Tokyo for couples: what to know before you go (2026)

Why Tokyo for two

Tokyo breaks down into stations, and each station is a city: Shinjuku and its towers, Shibuya and its crossing, Ginza and its silk shops, Asakusa and its temple. A couple gains by picking one district a day rather than a list of monuments, and by ending each evening in one place: a sushi counter, a six-seat izakaya alley, the city lit up from a high floor.

Three things make the trip easy for a couple from the US or the UK. The city is very safe, even late at night. Trains run to the minute, from 5am to midnight. And jet lag, which wakes you at dawn for the first days, lands right when the shrines open and the streets are still empty.

When to go

A few dates on the calendar change crowds and prices. Golden Week (April 29 to May 5) and the mid-August holidays fill trains and hotels; New Year (January 1 to 3) closes many shops and restaurants and brings a crowd to Meiji Jingu and Senso-ji. The Sanja Matsuri, Asakusa's festival, takes over a weekend in May. On the last Saturday of July, the Sumida fireworks draw hundreds of thousands of spectators. From August to October a typhoon can halt trains and flights for a day: keep a spare day and follow the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Paperwork: passport, entering Japan, health

Before the flight: a free form

Visit Japan Web, the Japanese government's site, records your immigration and customs details online and issues a QR code to show on arrival. It is optional and free, and it saves time on a busy morning: fill it in on your phone the day before the flight, passport in hand, and beware of sites that charge for the step. Japan's departure tax is included in the price of your plane ticket.

On arrival

At immigration, the officer takes your fingerprints and photo, then asks for the address of your first hotel and the length of your stay: write them down before landing. Foreign visitors must carry their passport at all times, and police can ask to see it during a check.

Medications

Japan bans or restricts medicines that are common in the US and the UK: decongestants with pseudoephedrine (Sudafed), Adderall and other ADHD stimulants, some codeine pain relievers. If either of you takes a regular treatment, check it before booking on the Japanese embassy's website, and carry the prescription, in the original packaging, for the length of the stay.

How to get there

By air from the US and the UK

Two airports serve the city. Haneda (HND), 9 miles (15 km) from downtown, is the more practical: the train reaches Shinagawa in a quarter of an hour and Asakusa in 40 minutes. Narita (NRT), 37 miles (60 km) away, takes more time and more money to reach the center: compare the airfare with the trip to your hotel. Both trips are detailed below, in “From the airport to your hotel”.

Continuing to Kyoto

The Shinkansen links Tokyo to Kyoto in about 2h15: a day trip there and back is possible but leaves little time for either city. The nationwide Japan Rail Pass, now expensive, no longer pays off for a single Tokyo-Kyoto round trip: compare it with two tickets before you buy it.

Practical things to know before you go

Phone

Most US carriers sell an international day pass, around $12 a day, which adds up over a week; UK plans do not roam in Japan at no extra cost. A travel eSIM for the week costs less. The network covers the whole subway, but public Wi-Fi is patchy: keep your phone's data on for Google Maps, which you need for train routes, and for Google Translate, whose camera reads Japanese menus.

Money and tipping

• Japan is still a cash country: small izakaya, shrines, public baths, ticket-machine ramen shops and some markets take only coins and bills. Hotels, department stores, convenience stores and most restaurants take cards, contactless included.
• Withdraw yen at the ATMs of 7-Eleven stores or Japan Post, open 24 hours and compatible with foreign cards; many bank ATMs refuse them. Bring a small coin purse.
• No tipping, ever: not at restaurants, not in taxis, not at hotels, which is a big change for Americans. A bill left on the table is handed back to you, sometimes at a run. A few restaurants and luxury hotels add a 10 to 15% service charge, and some izakaya bill a small appetizer (otoshi) per person.
• Department stores and some shops refund the sales tax on presentation of your passport; the rules change (refund at departure after a customs check), so ask in the shop before you pay.

Jet lag

Tokyo is 13 to 14 hours ahead of New York, 16 to 17 hours ahead of Los Angeles and 8 to 9 hours ahead of London, and Japan does not change its clocks. Flying east is the hard direction: on arrival, stay outside in the daylight, do not sleep before 9pm and keep the first day for a shrine, a public bath and a simple dinner. You will wake around 4am or 5am for two or three mornings: that is the hour of Meiji Jingu, Senso-ji and the Tsukiji market, almost deserted. On the way home, the gap weighs less.

Plugs, water and what to wear

• Type A outlets (two flat pins) at 100 volts: American plugs fit, and US devices work without an adapter. UK visitors need an adapter; phone and laptop chargers accept 100 to 240 volts, but a UK hair dryer or straightener at 230 volts barely heats, and the hotel lends one.
• Tap water is safe to drink everywhere. Restaurants serve a free glass of ice water as soon as you sit down.
• You take your shoes off in Japanese inns, some tatami restaurants and changing rooms: clean socks with no holes, and shoes that slip off easily. Carry a small handkerchief: few restrooms have hand dryers.
• Trash cans are rare on the street: keep your garbage in a bag until the hotel or a convenience-store bin. A $4.50 umbrella is sold in every convenience store, and a typical day means 9 to 12 miles (15 to 20 km) on foot: good shoes.

What to book, and how far ahead

In Tokyo, what sells ahead of time is what has few seats: sushi counters, Ginza bars, sunset from a terrace, an inn with a private bath. The rest you buy the day before, or on the spot.

From the airport to your hotel

© OpenStreetMap contributors

At Haneda, the Keikyu line leaves from the terminal basement; its direct trains continue without a change onto the Asakusa line, to Shimbashi, Ginza and Asakusa. At Narita, three trains: the Skyliner, direct and pricier, reaches Ueno; the Access Express reaches Asakusa; the Narita Express serves Tokyo, Shibuya and Shinjuku. The Skyliner and the Narita Express are bought at the ticket counters of the airport station; the other trains are paid with an IC card (see “Getting around”).

Taxis are hailed at the official line outside each terminal; the rear door opens and closes by itself, and no tip is expected. Between 10pm and 5am, the fare is 20% higher. To keep suitcases out of the subway, send them to your hotel with the delivery service (takkyubin) at the arrivals counters: about $17 a bag, delivered the next day.

Getting around

Subway and trains, the IC card first

Tokyo is crossed by train: the Yamanote loop line of JR links the big stations (Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ueno, Tokyo), and the subway lines (Tokyo Metro and Toei) complete the network. Everything is paid with a rechargeable smart card, Suica or Pasmo, which also works at vending machines, convenience stores and lockers. It tops up at machines in every station.

An iPhone adds a Suica or Pasmo card in the Wallet app, with no physical card, and tops up with Apple Pay. On an Android phone, buy the physical card on arrival at the airport: stock at the counters varies, and the Welcome Suica or Pasmo Passport card fills the gap.

Stations, rush hours, taxis

• Trains run from about 5am to midnight, with no night train: a missed last train is paid for in a taxi. Google Maps shows the last departure of each line.
• Stations have dozens of numbered exits (more than 200 at Shinjuku): find your hotel's exit before you come up to the street.
• From 7:30am to 9:30am and from 5:30pm to 7:30pm the cars are packed: avoid them with a suitcase. On escalators, you stand on the left in Tokyo and let people pass on the right.
• Several lines reserve a car for women at rush hour, marked with a pink sign on the platform.

Budget for two

The hotel weighs the most, but Tokyo stays affordable once the room is paid: an izakaya dinner, a sushi lunch and train rides cost little. The table prices four nights for two, flights excluded.

Rooms cost almost double during the cherry blossoms, Golden Week, at Christmas and at New Year. A city lodging tax is added to the bill, and displayed prices almost always include sales tax.

Reference prices

What to taste

In Tokyo, every dish has its house, often an eight-seat counter where the cook does one thing. You eat well by following the dish rather than the address: sushi at noon, skewers at six, a bowl of noodles at midnight.

At the table

• Sushi

  Vinegared rice and fish cut to order, at the counter, one piece at a time. The chef's menu (omakase) lets the cook choose; lunch costs half as much as dinner.

• Ramen

  Noodles in a pork, soy or fish broth. You buy a ticket at the machine by the door, sit at the counter and pour yourself ice water.

• Yakitori

  Chicken skewers grilled over charcoal, seasoned with salt or sauce, with a beer: the meal of the alleys under the railway tracks.

• Tempura and eel

  Light fritters of vegetables and shrimp, or glazed grilled eel (unagi) on rice: the houses of Asakusa have served them for more than a century.

• The convenience store (konbini)

  Onigiri rice balls with salmon, an egg sandwich, a cup of coffee: the city's breakfast, open 24 hours, for $3.40 for two.

• Wagashi

  Japanese sweets of red bean paste and rice, served with green tea; the department stores of Ginza sell them in their basements.

In the glass

• Sake

  A rice wine served cold or warm, in a small carafe; the sake bars of Ginza and Shinjuku offer tastings of three glasses.

• Highball and Japanese whisky

  Whisky topped with sparkling water, served ice cold: the izakaya drink, $4.50 to $6.80. The bars of Ginza pour the great brands by the glass.

• Draft beer

  A light, very cold pint, ordered first (toriaezu nama, “a draft to start”) as soon as you sit down.

• Green tea and matcha

  A whisked powdered tea in a tea room, with a pastry; the Hama-rikyu gardens serve it on a pond.

• Chuhai and umeshu

  A potato or wheat spirit topped with citrus, and a plum liqueur, drunk on ice or with sparkling water.

• Vending machines

  Iced tea, hot or cold coffee, water, in cans or bottles, on every corner, for $1.20 to $2.30.

Customs and rules to know

Tokyo says what it expects through gestures more than words: silence on the subway, the line on the platform, the tray where you set your money. A few manners are appreciated: speak softly, leave nothing behind, say sumimasen instead of squeezing past.

• You greet with a slight bow of the head and do not offer a handshake. At the register, you set money on the tray, not in the cashier's hand.
• At the table, chopsticks never stand upright in rice and never pass food from chopsticks to chopsticks. Before eating, you say itadakimasu; on leaving, gochisōsama deshita; to toast, kampai.
• At a Shinto shrine, you bow at the gate (torii), walk at the side of the path, rinse your hands at the fountain, bow twice, clap twice, then bow once more. At a Buddhist temple, you simply join your hands.
• A couple can hold hands and nobody minds; lingering kisses in public make people uneasy.
• Say arigatō gozaimasu (thank you), onegaishimasu (please), oishii (delicious): a few words please people, even badly pronounced.

At the public bath

The neighborhood public bath (sento) costs about $3.40 and welcomes everyone. Men and women bathe separately: you meet again at the exit, in the lounge, often over a bottle of cold milk. You undress completely, wash seated on a stool before entering the water, tie up long hair and keep the small towel out of the bath. A visible tattoo can get you refused: some baths accept it, others ask for a bandage; ask at the entrance. For a bath for two, choose an inn whose private bath can be booked by a couple, as in Hakone.

Safety

Few very big cities are as safe as Tokyo: you can walk at 2am and lost items are almost always returned. The risks are elsewhere: bars that trap tourists, crowds, earthquakes, typhoons and heat.

• In Kabukicho (Shinjuku) and Roppongi, do not follow touts who approach you for a bar or a hostess club: the bill reaches hundreds of dollars. Accept no drink from a stranger, and read the price and cover charge before you sit down.
• In Golden Gai, the cover charge (~$3.40 to $11 per person) is posted on each bar's door; some bars take only regulars, and a sign says so.
• In the crowds of Shibuya, Shinjuku and Asakusa, keep your phone and wallet in a zipped pocket: pickpocketing is rare but happens. A lost item is reported at the koban (neighborhood police box) or the station counter.
• Japan is an earthquake zone. If the ground shakes, move away from windows, protect your head under a table and do not run outside; follow the hotel's instructions. The Safety tips app from the Japan tourism office sends alerts in several languages.
• From August to October a typhoon can stop trains and flights for a day: follow the Japan Meteorological Agency. In summer the heat tops 95°F (35 °C): drink before you are thirsty, vending machines are everywhere.

Mistakes to avoid as a couple

A trip to Tokyo rarely goes wrong because of the city itself: it is a plan that crosses town several times a day, a sushi table never booked, or a hotel too far from a station. Tokyo gives itself in the districts where you linger.

• Trying to see everything: the city stretches for 56 miles (90 km), and two districts a day are plenty. One district in the morning, another in the evening, with the subway between the two.
• Arriving with no table booked: the best sushi counters and the bars of Ginza fill two to four weeks ahead, and a popular izakaya turns away anyone who has not booked.
• Leaving without cash: small izakaya, shrines and public baths do not take cards. Withdraw yen on arrival.
• Counting on the last train: after midnight, only taxis run, at 20% more. Check the last departure before dinner far from the hotel.
• Choosing a hotel far from a station: in June rain or 95°F (35 °C) heat, ten minutes' walk costs more than the $34 you save per night.
• Planning a Monday in the gardens: Shinjuku Gyoen and the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace are closed on Mondays, and several museums too.