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Going to Japan - Tokyo

S

Spursman

Neil Sullivan
Hello. I know some of you guys on here are well travelled people. Me and the Mrs are going to Tokyo in a couple of weeks for just 1 week. Would have loved to go for longer but couldn't due to work commitments.

So..... What can I do there in a week? I want to see as much as possible. Best areas? Gadget places, unusual places. Etc

Thanks
 
Man my favourite holiday of all time was Japan, I found that there weren't necessarily specific things to see but it was a great place to wander around and soak up the atmosphere. Incredible place to wander around, food is amazing and the people are so friendly. It's actually pretty cheap for food etc though beers are usual price. The though of that Asahi super extra dry at -4 is making me thirsty :)

The tuna auction at the fish market is meant to be amazing, we got there too late though and the tickets were gone. By Roppongi hills if you walk a bit theres a great little area where theres several embassies and a park that's lovely to wander around. New York bar in Park Hyatt is good and is where Lost in Translation was filmed. Try and see some sumo wrestling. Shibuya crossing. Giinza is good for shopping. Imoerial palace gardens. Tokyo national museum and Ueno area.

In Shibuya go to Sushi-no-Midori restaurant, ir's upstairs in the shopping centre on the left when you come out of the main station entrance. Has a queue always but the sushi platters there are amazing.

Why stay in Tokyo the whole time, get the bullet train to Kyoto for a couple of days (it's only 3/4 hours) and some amazing sights like bamboo forest etc. You could pop to Kobe for a steak too, there's an amazing restaurant 5 minutes from the station where I spent my 30th birthday. Also you could do a day trip to Mt Fuji easily and see the lakes there and do the cable car.
 
Thanks PD thats helpful. Ive been told people are really friendly and want to try and speak English with you to practice. I will be using my translator on my phone if i get stuck!. Are there good bars/clubs you would recommend?

is it best to travel on trains or Taxi?
 
a spur from swansea said:
Daft thing to ask but are most signs,train timetables.directions in English as well? Also anything connected to any Ghibli films etc?
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In train stations yes and in some big malls and tourist areas only. Some road signs as well.

At train stations you can just go to the counter and they usually speak some english and will book up your trains for you including seats etc.

Spursman said:
Thanks PD thats helpful. Ive been told people are really friendly and want to try and speak English with you to practice. I will be using my translator on my phone if i get stuck!. Are there good bars/clubs you would recommend?

is it best to travel on trains or Taxi?
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Club womb had just opened when I went, that was decent but it's only recently become legal to dance with music past 2 or something random like that. Lots of places are just pubs but they do drink a lot there and late too, till like 4/5am then go to work. Shinjuku has lots of decent bars. Trouble is all the places are in buildings so you have to get a lift up and you therefore never know whether it's busy so do some research. Roppongi is a good place for bars, lots of expats in that area too. Go to Geronimo shot bar and you can see my plaque for the shot challenge there :) If you go there then you'll meet some expats as well who can give you tips on where to go which is what we did.

http://www.geronimoshotbar.com/

I generally got trains and then walked within the district. For taxis they won't understand you, I think theres an app you can get where you type in the place you're going and it shows you a Japanese translation you can pass to the taxi driver.

Other great thing is no need to tip, they get offended if you try to tip them.
 
Thanks mate. Especially the last point. Is there any other things I Should be aware of in terms of customs etc?
 
I went about 10 years ago and enjoyed it but found it quite hard to get "involved" i.e. you walk around and feel like you understand 20% of what is going on and can read 2% of the signs and in retrospect the best thing we could have done was get a guide to show us round, help us out a bit... a few times we were just wandering about e.g. people say go to Roppongi or Shinjuku or Shibuya and you get there and think... OK... neon... humans... taxis.... um... now what?

Food wise was a challenge, everything had a raw egg on top. Literally every meal had a raw egg. And was very soft i.e. soft noodles in broth with soft veg and soft meat and soft dumplings... nothing crispy crunchy grilled like a juicy steak... soft and soft and soft... strange that you miss crunchy after a while. After a week we found somewhere more western selling chips and stuff... mmm crunchy... so I dipped my chips in the little bowl of mayonnaise that came with it and... inside was a raw egg.

We went on the train south and got buried up to our necks in hot sand. Hot springs. Did quite a few things but not once got propositioned by a frisky gent in a school uniform, it was very disappointing.

Jet lag was major... was up til 5am the first night/day and struggled to get back to normal, then came home.
 
How much spending money do you think is needed? 2 people. money for food, activities, getting around
 
Spursman said:
Thanks mate. Especially the last point. Is there any other things I Should be aware of in terms of customs etc?
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Not really, rest is obvious e.g. queue up with them and don't push in etc. Never seen such an orderly queue for the tube.

Really depends what you want to do e.g 5 star hotels, stay in Tokyo the whole time, eat at Michelin star restaurants, go drinking, walk around lots or pay for things like the sky tower etc. I'd budget £50 a day each for food but more if you want better dining and booze.

One thing I do remember is that you don't need to remember to carry water, theres a vending machine on every street corner.
 
Just point her in (any) direction of a shopping centre, while you head off to one of the numerous excellent blow job bars :D
 
Fantastic city. A night city for sure! Do not be afraid of street cafes. Take subways wherever you can, the whole city is an experience. Roping is like Leicester Square so loud but tacky, Shinju-Ku lively at night and possibly like Piccadilly, mainstream but cool at night...it is city where cool things/areas shift frequently, so check Time Out guide...don't be afraid of not being able to understand, etc, it's all good, you'll be fine. English is NOT overtly common but you will still be fine, trust me. Ride from Narita to Tokyo is very long, and I would make sure that is sorted before yo leave somehow...
 
Hi All,

Im back now and had a really good time. I cant believe how busy it is there at all times! so many people

The people are fantastic, so friendly, always trying to help even if the language was a problem. Loads of people actually walked with us to show us where we wanted to get to.

The food. My Gosh its great! i dont know how the majority stay so slim with all the options for food! i didnt have a bad meal and they have got some really great food and drink products. The cakes! wow

Pretty much went to every area by train which is so efficient, i love the way everything ques up and is patient to wait to get on the train.

One of my favorite areas was Achibahara which is an area for technology. i went to one building with 7 floors of all technology etc. Its amazing what they have there.

over all a fantastic place to go. The city itself has everything but you can visit some great sites such as mount Muji, Hakone etc. The country and people are fantastic. Amazing place
 
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