Tokyo Sightseeing: Old City, New Skyline
Walk fifteen minutes in Tokyo and the city changes centuries on you. That contrast, not any single landmark, is the actual sightseeing draw.
The old side. Senso-ji in Asakusa, Tokyo’s oldest temple, and the Nakamise shopping street leading to it, cost nothing to visit. Meiji Shrine, a short walk from Harajuku Station through a planted forest approach, is the same: free entry, donation optional. Both remain unchanged from whatever guidebook you read last, and both are worth the visit precisely because nothing about them needs updating.
The new side. teamLab Borderless reopened at Azabudai Hills, running 3,600 to 5,600 yen for adults depending on date and time, with hours that shift month to month, so check the current calendar before you plan a day around it. Its sister site, teamLab Planets at Toyosu, is a separate venue in a different part of the city, not the same museum under two names; adult tickets run 3,800 yen on weekdays and 4,200 on weekends, and operation is confirmed through the end of 2027 despite an outdated “closing soon” claim that still circulates; compare Planets ticket options before your date, since weekend slots move fast. Shibuya Sky, 2,700 to 3,400 yen depending on time slot, releases tickets two weeks out and its sunset window sells out within minutes, so check current Shibuya Sky availability as soon as the window opens rather than the week before you fly.
The correction Tokyo sightseeing content keeps getting wrong. Tsukiji still has its outer market, over 460 shops and food stalls, fully open and worth a visit. The tuna auction and wholesale trading, however, moved to Toyosu in October 2018 and have stayed there since; sending anyone to Tsukiji itself for the auction sends them to the wrong neighborhood. A free viewing gallery at Toyosu opens at 5am for exactly that purpose.
Ueno Zoo, updated. Japan’s oldest zoo, open since 1882 and home to roughly 2,600 animals, is still a legitimate stop, but it no longer has pandas. The last two, Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, went back to China in January 2026, ending a panda presence in Japan that had lasted over fifty years. Any older write-up promising panda viewing here is out of date.
Free, if towers are not your thing. Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building’s twin 45th-floor observatories cost nothing and come with a free nightly light show on the building’s east face, sunset to roughly 9pm, still the best-value view in the city.
Book teamLab and Shibuya Sky before you land; Senso-ji and Meiji Shrine need no plan at all, just a morning with nowhere else to be. For a walking route linking the old neighborhoods, see this site’s Tokyo walking tours guide .