Tokyu Hands is the department store selling, quite literally, everything. It’s one of the city’s most intriguing and useful additions – an ultimate curation of hardware, stationery, luggage, kitchen appliances, camping gear, toiletries, home appliances, and even timber flooring. You never know if you’ll need a cat-shaped face mask or sushi eraser set, and even if you don’t you’ll be so happy with the gorgeous packaging that you won’t regret the purchase.

If Tokyo’s hectic streets and vibe leave you frantic, here is your refuge. This jaw-dropping resort takes luxury to a new level on the 33rd floor of an Otemachi high-rise building. A soaring reception opens to a paper-lantern like ceiling atop rough-hewn stone blocks. Filtered light pours into the lobby where water, flanked by rock gardens, makes this a truly peaceful introduction to the Aman experience. This unique chain of resorts tends to draw in those with deep pockets, but the mood here is reserved elegance, true to Japan’s nature. The hotel is hewn from three main elements taken from the Tokyo environment – wood, washi paper (like that lantern), and stone. The style is minimalist and the rooms are Zen and deeply restorative. An onsen bath in your own room, low-slung seats, and views across Tokyo – this is hotel perfection.

Take a step back in time in the most unlikely place: a 144-acre park in the hectic Tokyo centre. The beautifully maintained grounds feature a Japanese Garden, a Taiwanese Pavilion perched on a serene pond, and pockets of French and English landscaping. Formerly an imperial garden, it became public after World War II and is a remarkable way to spend half a day.

Outside the massive Tsukiji fish market, open-air nooks dish up fried food, sauce-splashed bowls of noodles, meaty stews and pickle-flecked rice. From the early morning, locals arrive for some of the best fast food in town, and the queues here say it all. Two hole-in-the-wall sushi experts inside Tsukiji compete for the title of best breakfast of champions. Sushi Dai and Daiwa Sushi both do set menus of glistening fish on rice, from o-toro and chu-toro (fatty tuna) to squid, mackerel and shellfish topped with pickled ginger. In winter, when salmon roe is in season, the ikura nigiri is so fresh that eating a mouthful is like being splashed in the face with cold seawater.

You’ve barely been to Japan if you miss this rite of passage into urban Tokyo, and it’s thanks, in part, to the karaoke scene in Lost in Translation, which was filmed here. Take friends and book a room because most are decked out with leather booths, bright walls and disco lights. The drinks are cheap and the food is cheaper – think pizza and fries. This Shibuya-based bar caters to international visitors, and is an essential loud night out in quirky Tokyo.