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 Naritaairport 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????
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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
gard 27.07.2005 (27.07.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Tokyo (Japan)
May 6th, 2001
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