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Hotel Ōkura (Map; 3582-0111; www.okura.com/tokyo; 2-10-4 Toranomon, Minato-ku; tea ceremony ¥1050; 11am-4pm Mon-Sat; Ginza line to Tameike-sannō, exit 13) See also Click here.

Imperial Hotel (Map; 3504-1111; www.imperialhotel.co.jp; 1-1-1 Uchisaiwaichō, Chiyoda-ku; tea ceremony ¥1500; 10am-4pm Mon-Sat; Chiyoda, Hibiya, Toei Mita lines to Hibiya, exit A13) See also Click here.

Sports

BASEBALL

…and Japan’s national love affair with baseball continues. Of the two professional leagues – Central and Pacific – several teams are based in the Tokyo area. Within Tokyo, the Yomiuri Giants and Yakult Swallows are crosstown rivals. Going to a ballgame is a uniquely Japanese spectator-sport experience, what with its teams of cheerleading fans, beer girls with kegs strapped to their backs and the polite crowd bursting into song – big fun. Baseball season runs from April through the end of October. Check the Japan Times to see who’s playing while you’re in town. The cheapest unreserved outfield seats start at ¥1000.

Tokyo Dome (Big Egg; Map;5800-9999; 1-3-61 Kōraku, Bunkyō-ku; JR Chūō, Sōbu lines to Suidobashi, west exit or Marunouchi line to Kōrakuen, Kōrakuen exit) Home to Japan’s favourite baseball team, the Yomiuri Giants, Tokyo Dome is next to Kōrakuen Amusement Park. Though it’s a covered dome, a little dirigible camera motors around inside.

Jingū Kyūjo (Jingū Baseball Stadium; Map; 3404-8999; 13 Kasumigaoka, Shinjuku-ku; Ginza line to Gaienmae, north exit) Jingū Baseball Stadium was originally built to host the 1964 Olympics, and is where the Yakult Swallows are based.

SUMŌ

Travellers who visit Tokyo in January, May or September should not miss their chance to attend a Grand Tournament at Tokyo’s Ryōgoku Kokugikan (Ryōgoku Sumō Stadium; Map; 3622-1100; www.sumo.or.jp; 1-3-28 Yokoami, Sumida-ku; 10am-4pm; JR Sōbu line to Ryōgoku, west exit or Toei Ōedo line to Ryōgoku, exit A4). The best seats are all bought up by those with the right connections, but if you don’t mind standing, you can get in for around ¥500. Tickets can be purchased up to a month prior to the tournament, or you can simply turn up on the day (you’ll have to arrive very early, say 6am, to be assured of seats during the last days of a tournament). See also the Sumō Museum, Click here.

If you can’t attend in person, NHK televises sumō from 3.30pm daily during each tournament. If you aren’t in town during a tournament, you could pick up a handbook at the stadium and take a self-guided walking tour of the neighbourhood, which houses several sumō-beya (sumō stables).

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SHOPPING

Tokyo is not as notoriously expensive as it once was, and shopping is one of the great pastimes of local residents. Shopping may not normally interest you, but the city’s seductive wares may sway you.

Antiques

In Aoyama, the street Kotto-dōri (Antiques Street; Map) takes its name from the antique shops doing business there, making it a logical place to poke around for wares with character.

Hanae Mori Building (Map; B1 fl, 3-6-1 Kita-Aoyama, Minato-ku; 11am-7pm; Chiyoda, Ginza, Hanzōmon lines to Omote-sandō, exit A1) One great place to look for antiques and eccentric souvenirs is in the basement of this Harajuku building, which has more than 30 antique shops hawking everything from over-the-hill kewpie dolls to antique obi ornaments.

Kurofune (Map; 3479-1552; www.kurofuneantiques.com; 7-7-4 Roppongi, Minato-ku; 10am-6pm Mon-Sat; Toei Ōedo line to Roppongi, exits 4a & 7) Kurofune, run for the past quarter-century by a friendly American collector, carries an awesome treasure-trove of Japanese antiques. Correspondingly impressive amounts of cash are necessary to acquire such items, like painstakingly constructed antique tansu (Japanese chests of drawers), but it’s a nice place to window-shop.

Clothes

Harajuku (Map) has reached iconic proportions internationally, having become synonymous with Tokyo street fashion. While established houses of haute couture, such