Sushi, cocktails, 5-star views of Tokyo Tower – 5 of the best places to eat and drink in Toranomon, new Tokyo dining hub
- Tokyo’s Toranomon neighbourhood is flourishing, thanks to recent openings including hotel Tokyo Edition Toranomon, from where we explore the area’s food options
- From Japanese-European fine dining to a pizzeria, cocktail bar and an alley with yakitori and wontons, here are some great places to refuel near Tokyo Tower
Tokyo’s Toranomon (“tiger’s gate”) district is flanked by Roppongi and Akasaka to the west, Azabujuban to the south and Ginza to the east. It is marked by the glittering Tokyo Tower.
As a business-focused district, it is not a neighbourhood most visitors might normally choose to stay in, with livelier areas nearby.
But it is an intriguing area poised for change: 10 years since the Mori Tower – a 247 metre-tall skyscraper – was opened in 2014, the Toranomon Hills complex, a long-time project by the Mori Building company to turn the area into a new business hub, was finally completed in October 2023.
The area is dominated by four skyscrapers, including Business Tower, Residential Tower, and the new Station Tower, and there are warrens of new restaurants, bars and shops.
The Tokyo Edition Toranomon – the first Edition hotel in Japan – opened in 2020, at the same time as the new Toranomon Hills station on Tokyo Metro’s Ginza line. But because of the Covid-19 pandemic, few international tourists were able to check into the hotel for its first two years as Japan remained closed to outsiders.
However, with its borders having reopened in October 2022, and with the yen’s value against the US dollar the lowest in decades, Japan is attracting record numbers of tourists; according to JTB Tourism and Research Consulting, 3 million overseas visitors entered Japan in March 2024.