What's the must-see thing in Tokyo?

Senso-ji at 6:30am is a different place than Senso-ji at noon. The main hall's wooden floors are cool underfoot, and smoke from the jokoro brazier hangs in still air. Two fishermen pulled a golden Kannon statue from the Sumida River in 628, and the temple rose on the site within two decades. Nakamise-dori, the 250-metre shopping lane leading to the main hall, has 89 stalls selling hand-carved wooden combs and rice crackers grilled over charcoal. Asakusa-jinja, the Shinto shrine next to the Buddhist temple, is worth the extra ten minutes.

Meiji Jingu feels like the opposite of Asakusa's morning energy. The shrine sits inside 70 hectares of forest that Shibuya's skyscrapers cannot touch. A 12-meter cypress torii at the entrance marks the threshold, and the temperature seems to drop a few degrees as you step onto the path. Built in 1920 to honor Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken, the shrine still hosts traditional wedding processions on weekend mornings. Iris blooms peak in June, filling the garden south of the main hall with purple and white.

Tsukiji Outer Market brings you back to noise and heat. About 400 shops crowd into the original lanes, and vendors start setting up by 5am. Tamagoyaki stands serve dashimaki on sticks, sweet and slightly runny in the center. Sashimi counters slice tuna, uni, and fatty otoro to order, and you eat standing at ledges barely 30 centimeters wide. By 1pm most shutters start coming down. The nearest station is Tsukiji on the Hibiya Line, one stop from Ginza.