Seeking Advice on Two Options

My family will be in Tokyo Station for 3 hours, from 1pm to 3pm. Hope to get advice on the two options below which is the better one for this short amount of time. Better recommendation is always welcome too.

Option 1: Imperial Palace and surrounding area:

1:00 PM: Imperial Palace East Garden
1:45 PM: Walk to the Kitanomaru Park
2:45 PM: Walk to Yasukuni Shrine
3:00 PM: Head back to Tokyo Station via the Otemachi financial district

Option 2: Ginza:

1:00 PM: Walk around Ginza
2:00 PM: Visit the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.
2:45 PM: Hibiya Park
3:00 PM: Head back to Tokyo Station via the Yurakucho district.

First of all, I think you've mistakenly included the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, because it's in Shinjuku which is way out of at the other side of central Tokyo.

Secondly, Tokyo Station itself is a very complex and vast building. I wonder how many people there are in your family and what age range they are. You need to secure plenty of time to navigate a group with different interests. You would also need a lot of time to walk from one edge of the station to the other, so I wonder what part of the station you're leaving from and coming back to where.

For example, Google correctly tells me that you need 37 minutes (from edge to edge, I believe) to walk from Yasukuni to Tokyo Station, while you only need 11 minutes to walk from Hibiya Park to Tokyo Station. I don't understand why you've planned to leave either at 3pm.

I'm a long-time resident of Greater Tokyo and if I were you, I'd just spend time inside Tokyo Station, visiting the Station Gallery, the Station Hotel and perhaps the neighboring Kitte building. They are all beautiful structures with amusing things to see. Residents and tourists alike, foreign and domestic, love these places, and you already need 2 or 3 hours to see them all, considering that you'd want to sit down half way.

Meanwhile, any of your options is fine, except that I would narrow it down to just one. For example, I would just take everyone to the Imperial Palace East Garden, spend time there, walk back, and your time would be up. You can even do the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, but that's the only place you're going to visit.

You also need to keep in mind the weather. If it's raining, snowing, too cold or too hot, you can't do too much walking around.

So again, I would narrow it down to one place, and if everyone is finished seeing that place and still have time and energy, you can slowly enjoy your walk back through an interesting route.

I hope it helps.

From 1 pm to 3 pm is two hours, not three, so you really don�ft have much time (?).

Here is what I would do, although obviously my tastes are probably different from yours. Weather depending, I would walk to Ginza, maybe stopping at one or more stores there, and then go to the rooftop garden at Ginza Six. Of course it isn�ft the Imperial Palace East Garden, but to be honest I wasn�ft particularly impressed with the Imperial Palace East Garden (or Hibiya Park, for that matter); they are okay but to be honest I enjoy the atmosphere and views from the Ginza Six rooftop more, and you will find a variety of greenery and flowering plants there (including, to my surprise, an �gOctober�h cherry tree that still had some flowers on it in late November). If you are hungry, you can pick up some food in the Mitsukoshi or Ginza Six basement and eat it up there (one of the few places you can sit and eat purchased foods). On the way back, time permitting I might stop at the Starbucks Reserve cafe on Marronnier-dori street. (I am not really a Starbucks person but I find this place to be reasonably pleasant, and they have some interesting drinks and quite good pastries, not the usual Starbucks fare. It is a bit expensive, though.) Or maybe stop at the Itoya stationery store on Ginza-dori, or the Muji flagship store on Namiki-dori. The walk from Tokyo Station to Ginza Six is less than 20 minutes at a steady pace, and if you use Google Maps or something, you won�ft get lost. There are lots of restaurants in Ginza and Yurakocho where you can have a late lunch if that suits you, and many of them are inexpensive.

Anyway, I really like just strolling around Ginza, and there are some nice stores there (not just luxury goods stores). Tsukiji Market is a little farther, but also within walking distance, and the �gouter�h market (with a lot of shops) is still active (the fish market itself moved several years ago). But I would consider Tsukiji to be essentially a tourist trap, and it gets terribly crowded. I would rather take a walk along the Sumida River, although in that area it isn�ft especially photogenic. (I just like walking along the Sumida River.)

Anyway, that is what I might do myself, especially if I didn�ft want to deal with taking a train or subway. If you don�ft mind that, the Tokyo Government Metropolitan Government Building (�gTocho�h) is actually not a bad choice, if it is a clear day with good visibility. People turn up their noses at it these days because there are flashier observatories, but those are expensive and crowded. I was at Tocho recently and it was very pleasant—no waits for elevators up or down, no crowds, and the views (including Mt. Fuji) were plenty good enough for me. And it�fs free. But you do have to take transit to get there.

Uco�fs suggestion to just stay around Tokyo Station is also good. (Uco�fs suggestions are always good!) There are quite a few stores there, some of them inside the JR wicket and some outside. (So if you want to look at the shops inside the wicket, be sure to do that before you exit or after you enter, depending on where you are coming from or going to.) There are a couple of waiting rooms inside the wicket where you can sit and consume purchased food and beverages.

Spelling correction: Yurakucho, not Yurakocho�c

It's very easy to get lost in Tokyo Station as suggested by @Uco above. If you have young kids, keep them on a short leash. I've stayed at hotels adjacent to Tokyo Station at least 15 times in the last 15 years, and I still get lost there sometimes (and I have a pretty good sense of direction).

However, there's a bunch of stuff to do there, and for me at least, I would spend the whole time in the greater Tokyo Station area. There could be a blizzard outside, and you wouldn't know it.

Tons of food items. Tons of shopping; really huge Daimaru with Tokyu Hands.

I assume you're there, in between trains? If so, there is a huge Ekiben store inside the JR station, with literally a hundred different varieties. Perfect for a shinkansen trip. Be sure to get a bottle of sake too, so you can be like Mr Izakaya Shinkansen in the drama.

I love Maruzen in Oazo. Best bookstore in Japan, especially for English language books.

Walk to Kitte, Shin-Maru & Maru buildings, on the Maru side.

Walk to the new Midtown Yaesu on the Yaesu side. There's a kakigori popup place there if you're into that.

Tokyo First Avenue has a Character Street that kids love. There's also a store that has all sorts of exotic KitKats.

See the two domes on the Marunouchi side. There were some Prime Ministers of Japan who were shot and killed there in the distant past, with markers noting where. Note however that it's very safe there. Our daughters inherited my good sense of direction and we let them loose all over tokyo station, alone, when they were 11 and 14 years old.

And do go outside on the Maru side and see the brick tokyo station, which was recently (last ten years or so) remodeled to its original glory.

Sorry, I tend to ramble, but you get the idea, too much to do in Tokyo Station. And it will be crowded! Don't get trampled (though 1PM to 3PM shouldn't be too bad).

... and rent a locker so you don't lug your luggage all around.

... and do NOT forget where the locker is.