Tokyo

Tokyo: the brash, neon-lit, supremely functional home of karaoke, robotics and over 37 million people. It’s a city made famous for being just a little bit different. Here, a breathless energy for innovation, fashion and novelty, happily co-exists alongside time-honoured tradition, ceremony, and a calendar of keenly observed festivals.

Tokyo’s facets are many: feted restaurants and dining; cutting-edge technology; the busiest train-stations on earth; Tsukiji’s 400 hundred year-old fish-market. In its riddle of backstreets, railway lines and soaring architecture is a colliding world of old, new and the futuristic.

Explore larger-than-life flagship stores in Ginza; Shinjuku’s labyrinth of neon; Roppongi’s 21st century Art Triangle and Shibuya’s street-culture, a heady ground-zero for fashion trends. Turn the corner from the city buzz and you will be met with unusually serene sights: street-corner shrines and temples, perfectly manicured gardens, picturesque tea-houses and, in April, a flurry of cherry blossom.

It’s a giddy mix of white-gloved taxi-drivers, colourful signage, flashing lights and fashionable neighbourhoods. But don’t miss the detail. Tiny, niche restaurants; underground galleries; sky-high bars: this is a city that thrives on its hidden gems. And sometimes that means honing in on nothing more than a footlight, a discreet doorway or an unpromising stairwell. It all makes Tokyo a tricky place to navigate, and that’s where Bespoke Tokyo can help.