Rina Sawayama's perfect Tokyo weekend: pizza, karaoke and Family Mart fried chicken

Celebrity & Entertainment journalist
Rina Sawayama performing on stage
Rina Sawayama performing at First Avenue in 2022 Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0

Rina Sawayama just spent two years living in Tokyo, and the Japanese-British pop star has turned her time there into a working map of where she actually eats, drinks and dances. For Condé Nast Traveler's "Perfect Weekend" series, she shared the stops she keeps returning to — farm-to-table pizza, a karaoke bar, and a late-night convenience store order she swears cancels the hangover.

From Pizza 4P's to a club called HVEN

Sawayama — the first brand ambassador for Haku, House of Suntory's rice vodka — starts the weekend at Pizza 4P's in Azabudai Hills. "It's really hard to get a reservation, and you need to call ahead," she warns, before pointing to the burrata pizza and a nori-topped version. "The best place to eat pizza outside of Italy is Japan."

Next comes Tremolo, a karaoke bar with "an open space where lots of people are singing together," then her friend's club HVEN (pronounced heaven). "It's a small club, but it's got the most amazing sound system," she says. "It doesn't feel too loud, but it's very punchy and very, very crisp."

The night wraps at Family Mart with Famichiki — fried chicken she calls "so crispy" — a Ukon ginseng drink and a Pocari Sweat. "I'll chug that and the next day I don't have a hangover," she says.

For a slow morning, Sawayama heads to Sorano, a tofu restaurant in Shibuya or Ebisu with "a very peaceful interior," tracks down a head spa, or wanders Ginza 6, Muji and Tokyu Hands. Her matcha spot is Wasachi in Roppongi — "the best matcha latte you'll ever have" — and she gifts the tins she buys there.

For souvenirs, it's Itoya in Ginza: eight floors of stationery. "I like thick ballpoint pens, like a 1.0 ballpoint pen," she says. "I love a pen, I love a journal. I just fucking love stationery." Asked what makes the city special, she lands on the paradox. "It's a lot of people, it's very, very populated, but Tokyo is peaceful."

More in the section Travel

Travel

Windermere named England's best 'quietcation' — 475 trails, six tea rooms

Windermere topped an LNER study of England's quietest escapes, scoring 58.4 out of 100 with 475 nearby walking trails.

Sport

17-year-old Mathis Albert made USMNT history before the Chile brawl erupted

Sport

A'ja Wilson on fan who stepped at her: 'No way he does that to LeBron'

Celebrity

Anne Hathaway's doctor nixed Hot Ones — she'll call Sean Evans if baby is overdue

Lifestyle

Anne Hathaway hits the Verity premiere in a black sequined Prabal Gurung gown

Celebrity

M. Night Shyamalan's Remain surprise-premiered — early reactions call it his Vertigo

Food

Marry Me Chicken Gnocchi Soup Is a One-Pot Dinner Ready in 35 Minutes

Entertainment

Tom Cruise Revives His Risky Business Dance in the Jennifer Hudson Show Tunnel

Celebrity

Rihanna hit Paris Fashion Week in a shimmering gold tinsel skirt suit

Food

Skittles Gummy Crystals launch Nov 2 — here's how the new candy tastes

Sport

Sonia Citron was begged to shoot in college — now she's the WNBA's clutch-points leader

Lifestyle

John Galliano's Zara collection reworks old stock from $29.90

Travel

Windermere named England's best 'quietcation' — 475 trails, six tea rooms

Entertainment

Florence Pugh credits Tom Holland for her Spider-Man: Brand New Day role

Celebrity

Dolly Parton welcomes fans to new Life of Many Colors Museum in posthumous video

Sport

WWE starts building Crown Jewel's Riyadh stadium with a WrestleMania 43 date soon

Celebrity

Tom Cruise talks divisive 'Digger': 'The door's open, now I want to push it again'

Celebrity

Kanye West's wife Bianca Censori poses in a micro bikini

Celebrity

Bella Hadid posed topless on a yacht

Celebrity

"My lucky man." Aurora Kiba is vacationing in Italy with her boyfriend, the nephew of the President of Azerbaijan.

Celebrity

Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner were photographed playing basketball together.