On two of my three stops in Tokyo, I ended a day with an evening in Roppongi, one of the city’s most popular entertainment districts. I didn’t show up for the reason many first-time visitors do (bar-hopping), but rather to soak up the sunset views from Roppongi Hills. (And, yep, I’d do it again in a heartbeat.)
The view from the Tokyo City View at Mori Tower toward Tokyo Tower is one of the better skyline views I’ve found anywhere in Japan’s capital. And everything else I’d want to see & do in Roppongi on a first visit, from the museums to the streets after dark, falls into place around that same afternoon-into-evening arc.
Here’s what attractions in Roppongi I’d carve out time for on my first afternoon and evening visit…
An afternoon and evening walking tour through Roppongi
Spend the afternoon at the Art Triangle’s museums
Three museums make up what’s known locally as the Art Triangle. All three sit close enough to string together in an afternoon Roppongi itinerary.
I wouldn’t try to squeeze in all three museums in a single day in Roppongi unless art is the reason for your visit. While they’re close enough together (about a 20-minute walk from each other), there’s enough to see in each that visiting all three wouldn’t do them all justice.
(Well, unless you started your day in Roppongi earlier.)
Mori Art Museum sits on the 53rd floor of Mori Tower. The elevator ride up to the exhibition floor gives a preview of the view still to come.
Minoru Mori, the developer behind the entire Roppongi Hills complex, built the Mori Art Museum on the belief that culture shapes a city’s identity as much as its buildings.
And the museum’s roster backs that up. Past exhibitions at Mori Art Museum have pulled in famous artists like Yayoi Kusama, Ai Weiwei, and Jeff Koons.
Before leaving the area, don’t miss out on Maman by Louise Bourgeois, a giant spider sculpture set outside of Mori Art Museum. (This was one of my own highlights of my walking tour around Roppongi.)
A 20-minute walk away, the National Art Center owns no permanent collection at all. It exists purely to host rotating exhibitions. (I’d check the line-up on the official website before making my way here.)
The National Art Center building was one of the last projects completed by architect Kisho Kurokawa before he died in 2007. The wave-like glass facade out front curves around two inverted concrete cones inside, one holding a café, the other a restaurant. It’s a strange, striking building to check out on your walk through Roppongi, even if nothing inside interests you that day.
The Suntory Museum of Art, inside Tokyo Midtown, has been around since 1961, longer than the other two combined. If I only had time for one art stop, it’d be this one.
The collecting philosophy of the Suntory Museum of Art is built around the idea that art belongs in daily life rather than behind glass. (Think: lacquerware, ceramics, and textiles instead of paintings under spotlights.)
The museum holds several pieces designated National Treasures, making visiting one of the most popular things to do in Roppongi.
Admission to the Suntory Museum of Art varies depending on what’s currently on. Check the museum’s official site to see current rates.
Visit Tokyo City View at the golden hour
Tokyo City View sits on the 52nd floor of Mori Tower, 250 meters up. I visited this observation deck during my first 24 hours in Tokyo to catch the sunset. Even after checking out other viewing decks during my three stops in the city, this is still one of my favorite places to visit in Tokyo to see the city from above after dark.
I’d recommend getting to the Tokyo City View with roughly 45 minutes of daylight left to watch the whole transition from light to sunset to dark. First, the sky changes color, then the city switches over to lights one grid at a time.
The direct sightline to Tokyo Tower is the reason I’d pick Tokyo City View over some of the city’s other observation decks, like the Tokyo Skytree near Asakusa or the Tokyo Metropolitan Building in Shinjuku.
The large windows on the eastern side of the floor frame Tokyo Tower directly. It feels close enough that it doesn’t get lost among the rest of the skyline the way it does from farther-out viewpoints.
On a clear evening, you can also pick out Tokyo Skytree and Rainbow Bridge in the distance. (But nearby Tokyo Tower would still be the one landmark that’d hold my attention most.)
Unfortunately, the original open-air rooftop Sky Deck I checked out on my first visit has been closed since April 2024, so I wouldn’t plan to step outside. All the views happen through glass now.
Admission to Tokyo City View runs ¥2,800 for adults, with last entry at 9:30 pm.
Experience Roppongi after dark
Roppongi’s reputation as Tokyo’s rowdiest nightlife district didn’t come from nowhere. And some of that energy is still around after the museums close and the observation deck lets out.
The Roppongi area is well-lit at night and safe by most measures, with crowded streets, good transit, and visible security. But the actual risk around here isn’t violence. It’s the touts.
There’s a very good chance someone will approach you on the street promising a cheap drink or a good time at a bar just around the corner. (The same thing happens around Kabukicho, too, another one of Tokyo’s nightlife hotspots.)
My advice is: Don’t follow them.
The scam is old and still works, leaving patrons with inflated bills and no way out until you pay. Or otherwise risk losing a few teeth.
(I stupidly fell for a similar tea house scam while visiting Shanghai. But I was far more shocked to discover that this goes on in far tamer Japan, too!)
This isn’t a reason to skip hanging out in Roppongi after dark. It’s still one of the more interesting places in Tokyo to end an evening, especially coming down off the Mori Tower elevator with the skyline still in your head.
Instead, I’d pick a bar or izakaya ahead of time, walk to it directly, and treat any unsolicited offer on the street as a hard no.
For a more upscale izakaya experience, I’d end my evening at Warayakiya Roppongi (map). I’d bring along a travel buddy and order some straw-grilled seared bonito and wagyu with a couple of local biiru. (The open kitchen concept here is a nice touch, too.)
How to get to Roppongi
Roppongi Station serves both the Hibiya and Oedo subway lines. Roppongi Hills is close enough to either that you shouldn’t even need a map.
From the Hibiya Line, take Exit 1C, which connects to Roppongi Hills through a direct underground walkway. There’s no need to surface onto the street first.
For Tokyo Midtown and the Suntory Museum of Art, Exit 8 on the Oedo Line drops you straight into the building’s basement level. The Hibiya Line also reaches Midtown via an underground passage from Exit 4a. It’s about a three-minute walk either way.
