Where to stay in Tokyo

The neighborhood that survived everything — earthquakes, firebombs, and development — and retained the feel of Edo-period Tokyo. Senso-ji temple (free, open 24h) is the city's most visited site; arrive before 8am to see it in relative peace. Nakamise shopping street sells traditional snacks and crafts. The Sumida River runs alongside — walk north toward the Kappabashi kitchen supply district.

The neighborhood that didn't burn in 1945 — and it shows. Wooden machiya townhouses, a cemetery that's also a park, art galleries in converted temples, and more cats per street than anywhere else in Tokyo. Yanaka Ginza is a 1950s-style shopping street with craft workshops, tofu shops, and old men playing shogi on plastic chairs. One of the most peaceful hours you can spend in a city of 37 million.

Tokyo at maximum intensity: a skyscraper district by day, a neon labyrinth by night. The east side has Kabukicho (the largest entertainment district in Asia), Golden Gai (a maze of 200 tiny bars), and Omoide Yokocho (Memory Lane — grilled chicken skewers under a curtain of smoke). The west side has the free Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building observation deck, the best view in the city.

Home to the world's busiest pedestrian crossing — the Shibuya Scramble, where 3,000 people cross from five directions simultaneously. The surrounding area is Tokyo's youth fashion heartland: Shibuya 109, the Tokyu department stores, Harajuku and Takeshita-dori just north. The Shibuya Sky observation deck (¥2,000) is the best place to photograph the crossing from above.

The international district: the Mori Art Museum (on the 53rd floor, ¥2,000, open until midnight), the National Art Center, and the Suntory Museum form the Roppongi Art Triangle. Below the art: high-end restaurants, rooftop bars, and the city's most international nightlife. Azabu-Juban just south is where Tokyo's wealthy actually live.

Tokyo's answer to the Champs-Élysées: the flagship stores of every luxury brand, plus uniquely Japanese institutions — the Itoya stationery store, Mikimoto pearls, Kabukiza Theatre. The Ginza Six mall is a designed object in itself. On Sundays, Chuo-dori closes to traffic and becomes a pedestrian promenade — Ginza at its most elegant.