Sure, Tokyo Tower and the Eiffel Tower look alike. No prizes for pointing that out ... but let's give credit or blame to the right architect. Tokyo Tower was designed by Tachu Naito.
Naito and his tower are getting the hagiographic treatment these days, as the city looks forward to a new monster tower and its people feel nostalgic for the good old days. If I ever feel like revising my opinion of Tokyo Tower, I can put myself back on an even keel by reminding myself of this:
"“When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty........ but
when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.”
— R. Buckminster Fuller
(Yeah - that from the guy who tried to give us the Dymaxion Car).
Staying in capsule hotel and running a marathon are both strangely attractive propositions to me and they'd be both great for bragging rights after. However the reason I haven't done either is the nagging thought that the actual doing would suck. Hard.
Staying in capsule hotel and running a marathon are both strangely attractive propositions to me and they'd be both great for bragging rights after. However the reason I haven't done either is the nagging thought that the actual doing would suck. Hard.
YMMV, but back in my backpacker days, I found the capsule hotel experience to be far more comfortable and private than (say) a youth hostel dorm -- or a reclined flat bed in business class, for that matter. While I've now graduated beyond shared dorms, I'm still entirely fine with capsules, and will probably be staying in them again next month.
My revision to your schedule would be something like this:
21st: Tokyo
22nd: Take one of the first trains to Kyoto, stay in Kyoto
23rd: Take one of early trains to Nara, be a tourist for a day, then return to Kyoto (deliver luggage to Kobe?)
24th: Go to Himeji early, tour Himeji, catch a train to Kobe, tour Kobe, stay in Kobe.
25th-27th: Tokyo
After careful deliberating, this itinerary sounds better than my original. I would've never come up with it on my own.. thanks FTers! Osaka does seem pretty similar to Tokyo and Himeji looks beautiful/more authentic. There are lockers at the Himeji station so hopefully I can just leave my luggage at the station, retrieve it after the tour when I take the train to Kobe, then check in before I sightsee in Kobe.
My new problem is now lodging.. I haven't found any hotels that are rail friendly. We want to stay at a ryokan in Kyoto and a capsule hotel our last night in Tokyo. I expect the latter to be easy to find but can anyone recommend a ryokan in Kyoto or somewhere transit-accessible? We wanted to do one with hot springs but all the transit-friendly ones I found were $300US for two people. A regular traditional or modern one would do as well.. I suppose. Also, does anyone have any recommendations for Kobe or Tokyo lodging? Thanks for your help!
We stayed at the Ryokan Kinsuikan 7350 yen for a tatami room with a toilet, booked at jnto's office in Tokyo next to the Yurakucho Station, cause welcome inn will only let you book 5 days in advance. It seems mostly for foreigners, toilet seat wasn't fancy, near the karasuma-oike station. No hot springs, but 2 baths in the basement. It was a convenient location.
I've been slacking on the planning and am just booking hotels now. I've had to make revisions to my itinerary since we've decided to go to Disneyland in Tokyo. I've also decided to look for a private tour (either through Viator or Doi Taxi) in Kyoto for one of the days since I'm terrible at following directions. I'm having trouble deciding whether to stay in Tokyo my first night or taking a train to Kyoto and staying there. I'm landing at Narita Airport at 4pm. I'm planning on taking the train to Tokyo station and from there.. would it be better to stay in Tokyo station and take the train to Kyoto first thing in the morning (6-7am) or just go to Kyoto directly? Is there a lot to do around Tokyo station if we stayed there? How difficult would it be to go to Tokyo station, grab something to eat, hang around the station and take the last train out? It seems worth it to go to Kyoto early the first day because we could catch the http://www.viator.com/tours/Kyoto/Ky...2-2142KYO_N100 tour but I'm not sure what the nightlife would be in Kyoto (we're either staying in Okura, Brighton, or HR, the threads on this forum have been so helpful!) and how tired I'd be after the flight. Does anyone have any advice on what I should do? Thanks for your help!
I don't usually recommend this book as it's spare with the facts and useless for booking/serious planning, but if you're looking for a beautifully photographed and easily digested run down of what Japan has to offer, try the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Guide to Japan. You can always turn to Frommers/Rough Guide/This Forum for further details.
I have to agree about the DK book. I had that along w/Frommer's Japan (and maybe another) for my 1st trip to Japan and found the DK book to be fairly useless except for the pretty pictures. It was way too heavy for a book w/such little useful content. I've been to Japan 3 more times after that I think I've never brought the DK book again.
I avoid buying or borrowing their travel books now for the above reason. I'd rather stick to something that has a better content to weight ratio.
I'm having trouble deciding whether to stay in Tokyo my first night or taking a train to Kyoto and staying there. I'm landing at Narita Airport at 4pm. I'm planning on taking the train to Tokyo station and from there.. would it be better to stay in Tokyo station and take the train to Kyoto first thing in the morning (6-7am) or just go to Kyoto directly? Is there a lot to do around Tokyo station if we stayed there? How difficult would it be to go to Tokyo station, grab something to eat, hang around the station and take the last train out? It seems worth it to go to Kyoto early the first day because we could catch the http://www.viator.com/tours/Kyoto/Ky...2-2142KYO_N100 tour but I'm not sure what the nightlife would be in Kyoto (we're either staying in Okura, Brighton, or HR, the threads on this forum have been so helpful!) and how tired I'd be after the flight. Does anyone have any advice on what I should do? Thanks for your help!
I don't think I can give you a good answer as to which is better.
As for going to Tokyo station, grabbing something to eat, hanging around the station and taking the last train out: The problem with that is where would you store your luggage? Some of the train and subway stations are a HUGE pain if you have heavy luggage. Maybe if there lockers that are big enough... I have no experience with this.
I don't recall about Tokyo station esp. if you're coming via Narita Express but my most recent experience going from the subway station at TCAT to Monzen-nakacho station was painful w/my luggage due to the line changes, going up and down stairs (sometimes w/no escalators or elevators). It reminded me of my ordeal on my 1st trip going (in 2001) from Narita Express (from Tokyo station IIRC) to Shinagawa JR station when Narita Express didn't go there yet. In both caes, I was sweating and tired by the time I got to the other end. Because of my most recent experience, when I left Tokyo, I took a cab from my hotel to TCAT.
I don't think I've ever exited Tokyo station (and gone above ground) but even if there's nothing in the immediate area to eat, there's PLENTY of places to do that easily accessible by subway (Tokyo Metro and Toei are the main operators) or JR trains.
As for Tokyo non-traditional hotels, I got some suggestions starting at post 25 of Budget Tokyo hotel suggestions. My stay at Tokyu Stay Monzen-nakacho was fine. If you're expecting luxury, high-class hotels, then that and none of the other hotels I mentioned would do it for you. Be careful about "transit friendly". Although the hotels might be close to a subway or JR trains station (the above Tokyu Stay was within 1 minute walk of the Monzen-nakacho Tokyo Metro station), getting there from another station esp. if you have to switch lines could SUCK w/luggage.
I've only stayed in Kyoto once but I stayed at http://www.miyakohotels.ne.jp/newmiy...ish/index.html and it was fine. It was within walking distance of Kyoto station. Too bad the crap (USD to yen) exchange rate now makes it a lot more expensive than when I was there in 2001.
would it be better to stay in Tokyo station and take the train to Kyoto first thing in the morning (6-7am) or just go to Kyoto directly?
If you're planning to stay in Tokyo and take the first train to Kyoto, I'd suggest staying at a hotel in Shinagawa - such as The Strings.
Take the N'EX to Shinagawa. Drop your bags at the hotel. Go somewhere for dinner (head to a lively part of town if you like) and get back for an early night.
Quote:
Originally Posted by puggle
Is there a lot to do around Tokyo station if we stayed there? How difficult would it be to go to Tokyo station, grab something to eat, hang around the station and take the last train out?
On a week day the area around Tokyo station has some life - bars and restaurants etc. It's not a pub and club district, but you can find late night drinking and eating in the skyscraper across from the station (Shin Marunouchi Bldg). At weekends it's decidedly quiet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by puggle
but I'm not sure what the nightlife would be in Kyoto (we're either staying in Okura, Brighton, or HR, the threads on this forum have been so helpful!) and how tired I'd be after the flight.
Kyoto has plenty of night life. Besides, you're very unlikely to get to your Kyoto hotel before 9pm if you go straight from Narita. And by then, you'll probably be dead on your feet. If you can force yourself out for dinner, more power to you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by puggle
hDoes anyone have any advice on what I should do? Thanks for your help!
Take the N'EX to Shinagawa, drop bags at hotel, take the train to Shibuya to see some bright lights and get some dinner. Back to hotel for a relatively early night. First Shinkansen in the morning to Kyoto.
Take the bus tour if it's your first time in Tokyo...
Thanks for your help! 
