Anyone know Tokyo?

I guess you'll fly into NRT Narita airport. Narita is a satellite town, approx 1-1.30 hrs from Tokyo central by train. There are lots of hotels local to the airport. The ANA, Narita View,Garden City, Tokyu prince & more. There's even a hotel called "the christmas hotel", or similar, which is basically a knocking-shop!!
All these airport hotels are similar in style/comfort, & are 10 mins by courtesy bus to Narita.
Narita has a few bars & some good restaurants, most of which are small but need hunting out. Many of them are frequented by the British & American airline crews who stay in Narita. (my good self included!) There is a temple park which is nice for strolling around & is v. peaceful. The Mercure hotel is nicely located in downtown Narita.
I am less familiar with downtown Tokyo, but there are quite a few hotels by the Tokyo Disneyworld which give good rates. Akihabra is an area with lots of electrical gadget shops, & shinjuku & yoyogi park are kind of similar to Hyde Park area. Good fun on a Sunday when there are lots of Japanese "punks" skateboarding & showing off.
Tipping for good service is generally NOT done, as apparently it indicates that the basic service isn't good enough. There are some big temples to see, & a massive indoor snowdome. The locals are friendly & polite, & will genuinely try to help you with local directions if/when you get lost. Very few road/train station signs are in english, so best to view getting lost as part of the fun.Jet-lag can be a killer, & there is very little english language TV to while away the wee hours.
Hope that helps a bit,
matt.

Do you need to know any of the language.

?

You'll want to check out the Akihabara district downtown. That's where all the hi-fi / electronics shops are.

quote:

Originally posted by Alan Paterson:
Do you need to know any of the language.

I hope not Alan!

Thanks a lot Matt. We're keen on staying downtown so we can just wander around and gawp.

Do you know of any "relatively" good value Hotels? I was keen on staying at the Hyatt where Lost in Translation was filmed until I saw it was over £600 a night!

Thanks again.
Jay

Hi Jay,
Sorry, I can't really help you with hotel prices in Tokyo downtown. Being aircrew, I don't (yet) have to pay for my hotel rooms.
Japanese hotels (at least the ones I've stayed at) are a bit different to the norm. They have metal doors, & a bathroom which resembles a portacabin plonked in the corner of the room. Something to do with earthquake-proofing, I think. Downtown is quite expensive for hotels, & I guess the big chain hotels would be a bit heavy. If there is a "Mercure" hotel downtown, they are OK for short stays, & reasonably priced.Time to start scouring the net I guess. As far as the language is concerned, like many places, if you can get a few phrases worked out, eg please/thank-you, yes/no, beer/tea etc it goes a long way.
matt.

quote:

Do you know of any "relatively" good value Hotels? I was keen on staying at the Hyatt where Lost in Translation was filmed until I saw it was over £600 a night!

I was in Tokyo last December and I stayed in the Grand Hyatt in Roppongi Hills. Very new, very plush, great locality, and from memory about 150 - 200 pounds per night.

The Imperial Palace is worth visiting. Shinjuku or Shibuya are good for gawping at crowds, shops, giant video advertising screens, etc. Ginza is more sedate, it's the most upmarket shopping district in Tokyo.

Steve

Jay do a search on "Tokyo hotels" but you will see they are all expensive if they are downtown and have a few stars. Not as bad as £600 but not cheap.

When you allow for travel time from Narita you will probably finally be settled in your hotel Saturday afternoon. You will also need most of the time you have Monday to get back to Narita and check in for your next flight.

So 2 evenings and one full day to "do Tokyo".

It may seem corny but with that short a stay it might be worth booking a decent length city tour on the Sunday and asking how to get to the interesting areas like Shinjuku and Ruppungi in your two evenings there.

regards
geoff

The Washington Hotels (a business chain) are pretty good value at about £70 for a twin room.
This is what it looks like. It's in the centre of Shinjuku, near the Hyatt.

To avoid hassle you can use the NEX train direct from Narita to Shinjuku. It's expensive, but gets you there quickly.

Actually, Shinjuku is a good place to start any trip in Tokyo. You can visit the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building viewing floor (90-something) for free and get a feel for the size of the place. Yodobashi Camera (the biggest eletronics shop in the world - bring your credit card) is near the station and just walking around is an experience.

You should probably get a look at the Imperial Palace while you're here, but you can't really go in, just walk around the grounds. Which is quiet after the chaos of Tokyo.

Ginza's interesting, with all its brand shops and wealth (the only place I've ever seen an Enzo Ferrari parked on the street)

If you're here on a Sunday then Harajuku's fun. Full-on Tokyo fashion mayhem. Any day is good for a walk about there, though.

Tsukiji fishmarket is teeming with tourists these days. If you can get up at 4.30am and like a bit of fish it's phenomenal.

That's really the secret to Tokyo - walking and watching. You'll find surprises everywhere. You won't find history, that's Kyoto/Nara/Nikko etc - and you won't necessarily find beauty - unless you're into strangeness as beauty.

Oh, and forget what they say about Japan being expensive. Compared to London it is entirely reasonable. And almost every restaurant serves good food at excellent prices. Look for the 'lunch set' served everywhere until 3pm and in the evening an 'izakaya' is the full-on Japanese experience.

Good luck!
Peter

quote:

Originally posted by Jay:
Thanks a lot Matt. We're keen on staying downtown so we can just wander around and gawp.

Do you know of any "relatively" good value Hotels? I was keen on staying at the Hyatt where Lost in Translation was filmed until I saw it was over £600 a night!

Thanks again.
Jay

Le Meridian Hotel in Shinagawa is very good and less than £100 a night. Also you will find that the pound is very strong in Japan now

Probably the 10th vote for Akihabra. There's a good informal tempura & miso soup restaurant (about £5) near Akihabra station - exit main exit, turn left then the road turns immediately right, go along to the main road, turn left, pass one restaurant on the left hand side, and (probably just before the bridge) on the left hand side is the place.

The underground is very efficient. The department stores in Japan are great, particularly their massive food halls. Also gives the opportunity to buy wasabi, sake, Japanese tea and very beautiful Japanese snacks.

Manicatel is also correct in that the centre of Tokyo's Narita airport is very far from the centre. So DO NOT get a taxi. You are best either getting the train, or if you can get a shuttle bus (about £15-20 - many will stop at a list of hotels), book it from one of the front desks in front of the customs exit.

Have fun!

Andrew

Thanks for all this great advice folks. Really looking forward to it now, you guys have given me a real taste of what's to come!

Thx
Jay

No problem, post a report on how it goes. I'm always interested in people's experiences of Japan.

Other things to try:

Shabu Shabu - a large bowl of water kept boiling on/in the table. Given veggies and loads of thinly sliced beef to cook in the water with chopsticks (beef only needs a few seconds, veggies longer) and dip in sauce.

If you are considering visiting another city (probably not got enough time on this trip) then have a go on the bullet train (shinkanzen) - which is an experience in itself, make sure to buy a bento box.

At night the lights on the buildings in the Ginza district are astonishing in their scale and beauty - absolutely dwarves Leicester Square area by a factor of at least x100. Ginza is also the expensive area for shopping. Although some of the big department stores will be found there.

Andrew

Jay,
although never having visited Tokyo myself I browsed upon this link outlining the many jems available in the Higashi-Ikebukuro and Akihabara districts for fans of doujinshi. Looks like it could be something to do on a wet Wednesday afternoon.