15 best indoor activities in Tokyo for cold, rainy winter days

In a perfect world, all bookshops would be like this. Tokyo's Klein Dytham Architecture won an award at the World Architecture Festival for their work on Daikanyama T-Site, which is spread across three interlinked buildings adorned with lattices of interlocking Ts. That 'T' stands for rental chain Tsutaya, whose seemingly bottomless pockets helped fund the kind of book emporium that most capital cities can only dream of.

It's easy to lose hours thumbing through the selections here, which include a good range of English-language titles, art books, antique tomes and magazine back issues. There are also music and DVD sections as well as a Starbucks in the complex. If you're looking to enjoy some vintage periodicals and cocktails in a sophisticated setting, the upstairs Anjin lounge is hard to beat.

Shinjuku’s bustling nightlife district of Kabukicho is now home to Tokyu Kabukicho Tower, Japan’s largest hotel and entertainment complex. The towering skyscraper spans 48 storeys and five basement floors, with plenty to keep you entertained for an entire day indoors. To give you an idea of what you can expect, there's a cinema, live concert venue, gaming arcade, yokocho food hall and much more. 

Tokyu Kabukicho Tower also features artworks by 26 artists scattered throughout the building, including art rooms inside the building's Hotel Groove Shinjuku. With that in mind, keep your eyes peeled for artworks as you explore the tower.

If you have just one day to devote to museum-going in Tokyo and are interested in Japanese art and artefacts, this is the place to visit. Japan’s oldest and largest museum houses over 110,000 items. The main gallery Honkan displays the permanent collection of Japanese arts and antiquities, which range from paintings, ceramics and swords to kimonos, sculptures and the like.

The Toyokan building features five floors of artworks from other parts of Asia while the Gallery of Horyu-ji Treasures houses some of Japanese Buddhism’s most important and ancient artefacts from the seventh-century Horyu-ji temple in Nara. There are also a couple of restaurants in the complex, and a good gift shop.

Located right next to Shin-Toyosu Station, teamLab Planets offers a sensorial and immersive experience with world-conquering the collective's signature digital art. The museum is home to just nine installations, but they're spread out across a full 10,000sqm, giving them lots and lots of space each. The muesum also has a vegan ramen restaurant as well as an indoor/outdoor Garden Area with two additional installations.

Tokyo Station's gorgeous red-brick building is an architectural wonder, built in 1914 by the acclaimed Meiji-era (1868-1912) architect Tatsuno Kingo. Its mostly underground cavernous interior is filled with shops and restaurants, and feels like a city in itself.

Sample the many different types of Japanese noodles at Tokyo Ramen Street, and then move on to the bars and izakaya at the underground ‘yokocho’ Black Fence Alley. Don’t miss Tokyo Character Street, where you can stock up on Japanese souvenirs and anime merchandise from Rilakkuma to Pokémon to Ghibli gear.

Can’t get enough of stationery? Ginza Itoya sells everything from regular stationery and Japanese calligraphy goods to fancy fountain pens, designer paper, art tools and more. The first eight floors are reserved for shopping and are divided by function (think 'home', 'desk', etc), while the higher floors host a business lounge and an urban vegetable farm with salad leaves grown in hydroponic bins (the greens are then used in the dishes served at the 12th floor café).

You can also get your mail sorted on the second floor: purchase your cards and letters, write and decorate them at a designated space, and then send them off at the in-store postal area.

Tucked away in glitzy Ginza is the Okuno Building, an old apartment complex built in the Showa era (1926-1989), which is now home to many antique shops and mini art galleries. If you want to see what life in the building used to look like back in the day, check out Room 306, which has been left as-is since its previous tenant moved out.

Another highlight in the building is the Ginza Chuo Gallery on the fourth floor. Here you'll find temporary exhibitions of paintings, prints and photographs by Japanese artists.

Open 22 hours a day, this deluxe hot spring facility offers various baths, relaxation spaces and top-notch dining options. Sink into a soothing natural spring bath under the night sky, or enjoy a blissful massage before the break of dawn.

Upon check-in, you're provided with a set of comfy loungewear for your stay, allowing you to unwind between sessions in co-ed areas such as the new low-temperature sauna, bedrock baths, or dining spots. Alongside your bathing experience, LaQua offers a selection of beauty treatments, including Thai massages, aromatherapy head spa treatments and Korean body scrubs. And in case that's not enticing enough, a recent revamp introduced an outdoor cocktail lounge complete with a foot pool, offering an impressive view of Tokyo Dome City.

Located under the railway tracks between Asakusa and Tokyo Skytree, Lattest Sports is perfect for families with kids as it has something for everyone. First, it's home to bouldering gym The Stone Session, which welcomes all from beginners to regular climbers; it even offers classes for children. Toddlers who aren't old enough to boulder can enjoy the sandpit next door, which costs ¥500 per 30 minutes. It's equipped with mini slides, shovels and toys to keep the little ones busy.

Parents, on the other hand, can relax with a coffee or tea (or something stronger) at the on-site café while the kids work on their excess energy through climbing and playing. It'll be a fun day for everyone away from the heat. 

Tokyo Sea Life Park’s glass dome (where the entrance is) doesn’t give out much, but wait until you take the escalator down to where the exhibits are. This place aims to recreate aquatic environments from around the world, and features sea creatures from across the globe as well as from local areas including Tokyo Bay.

The aquarium’s most popular attraction is a 2,200 tonne doughnut-shaped tank, which is home to an enormous shoal of bluefin tuna. Meanwhile, seabird lovers can check out large auks, puffins and one of Japan’s biggest penguin exhibitions. 

Located on the western outskirts of Tokyo in Tama-shi, Sanrio Puroland is a roughly half-hour train ride from Shinjuku Station. This theme park is an homage to all things Sanrio, the company that produces the patron saint of hypercuteness.

Attractions include a Hello Kitty musical, peeking in on Hello Kitty’s house to see her go about her daily life, and of course the chance to meet the cat herself complete with photo-ops. As expected, the shopping facilities are extensive and they offer everything imaginable stamped with Kitty-chan’s likeness. 

Shibuya Parco has something for everyone. Don’t be deterred by the luxury stores on the ground floor – there’s more to this shopping centre than just designer labels. Aside from a cool mix of shops and restaurants, there are art galleries, a cinema and a theatre, as well as an entire floor dedicated to manga and gaming. It definitely has a young and hip vibe. And whenever you need to rest your feet and fuel up, make your way to the basement food hall Chaos Kitchen.

Back in 1938, Yurakucho became the very first area in Tokyo to house a planetarium. Sadly, it was destroyed during the war in 1945. But now, 80 years later, a brand-new facility has opened with two large domes.

The first dome, a multi-purpose digital theatre, is equipped with an 8K ultra-high-definition screen that stretches from floor to ceiling. The second dome houses the planetarium, also kitted out with the latest technology. The result is as close as you can get to outer space without leaving central Tokyo.

This indoor amusement park in Odaiba is packed with Sega’s virtual-reality attractions, where you'll find twenty thrilling rides spread out across three floors. Rest assured, bilingual instructions are available for each game.

Hop on a boat of the virtual Wild River ride and be part of an exciting rafting adventure, or board the Wild Wing, a hang-glider moving through tropical islands. The Zero Latency VR attraction, on the other hand, is perfect for gamers who always dreamed of turning into one of their video game heroes. Team up with six of your friends and fight dozens of wild zombies while you're armed with a laser gun plus the latest equipment in VR technology.

Are you a ping pong (or table tennis) fan? You'll be very happy at T4 Tokyo, a multi-facility complex in Shibuya complete with a restaurant, bar and shops, all of which are themed after the game – even the food and drink menu. The shop sells gear from Victas, the preferred brand of the Japanese national men's table tennis team. There's also a table tennis school, plus enough tables to play to your batting heart's delight.

Established galleries Taka Ishii, Tomio Koyama and ShugoArts make up the three-storey Complex 665, along with the showroom of Broadbean, a modern furniture and design group, on the first floor. Tucked away from the hustle and bustle of Roppongi, the warehouse-like building stands out from its surroundings thanks to a distinctive white-spiral motif on its exterior.

The galleries are spacious and so you'll find a wider variety of works here – not just in scope and topic but size as well – compared to other space-limited galleries in the neighbourhood. They have been known to exhibit floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall paintings as well as realistic life-size human sculptures.