Skyhop Bus runs along courses that are conveniently close to major sightseeing destinations. As you can hop off as you please, you can enjoy exploring an area that catches your eye. Given their flexibility, these buses have become quite popular with tourists from all over.

Tokyo’s Skyhop Bus has three routes.

The Red Course runs through Ryogoku, Tokyo Skytree, Asakusa, Ueno, Akihabara, and Nihonbashi areas.

The Blue Course visits Tokyo Tower, Tsukiji, Ginza, and Odaiba (three buses per day for Odaiba).

And the Green Course runs through the Shinjuku and Shibuya area (three buses per day).

For our run, we’ll use the destination-dense Red Course!

Here’s our challenger, Timothy. He’s lived in Japan for around 20 years and is more familiar with Tokyo’s history and terrain than many Japanese natives.

Timothy expressed some incredulity at first: “How many places could you really see in a day?” It’s time to find out!

We meet up at 9:00 AM at the Marunouchi Mitsubishi Building near Tokyo Station. There’s multilingual guidance, onboard Wi-Fi, and other services tourists will enjoy. Riding the bus is a chance to both enjoy the sights and learn about Tokyo.

The bus seating is first-come, first-serve, and only on the second deck. If you want to sit in the popular front seats, make sure to board at the first stop!

Since an open-top bus, it’s a great way to enjoy the sights and sounds of the city around you. (Just be sure to pack sunblock, ponchos, or warm clothes - depending on the season!)

Marunouchi is an office and shopping district packed with all sorts of great Japanese architecture. The bus takes you at a breezy pace through these high-rise structures.

As Timothy excitedly noted, “Thanks to these open seats, you can feel the city’s sounds and atmosphere – but from above. It’s totally different from just walking through areas, and great for photos, too!”

Ryogoku might be most famous for having the Ryogoku Kokugikan, the stadium where sumo matches are held.

However, as Timothy reminds us, sumo is not the only thing that makes it special. “This area has lots of fun museums and gardens that I’d absolutely recommend to visitors. They’re all in walking distance, as soon as you hop off, explore around and visit as many as you can before the next bus arrives!”

Our first stop here was the Sumida Hokusai Museum. This art museum features the artwork and history of Katsushika Hokusai, the famous ukio-e artist. Even if you don’t buy a ticket to see the exhibits, you can enter the museum shop and find yourself a very Japan-esque souvenir.

Nearby, the creatively designed Edo-Tokyo Museum lets you learn about Tokyo’s fascinating history and heritage, covering from the days back to the Edo period between 1603 and 1868, until the modern megacity that we know today.

Timothy’s other personal recommendations include the Former Yasuda Garden, and the Japanese Sword Museum adjacent to it.

“Tokyo has so many scenic gardens, and the Former Yasuda Garden is absolutely free to enter. Be sure to visit it if you want to take in the atmosphere of a Japanese garden,” recommends Timothy.

The Japanese Sword Museum displays many Japanese swords, some of which are designated as national treasures. Samurai fans will love it.

As the heart of sumo in Tokyo, you’ll spot sumo-related statues and panels all around Ryogoku.

Once you’ve seen Ryogoku Kokugikan up close, visit the adjacent Ryogoku Station. It has an exhibit featuring a sumo wrestling ring you can see up close.

About an hour and a half after disembarking, the next bus arrives - and we head for Tokyo Skytree!

One moment you’re racing through downtown, and the next, you’re looking up at the massive Tokyo Skytree! Timothy also seemed giddy by its sudden appearance.

After around a fifteen-minute ride, we arrive at Tokyo Skytree Station. First, we dropped by the Tokyo Mizumachi, which opened in August 2020. It’s located underneath the elevated Tobu Railway and includes cafes, restaurants, assorted boutiques, a hostel, and fashionable shops.

For today’s lunch, we’re going to Deus Ex Machina Asakusa. They have a “BBQ Pulled Pork Plate” (1200 yen) here, said to be Tokyo’s next big wave of cuisine.

The soft and juicy, BBQ-flavored pork shoulder goes wonderfully with the soft and fluffy bread! The sandwich filling is so generous it nearly tumbles out. You can eat inside the restaurant, or bring your takeout to the nearby Sumida Park. Eat like a local! No doubt, it would make for a relaxing lunch time.

Our next stop is the Asakusa area. On the bus, we go right past Tokyo Skytree and Asahi Beer Headquarters! SKY HOP BUS just might be the best bus that lets you get this close.

Now let’s disembark at the Asakusa Tawaramachi stop, explore the Asakusa/Kappabashi area, and make our way to the Ueno Matsuzakaya stop! In addition to the popular Nakamise Shopping Street, you’ll find all kinds of cool shops and side streets near Sensoji Temple.

Here we are at Asakusa’s Hoppy Street, just west of Sensoji Temple. It has plenty of pubs open from mid-day, enjoyed by locals and tourists alike, with plenty of drink and conversation.

We found tanuki statues while walking! It makes sense for izakaya pubs to place them to draw in customers, but have you ever seen so many in one place?

Kappabashi Kitchenware Town is a shopping district where you’ll find professional-grade kitchenware and even make your own food samples. Many of these stores sell to regular buyers, so you’ll want to visit if you want great prices on Japanese earthenware or cutlery.

Moving through Kappabashi, we walked to Ueno Park. Its famous statue of Saigo Takamori, often dubbed the “last real samurai,” greets us. The Ueno Park area has a lot to see, including the National Museum of Western Art and the Tokyo National Museum, so let’s try to maximize our time here.

Just beyond Ueno Park is the Ameya-Yokocho shopping street, or more commonly, “Ame-Yoko.” As a location for inexpensive sweets, condiments, street foods and clothing, it’s always crowded with customers. See if you can find a souvenir while on the way to Ueno Matsuzakaya.

Leaving Ueno Matsuzakaya for Akihabara. It’s our final bus of the day!

Akihabara is full of shops related to anime, games, and otaku culture. It’s just as full of shops selling all kinds of cool electric gadgets.

While en route to Akihabara Station, we found this unique convenience store! This Dragon Quest-themed Lawson is a unique shop found only here.

Having walked for some time, Timothy begins to feel peckish. Luckily enough, a “SEGA Taiyaki” shop (now rebranded as GiGO Taiyaki) was nearby. In 2020, one variety of taiyaki available at this vendor was modeled after Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega’s age-old mascot. The Sonic taiyaki was cream-filled, while the logo taiyaki came in multiple flavors. We tried the pizza flavor.

Timothy mentioned: “This cheesy sauce is pretty yum. I think visitors would enjoy the flavor as much as the selfie chance.”

Finally, we arrived at our final destination for the day: Akihabara Station.

Between spots, we walked to and those we saw from the bus, we were able to view 21 tourist destinations! In half a day, we were able to take in a huge amount of sightseeing – the bus really helped with our range.

“This course covers exactly the kinds of spots that visitors to Tokyo would want to see. It’s such a great deal!”

Timothy also had this idea for first-time visitors: “You could take the first bus in the morning all around the city and mark out the areas that pique your interest. Then after, just hop on and off as you like. That should be enough to let you see everything that makes Tokyo great.”

But if one day isn't enough for you, there is also a 2-day pass. And, if you plan things just right, in around ten hours, one could also visit the shopping areas of Nihonbashi-Kodenmacho and Shin-Nihonbashi. Take advantage of the morning-to-night SKY HOP BUS and have yourself a bargain tour of Tokyo!

SKY HOP BUS also runs courses in Kyoto. Kyoto’s tourist destinations are scattered throughout the city, and some may find it difficult to use their transit system. But with SKY HOP BUS, you can hop on and off as you like for a flat rate, making touring Kyoto easy.