Holiday in Tokyo?

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J86

J86

J86

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I've been looking into holidays in Tokyo recently,

Just wondering if anyone here has been to Tokyo and can offer any advice on the best spots etc, as most websites dont really have much information.

By day we will be seeing the sights, generaly being tourists :P

Good, friendly night life is also a must! (clubs etc)

Thanks guys!
 
I was in Tokyo for a few days earlier this year as part of my trip to Japan. We stayed in Shinjuku at the Keio Plaza Hotel which was pretty good and only a five minute walk from the station complex, (note if you go out of the rear entrance to the hotel and up the road directly opposite about a block there's a good noodle resturant on the corner ;))

Night life seemed pretty reasonable, (in Shinjuku you really want to go into the area the opposite side of the station to the above hotel), and there seemed to be lots of bars and resturants. We wandered around Saturday evening and the area was packed with people having a good time, and unlike in some places here, you felt pretty safe despite being in huge crowds in a strange place. Can't comment on clubs though as that's not my scene.

Other things to do, well you have the Meiji Shrine amongst others, (note that if you are going to go to several shrines then you can get a book and have it nicely stamped in each one). If you can stand getting up early then the Tokyo Fish Market is good to see but you really need to be there 5-6am to see things like the tuna auctions ... after 6am the little sushi places around it tend to start opening and you can get some really good fresh sushi (mmmmm tuna ....). Note that you need to know exactly where you are going (we got lost for a while) and it's a bit dangerous as it's a working market and there's these little truck things zooming around you have to avoid.

But, or course, a trip to Akihabara is a must for all the techie stuff.
 
I went to Japan for two weeks about two years ago. Spent one week in Osaka and one week in Tokyo. Like memyselfandi we stayed in Shinjuku (in Tokyo) at the Washington and loved it. I'm saving up for another trip out there at the moment.

First off it is worth you picking up a Japan Rail Pass as it will save you money scooting around on their intercity train system.

As said you have to visit Akihabra. Harajuku is a must as well. Also worth going for a meal at The Lockup and visiting the Sony Centre. Try not to limit yourself just to Tokyo though, good to try and get the bullet train somewhere if you can.

There are a couple of things I regret not doing the first time round that I hope to rectify the next time; I want to take a good camera and would like to go up (or at least get close to) Tokyo Tower.

You'll find people there are generally much friendlier than over here (especially in the case of shop assistants) and the public services are much cleaner too. Language barrier was pretty much non existent; between phrase books, printed English (signs, menus, even automated train announcements) and a lot of people seeming to know at least some English we didn't have any problems.


edit:

Oh one other thing, I found the air much cooler and dryer despite the weather generally being more sunny than over here. It was quite weird as it made my lips dry and crack within days and that never happens to me over here. Worth taking a lip balm to be on the safe side.
 
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z0mbi3 said:
Oh one other thing, I found the air much cooler and dryer despite the weather generally being more sunny than over here. It was quite weird as it made my lips dry and crack within days and that never happens to me over here. Worth taking a lip balm to be on the safe side.
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That will definitely depend on when you go, I went for a week in early september last year and was nearly drowning in my own sweat at times - and that was in shorts and t shirt!
 
Oh yes, if you have the option of not limiting yourself to Tokyo then I'd say that Kyoto(*), Hiroshima(**) and Osaka(***) ... all should be reasonably easy to get to via Shinkansen.

Note that most large department stores have excellent food departments in the basement ... great for bento boxes and lovely cakes ;)

I'm currently planning on going again in 2010.

(*) find the Manga museum on the tourist map of Kyoto (I wouldn't recommend going there though unless you read Japanese .. although it's in an old primary school and the information on it's former use provided is quite interesting), just down the road on the other side there's an alley leading to a covered market (should be marked on the map as Nishikikoji-dori (Nishiki Food Market)). Half way down this on the right hand side is a small open restaurant which did some of the best roast pork curried udon that I've ever had. Also Kyoto station is good to wander around and the handicraft center is good for souvenirs. You can get a tourist map from the tourist information center at the top of the big department store which is part of Kyoto Station (which is worth a wander around in it's own right). Many things to see in Kyoto too.

(**) the museum in memorial park is an absolute must see. Okonomiyaki is a must eat too, (we went to this building which had lots of tiny mom-and-pop restaurants each sitting ~10 people and it was great).

(***) again pretty good seafood can be had :D. A trip to Den Den Town \ Nipponbashi is a must too. Osaka Castle is worth a visit too.
 
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Stringy said:
That will definitely depend on when you go, I went for a week in early september last year and was nearly drowning in my own sweat at times - and that was in shorts and t shirt!
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Ah yeah good point that. I went in January.

memyselfandi said:
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Absolutely agree with all of that, especially Osaka Castle. Osaka Broadcast Station is worth a look too.

That said that's all dependant on the OP not limiting himself to just Tokyo ;)
 
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z0mbi3 said:
... snip ....

Oh one other thing, I found the air much cooler and dryer despite the weather generally being more sunny than over here. It was quite weird as it made my lips dry and crack within days and that never happens to me over here. Worth taking a lip balm to be on the safe side.
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Does vary enormously .... we went in April and it was general very nice and warm but we did have several days when it tipped down ... probably 3 or 4 days out of three weeks.

June-July can be pretty wet from what I hear and then it can get very hot.
 
memyselfandi said:
Does vary enormously .... we went in April and it was general very nice and warm but we did have several days when it tipped down ... probably 3 or 4 days out of three weeks.

June-July can be pretty wet from what I hear and then it can get very hot.
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See above. I went in January but yeah obviously it would vary with the time of year.
 
I found it to be about on par with costs over here. Hotels seemed a little cheaper but that was probably just my impression. I'm not really sure if food was more or less expensive but I felt as though I was getting good value for money.
 
quackers said:
My gf is the vegetarian, it looks like vegetable noodles will be on the menu all week :)
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Vegetable noodles will probably have bonito flakes in them and some forms of dashi (which is used in noodle broth) can contain fish products. If she doesn't eat seafood as well as meat then she could well struggle.

mike5678 said:
What sort of budget is required for this sort of trip?
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z0mbi3 said:
I found it to be about on par with costs over here. Hotels seemed a little cheaper but that was probably just my impression. I'm not really sure if food was more or less expensive but I felt as though I was getting good value for money.
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Hotels, well it depends on what quality you stay in. We were staying in some pretty nice ones but they weren't that expensive.

Eating and drinking, depends where and what you eat. Looking the hotels it can be very expensive, (some we looked at were ~£65/head), but eating out we were normally able to eat a good meal with a large cold beer for £7/head. Most restaurants we saw had models of their food with prices in the windows so you could see what they do with the cost and decide whether to go there in advance. Put it this way, we splashed out the last day in Osaka and had a nice seafood meal in a nice restaurant ... and that was less than £40/head.
Very good quailty sushi is quite expensive though (but really nice ;))
 
My friend is living in Japan at the moment :)

She loves it, and I'm sure if you want any info i can ask her !!
 
I've been to Japan twice, planning on going again next year. IMHO Tokyo is the greatest city on earth!

I've found eating and travelling (by public transport) cheaper than London, accomodation will be around the same. You'll pay through the nose for things like fresh fruit though, which I found odd. And obviously games, toys, electronics and pc odds and ends will be cheaper!

Roppongi is worth a visit, has loads of clubs and bars in the area. Shibuya is also cool, though it mainly caters to a more "youthful" crowd.

If you like films, you should try and visit the Ghibli museum. Getting tickets for it are a bit of a pain, but its great once you're there.


Any questions just ask
 
If you like temples and shrines, and traditional japan:
Kyoto, Nikko, Nara, Kamakura (all easy to get to from Tokyo)

If you like modern stuff:
Tokyo has it all, but if you insist, Osaka, Yokohama, maybe Nagoya.

Alternative things:
Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Kobe

Tokyo & Kyoto are the must sees with and require minimum effort
 
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