- Itoya on the Ginza (銀座): for some reason Japan is great at stationaries. The mother of all stationaries is Itoya on the Ginza ("Tokyo's Ku'Damm"). You can easily spend one or two hours at Itoya. Sony's flagg ship store is also located here together with plenty of camera stores and luxury reatilers. Also, don't forget to visit a Japanese department store (they are quite a culture of their own allbeit fading, Mitsukoshi Department Store)
- Shinjuku Gyouen (新宿区): my favorite garden in Tokyo, hang out with some food you bring a long from a convenience store. There is an admission of a few hundred Yen per person.
- Tokyo City Hall and Shinjuku (新宿区): free great view from the top flor (thus much cheaper than the Tokyo Tower). walkable from Shinjuku station. There are plenty of Pachinko parlors and game centers close to Shinjuku station. Also just walk around inside the station and try not to get lost.
- Odaiba (お台場): nice place take a boat trip to from Asakusa Temple, cafes, restaurants or to enjoy the night skyline
- Akihabara (秋葉原): for obviousreasons. check out all the little stores.
- Don Quijote (ドン・キホーテ) Sells all kinds of cheap crap!
- Muji (無印良品) Clothing and furniture (because it's such a good combination)!
- Uniqlo (ユニクロ) Apparal Basics
- Book Off Second-hand books and media the Japanese way (e.g., in Akihabara)
- Ramen (ラーメン) Cheap, and delicious. Best at tiny shops. If people are queuing outside it's usually a good sign. Japanese people will make disgusting sounds while eating it.
- Kaiten Sushi (回転寿司) Fun, cheap, but low quality Sushi.
- Gyūdon (牛丼) Again, cheap and delicious. There are two big chains specialized on Gyudon: Yoshinoya and Matasuya. The store manager will help deal with the complicated looking vending machine.
- Japaense Curry Rice (カレー) Children love this particularly.
- Family Restaurants Chains of easily accessible restaurants, quick, cheap and easy (sometimes with noisy children). Japanese and Western style menues. They all look like American restaurants on the highway and often has American sounding names (Denny's, Jonathan's, Coco's, Royal Host).
- Soba (蕎麦) Soba/Udon are tradional Japanese rice noodles (as opposed to Ramen which seem to originate from Korea). These very Japanese looking stores usually also server Domburi meshi. You will also get Tempura (天ぷら) here which I highly recommend. So dedicated to tradition that they usually have Japense menus only.
- Izakaya Japanese pub. You can get all kinds of food there. I recommend Gyouza as a starter and whatever Ramen they serve. Try Japanese beer, it's quite okay. I don't like Sake. If you go there after 20.00 you'll see bump into drunken Salirymen!