Visiting Kanto
The Kanto plain is the largest in Japan, and Tokyo fills almost all of it: a conurbation with no single centre, made of districts that work like cities. Shibuya, Shinjuku and Asakusa share neither architecture nor crowd, and you move between them in fifteen minutes by metro.
What surprises is how fast the region changes nature. Two hours north and you are at the shrines of Nikko under the cedars; two hours west and you are in the baths of Hakone facing Mount Fuji. The metropolis does not taper off, it stops.
You'll love it if
- You want a metropolis and mountains in the same trip
- Walking suits you: everything is done on foot from a station
- You like eating at any hour without booking
Give it a miss if
- Rush-hour crowds are unbearable to you
- You're after postcard Japan without going through the city
- You're coming in August without knowing what 34 degrees at 80% humidity feels like
The must-sees
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1 Tokyo +356 recs
Capital since 1868, rebuilt twice in the twentieth century, after the 1923 earthquake and then after 1945. That past explains the city: few old monuments, extreme density and districts that have each specialised.
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2 Shibuya crossing +27 recs
Five pedestrian crossings opening at once, several thousand people per cycle. The best view is the station footbridge, which is free, rather than the cafés that charge for it.
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3 Sensoji temple +17 recs
Tokyo's oldest temple, founded in the seventh century and rebuilt after the war. Walk the market street leading to it from seven in the morning, before the groups, when the shopkeepers open their shutters.
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4 Nikko +49 recs
Shinto and Buddhist shrines on the World Heritage list, including the mausoleum of the first Tokugawa shogun. Red lacquer and gold under giant cedars, two hours by train from Tokyo.
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5 Hakone +49 recs
Volcanic hot springs and, on a clear day, Mount Fuji across Lake Ashi. The traditional inn with its bath books far ahead and costs accordingly, but it is what you come for.
The classic mistake
Staying far from a major station to pay less. In Kanto, distance is not counted in kilometres but in line changes: twenty minutes' walk to the metro costs an hour a day, every day.
Our itineraries in Kanto
| Length | Route | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| Long weekend (4 days) | Tokyo › Kamakura | Districts and the Great Buddha |
| 1 week | Tokyo › Kamakura › Hakone | City, coast, hot springs |
| 10 days | Tokyo › Nikko › Hakone › Yokohama › Kamakura | Shrines, Fuji, port |
Tokyo as a single base works for the whole of Kanto: Kamakura, Yokohama and Hakone are under two hours away, Nikko two and a quarter. No need to change hotel, except to sleep at an inn in Hakone.
Count a full day per excursion, not half: the journeys take an hour door to door, and the shrines close at four or five.
When to visit Kanto
| Rating | Season | Weather | Crowds and prices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late March to early April | 10 to 18 °C, dry | Peak, book months ahead | |
| Late November to early December | 8 to 16 °C, dry and clear | Heavy, the best visibility on Fuji | |
| May and October | 15 to 24 °C, pleasant | Steady, mid-range prices | |
| June to September | 25 to 34 °C, very humid, typhoons | Light, low prices |
Our advice
Aim for late November rather than spring: the maples last longer than the cherry blossom, the air is dry and it is the season when Fuji is most often visible from Hakone. Avoid the first week of May, the whole country is on holiday.
Getting to Kanto
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1 By plane Fastest
two airports: Narita, sixty kilometres to the east, and Haneda, in the city. Haneda is half an hour from the centre, Narita an hour more. Long-haul flights land at both.
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2 By Shinkansen Simplest
Tokyo station is the hub of every high-speed line in the country. Useful for a trip that continues on to the Kansai.
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3 Between the two airports Fastest
a direct transfer exists, but it takes close to two hours. Arriving at Narita and leaving from Haneda is paid for in time.
If you have the choice, Haneda: the difference in travel time to the centre is counted in hours over a return trip. For an itinerary continuing to Kyoto or Osaka, arriving here and leaving from there avoids doubling back.
Getting around Kanto
A car is of no use in Kanto and everything runs on trains. A rechargeable card, tapped at the gate, opens the metro, the private lines and even the platform vending machines.
Worth knowing
The nationwide rail pass does not pay off for a trip that stays in Kanto: the journeys are short and covered by the rechargeable card. It only earns its place with a Shinkansen return to the west.
What to eat in Kanto
- Sushi: the edomae style was born here, bay fish on vinegared rice. A neighbourhood counter at midday costs a quarter of dinner and serves the same fish.
- Monjayaki: Tokyo's speciality, a very runny batter cooked on the griddle and scraped up with a small spatula. More disconcerting and more local than okonomiyaki.
- Soba: buckwheat noodles, served hot in broth or cold with their dipping sauce. The best houses do nothing else and close when the day's dough runs out.
- Unagi: eel lacquered and grilled over charcoal, a summer dish despite its richness. A specialist house prepares it in front of you, to order.
- Tonkatsu: breadcrumbed pork cutlet, sliced into strips, with as much raw cabbage as you want. The most widespread lunch dish.
- Wagashi: red bean and agar confections, designed to go with tea. They change with the season, and that is the whole subject of their shape.
- Yokohama chukagai: the largest Chinatown in Japan, twenty minutes from Tokyo, where you eat steamed buns in the street.
Many good places have no English menu and take no bookings, and a queue at a door is the best sign there is. Kitchens in the business districts close early at the weekend, when the offices are empty.
Where to stay in Kanto
| Area | Good for | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Shinjuku | Reaching everything, late nights | The best-connected station in the country |
| Shibuya | Young districts, shopping | Noisy at night, very practical |
| Asakusa | Temple, crafts, lower prices | Quieter, less central |
| Tokyo, by the station | Shinkansen day trips | Business hotels, small rooms |
| Hakone | Baths, mountains, Fuji | One night at an inn, no more |
How much does a trip in Kanto cost?
| Style | Length | Budget per person |
|---|---|---|
| Budget (hostel or capsule, street food, transport) | 7 days | €650 to €900 |
| Comfortable (business hotel, restaurants, one night at an inn) | 7 days | €1,300 to €1,900 |
| High-end (smart hotel, notable counters, ryokan) | 7 days | €3,000 to €4,500 |
- The season: at blossom and at maple time, the same room often costs double what it does in June, and books months ahead.
- Lunch: sushi counters and noodle houses serve a midday version four or five times cheaper than the evening one.
- City transport: short but frequent, it adds up fast. Count it separately, around ten euros a day per person.
- A night in a ryokan: with dinner and breakfast, it is worth two or three nights in a business hotel.
- The temples: most charge nothing to enter, the gardens and treasure houses do. The line stays light, unlike in the Kansai.
Traditions and way of life in Kanto
Tokyo was flattened twice in twenty-two years, by the 1923 earthquake and then by the bombings of 1945, and each time it rebuilt itself keeping its plan of lanes. That explains the city today: towers set on a pre-war fabric, and districts that each have their trade and their crowd rather than a common centre.
The silence on public transport is not coldness but a shared convention: no phone calls, no eating, let people off before you get on. Residents help the moment you ask, and a question put to someone in a station almost always gets an answer, sometimes as far as the platform.
Two habits are picked up fast. In a public bath or a hot spring you wash sitting at the shower BEFORE getting into the water, and tattoos are still refused in many places. And you leave no tip: the gesture makes people uncomfortable rather than thanking them.
