Tokyo in one day

💡The best cheap food is in places that look intimidating from outside

A basement with six seats and a ticket machine by the door is usually better than a pretty restaurant. Many have plastic models of the dishes in the window: pointing works perfectly well.

💡Get a Suica or Pasmo card the moment you land

It works on every metro line, the trains, the buses and even for paying in convenience stores. You can load it onto your phone. Without one, each journey means working out the fare on a machine in Japanese.

💡The cherry blossom lasts ten days and nobody knows when

It falls between late March and early April, but is only announced about a week ahead. If that's why you're going, go flexible. August is humid and stifling; October and November are the best months.

💡Carry cash: plenty of good places don't take cards

Small restaurants, temples and many markets are cash only. The ATMs that accept foreign cards are inside 7-Eleven stores, of which there is one every two streets, open at any hour.

💡No phone calls on the metro and no eating in the street

Those are the two rules people notice most when you break them. Tipping isn't done either, and can offend, and nobody crosses on red even with no car in sight. No one will say anything to you, which is exactly why it's worth watching.