Akihabara Street Go-Kart: Tokyo Station & Ginza

Akihabara grew out of a post-war radio parts market under the railway tracks, and it still sells electronics by the floor: one building for cameras, the next for retro games, another for figures. On foot the district is a crowd; from a kart you see it the way delivery drivers do, block by block, sign above sign.

After the licence check and briefing you pull out of Akihabara and head south on the broad avenues toward Chiyoda. The red-brick Marunouchi building of Tokyo Station comes up on the right, then the route turns into Ginza, where the department stores line Chuo-dori. The guide leads, the group follows in single file, and the pace stays steady because these are wide, straight roads.

You finish back in Akihabara an hour later with the shortest Tokyo route behind you, and a good sense of how close the city's electronics quarter, its main station and its smartest shopping street really are.

Before or after the drive, Akihabara is worth an hour on foot: the multi-storey arcades on Chuo-dori, the retro game shops on the side streets and the model and figure towers. Ginza, at the far end of the route, is one stop from Tokyo Station if you want to go back and shop.