoji gets about 30 million visitors per year — roughly 82,000 per day on average. The walking tours avoid the worst of it by starting early, usually 9 or 10am. By noon, this area is standing-room only.

The 250-metre covered shopping street between Kaminarimon and Hozomon has over 90 stalls, and it’s been a commercial strip since the Edo period. Some of these shops have been in the same family for generations. The walking tour guides usually point out the best food stalls — the ningyoyaki (small cakes filled with red bean paste and shaped like the Kaminarimon lantern), the age-manju (deep-fried sweet buns), and the senbei (rice crackers grilled over charcoal and brushed with soy sauce).

Don’t buy anything on Nakamise-dori until you’ve walked the full length. The prices and quality vary more than you’d expect for a 250-metre stretch. The stalls at the far end (closer to Hozomon) tend to be slightly better value because fewer travelers make it that far without stopping.

Hozomon (Treasure House Gate)

The second gate. Larger than Kaminarimon and less famous, which is odd because it’s arguably more impressive. The upper floors store a collection of Buddhist sutras that dates back to the 14th century (not open to the public). Turn around after you pass through — the back side has a pair of enormous straw sandals, each about 4.5 metres tall and weighing 500 kilograms. They’re made by monks from Murayama in Yamagata Prefecture and donated to the temple every 10 years. The sandals symbolise the strength of the guardian deities. It’s a great photo opportunity and most visitors miss it because they’re facing forward.

The Main Hall (Hondo)

Overview of Sensoji Temple main hall in Asakusa Tokyo — The main hall of Sensoji — where the golden Kannon statue has been hidden from public view for nearly 1,400 years. Nobody alive has seen it. Even the head priest can only enter the inner sanctum during specific rituals. Photo by Joli Rumi / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Visitors surrounded by incense smoke at Sensoji Temple Tokyo — The jokoro incense burner in front of the main hall. The smoke has been part of the Sensoji experience for centuries — visitors fan it toward whatever ails them. Headaches, bad backs, exam anxiety — the smoke doesn’t discriminate. By mid-morning the air around the burner is thick enough to taste. Photo by Ken Eckert / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The heart of Sensoji. Before entering, stop at the large incense burner (jokoro) in front. The ritual is simple: fan the smoke toward any part of your body that needs healing. Headache? Fan it toward your head. Bad knees? Knees it is. It’s one of those traditions that feels both ancient and completely practical.

Inside the main hall, the golden statue of Kannon (the Buddhist goddess of mercy) sits in a sealed inner sanctum. Here’s the extraordinary thing: nobody has seen it. Not in your lifetime, not in your grandparents’ lifetime. The statue has been declared a “hibutsu” — a hidden Buddha — and it has not been displayed to the public in the 1,400 years since it was allegedly pulled from the Sumida River. Some scholars debate whether it even still exists. The guides love telling this story, and it’s genuinely one of the more fascinating temple mysteries in Japan.

Toss a coin into the offering box (5 yen coins are considered lucky — the word “go-en” also means “good fortune” in Japanese), clap twice, and bow. The omikuji fortune drawers are to the left. 100 yen, shake the metal cylinder, pull out a numbered stick, find the corresponding drawer. If you get “daikichi” (great blessing), keep it. If you get “kyo” (curse), tie it to the wire rack nearby and let the monks handle it.

The Five-Story Pagoda and Asakusa Shrine

The pagoda sits to the west of the main hall. At 53 metres, it’s visible from most of Asakusa and makes a useful navigation landmark. The current version is from 1973 — the original was destroyed in the 1945 Tokyo firebombings that levelled most of this area.

Asakusa Shrine adjacent to Sensoji Temple in Tokyo — Asakusa Shrine sits right next to Sensoji — a Shinto shrine inside a Buddhist temple complex. This is where the Sanja Matsuri festival erupts every May. The shrine honours the three founders of Sensoji: the fishermen brothers and their village chieftain. Photo by Qian2007 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Adjacent to Sensoji is Asakusa Shrine, a Shinto shrine built in 1649 to honour the three men who founded Sensoji — the two fishermen brothers and the village chieftain. A Buddhist temple and a Shinto shrine standing side by side feels strange to Western visitors, but in Japan, the two religions have coexisted for over a millennium. Asakusa Shrine is where the famous Sanja Matsuri festival happens every May — Tokyo’s biggest and wildest festival, with portable shrines carried through the streets by teams of locals.

Visitors with colorful umbrellas at Sensoji Temple on a rainy day — Rain doesn’t stop Asakusa. If anything, the temple grounds are more atmospheric when they’re wet — fewer crowds, deeper colours on the vermilion woodwork, and that particular smell of incense mixing with rain on stone. The walking tours run rain or shine.

1,400 Years of Asakusa: From Fishing Village to Tokyo’s Soul

Sensoji’s story starts in the Sumida River in 628 AD. Two fishermen brothers — Hinokuma Hamanari and Takenari — pulled a small golden statue from their nets. They tried to throw it back. It kept returning. They took it to their village chieftain, Haji no Nakatomo, who recognised it as Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy. He converted his home into a shrine to house it. That shrine became Sensoji.

Hiroshige II woodblock print of Kinryuzan Temple in Asakusa from Famous Places in the Eastern Capital — Hiroshige II’s depiction of Kinryuzan Temple (Sensoji’s formal name) in Asakusa, from the series “Famous Places in the Eastern Capital.” This mid-19th century woodblock print shows the temple complex at the height of the Edo period, when Asakusa was the entertainment and cultural centre of the city. The red gate and the crowd are recognisable even today.

“Sensoji” is actually just another way of reading the characters for “Asakusa” plus the character for temple. The temple and the neighbourhood are linguistically inseparable — and their histories are too.

For the first thousand years, Sensoji grew slowly on the back of Buddhist pilgrims. Then came Tokugawa Ieyasu. In the early 1600s, when the most powerful warlord in Japan chose Edo (old Tokyo) as his capital, he made Sensoji one of his family temples. The reasoning was strategic, not spiritual: according to ancient Chinese geomancy, threats come from the northeast. Sensoji sat at Edo’s northeast “demon gate.” By patronising the temple, Ieyasu was essentially buying spiritual defence for his new city. Zojoji Temple near modern-day Tokyo Tower covered the southwest gate.

The real explosion came later. When Ieyasu’s grandson Iemitsu “decommissioned” Sensoji as an official shogunal temple in 1625, the common people of Edo claimed it as their own. Then in 1657, after a massive fire destroyed the original Yoshiwara pleasure quarter near Nihonbashi, the authorities relocated it to the outskirts of Asakusa. Suddenly the neighbourhood had temples, entertainment, food, shopping, and nightlife all within walking distance. Asakusa became Edo’s Times Square — and stayed that way for the next 300 years.

Hiroshige ukiyo-e print of Asakusa Ricefields and Torinomachi Festival 1857 — Hiroshige’s “Asakusa Ricefields and Torinomachi Festival” from 1857. A cat watches the festival procession from a window — Hiroshige was famous for these intimate framings. In the background, rice paddies stretch toward the temple. Today this entire area is dense urban Tokyo. The transformation from farmland to megacity happened in barely 150 years.

During the Meiji era (1868-1912), Asakusa reinvented itself again. Japan’s first cinema opened here. Japan’s oldest amusement park — Hanayashiki, which still operates today — opened in 1853 as a flower garden and evolved into a theme park. The twelve-storey Ryounkaku tower, built in 1890, was briefly the tallest building in Asia. It had Japan’s first electric elevator. Asakusa was where Tokyo went to see the future.

The 1945 firebombings destroyed nearly everything. The main hall, the pagoda, the gates — all burned. The neighbourhood was rebuilt in the decades that followed, but Asakusa never regained its status as Tokyo’s entertainment centre. That shifted to Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Roppongi. What Asakusa kept was its character. The narrow streets, the family-run shops, the festivals, the sense of being in a different Tokyo from the neon and skyscrapers a few subway stops away.

Asakusa Beyond the Temple

The walking tours end at Sensoji, but Asakusa has more to offer if you have time. Here’s what’s worth exploring on foot.

Hanayashiki Amusement Park

Japan’s oldest amusement park, operating since 1853. It’s tiny — you can see the whole thing from the entrance — but it’s a genuine piece of Tokyo history. The roller coaster weaves between buildings. The haunted house is in a building that looks like it might actually be haunted. Entry is cheap (about 1,000 yen for adults) and rides are 200-300 yen each. It’s not Disneyland. That’s the point.

Hoppy Street (Hoppy-dori)

A narrow lane lined with izakayas (Japanese pubs) that serve Hoppy — a beer-flavoured drink invented in 1948 as a cheap alternative to actual beer. The street is at its best after 4pm when the red lanterns come on and salarymen fill the outdoor seating. Order “nama Hoppy” and a plate of beef stew (nikomi). It’s one of the most authentically local drinking experiences in Tokyo, and it’s a 3-minute walk from Sensoji.

Kappabashi Kitchen Street

The famous “Kitchen Town” is a 10-minute walk from Sensoji. A full street of shops selling everything a restaurant needs: knives (Japanese chef knives are world-famous and this is where professionals buy them), ceramics, the plastic food replicas you see in restaurant windows, uniforms, and equipment. Even if you’re not buying, the plastic food shops are worth visiting just to see the craftsmanship. A fake tempura shrimp costs about 3,000 yen. A full window display can run over 100,000 yen.

Sensoji Temple with Tokyo Skytree visible in the background — Sensoji and Skytree in one frame — the old and the new Tokyo. Tokyo Skytree is a 15-minute walk east from Sensoji, across the Sumida River. The observation deck gives you a bird’s-eye view of the entire Asakusa neighbourhood.

Sumida River Walk

Sumida River with Tokyo Skytree viewed from Asakusa — The Sumida River from the Asakusa side, with Tokyo Skytree across the water. This is the same river where two fishermen supposedly pulled a golden statue from their nets in 628 AD and started everything. The riverside walk is flat, easy, and one of the best free views in Tokyo. Photo: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

The riverside promenade east of Sensoji runs along the Sumida River with views of Tokyo Skytree, the Asahi Beer Hall (the building with the golden flame sculpture on top — locals call it “the golden poop”), and the Azuma Bridge.

Asahi Breweries golden flame building and Tokyo Skytree at blue hour from Sumida River — The Asahi Beer Hall’s golden Flamme d’Or (designed by Philippe Starck) and Tokyo Skytree at blue hour. The flame is supposed to represent the frothy head on a beer. Locals have a different name for it. The Sumida River walk gives you this view — one of those Tokyo photos that makes people book flights. Photo by Basile Morin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

It’s the same river where those two fishermen allegedly pulled the golden Kannon statue out of their nets in 628 AD. In summer, the Sumida River Fireworks Festival (late July) is one of Tokyo’s biggest events — over a million people watch from the riverbanks.

Asakusa Rickshaw Tours

If walking isn’t your thing, or you want a different perspective, Asakusa rickshaw tours cover the same neighbourhood from the back of a hand-pulled cart. The rickshaw runners are part athlete, part tour guide — they navigate the narrow lanes, explain the history, and stop at the best photo spots. It’s more expensive than walking tours ($40+) but it’s a unique way to see the area, especially if you’re short on time or mobility.

Best Time to Visit Sensoji

Sensoji is open 24/7. The temple grounds never close. The main hall has fixed hours (6am-5pm from April to September, 6:30am-5pm from October to March), but you can walk the grounds, photograph the gates, and explore the neighbourhood at any hour.

Sensoji Temple illuminated at night in Tokyo — Sensoji after dark is a completely different experience. The crowds disappear, the lanterns glow, and the vermilion woodwork reflects the light in a way that daylight can’t match. If you have one evening free in Tokyo, walking through the temple grounds after 8pm is genuinely magical.

Sensoji Temple at night with warm vermilion glow in Asakusa — The vermilion paint on the main hall and gates was chosen deliberately — it’s believed to ward off evil spirits. At night, with the ground-level lighting, the colour deepens. This is one of those photos that sells people on visiting Asakusa after sunset.

Early morning (6-8am): The best time if you want the temple almost to yourself. The main hall is open, the incense is burning, and Nakamise-dori is closed (the shops open around 9-10am). You’ll see locals doing their morning prayers and runners jogging through the grounds. It’s peaceful in a way that feels almost wrong for something this famous.

Morning (9-11am): When the walking tours run. Nakamise shops are open, the crowds are building but manageable. This is the sweet spot for a tour — enough activity to feel the energy, not so much that you’re elbow-to-elbow.

Afternoon (12-4pm): Peak crowds. Nakamise-dori becomes genuinely difficult to walk through. If you’re going in the afternoon, skip the main shopping street and approach from the side streets instead.

Evening (after 5pm): The main hall closes, Nakamise shops start shutting, but the temple grounds stay open. From 5pm onwards, the gates and buildings are illuminated. By 8pm, the tourist crowds have thinned to almost nothing. Walking through the lit-up temple complex at night is one of Tokyo’s best free experiences. The Shinjuku night walking tours start later in the evening — you could do Asakusa at sunset and Shinjuku after dark.

Seasonal Considerations

Cherry blossom season (late March-early April): The Sumida River cherry blossoms are famous. Trees line both banks and there’s a dedicated hanami (flower viewing) area. Sensoji with cherry blossoms is peak Tokyo.

Sanja Matsuri festival crowds at Asakusa Tokyo — Sanja Matsuri in full swing. Around 100 portable shrines (mikoshi) are carried through Asakusa’s streets over three days every May. The festival draws nearly two million people and the energy is unlike anything else in Tokyo. If your dates line up, go — but book your walking tour for a different day. Photo: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Sanja Matsuri (third weekend of May): Tokyo’s biggest festival. Around 100 portable shrines are carried through the streets by thousands of locals. It’s loud, chaotic, and unforgettable. If your trip coincides with it, go. But don’t expect a peaceful temple visit that weekend.

Summer (July-August): Hot and humid. The Sumida River Fireworks Festival in late July draws over a million people. Visit Sensoji early morning to avoid the heat.

New Year (December 31-January 3): Hatsumode — the first shrine visit of the year — brings about 2.8 million people to Sensoji over three days. It’s Tokyo’s most visited New Year destination. Expect queues measured in hours.

How to Get to Sensoji

Sensoji is easy to reach from anywhere in Tokyo.

Asakusa Station (Tokyo Metro Ginza Line): Exit 1, turn left, and Kaminarimon is right there. 15 minutes from Tokyo Station (take the Marunouchi Line to Ginza, transfer to Ginza Line). 20 minutes from Shinjuku (take the Marunouchi Line to Akasaka-mitsuke, transfer to Ginza Line).

Asakusa Station (Tobu Skytree Line): Same location, different line. Useful if you’re combining Asakusa with a visit to Tokyo Skytree (one stop).

Asakusa Station (Tsukuba Express): Different station, about a 5-minute walk to Sensoji. Less crowded than the other stations.

A Suica or Pasmo IC card works on all lines. If you have a JR Pass, take the JR Line to Ueno, then one stop on the Ginza Line to Asakusa.

Aerial view of Asakusa district in Tokyo with Skytree — Asakusa from above. Sensoji’s red temple complex is visible at centre, with Tokyo Skytree dominating the eastern skyline across the Sumida River. The dense grid of streets surrounding the temple is where most of the walking tours explore — a maze of old-school Tokyo that looks nothing like the modern city a few stops away.

Practical Tips

Sensoji is free. There’s no entrance fee for the temple or temple grounds. The walking tours are separate — you’re paying for the guide, not the temple access.

Wear comfortable shoes. The walking tours cover about 2-3 kilometres on a mix of paved streets, stone paths, and temple steps. Nothing strenuous, but heels or new shoes will make you miserable.

Bring cash. Nakamise shops and food stalls are mostly cash-only. The omikuji fortune slips are 100 yen. Budget 2,000-3,000 yen for food and souvenirs.

Omikuji etiquette. If you get a bad fortune, tie it to the metal rack near the fortune drawers. Don’t take it home. If you get a good fortune, keep it in your wallet.

Incense smoke ritual. At the large bronze incense burner (jokoro) in front of the main hall, fan the smoke toward yourself. It’s believed to have healing properties. Everyone does it — travelers and locals alike. No one will look at you funny.

Photography. Photography is allowed everywhere in the temple grounds and inside the main hall. No flash inside the hall. No tripods on Nakamise-dori (it’s too crowded anyway).

Combine with nearby experiences. Asakusa is a natural starting point for a full Tokyo day. After your morning temple visit, walk to Tokyo Skytree (15 minutes), then head to Tsukiji for a food tour at lunch, and finish with a bar hopping tour in the evening. Or combine with a sushi making class in the afternoon.

Hozomon Gate at Sensoji Temple glowing at night — Hozomon at night. The gate was rebuilt in 1964 with fireproof concrete after the wartime destruction. The upper floors house a collection of Buddhist sutras, but the real treasure is the view from below after dark — when the lanterns are lit and the travelers have gone home.

More Tokyo Guides

If Asakusa is your first stop in Tokyo, you’re starting in the right place. From here, the Asakusa rickshaw tours cover the same neighbourhood from a different angle. The Imperial Palace walking tour gives you the other side of Tokyo’s history — the seat of power versus the people’s temple. For something completely different, the Samurai Ninja Museum in Shinjuku puts real armour in your hands. And if you’re planning an evening out, our guides to Shinjuku’s Golden Gai and Omoide Yokocho and Tokyo bar hopping cover the best nightlife tours. The teamLab Planets experience is a 20-minute train ride south — a good afternoon activity after a morning in Asakusa.