Tokyo

By Elisa Michelet

Tokyo is often pictured as a vast network of concrete and neon. The city is those things, but it’s also home to quiet residential neighborhoods, bustling shotengai (neighborhood shopping streets), and even a self-sustaining evergreen broadleaf forest planted in the 1920s at Meiji Jingu Shrine. Further out, Okutama is Tokyo’s forested mountainous area that is part of a satoyama landscape, the mix of farmland, woodland, and village life found in the hills around many Japanese towns. For a city of 37 million, Tokyo’s air is remarkably clean. Most days are rated good, and it’s cleaner than many of the world’s megacities.

When it comes to food, eating out is part of daily life in Tokyo, and it’s affordable, with regional specialties from most of Japan’s prefectures and flavors from around the world. Convenience rules here, and single-use plastic is everywhere, but a growing number of shops and restaurants are pushing back, sourcing organic and local ingredients and rethinking packaging and waste. Tokyo’s sustainable side is easy to miss, but this guide will help you find wood-fired bakeries, plant-based cafés, and zero-waste shops, with green spaces to walk off the meal in between.

Photos: Julia Roux, Galih Setyo Putro

Bakeries

Bakeries

Cafés

Cafés

Restaurants

Restaurants

Bars

Bars

Grocery Stores

Grocery Stores

Markets

Markets

Shops

Shops

Green Spaces

Green Spaces