Kichijoji

What to see

Inokashira Park is the reason to come, so give it a full lap. The pond has swan pedal boats, rowboats and a shoreline path that takes about half an hour end to end. The small zoo is on the western side, and there's a shrine to Benzaiten on an island you reach by a red bridge. Buskers, portrait artists and craft sellers work the pond edge on weekends. On weekdays it belongs to dog walkers and people reading on benches. In late March the trees around the water make it one of western Tokyo's best hanami spots, and the boats are all out by mid-morning, so don't leave it late if you want one.

Keep walking through the park's southern half and the woodland thins toward Mitaka, where the Ghibli Museum sits on the park's edge. Tickets go on sale on the tenth of the month before and sell out fast, and the museum closes on Tuesdays, so it's a plan-ahead stop, not somewhere you wander into. Back at the station, the covered arcade north of the JR tracks and the side streets fanning out from it show you the everyday version of Kichijoji, all independent shops and small galleries. Harmonica Yokocho, wedged against the station's north exit, is worth a daylight walk-through too. You'll see the fish shops and the alley grid before it turns into a drinking district after dark.

Where to eat and drink

Harmonica Yokocho is the whole answer to where to drink, and a good part of the answer to where to eat. It's a grid of alleys just off the north exit of Kichijoji station, each barely wide enough for two people, lined with counters that seat six to eight. Six in the evening is the moment. The daytime fishmongers are still trading while the first izakayas switch on their lanterns, and the standing sushi bar near the north entrance is the best value dinner in the neighbourhood. From there, drift. Natural wine bars, yakitori counters and shochu stands share walls, and nobody expects you to stay put. Bring cash, and don't expect a seat everywhere.

By day the choice widens. The streets around the station are full of the small cafes, bakeries and ramen counters that make Kichijoji feel lived-in rather than visited, and the shops along the park approach south of the station are set up for putting together a lunch to eat by the pond in Inokashira Park. That's how locals do it. Something takeaway, a bench by the water, then back toward the station when the light goes. Don't pick by reputation here. Queue length and smell will steer you better.

Where to stay

Kichijoji is a residential neighbourhood first, so there isn't much hotel stock. There are a few mid-range business hotels close to the station's north exit and a handful of small apartment rentals in the streets toward the park. It suits you if you want to wake up somewhere Tokyoites would choose to live, walk to Inokashira Park before breakfast and treat central Tokyo as a fifteen-minute Chuo Line rapid ride rather than a base. Families with Ghibli Museum tickets are the obvious fit, and so are repeat visitors who've done the Shinjuku and Shibuya hotel routine and want quiet evenings. On a first trip with a packed east-side itinerary, the commute adds up. Stay in Shinjuku and come to Kichijoji for a day out.

How to do it in a day

Take the Chuo Line rapid from Shinjuku mid-morning and leave by the south exit, where the park approach runs straight to the water. Rent a rowboat or swan boat on the pond in Inokashira Park before the crowds gather, then walk the full shoreline path. If you've booked tickets, carry on through the woods to the Ghibli Museum for an early afternoon slot. If not, loop the zoo side of the pond and come back up to the station for lunch in the streets around the arcade. Give the mid-afternoon to the independent shops north of the tracks. By six, be at Harmonica Yokocho for the changeover hour. Standing sushi first, then a second and third stop as the lanterns come on and the alleys fill. The last Chuo Line train back to Shinjuku is late enough that you don't need to watch the clock, and the Keio Inokashira Line runs straight to Shibuya if the night's heading that way.