Tokyo does a lot of things well. These four sit in a category of their own.
Totti Candy Factory, Harajuku
Rainbow fairy floss made fresh in front of you, then handed over in a portion roughly the size of your head. It sounds like an exaggeration. It isn’t! Fun, colourful, and completely unique to the Harajuku experience.
Hedgehog Cafe
Tokyo’s animal cafes cover a lot of ground but the hedgehog cafe is a genuine standout. You get to hold them, observe them up close, and spend time with animals most people have never interacted with before. A first for me and not something you will find replicated easily anywhere else in the world.
Live Sumo Wrestling
Not a tourist demonstration. A real professional sporting event with actual bouts between professional wrestlers. We spent an afternoon watching live sumo and it was one of the more memorable cultural experiences available in Japan. The atmosphere, the ritual, and the spectacle of it are hard to convey until you are sitting there watching it unfold.
Go Karting Through the Streets of Tokyo
Dressed as an alien from Toy Story, driving a go-kart through actual Tokyo streets. The city becomes your track and the whole experience is as absurd and exhilarating as it sounds. Genuinely one of those things you will talk about long after the trip is over.
Have you been to Tokyo? Comment below with the one you would most want to try.