Toshima

Hunt for 10-yen candy with a fistful of coins

A dagashiya is an old-fashioned candy shop where many sweets cost only 10 or 20 yen, and generations of Japanese children have stood at the shelves counting out their coins. Look for kinako-bo, chewy sticks of roasted soybean-flour candy, where a marked stick wins you another one for free. Bring small coins, since shops like these usually take cash only.

Step inside palaces and old mansions

Tokyo keeps a number of grand buildings you can walk through: a palace used for state guests, the homes of an imperial prince and of former daimyo (feudal lords), and a school about 100 years old. Walking from room to room, you notice what photos miss: the staircases, the light fixtures and the decoration that changes in every room. Some open only on set days or during exhibitions, so check before you go.

See old classics back to back on a big screen

A meigaza is an old-style repertory cinema that shows films after their first run, usually two back to back for a single ticket, with programs built around a director or an era. Pick a double bill from the schedule and settle in among local film fans. Japanese films are usually shown without English subtitles, so choose a foreign film in its original language or a screening marked with English subtitles.

Lie back and drift under a planetarium sky

A few planetariums in Tokyo have seats where you lie flat instead of sitting up, so the stars projected on the dome fill your whole view. Only a handful of these seats are offered per show, so reserve one together with your ticket. Most shows are narrated in Japanese, but some offer English audio, and the music and the stars need no translation.

Red underwear and mochi in Grandma's Harajuku

Sugamo is nicknamed "Grandma's Harajuku": instead of teenagers, its shopping street draws older Tokyoites who come to pray at a temple believed to ease aches and pains. Along the way are shops selling red underwear, said to bring health and happiness, and shio daifuku, soft mochi with sweet bean paste. Go on a date ending in 4, when stalls line the street for the temple fair.

Saitama Prefecture

Snack your way along an old shopping street

A shotengai is a shopping street of small family-run shops, and many of them sell hot snacks one piece at a time over the counter. Walk from shop to shop for croquettes, taiyaki, fish-shaped cakes filled with sweet bean paste, and dango, chewy rice dumplings, and compare what each street is known for. Bring cash, and on busy streets eat beside the shop rather than while walking.

Lose track of time in a quiet book cafe

Dokusho kissa, or reading cafes, are small cafes where the shelves are the main attraction and nobody minds if you stay for hours. Pull a book off the shelf, or bring your own, and read with a coffee in a room kept quiet on purpose. Some of them ask guests not to talk, so they suit a solo afternoon more than a catch-up with friends.

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