Tokyo - in 1 day what would you do?

[SoTiredNeedHoliday]

By this time we will have spent a week in the Sapporo and surrounding area of Japan.

I could possibly spend 2 days in Tokyo, however, I am thinking it is just another big city and my time might be better spent on spending time in other places such as Kyoto and the surrounding areas.

What would you do in Tokyo for 1 day to "get the feel of it" with two teens travelling also.

thanks!

I had a couple of days in Tokyo at the end of a 2 week Japan trip recently. By that point, we were all templed and shrined out (had already been to Kyoto, Kanazawa, Miyajima/Hiroshima, and Hakone), but in 2.5 days we managed the following (albeit pretty quickly and without shopping time as it’s not our thing):

Day 1 (afternoon)
Meiji Shrine
Walk through Harajuku
Shibuya crossing
Akihabara

Day 2:
Senso-ji
Asakusa
Kappabashi Dori
Shitamachi Museum
Ueno Park
Free night walking tour of Shinjuku

Day 3
TeamLab Planets (the nightlight of my time in Tokyo)! Not Japanese specifically, but such a fabulous sensory experience, and kids would love it. teamlabplanets.dmm.com/en/
Tsukiji market for lunch
Ginza
Shinjuku Gyoen gardens

If you’re travelling with teens, I think they’ll prefer Tokyo to Kyoto (admittedly it depends on your teens though!)

Puppylucky & others thanks for the comments re tours and guides I am going to look into it.

Don't dismiss shopping as 'just shopping' either - think of shops as museums where you can handle the exhibits! They give you an insight into modern culture, especially browsing round a supermarket. And try some pot noodles while you're there - they're surprisingly good!

Placemarking as am here right now with teens! Thanks all!

Could everyone pick one thing and you work your itinerary around that? We had a couple more days there and still feel we barely scratched the surface (although with younger children I suppose you are more restricted as they don’t have the stamina of teens). We also spent a day at Disney Sea just to experience Japanese style Disney. One of DC’s favourite things was, bizarrely, visiting kitchen street and seeing all the wax food for sale. You can also do a class to make your own fake food. And I agree about shopping being completely different - I’d have happily spent a day just wandering through the department store food halls.

If your teens are interested in anime and want to visit studio gibhli bear in mind that tickets sell out months in advance.

In Kyoto my favourite things were hiring kimonos (through this company kyotokimono-rental.com/en) with the added bonus that you can get free entry into lots of places if you’re in kimono, and a night walking tour where we were lucky enough to see geisha at work.

i found a cycling tour of tokyo that gets great reviews - has anyone done one of these?