26 things to do in Tomigaya, the cool neighbourhood of inner Shibuya

The original Fuglen shop in Oslo, Norway is a blend of café, cocktail bar and vintage design boutique, where even the furniture is up for sale. Its Tokyo shop transplants the concept to a backstreet corner not far from Yoyogi Park.

Fuglen Tokyo opens at 7am everyday, selling tea and some remarkably good coffee during the daytime (though not any food – if you're feeling peckish, bring your own). It switches to bar mode in the evenings, with Japanese and Norwegian craft beers and a menu of cocktails devised by champion bartender Halvor Digernes.

Tucked away off the busy streets of Tomigaya in a tiny multi-story house, Nephew makes for a great all-day hangout as the space transitions from café to bar once the sun goes down. 

During café time, Nephew brews coffee courtesy of Overview Coffee and serves a variety of tasty homemade sweets including muffins, lemon loaf, chocolate cake and banana bread. Come evening, you can still get your coffee fix as the menu includes coffee cocktails as well as seasonal tipples, too.

Beasty Coffee is another great addition to Tomigaya's ever-growing coffee scene. The chic café sells freshly roasted coffee beans as well as equipment for making the perfect hand drip at home. You can see the coffee roaster work its magic at the back of the shop or take a seat on the bench outside for a bout of people watching.

Beasty Coffee serves up all the classics like cold brew, mochas, lattes and pour overs. It’s also got espresso tonic and its own house craft beer. If you’re feeling peckish, there’s a daily sandwich and small sweets like a cacao egg tart made in collaboration with Nata de Cristiano’s, plus a decadent matcha terrine.

Following the success of The SG Club, the SG Group opened its second bar in Tokyo, this time inspired by the old school kissaten (coffee shops) of the Taisho era (1912-1926).

The cocktail list is created by legendary bartender and Chivas Masters World Champion Atsushi Suzuki, and includes inventive concotions such as the frozen coffee-based Udabra, made with Bacardi Ocho, café con leche and sesame, designed to pair with dishes like the Thai-inspired ramen offered from 11pm every night. 

The venue even has a second, smaller bar in the back dedicated to experimental cocktail and food pairings. 

The best bar in the area for a post-work pint, Øl Tokyo is the local outpost of Oslo Brewing and exudes Scandinavian style: the furniture and part of the décor was flown in straight from Norway.

The 20 taps serve a range of Nordic brews plus a rotating selection of guest beers. Food trucks occasionally park in front of the bar to compensate for its very sparse food menu, although we love the house-made waffles, filled with goat’s cheese – when in Norway and all...

At this hideaway wine bar, owner Toshiya Kawasaki takes the Japanese concept of a listening bar – where the proprietor plays their own collection of records on a high-end audio system – and combines it with his love of natural wine.

Kawasaki is the owner of Mule Musiq, one of Japan’s leading dance music labels. He's also a DJ, regularly playing in North America and Europe, while his affection for natural wine is inspired by the movement in Paris. At Studio Mule, he sells around 1,000 varieties of natural wine from a personal collection accumulated over the past ten years, mostly from France and Italy. 

The staff at this ultra-hip bookshop are more interested in encouraging new discoveries than hawking the latest bestseller. Magazines and books, both new and used, are arranged according to theme, meaning that you might find a philosophical tract alongside some manga or art books.

Though the selections are predominantly Japanese-language, Shibuya Publishing Booksellers also stocks a few English titles – and it's a rewarding place to browse even if you can't read most of what you're looking at. 

As shop manager Keisuke Imaizumi says, 'This is where Monocle becomes 3D.' It's the perfect way to describe the store, as it's here that lifestyle products and fashion featured in the magazine spill from the page into reality, but it's also an apt description for the overall evolution of the Monocle brand.

Fans of the magazine will already know all about Monocle's collaborations with brands such as Comme des Garçons, Porter, Barena and Mackintosh. You'll also find the brand's own menswear capsule collection, Monocle Voyage, which brings together the best of Italian and Japanese materials in a range that's aimed at jetsetters in need of a wardrobe that can cross both countries and climates. Of course, there's always the latest issue of the mag to tide you over till pay day.

Dry flowers and a pharmacy-themed concept define this shop run by renowned flower artist Megumi Shinozaki, who counts nearly a decade in the industry supplying flower art for TV commercials, shop decorations and the like. Here, you can personalise your very own hand-picked dry flower arrangement that will make you forget all about fresh florals.

The range of dried flowers at the shop changes every two months. But at any given time, you have 20 varieties to choose from. Take your pick and have them arranged into a beautiful bouquet, preserved in a bottle, or displayed in a glass dome. 

This second-hand store has been selling used CDs, records and, of course, books since August 2011. What sets it apart from the bookshop stack is its collection of mushroom tomes – a portion of the store is dedicated entirely to books about fungi, written in a variety of languages.

Opened by Koji Tsuchiya – one of Japan's top chocolatiers and owner of Musée Du Chocolat Théobroma – the shop is stocked to the brim with quality cacao products, including choc-infused shampoos. Tsuchiya sources his beans from around the world, ensuring you get only the best and richest on offer.

Browse the store shelves, stock up on gifts, or take up a seat in the cosy café and enjoy a chocolate bar served on toast, or a latte with shaved chocolate scattered on top. Buying the beans to take home? Here's a tip from the sales staff: grate the beans and add to cake mixture before baking. Yum.

You should only visit a dog café if you truly love dogs. You need to love that they will climb on your lap, lick your iPhone, make your hands smell, fight over toys, and possibly even do their business on the floor right in front of you.

If you’re visiting Dog Heart, in particular, you should also love toy poodles since they make up the majority of the pups here. However, there’s also a beagle, French bulldog, cavalier, Boston terrier, Japanese chin and two lovely golden retrievers. 

Unlike other animal cafés, Dog Heart doesn’t have a food or drink menu and you either pay to spend time with the dogs or rent one to take out for a stroll. Dog Heart houses 30 dogs that are switched out daily on rotation, with 12 of them available to play with during any given visit.

Get back to nature without straying too far from the nearest station with an outing to Yoyogi Park. A quick walk from the streets of Tomigaya, the park is a perfect place to settle down for a peaceful picnic with some treat's from the many bakeries and cafés in the area.

If your timing is right, you may even run into a festival or two happening in the park. The south side has an event plaza and open-air stage that hosts many of Tokyo’s larger festivals, including the annual Earth Day, Thai Festival and One Love Jamaica.

Just one train stop from Shinjuku, this chilled neighbourhood is famous for anime stores, cosy cafés and casual restaurants

This west Tokyo neighbourhood is a hub for vintage fashion, vinyl records and independent cafés and restaurants

All along the sakura-lined Meguro River, the shops, restaurants and cafés here reward exploration at any time of year