Hello. I have never been to Japan and I will have a couple of free days in Tokyo in March. What are fun things to do in Tokyo, and good places to eat etc.?
Re: Tokio recommendations? ah...hmm. If I remember correctly. Expensive Shopping: Ginza Electronics: I forgot but the name starts with an A as for Tokyo, there are alot of night clubs, etc. as for me, I always hit up a few "grotesque food" type places and then head down the elecronics section and just shop around.
Re: Tokio recommendations? Electronics: Akihabara..not quite cheap, but newest stuff can be found here. Funky Clothing and record stores: Harajuku People Watching, bars, clubs: around Shinjuku More poeple, giant TV screens, famouns crossing: Shibuya Temples: Asakusa Football: Tokyo Verdy and FC Tokyo (I think season starts in March). way too much to mention. Tokyo is a HUGE, vibrant and exciting city pretty much wherever you go! Also very expensive!
Re: Tokio recommendations? to be honest, I never, ever really did like tokyo, way too crowded, even on a short visit, I felt way too many people were around me.
Re: Tokio recommendations? where do you like best in japan? argentine soccer fun, disneyland tokyo tokyo tower for view of tokyo . omotesando for brando shopping, roppongi for football bars,night clubs, roppongi hills, odaiba ahhh...there is lots of place and lots of things at tokyo. enjoy your time!
Re: Tokio recommendations? I agree with many people on here. It does depend on what you want to do there... There are different regions with different "flavours" so to speak, or different "atmospheres". The atmosphere over at the electronics/anime/-ish area Akihabara would be very different from a high-end district like Ginza. As for football teams, there are quite a bit to choose from in the Tokyo/Kanto region area. From FC Tokyo, to Urawa Reds in Saitama, to JEF Chiba in Chiba...and so forth. Technically, "Tokyo" Disneyland is in Chiba prefecture, but it's still not that far away from Tokyo in itself. I hope you have a wonderful stay no matter what you do. I don't live in Tokyo, but it's always a joy going there.
Re: Tokio recommendations? The isakaya (traditional, family style Japanese restaurant) at the entrance of Kichijoji park is awesome.
personally, i'd recommend just getting lost in all of it. take a bus ride. take a train ride. and get off somewhere. walk around. public transport is solid. you'll end up seeing the tokyo that people see everyday, and not just the tokyo that you see in tourist guides (of course, do all the shit in the tourist guide as well).
Thanks for the recommendations. I guess I like the idea of getting lost in the big city, walking around. Having grown up in Buenos Aires, I like the feeling of being anonimous and part of a huge crowd, and I imagine Tokyo is the best place in the world to do it. I'll be spending a few weeks in China doing business, and it will be hectic, so I thought the best way to unwind was to get away to Tokyo for three days, since I've never been there. As far as what I want to do, I don't think I care too much for shopping, although seeing some of the new electronic technology might be interesting. Do they have new stuff that is not yet available in the West? Mainly I want to feel the city, and experience a bit of Japanese culture. Walk around the city, as nxttc said, and stop at some places where I can get the feel of the culture, old temple or park, and of course try some authentic traditional Japanese food. And speaking of food, I'd love to try the famous Kobe steak. As far as entertainment, I heard there's very good Jazz being played in Japan, I'd love to kick it at a top Jazz club. And also if there is a trendy nightclub to go dancing one night, see some hot women. (Albeight, it would have to be a place where a 40 year old western doesn't look and feel totally out of place). And possibly catch a football match, it's not really the top priority, but it would be cool to watch a J-league match if I can make the time. That's about it.
for me personally, I prefered kyoto. Or somewhere quieter. I actually want to visit hokkaido and chill out there. For me personally, i visited japan to get the sociology of japan. being a sociology student, I wanted to learn the structure of a group consensus society compared to an individualistic society. My research proved...fascinating.
No, no no. I have a passing interest in japanese football and thats about it. As for japan, meh, its just like most other countries. I'm not some wapanese idiot who is some moronic japanophile just because of some anime he saw.
Actually the reasons why Zaphkiel doesn't care much about Tokyo are probably some of the reasons why I expect to really like it. Anyway, I will let you all know how it goes when I get back.
Just a question: how well can you speak, read, and write Japanese? If you are fluent with it, then I wouldn't be worried. If you can speak passably and read hiragana, then you should be able to get around with not too much difficulty. If you can't understand a word of it, then you may not be able to get out of Japan on your scheduled date. Japanese are taught English in school... But most of them end up learning it as an " annoying subject you just have to cram scores in". If you are a Japanese living in Japan, you get around just fine without English. It's a nice asset for those seeking high careers, but not a necessity. In fact, many Japanese end up hating English language because of trauma during education. If you can speak English, then speak it slowly word by word, avoiding long sentences. THEN people who studied English seriously will be able to understand you. AND THEN you get the wonderful task of trying to decipher their grammar and pronouciation, which, chances are, "not very good" to put it mildly. A better option would be to write what you're trying to say on a piece of paper with simple key words like "where", "what", etc. "where Tokyo station?" is more readily understood than "How can I get to Tokyo station?" Japanese have very hard time understanding pronouciations of "real" English spoken by non-Japanese, but if you write it down they will be able to read it. And for GODS SAKE, print your letters, DON'T write in cursive! I am a Japanese living in USA, and it took me 5 years AFTER I got fluent with English to gain the ability to decipher the cursive handwriting, because Japanese characters are written much, much larger than English alphabets. Any other languages? Forget it. Consider yourself lucky if you manage to find someone who can even GUESS what language you are talking in. Most Japanese can't tell apart between speeches given in German, French, Spanish, Portoguese, etc. Some may even misassume that you are speaking English. If you don't understand Japanese and don't like English either, then just hire a guide. You will have much safer and more enjoyable trip that way. And one final thing; Japan may be one of the safest countries in the world, but that doesn't mean there aren't pickpockets and swindlers targeting tourists who can't complain to police in Japanese.
HEH HEH HEH! I'm off to Tokyo tomorrow! But, for other reasons. Spend time with the girlfriend and her family, propose to her, have fun, and OH YEAH some sight seeing to. Hope everything goes well on your trip. Let us know what happened. VN
No Japanese at all. Other than Arigato and Kampai. (Kampai is what you say when drinking, right?) I did, however, buy a Japanese-English dictionary. I found that the dictionary helped me a lot in other places I visited in Asia, like Korea, Thailand and China, to point out what I need. So, between that and the basic English words that people might know, I think I can handle myself. I can speak some mandarin now, but I've been going to China for a while. No Spanish in Tokyo yet? Don't worry, it is only a matter of time...
Thanks for the warning. There's no place in the world that is safe, especially for visitors, but I'll take my chances in Japan. Growing up in Buenos Aires, you develop a sort of instinct for avoiding those type of criminals.
Ok, I just left Tokyo this morning. As I am sitting at an airport lounge in Seoul this is a great time to put down a couple of notes about my trip. Let me just say that Tokyo is amazing. I arrived on Friday night, took a limousine bus to my hotel, which was in Akasaka. A tiny room barely bigger than the twin side bed. I had a nice sashimi/sushi dinner with sake and headed to Roppongi. I ended up in a club called 911 black, a hip-hop place full of foreigners and women who speak English. Literally underground, it was so crowded one could barely dance, but I danced all night until 6 AM. I met a Chinese student who spoke great English and she was graceful to spend time with me and show me around the city. On the way back to the hotel my cab driver got lost and he actually stopped the clock. Imagine that, an honest cabbie. In Argentina they would lose me on purpose. Saturday morning I only slept a couple of hours, I didn't feel tired. Then I mostly walked around the streets by myself, stopped at a very traditional English pub for beer and hit the Pachinko parlor. What a weird thing that was. I mostly watched, I'm not much of a gambler. At night I met my Chinese friend and went to a Jazz Club near my hotel, called Bar 301. A great contrast from the hip-hop club from the night before. Up on a second floor, it is very small and was practically empty, but the bartender was a character. He made us sample all kinds of drinks, as we enjoyed some Jazz and Bossanova. I ended up buying the CD of the owner, a Japanese woman who's an amazing singer. Sunday I went to Asakusa, to the temple there, and there I felt more the old culture. I got my fortune, prayed at the altar, smelled the incence, and ate at the street stands. Also watched a monkey do tricks on the street. From there I went with my Chinese friend to a place called Odaiba. We took a boat from Asakusa. The ride was magnificent, what a stunning way to see the city! The view from Odaiba is amazing. With the hanging bridge and all the buildings and lights. But it was freezing cold! We did some minor shopping at a mall, ate some more cool Japanese stuff mostly fish with creamy ingredients and strange sauces), I forgot what it's called but will not forget the taste. and then we went to a gaming place, which was really nothing special. Then back to Roppongi with my Chinese friend, to party all night, this time at a club called Club Vanilla. Also mostly hip-hop, a bit more variety. I met a couple of Brazilian guys there, we had a great time. Drunk a lot. I got up in time to sleep a couple of hours, and get to the airport. That’s it. Tokyo rejuvenated me, It was like being a kid again. I already want to make plans to go back, maybe in summer. I need to find a reason to do some business in Japan, to justify my trips. Any ideas?
Looks like you had a safe and fun trip. Congrats. Tokyo has many faces to it. If you are an otaku, consider visiting Akihabara next. If you are a baseball fan, try going to Tokyo Dome. But Tokyo is REALLY expensive, as you might have noticed. I wouldn't bet on your boss being very kind with the wallet.
I recommend the Dai-Ichi Shinbashi hotel, near Shinbashi station. English speaking staff, a few in hotel restaurants, and an easy walk to the Shinbashi shopping area, and one of the nice city parks (I can't remember the name of the park). It's near the Emperors Palace, and not too far from the Ginza area. Asakusa Temple is nice, and has a huge shopping area for Japanese souveneirs. I also took the Tokyo bay cruise, (which included lunch on a Yacht, Emperors palace picture area and Asakusa temple). You can check out "Hato Bus Co." for several tours. My tour guide was "Mai Hashizume", and she spoke perfect English. I was there last August. James
Japan is not a bad place to visit. But I bet you will be disturbed with living expenses in Tokyo because living expenses in Japan is the highest in the world. There is not really a particular interesting thing in Japan. May be you could go to Tokyo Disney Land or go to Shibuya for shopping. But remember it is the most expensive place in the world. I recommend you to visit Disney World in Orlando instead of visiting Disney Land near in Tokyo