About
A guide to the best of Tokyo — and Japan
Where to eat, stay and explore — destination by destination, category by category, without the guesswork.
Top in Tokyo publishes curated guides to the best of Tokyo and the rest of Japan — ramen, sushi, izakaya, coffee, hotels, ryokan, onsen towns, sights and day trips. We cover Tokyo in depth and Japan destination by destination, and we publish new guides continuously.
Why we built it
Tokyo has more restaurants than any city on earth, and most of the good ones are ten-seat counters with irregular hours and a queue. The problem is never a shortage of options — it is working out which are worth your one lunch in Shinjuku.
We wanted guides that name real places, link to their own websites and map pins, say who each one suits, and tell you the practical thing you'd only know if you'd been — the ticket machine, the closed day, how to get a reservation.
Who it's for
- First-time visitors building a sensible Tokyo itinerary
- Repeat visitors who want to look past the obvious
- Travelers heading on to Kyoto, Hakone, Mt Fuji and the rest of Japan
- People moving to Tokyo who want to know what's worth their time
What's in every guide
The format is deliberately consistent, so once you've read one you know exactly where to look in the next.
- A short answer up top — the shortlist, if you only read one paragraph
- Every entry with its neighborhood, so you can group things by area
- A line on what each place is actually good at
- A price band, so nothing is a surprise
- One practical thing worth knowing before you turn up
- The official website and a Google Maps link, because that's what you'll want next
How a guide comes together
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01
Pick the destination and the category
We work down a list of the questions people actually ask — best ramen in Tokyo, best sushi, best day trips from Tokyo, best ryokan in Japan — starting with the ones asked most.
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02
Build the shortlist
Every plausible candidate goes on a long list, which then gets cut down hard. A guide of forty places helps nobody. We check every place is open and every link goes to the business itself.
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03
Write it up
What each place is good at, who it's for, and the practical detail that saves you a wasted trip — the closing time, the queue, the thing to order.
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04
Keep it current
Tokyo restaurants open, close and move constantly, and many keep irregular closed days. Guides get revisited, and each carries the month it was last updated.
A note on reservations and closed days
Many Tokyo restaurants close one or two days a week and some only take reservations by phone or through a booking platform, so check hours and booking rules before you make a special trip. Where we know how to book, the entry's tip says so.
We link to each place's own website, never to booking sites or aggregators. Where a place has no website of its own, the entry gets a Google Maps pin only.
Common questions
What is Top in Tokyo?
A guide to the best of Tokyo and the rest of Japan. We publish curated lists — the best ramen in Tokyo, the best sushi, the best hotels, the best ryokan in Japan — so you can find the good stuff without wading through a dozen tabs.
Who is it for?
Visitors planning a first or tenth trip to Tokyo, travelers heading on to Kyoto, Hakone and Mt Fuji, and anyone living in Japan who wants a second opinion.
How often are the guides updated?
Continuously. Each list shows the month it was last updated, and we revisit them as places open, close and change. Many Tokyo restaurants keep irregular closed days, so always check before you go.
Do you link to booking sites?
No. Every entry links to the place's own website and a Google Maps pin. Where a restaurant only takes reservations through a booking platform, the entry says so.
I run a business in Japan. How do I get featured?
A limited number of businesses can secure a place in each of next year's guides, written up by us in the same format as every other entry. See feature your business for how it works.
Spotted something wrong?
A closed venue, a detail that's changed, a place we've somehow missed — tell us and we'll take a look.
Get in touch