My top 44 Tokyo recs

The best food, vintage shopping, and kid-friendly picks from our 8-day trip

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We’re back from eight whirlwind days in Tokyo: glorious, chaotic, a little surreal, and despite all my nerves about bringing Sloan, it somehow came together, unfolding into the kind of trip that couldn’t have gone more smoothly if I’d tried to script it. We packed a lot into her spring break, and below, I’ve distilled all my favorite places we ate, drank, shopped, plus a few things I’ll be thinking about long after the jet lag fades.

Favorite restaurants:

• Kaiten Sushi Ginza Onodera: There are a lot of conveyor belt sushi restaurants in the city, but this is one of the standouts. Their main restaurant is a two-Michelin-star experience, but you don’t have to pay those prices to try some of their most popular dishes. The lines can get long, so either get there early or be prepared to wait. Some of the best dishes were their tuna plate (Chutoro, Otoro, and Akami), salmon nigiri, and mackerel.

• Seirinkan Pizza: Some of the best pizza we’ve ever eaten, in one of the coolest settings. The entire space is an homage to the Beatles, from the music that fills the room to the decor on the walls, complemented by a massive oven that churns out delicate and flavorful Neapolitan-style pizzas. They take reservations, but we walked up when they first opened and were able to get a table in the upstairs bar. They only serve three types of pizza, but get the Margherita and a beer and enjoy the blend of nostalgia and expert craftsmanship.

  

• Ginza Ten Ryu: This was an unexpected and amazing find. The space was jammed with people getting off work and starting to unwind. Plates of massive gyozas were stacked deep, dozens of servers were racing around with trays of beers and highball cocktails, and there was a great energy in the air. We ordered a few dishes, and it took less than a minute for a platter of massive, sizzling gyoza to be delivered to us.