Summer Tokyo on our second visit: Nintendo Tokyo in Shibuya, a Harajuku monster show, a katana dinner, the crossing from above and a bar in Golden Gai.
Our first time here was a freezing February in 2024. Two years later we came back at the start of summer, and Tokyo had a whole new set of tricks ready. It’s the same city, in a completely different mood, and the heat sends you indoors at exactly the right moments.
Nintendo Tokyo in Shibuya. We queued with people a third of our age and don't regret a minute of it.Harajuku at full volume: a candy-coloured monster show where the performer taught us the pose. We did our best.A ninja-themed dinner where the table vanishes under dry ice and someone hands you a sword between courses.The best free show in Shibuya: a window seat above the crossing, watching a thousand people not collide.Center-gai after dark. Every sign is fighting every other sign, and somehow it works.Golden Gai, where a bar seats about six and the sign answers the only two questions that matter: no charge, cash only.
Tokyo was also our launchpad for Kyoto, Osaka and beyond. Two visits in, we still haven’t scratched the surface, and we’ll be back; that much isn’t in question.
