Neighbourhood comparison

Hi,

I'll be visiting Tokyo for a few days with my partner early Dec. We will be coming back for another visit with my parents (5 days in cherry blossom season).

I don't want to visit all the same places on these trips, but don't mind some overlap. I am thinking we do most of the touristy things with my parents and a couple of off-the -beaten track type of things in Dec.

Some of those "off the beaten track" neighboorhoods we are looking at are:

shimokitazawa
Kichijoji
Kagurazaka
Jiyugaoka

Can two of these be visited in the same day? We will also go to places like shibuya/shinjuku/odaiba/asakusa in December but are looking for a relaxing pace, quaint/charming neighboorhood to walk around and eat lots of snacks.

Thank you.

Those neighbourhoods are fairly close to central Tokyo. One is 2 minutes from Shinjuku for example. I see no reason you could not do 2 or 3 in one day. Depending on time taken to walk and explore.

Thank you for your input.

Have you been to these neighbourhoods, are they very similar or different to each other? Are there other neighbourhoods like these they you like/recommend? Or out of these neighbourhoods which one you like the best?

I like to go to Kichijoji during the day and spend my break in Inokashira Park and quite like Jiyugaoka in dusk before dinner. But I also like to sit on the decks of AquaCity or Decks on Odaiba when the weather is nice and enjoy the view.

For some old and quaint streets, have you considered Yanaka and Nippori if you do want to go all the way to Kawagoe?

Use Google maps street view and you can take a virtual tour of these neighborhoods

I have been in two of those neighbourhoods. Both western tokyo ones. I really think they are quaint in any way.

The area though near the Ghibli muaeum does have some nice older showa era buildings in it.

But really they are just residential neighbourhoods. I see nothing super soecial about them.

I meant to type that I DON'T think they are quaint in any way.

If you want quaint. Head outside the main city to a more rural location for a small town.

I used to live in Higashikitazawa which is close to Shimokitazawa and really like the area. You can see the more alternative way in Shimokitazawa and then just walk outa bit eg in direction of Ikenoue or Higashikitazawa and it gets very village like.
My personal suggestion would be to combine Shimokitazawa with a visit to Gotokuji temple just a few stations down the Odakyu line. There is a big temple and shrine really close by each other.
I also quite liked the neighborhood around Sasazuka station for being so down to earth.

In kichijoji the nice thing is the park and shopping. And Ghibli if you can get tickets. If you go by Inokashira Line you could stop on your way back to downtown in Takaido and take a bath in the local onsen (really more like super-sento) and warm up. It�fs close to the station behind the Ozeki supermarket.

A friend of mine lives in Kagurazaka but I am no expert on that part of Tokyo. From what I have seen it seems nice but nothing special.

Yanaka is an other neighborhood that is famous for being laid back.

Enjoy your trip to Tokyo!

Kichijoji/Mitaka - I've stayed in both for about a week each time. I wouldn't rate them or some of the other stops along the line as "quaint", but they have their differences, just like my current location or further out at Hachioji when I had a reason to visit a few times last year.
One of the points about the hundreds/thousands of different neighbourhoods in Tokyo (and I'll include Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa in this), is that you can get off the train in most places and there will be some similarities and some differences. Sometimes finding those differences and actually seeing the different ares - getting the feel or vibe involves walking around and looking. There can be some real hidden gems, but they are hidden (I'm still finding spots around my local area).
Kichijoji, for example, has a nice park area that is the start of the Kanda River, not on many tourist maps.
Sometimes just the journey can be interesting, and I traveled the Hachiko Line recently for the first time (Hachioji to Kawagoe) and while still in "Tokyo" it went through an interesting piece of countryside. Certainly had a different feel, and that also changed as time progressed from afternoon to evening - so that is another aspect.
Even something as simple as watching people playing shogi in a local park can be interesting - did that a few years back in a small neighbourhood in Yokohama.

Hi JT,

I've been to all 4 areas multiple times, and I lived in one. It's doable and reasonable to go to 2 in a day. Kagurazaka is also close to JR Iidabashi Station, so you can see from the railway map that the 4 is all sort of connected.

But they're not off-beaten. They are smaller city centers that are busy with local shoppers but not tour buses.

They're like Covent Garden in London as opposed to Picaddily Circus or Trafalgar Square. Or they're like Greenwich Village in NY as opposed to Times Square.

And I'm not sure if you can eat "lots of snacks", because as opposed to big city centers, it's more difficult to eat while walking in those narrow roads which are a bit more residential then say Center-gai in Shibuya or Kabuki-cho in Shinjuku.

As others have implied, you can walk into truly peaceful old neighborhoods from the centers of Shibuya, Shinjuku or Asakusa (while Odaiba is a newer landfill site). The only difference is that, you need to walk less in smaller centers like the 4 you mentioned.

But residential areas do not legally allow dining places and shops to be built, so it would be difficult to enjoy snacks and peace at the same time. Typically, local tourists would enjoy a quiet walk along alleys, visit a shopping street or two (where men usually get bored), and sit down at a cafe.

By the way, if you're going to Shibuya anyway, you can walk from there to Daikanyama or Ura-Harajuku, and give up some of the 4 instead. Keep warm.