25 Obscure & Amazing Things To Do In Tokyo
-1-
Make a wish that you could draw as well as the other visitors at the anime & manga shrine
Where: Kanda Myoujin Shrine (Kanda)
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-2-
Get your warts disappeared by the Wart-Curing Jizo
Where: Nishi-arai Daishi Temple (Daishi-mae)
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-3-
Go check out what the best dressed nude statue in Tokyo is wearing this month
Where: Yamanote Line platform (Hamamatsucho)
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-4-
Walk through the maze of the 10,000 crystal gods
Where: Fukagawa Fudo-san Temple (Monzen Nakacho)
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-5-
Get the weirdest beauty treatment ever
Where: Odeo Onsen Hot Spring Theme Park (Odaiba)
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-6-
Watch an artist make most beautiful lollipops in the world
Where: Ameshin shop (Asakusa)
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-7-
Ask Saint Bondage to get you out of a jam
Where: Nanzo-in Temple (Kanamachi)
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-8-
Swan around inside one of these 23 thatch-roofed farmhouses like it’s medieval Japan and pretend you own the place
Where: Mihon Minka-en Park (Mukogaokayuen)
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-9-
Chug a cup of poisonous dried snake tea
Where: Koshinzuka Shopping Street (Sugamo)
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-10-
Feast your eyes on the actual receipt for Lord Kira’s head
Where: Sengakuji Temple (Sengakuji)
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-11-
Scarf down a stack of extreme pancakes
Where: Hoshino Coffee (Shibuya)
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-12-
Crane your neck at the giant Gundam
Where: Outside the DiverCity shopping mall (Odaiba)
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-13-
Quaff a cold one at the bar owned by a dog
Where: Bar Black Sheep (Shibuya)
Update: Sadly, Hana-chan the shiba retired, so the bar owned by a dog is no longer there ( ; _ ; )
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-14-
Pet the Honorable Duck Butt of Sugamo
Where: Koshinzuka Shopping Street (Sugamo)
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-15-
Be a Lolita for a day
Where: Maison de Julietta, Laforet department store (Harajuku)
Update: Sadly, Maison de Julietta has closed since this post was written ( ; _ ; )
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-16-
Make your own plastic food
Where: Ganso Sample Shop (Kappabashi)
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-17-
Beg the thousands of maneki neko at the lucky cat temple to make this year your luckiest one yet
Where: Gotokuji Temple (Gotokuji)
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-18-
Whup your compadres at a Smile Fight
Where: Sony Explorascience Museum (Odaiba)
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-19-
Get yourself in 45 different kinds of trouble at the Trick Art Museum
Where: Trick Art Museum (Odaiba)
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-20-
Ogle incredible views of Tokyo as you walk across the Rainbow Bridge
Where: Odaiba
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-21-
Visit a garden where dripping water makes music
Where: Yushima Tenjin Shrine (Yushima)
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-22-
Get yourself some lucky red underwear and experience The Power Of The Red Panty
Where: Koshinzuka Shopping Street (Sugamo)
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-23-
Get your wallet blessed at a fire ceremony
Where: Fukagawa Fudo-san Temple (Monzen-Nakacho)
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-24-
Drink a cocktail from a smoke-filled skull
Where: Codename Mixology (Akasaka-mitsuke)
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-25-
Take a walk in the most beautiful undiscovered garden in Tokyo
Where: Koshikawa Koraku-en Garden (Korakuen)
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The Last Tea Bowl Thief was chosen as an Editor’s Pick for Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense on Amazon
“Without question, the best book I have read all year.” —Susan Spann, author of the Hiro Hattori mysteries
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly newsletter Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
Categories
Animals, Awesome Stuff To Do, Bars, Bars, Cafés & Restaurants, Cafés & Restaurants, Traditional Stuff I Love
Jonelle Patrick View All
Writing mystery books set in Tokyo is mostly what I do, but I also blog about the odd stuff I see every day in Japan. I'm a graduate of Stanford University and the Sendagaya Japanese Institute in Tokyo, and a member of the International Thriller Writers, the Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters In Crime. When I'm not in Tokyo, I live in San Francisco. I also host a travel site called The Tokyo Guide I Wish I'd Had, so if you're headed to Japan and want to check out the places I take my friends when they're in town, take a look!
Jonelle Patrick's Only In Japan 
Great list and great compilation of some of your best posts xoxox
OK, how did I miss this when you first posted it? (><;;;;;;) Would prefer to blame it on a rift in space/time continuum, but what really happened is I absorbed all the kind & glowy feels from your extra-nice words while en route to Boston, then forgot to reply after United Airlines harvested their usual numbers of extra lives/brain cells. So I'm coming here late to say thank you, and WOO HOO so happy to be getting your blog notifications again – they're one of the few things I actually WANT to click on these days, so YAY╰(*´︶`*)╯