1ST Visit to Tokyo

J-chicks.

How old are you? If you can afford Park Hyatt, I'm doubting we are interested in the same things, as I'm guessing you are a bit older than me. But if you are <25 I have some suggestions.

Although I'm not <25, I'd like to hear. I'm going to Tokyo for the first time as well.

http://www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=45975 I recommend: - eating at the New York Grill, which is on the 52nd floor of your hotel - visiting Kamakura - going to the National Museum - Ginza at night - just walking through as many parts of the city as you can, it's incredibly varied

You will be taking the subway a lot. Get a good and CURRENT Tokyo Metro map. Keep it on you at all times. You can print this one out, but it might be a little small at 8x11. You might want a bigger one so you can see the details. There is also a light rail system called JR (East) and here's a map for that. If you are planing to travel outside Tokyo at all, it is completely worth your money to buy a JR rail pass before you go. Day trip to Kyoto? The round trip ticket would be more than what the pass costs.. It also allows the unlimited use of the JR light rail in Tokyo, so you can get some good use out of it. http://www.japanrailpass.net/eng/en001.html Otherwise, you can just follow the Tokyo Metro guide, and tips I typed out for Dusty in that thread and in many others scattered around this site... It will help you to not freak out. Also, if you feel like being a tourist the Hato bus is fun, has excellent english speaking guides, is reasonably priced, and gives you some basic sense of direction that you cannot get by riding the subway or trains.

I can only think of 3 things to do right now..

-Go Harajuku on a Sunday.
-Experience the joy that is Roppongi lol.
-See a Baseball (yakyu) game, Tokyo Dome is 'legendary' but Meiji Jingu-mae is more awesome IMO

I did most of my sight-seeing in Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and Himeji so I didn't do much of that in Tokyo. I would recommend a trip to Tokyo if you are staying for a couple of weeks. Makes it a lot easier to understand Japan. I'll be more than happy to give you some suggestions on what to see in Kyoto/Kansai if you want to go there for a few days.

Go to Shibuya. There is some fun shopping there and there area is wast. I used several days just finding different exciting stores. I also went to Shibuya 109 and hit on girls. Extreme amount of beautiful girls there, but they may be a bit young (<20).

If you like clubbing The Womb, Air and Space Lab Yellow are all highly recommended. Had loads of fun on all of them. But you need to be with someone that speaks Japanese or they might not let you in. Also they are very hard to find.

Harajuku (Takeshita-Dori ) on a sunday was very much fun (the brigs is just full of cosplayers, but might be worth a look).

Go to Tokyo Metropolitan Government Center in Shinjuku to get the best view of the city. Tokyo is unbelievably wast.

You should try eating yakiniku and sukiyaki. Much fun! And Asahi is my favourite of the easily available beers. Isakayas also fun, and let you experience the Japanese drinking culture. The Lockup is much fun with girls.

Going to an onsen is also a nice experience, but I don't know of any good ones in Tokyo.

A map wont help you much. Just look at one before you go to get a general idea of where the different districts are. Since there are no street names a map is hardly useful anyway. Most of the subway stations have maps in english, so there's no problem getting around.

I also found Tokyo to be quite cheap. Can easily eat good food for $35.

Roppongi is shit, except for Space Lab Yellow. The clubs in Shibuya are much better.

Tokyo is great fun. Only been there once for a little over a week but had a great time. It's a mind-blowing place. And absolutely huge.

Going there is rare enough (at least for me) that I'd suggest you do all the typical touristy stuff - the Emperor's Palace, Meiji Jingu, Yasakune, Ginza, Harajuku, Ueno Park, etc, etc. I was lucky enough to be there during the Sakura season, so it was a wonderful experience. The rail system is really easy to get around with; don't worry about not speaking Japanese, you'll find with a little bit of effort, you'll get by fine. It helps to be used to a mass-transit system though - the basic principles are the same anywhere in world. Being used to the Tube, you'll be fine.

Both Tokyo Slim & Jupiter Room have given you great advice. I do disagree with Jupiter Room though - Sapporo Draft is WAY better than Asahi!

Actually, talking of Sapporo and also noticing his comment about going on an onsen, I spent a couple of months working up in Hokkaido province, fairly near Sapporo itself, and went to a great onsen while in the province. Heated geothermally with some outdoor pools. Just an odd, but very cool & liberating/relaxing, experience.

It helps to have someone who speaks Japanese for some of the above, and I was lucky in that regard since in Hokkaido I had a colleage translate for me some of the time, but you'll be fine without that luxury - just a little more lost occasionally.

I've spent most of my time in Kansai, and Sapporo is much rearer there than Asahi. I like Sapporo too. As long as it isn't Kirin. Has to be the worst beer I've ever tasted.


What did you do in Ginza? I just went to the Nissan showroom to look at the GT-R and to the Sony Center. Shops were to expensive for me.

Akihabara can be fun too if your interested in games or electronics. Even managed to pick up some girls at a café there. Good memories.


Shopping in Osaka was HELL when I didn't have access to somebody that was fluent in Japanese. Sometimes the high level of service makes it impossible for them say something in a straightforward way you might understand. This was especially a problem in high end shops.

And some more "advice" to the first timers:

And you should try karaoke. Really a good way to get to know Japanese people. They seem to be more relaxed when they are out drinking or singing.

The train trip to Kyoto is only about three hours, and it costs about $120 each way. If you have time you should definitely go.

Yeah, totally agree with you there.


This was ages ago, when I didn't have the cash to go shopping in a big way, but it was nice to window-shop in the high-end shops anyway. I did buy a Henry Poole tie and some other small bits & pieces at various places there.


Perhaps it was the pouring rain the day I went or the fact I didn't have a translator to help me figure out some of the things that, but I found Akihabara a bit boring. I like electronic gadgets as much as the next guy but it was just TOO much sensory overload/culture clash for me. To the first timers - this is a common problem in Japan, believe me. Sometimes you just don't know what the fuck is going on and you just have to smile, nod and go with the flow and don't let it stress you out. Lots of little things are done differently to the West and it can throw you a bit, esp. after a few days of having to deal with the differences. Just shrug it off and be cool.


100% agreed, plus it's just great fun. Talking of picking up girls, me and a friend hooked up with a gaggle of rather excitable young schoolteachers in a karaoke place. I think my rendition of Starship's We Built This City sealed the deal.


Every time I think about my time Japan, I regret not being able to make the time to go to Kyoto & Nara. The schedule just didn't allow for it. If I go back (and I really want to), those will be the first places I go.

Not to shit on your parade, but in Akiba, girls in cafes are supposed to hit on the guys (attracts more lonely otaku)

oh and +1 on Asahi, but I like Yebisu a bit better.

I don't think me and my friend exactly screamed lonely otaku (I was in the SF uniform), but I know how high school prostitution and so on works in Akihabara and was quite frankly a very sceptical. But they did show us around and we had a good time. Would never have found Super Potato without them. Nothing really exciting happened anyway.

- Try eating at a real Japanese ramen shop, and yakitori restaurant (various parts of a chicken on skewers) - Eat sushi at Tsukiji market. You have to go really early in the morning though, so if you're jet lagged and wide awake at 5am, that's actually the perfect time. - Kamakura or Nikko (day trip).... Or Kyoto (if you have a few days) - Odaiba - Ride the "Yurikamome" train over the bridge, and eat dinner at one of the restaurants in the mall that face towards the Tokyo skyline... the view is amazing Why did you go to Osaka? I don't think it's a bad town but if I only had a few days in Japan, it would be pretty low on my list of places to visit....