What is the best mirrorless camera under $1000 for beginners?

I struggled too but the Panasonic Lumix G95 with 12-60mm Lens is amazing! It has way better IBIS than the Sony and those controls feel much more like your old Nikon FE!

Thinking about your Tokyo trip, you might want to consider looking at the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III 20.4MP Mirrorless Body. Since you are coming from that Nikon FE, you probably value a solid build and this one is actually weather-sealed, which is huge if you get caught in a Tokyo rain shower. I would suggest being careful with the Sony a6400 because, ngl, the lack of IBIS in that body makes street photography way harder if you aren't using stabilized lenses. The IBIS in the Olympus is basically magic. You can shoot handheld for like half a second and still get sharp shots. Make sure to check out the Olympus M.Zuiko 14-150mm f/4-5.6 II Lens for a great all-around travel combo. One warning tho: the Micro Four Thirds sensor is smaller than your 35mm film, so you'll have to get used to a 2x crop factor. It might feel a bit weird at first, but it makes the whole kit super light for walking around Shinjuku all day. The burst rate is also surprisingly fast for this price point, so you wont miss those candid street moments. Dont let the smaller sensor scare you off, the image quality is still stellar for social media and prints. TL;DR: Grab a used Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III for the best IBIS and weather sealing under $1k. It feels modern but still has that rugged, tactile vibe you are used to with your Nikon.

Honestly, I went through the exact same struggle when I swapped my film gear for digital. You really gotta be careful with some of those newer entry-level bodies... they feel like flimsy plastic compared to a Nikon FE. I made the mistake of buying a super hyped camera a while back and the menu system was so deep I spent half my vacation just trying to find basic settings. It was a total mood killer tbh. I would suggest looking into an older professional-grade body instead of a brand new entry-level one. My setup is a bit older but its built like a tank, and that peace of mind is worth more than fancy specs when youre in Tokyo. Just be careful about the battery life on older digital rigs, and make sure to test the EVF in person... some can be pretty laggy compared to your old Nikon.

Big if true

Chameleon is 100 percent right about the weather sealing and build on that Olympus. I remember my first digital swap from an old FM2... I was looking at the spec sheets for months comparing phase-detect vs contrast-detect AF points. I ended up with a Sony a6000 back then because the burst rate numbers were huge, but I totally ignored the stabilization data. Huge mistake. Taking shots of the Shibuya crossing at night was a blurry mess because I couldnt hold it steady enough at 1/15th of a second.

• The Sony a6400 has arguably the best tracking algorithms but zero IBIS hardware.
• The Fuji X-S10 has great IBIS and those film sims you might like, but the used market is totally inflated.
• Olympus and Panasonic basically offer the most robust stabilization tech for under 1k. I have a couple questions tho to narrow this down...
• How much night shooting are you actually planning to do in Tokyo?
• Are you looking for a specific buffer capacity for those bursts, or is just a quick 10fps enough for you?