5) 10 A.M. Museum Mile
Avoid Roppongi after dark when its rowdy clubs fill with inebriated expats, and instead visit the neighborhood when the sun shines on its cultural institutions. Start at the National Art Center, one of the largest exhibition halls in Asia. Beyond the curving glass-and-steel facade, find world-class collections, including the current Yayoi Kusama show (through May 22; admission varies). Then walk to 21_21 Design Sight, a bunkerlike museum with underground galleries that was created by the designer Issey Miyake and the architect Tadao Ando. Exhibitions delve into how design informs everyday life (admission, 1,100 yen).
6) 1 P.M. Sushi Dreams
Dinners at Tokyo’s top sushi bars typically end with bills printed with an immodest number of zeros, but you can fulfill your sushi dreams for a fraction of the price by eating at midday. Reserve a spot at Sushi Rin, a hushed second-story space in Kagurazaka with about a dozen seats around a blond-wood bar. At lunchtime, the omakase meal (4,000 yen) features fewer courses but the same craftsmanship and top-notch products, from a spoonful of salty roe atop vinegared rice to a parade of nigiri including red snapper, silvery kohada fish and rich tuna belly brushed with soy sauce. Equally memorable is the artful presentation on beautiful plates beside crimson cut-glass sake sets.
7) 3:30 P.M. Style Guide
Browse Tokyo’s retail options at two shopping complexes on opposite ends of the style spectrum. Start in Kagurazaka at La Kagu, a former book warehouse that reopened in 2014 as a shop, cafe and bookstore reached via snaking timber-and-steel staircases designed by Kengo Kuma. The airy two-story space stocks fashions and housewares, from tailored silk trousers and teak Danish bar carts to tiny wooden hand-carved creamers. Then head west to Koenji’s Kitakore building, a riotous, ramshackle warren of closet-size shops overflowing with customized clothing and labels you won’t find anywhere else. Looking for a lace-trimmed ’80s-era Mickey Mouse sweatshirt? Or a purple motorcycle jacket with sparkly studs, mirrors and a gorilla hologram? This is the spot.
8) 6 P.M. Nakano Brew
Take the train one stop east to Nakano, a neighborhood favored by otaku (young pop-culture fanatics), to find a pair of drinking spots worth obsessing over. Hidden amid the manga stores and costume shops in a labyrinthine subculture shopping complex is Bar Zingaro, a cafe that fuses Norwegian exports — midcentury Scandinavian furnishings, Fuglen coffee — with the colorful art of Takashi Murakami. Tucked down a nearby alley, Nakano Beer Kobo is a tiny bar that feels like a treehouse with particleboard walls and lofts that you can climb into with plates of fried chicken thighs and mugs of cold beer brewed on site.
9) 9 P.M. Photo Shoot
Karaoke is the clichéd Japanese entertainment experience, but the Snapchat era calls for a new activity: purikura. These sophisticated photo booths let you pose with friends, decorate the images with scribbles and stamps, and mutate your features — bigger eyes, different hair — to mimic a Disney character. For the widest selection, go to Purikura Shop Noa, a basement-level spot in Harajuku with booths for creating personalized only-in-Japan souvenirs.
10) 10:30 P.M. Ebisu Exploration
For dinner, join local residents swarming the Ebisu Yokocho, a covered passageway crammed with food stalls that roar to life after dark. Grab the first seats you see — they’re a commodity — and prepare to feast on okonomiyaki (savory pancakes) or kushikatsu (deep-fried skewers, like lotus root or shishito peppers). Then head to Bar Tram, a polished cocktail bar that mixes absinthe into libations like the frothy, flaming Blanche Neige (G’Vine gin, vermouth, apple syrup and lemon; 1,300 yen). End the night at Bar Track, a low-key music bar where D.J.s spin a range of music, including Miles Davis and Prince B-sides on vinyl, while bartenders mix whiskey highballs.