I have recently returned from a work related trip to Asia, my first stop on the three-week trip was Tokyo. I have to say this was by far the best place I visited and I hope one day I will return.
I had read a Rough Guide travel book and some Ciao ops to prepare me for what I expected to ... Read review
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Advantages: Many, a wonderful, cultural experience Disadvantages: None I can recall
...which is a district of Tokyo dominated by hotels and restaurants. It was a great base for a stay in Tokyo. My hotel, Shinagawa Prince was in an ideal place, right by the train station and central to many restaurants. My room was on the 29th floor and I had great views of the skyline. Just through the train station was the business district where my company’s office was, so I had a leisurely 15-minute walk to the office every day. With regard ... ...thing that hit me about Tokyo was the sheer volume of people; it's a busy place. You quickly learn to keep up with the pedestrian traffic and weave in and out of the slower movers.
After a restless night getting over the jet lag (Japan is 8 hours ahead of us here in the UK) I decided to go walkabout. I felt very safe in Tokyo, the only major difficulty is that many signs are only in Japanese and English isn't widely spoken, but if ... more
I have recently returned from a work related trip to Asia, my first stop on the three-week trip was Tokyo. I have to say this was by far the best place I visited and I hope one day I will return.
I had read a Rough Guide travel book and some Ciao ops to prepare me for what I expected to be a daunting stay, but I was very pleasantly surprised and very impressed with Japan.
When I arrived at Narita airport I got on an airport bus that took me directly to my hotel in Tokyo. I was staying in Shinagawa, which is a district of Tokyo dominated by hotels and restaurants. It was a great base for a stay in Tokyo. My hotel, Shinagawa Prince was in an ideal place, right by the train station and central to many restaurants. My room was on the 29th floor and I had great views of the skyline. Just through the train station was the business district where my company’s office was, so I had a leisurely 15-minute walk to the office every day. With regard to accommodation, my hotel was fairly expensive when compared to UK hotels, but at around £100 a night I believe it was reasonable for the standard it was. You can get cheaper hotels and a variety of different types of accommodation, but I can’t comment on these. I would consider staying at the same hotel if I returned to Tokyo, but I would probably only be able to afford a few nights!!!
The first thing that hit me about Tokyo was the sheer volume of people; it's a busy place. You quickly learn to keep up with the pedestrian traffic and weave in and out of the slower movers.
After a restless night getting over the jet lag (Japan is 8 hours ahead of us here in the UK) I decided to go walkabout. I felt very safe in Tokyo, the only major difficulty is that many signs are only in Japanese and English isn't widely spoken, but if you are brave enough to explore and confident enough to attempt information transfer by alternative methods, then you'll be fine!
I managed to get the Subway to Shinjuku, a popular shopping district on my own. Shinjuku and many of the other large shopping districts offer a variety of different shopping experiences. There is a large selection of electrical goods at very good prices and I was surprised to see many typical high street stores. It is not a cheap, cheap place to shop, but you can find bargains if you know where to look. The subway is amazing, so clean. However, I couldn't decipher how much my fare should be, so I popped into the information office and showed the attendant where I wanted to go in my book, he typed 190 onto the calculator screen and I went back to the automated ticket machine and purchased my ticket. Easy really! I would recommend the subway as the best form of getting around Tokyo, it wasn't until I got there that I realised how big Tokyo is. There are plenty of taxis, but the traffic makes them an ineffective way of getting around quickly.
On the second day on my own I decided to explore some Japanese gardens. I would strongly recommend visiting Japan in March/April as the Cherry Blossom is blooming and it really is beautiful. Also, you will find the Japanese spend alot of time viewing the Cherry Blossom and I had the pleasure of viewing tea ceremonies with Japanese ladies in traditional costume i.e. kimonos etc. which was great to see.
Whilst on my own I ate in some Western style restaurants, which were great, I would suggest visiting the Outback Steakhouse in Shinagawa, it’s an Australian style restaurant with some great dishes. Once I met up with my Japanese colleagues I was then taken to a traditional Japanese restaurant, which was very interesting. I think you have to be prepared to try anything presented to you and then you will realise many of the dishes are really delicious. Amongst the dishes I tried, I really enjoyed the sushi, chicken livers and hearts and the sake and Asahi beer. Whilst I was in the office I also tried a Bentoh Box – Japanese Style Lunchbox, it consisted of chicken, rice, veggies and sweet potato and really was tasty.
I found Japanese people to be very friendly and helpful even if they couldn’t speak English. The hotel staff went out of their way to help me if I had a query, even if it meant fetching someone else that could help.
I was only in Tokyo for 6 days, so I didn’t get to see as much as I would’ve liked, especially because work interfered with my sight seeing! However, I did managed to fit in an afternoon tour of Tokyo in which I visited Asakusa, drove by the Emperors palace and went on a boat trip that gave great views of new and old Tokyo. I would have loved to visit Tokyo Disneyland if time had permitted! On the plane as I left Tokyo I flew over Mount Fuji and got some excellent views, I would’ve liked to have visited Fuji and the hot springs in the mountains, the scenery was wonderful!
On the whole I would strongly recommend visiting Tokyo if you plan on travelling to Asia. Previously I had only visited Singapore (2 weeks) and Malaysia (1 day) so Tokyo gave a real insight into Asian culture. After Tokyo I went to Hong Kong and I have to say that compared to Tokyo, Hong Kong was a dump and I was not impressed! In Tokyo you never tip, it is considered rude, also you rarely see beggars in Japan, when I got to Hong Kong, everyone wanted a tip and there were many beggars and touts in the street. On the whole Tokyo was cleaner, more pleasant and what I would describe as more civilised, people are polite and respectful.
I considered myself to be very lucky to get the chance to visit Tokyo and I would probably not have gone there, but I now I would suggest it to anyone and I hope I will go back one day. Luckily I have made some good friends in Tokyo so who knows, one day maybe????
Advantages: Culture. Interesting Disadvantages: Difficult for foreigners to understand the cultural significance
...in countless streets of Tokyo and any other of Japan’s major cities. If you take a peep into the windows of the noodle shop, eateries of all types and stores, you will come across the Maneki-Neko grinning somewhat impudently at you from the counter and inviting you into to savour the produce of the shop. In business, the Maneki-Neko is believed to bring success because her raised paw beckons in customers. It also welcomes in personal happiness ... ...even has its own pet cemetery. The Beckoning Cats of Japan that you will see in Tokyo to this day remain a fascinating Japanese artifact with their roots in ancient Japanese culture and links to that most basic of human desires, the acquisition of wealth and prosperity. ...
ashford 03.07.2001 (27.09.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Tokyo
Advantages: Nowhere is like this city Disadvantages: Long flight from Europe
...Japanese food. Eating out in Tokyo can be cheap, reasonable or expensive. Here are some tips from me for you to enjoy the city more without being able to speak or read Japanese. Japan is well known as “non English speaking society”, even in the big international city Tokyo. On your arrival you will realise that not everything is sign-posted in English but probably very basic information for transports and tourist spots. As transports in Japan is ... ...you? Well, eating out in Tokyo could be one of the most interesting ways to experience Japanese culture. Here I am not going to name any restaurant for your recommendation but can give you general information on how to approach reach restaurants which I divided into three main categories. Before I start with restaurants, generally, shops and restaurants including cafes are opened till very late. You could visit tourist spots during day and do shopping ...
PandaJP 26.10.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Tokyo
Advantages: An amazing, fascinating city. Great food. Disadvantages: Too much concrete.
...– Akihabara (2 stops from Tokyo on the clean/fast/reliable subway system) is one of the essential Tokyo experiences. Electronic goods are previewed here up to 18 months before release in the UK. From recordable DVD players to playstation 2 – this is where you will see these things first.
Sightseers should avoid Ueno zoo – for anyone who hasn’t worked in a vivisection laboratory this will be an intensely depressing experience. Still, you don’t fly ... ...in the Ginza area.
Tokyo is also a brilliant starting point for some excellent day trips – Nikko, Kamakura and Hakone (where you can climb Mount Fuji if the weather / time of the year is right).
All in all, a fascinating city well worth a few weeks holiday at anytime of the year. ...
hixy 14.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Tokyo
Advantages: Friendly, loads of things to do, good public transport, Disadvantages: expensive, expensive, expensive
The last time I visited Tokyo was way back in 92 - a flying 3 week trip through Japan spending 7 days in the capital.
Even though Tokyo is (was) a hugely expensive place to visit you simply must take in the sites at least once in your life. Tokyo is a heavily populated concrete jungle of a place, that doesn't have the openess of a London, the style of Milan or the chic of Paris.
What it does have is a kinetic energy that surpasses all three cities ... ...it.
You can find cheaper places to visit but they're ususually off the beaten track and you can end up getting lost.
Overall then Tokyo at night is a beautiful place to visit, just make sure you have a huge overdraft facility at the ready before you go!! ...
Sonatine 03.08.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Tokyo
Advantages: Cheap and pretty place Disadvantages: Often fullly booked
...is open to everyone.
Tokyo propose expensive accomodations so this kind of place is often fully booked at certain period.
But reservations are accepted three months in advance and may be made by phone or letter.
- The total capacity is 158 guests.
- Access guide : you can easily get by the tube, you can drop off lidabashi station (West Exit) JR Sobu Line then there's a short walk (1 mn!).
Or from same station but Exit B2b by metro Yurakucho ... ...cost you 3100 yen = 21 £ almost.
But trust me that's a nice and convenient place for a trip to Tokyo, and you are situated near by the heart of Tokyo with many good services.
Tokyo International Youth Hostel
Central Plaza
21 - 1 Kagurakashi
Shinjuku-ku, TOKYO ...
europe68 02.05.2001 (02.06.2002)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Tokyo
Advantages: Very nice trip, worth going back again Disadvantages: No
Japan is always one of my favourite country to visit in Asia. Let me share with you my itinery in my last trip.
This tour took place when I last visited my parents in Hong Kong.
Day 1:
Got up at 6 to get to the airport for the flight at 9am. After 3 and a half hours, finally arrived at Tokyo. Went to the toilet straight after, there are still two types of toilet(the Western and Japanese styles), like the way it was when i came a few years ago. Weather was not too bad, a bit cloudy but not too hot. Arrived at hotel at around 6 and started my Tokyo adventure after a brief break. Last time I stayed in the Ginza area which is quite commercial. This time, I stayed in Shinjuku, which is like the Soho of Tokyo. much more exciting, with lots of department stores and restaurant.
One of the places that I would definitely go when ...
medgenie 26.06.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Tokyo (Japan)
Advantages: Exotic for people from the west, it is a very safe place, toilets :-) Disadvantages: Expensive accommodation, language barrier can cause problems, a bit crowded
This trip report has also been posted on my homepage http://gardkarlsen.com. Here it is displayed with pictures, videos and links. So please feel free to visit my site.
Millions of men in dark suits, crowded subway trains, sushi, taxi drivers with white gloves, neon lights, earth quakes, capsule hotels, sake, sumo wrestling, samurais, geisha, bullet trains, toilets so advanced that you need an instruction manual to use them, manga, polite people, Lost in Translation?.this is our trip report from JAPAN.
A short summary
The dream team Nikki and Gard on another adventure :-) This time we headed for Japan and we traveled in the period May 15th to May 28th 2005. We started out in Tokyo where we stayed for about a week. We used a Japan Rail Pass to get to Nagoya (the World Expo) and after that we went to Kyoto where we stayed 5 nights ...
gard 27.07.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Tokyo (Japan)
Advantages: Clean, modern, excellent location Disadvantages: Small rooms and not cheap, but not many places in the area are cheap!
I'm lucky to have never stayed in a bad hotel in Tokyo. For this trip I decided I wanted to stay near Shinjuku, so previous hotels were out of the question and my budget is getting smaller all the time. Through a combination of reviews on Tripadvisor, rating on hotels.com and a good listing of hotel rates from lowest to highest there emerged a clear winner, the Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku!
Getting there
We arrived in Tokyo on the Shinkansen train from Kyoto, switched train lines at Tokyo station and emerged at Shinjuku (one of the major stations in the city). The journey from Tokyo station was easy, it's not hard to get to Shinjuku really as it's such a major station.
If you're arriving at Narita you have a couple of options to get to the hotel, you can take the Narita Express train or there is also a bus which stops right ...
