Temple · Tokyo ·1-2h
Senso-ji 浅草寺
Tokyo's oldest temple (founded 645) and the single most unavoidable first-timer sight. By 10:00 the Nakamise approach is a slow-moving crowd; before 08:00 it is close to empty, the shutters are still down showing their painted Edo scenes, and the Kaminarimon lantern, Hozomon gate and five-storey pagoda are a quiet 20-minute loop. Grounds are open around the clock, so an early start costs nothing.
Tip: Go before 08:00. Main hall opens 06:00 (06:30 Oct-Mar) and closes 17:00; grounds always open. Sunday 14 Mar will be worst - do this on a weekday. Combine with Kappabashi in the same morning.
Shop · Tokyo ·2h
Kappabashi Kitchen Town かっぱ橋道具街
Eight hundred metres of restaurant-supply street between Asakusa and Ueno, selling to the trade: hand-forged knives at Kamata and Tsubaya, donabe and iron kettles, lacquerware, noren, bamboo steamers, and the plastic food samples that fill Japanese restaurant windows. It is the most useful souvenir shopping in Tokyo and it is a ten-minute walk from Senso-ji, so it costs nothing to add to that morning.
Tip: Most shops 10:00-17:00; MANY CLOSE SUNDAYS, so avoid 14 Mar. Knife shops will sharpen and engrave a name in Japanese while you wait - allow the time. Blades must go in CHECKED baggage on the flight home. Ganso Sample-ya runs plastic-food workshops (book ahead).
knives from ¥6,000; sample-making workshop approx ¥2,500 morning source ↗ Food · Tokyo ·45min
Onigiri Asakusa Yadoroku おにぎり 浅草 宿六
Tokyo's oldest onigiri shop (1954) and a Michelin Bib Gourmand: a counter where rice balls are pressed to order around pickles, salted salmon roe or kombu, eaten with miso soup. It sits five minutes from Senso-ji, so it is the natural lunch on the Asakusa morning.
Tip: No reservations, queue. Tue–Wed lunch only; Thu–Mon 11:30–14:00 and 17:00–20:00; closed Sundays. Counter seating, so five will sit in twos and threes.
¥1,000–2,000 pp (approx EUR 6–11) lunch source ↗ Museum · Tokyo ·half day
Tokyo National Museum 東京国立博物館
Japan's oldest and largest museum, and the one museum on this list that is genuinely non-optional. The Honkan (Japanese Gallery) runs chronologically from Jomon pottery through Buddhist sculpture, swords, armour, lacquer, ukiyo-e and kimono - it is the fastest way to give three first-timers the vocabulary for everything they will see in Kyoto two weeks later. National Treasures rotate, so the contents differ every visit.
Tip: CLOSED MONDAYS (open when Monday is a holiday, closed the next day) - so closed Mon 15 Mar 2027. 09:30-17:00, until 20:00 Fri and Sat. Do the Honkan properly and skip the Toyokan unless someone wants Asian antiquities. Free for under-18s.
¥1,000 (approx EUR 6) morning source ↗