CountyHunter

As I have yet to visit Tokyo, I have an interesting challenge for those who are familiar with Tokyo's roads, tunnels, and bridges.

I will be visiting Japan next month, and being a roadgeek (hobby interest in road building, freeway design, signage, etc.), I am looking at trying to complete some sort of auto tour of metro Tokyo's expressways, bridges, tunnels, ramps, toll plazas, alleyways, weird intersections, strange traffic signals, unique signs, etc. Is anyone able to give me an idea of a memorable route to follow to accomplish such a task?

We will be using Tokyo as bookends for our visit to Japan, staying first at the Park Hyatt Tokyo and ending at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo, so perhaps hiring a taxi starting and ending at either of those hotels. As my wife is not too keen on this particular roadtrip excursion, due to so many other memorable Tokyo sights and activities to see and do, and the anticipated high taxi cost and traffic jams to contend with, any proposed routes need not be too elaborate.

As an example, if you recall the "Lost in Translation" road scenes of the taxi going through Tokyo at dusk (or perhaps dawn?) on an elevated highway between skyscrapers. The scenes also included an interesting shot of an overhead green highway sign with illuminated orange sections presumably showing traffic congestion. Also, the scenes of driving down the roads with the facades of neon (Kabukicho?), or over the bridge (Rainbow?).

To save money, I would definitely consider riding a bus in lieu of a taxi, but I surmise that piecing a route together may be difficult. Let me know if I am mistaken on that approach.

As for the proper time to attempt such a journey, ideally I was thinking of an hour near dusk or dawn when you could still easily make out the roadside features, but also get an idea of the wonderful luminosity of the metropolis when the neon starts to flicker brightly. With rush hours in mind, please suggest an hour in the morning and/or early evening that would be appropriate to tackle such an adventure in mid to late March.

I have already convinced my wife that, instead of the train, we should take one of the airport limousine buses from NRT to the Park Hyatt -- all the better to see the road scenes! Do they all follow the same route? And what is the route?

Any help would be most welcome.

Oh, one last question, would there be an easy way to go over the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line bridge/tunnel system from Tokyo and get back quickly, and without it putting a big dent in the wallet, or am I crazy to even contemplate that stunt?

NickW

Bus or taxi, what you're asking for is going to be tough to organize unless you happen to speak fluent Japanese. Even getting a taxi driver to understand where you want to go is going to be tough; and are you going to take photos from the window, or get out and stop or is just the ride along enough?

The elevated highway you see is the Shuto Expressway system, and is a common sight in Tokyo. Parts of it run near to both the Park Hyatt in Nishi Shinjuku and the Grand Hyatt in Roppongi. In fact, hardly any distance from the Park Hyatt there's an elevated multi-level junction of the Shuto.

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/o...l/14275732.jpg

The segmented LED signs are just the regular traffic volume/delay indications; you see them in quite a number of places.

You realise that the round-trip from the Park Hyatt to the Chiba side of the Aqualine is about 80km right?

NickW

With respect to the Limousine Bus route -- it's been a while since I've taken one. However, I have driven from Roppongi Hills (where I work, and where the Grand Hyatt is located) to Narita a few times.

Certainly one plausible route is to get straight onto the Number 3 (Shibuya) Radial of the Shuto at Roppongi, toward Haneda, briefly on the Inner Circular Route before taking the Number 11 (Daiba) Radial over Rainbow Bridge to join the Bayshore Route / Wangan Line. This takes you around the north shore of Tokyo Bay via Tokyo Disneyland at Urayasu to the junction with the Higashi Kanto Expressway and thence to Narita.

I don't know if that's the route they actually follow though; I bet they vary the route dependent on the traffic. Certainly I bet there are times of day when getting off the Shuto and taking the surface roads would be quicker; oh and of course they have others hotels at which to do drop-offs.

LapLap

Taxis are expensive in Tokyo and the drivers are (with few exceptions) only as good at finding their way as the navigational software they use.

You can plan your own bus routes with this map: http://www.kotsu.metro.tokyo.jp/bus/map/
It's only for the Toei company - there are more - but it's a head start. You can get an all day bus pass for around 400yen.


Otherwise, the most amenable carriage company I know of in Tokyo who should be able to help you with a planned itinerary in a set amount of time and in English is
http://www.tokyoairporter.com/
email them with your request and see what they say.

This site will show you sunset times
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldcloc...&afl=-11&day=1
These look perfectly timed to coincide with rush hour. IMO you're better off looking at the roads from above in the Park Hyatt as twilight sets in - isn't that one of the main perks of staying there?
Try dawn instead - again, Tokyo Airporter could help you.

If I had the same fantasy as you I'd be looking to hire the services of a local biker and going for a pre-dawn ride on the back of their motorcycle. Much nicer than peering out at Odaiba and the Tokyo sea front from a Limousine bus!

Steve M

I do believe that's the route they take. I'm not sure about what you see between the Rainbow Bridge and the hotels, but the majority of the route between Narita and the bridge will be exceedingly ugly, with most of what you see along the way are 20-foot acoustic barriers on either side of the freeway and not much else. The train is *much* more scenic, although mostly from a "welcome to Japan" sense and not that of an infrastructure fanatic.

Having said that, and being an infrastructure fanatic myself , let me share some advice: I've stayed at both of your hotels. Taking a taxi from just about anywhere to the Grand Hyatt will be an interesting experience, as it will go through the underground road system at Roppongi Hills, which will provide an interesting eyeful.

Regarding the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line bridge/tunnel system, I just visited that for the first time in December, after seeing it sitting out there in the bay on many prior visits. If this sort of thing is your interest, then I'd put it down as a "must do." Don't let others discourage you. I spoke to a couple of locals on my visit in December, and they both got sour looks on their faces, as if "what, are you crazy or something?" If that sort of thing interests you, then just go ahead and do it and don't listen to what anyone else says. With your interests, it sounds like you've already figured this one out, though!

Anyway, the cheapest way to do it would be to take the train from Tokyo to Kawasaki Station, then transfer to a bus that will take you through the tunnel and to the "umihotaru" man-made island that serves as the transition between bridge and tunnel. The one-way trip in either direction along this route is 380 yen for the train, and about 500 yen for the bus, so maybe US$10 each way. The island has a 4-story complex with a multi-story car park, and several retail shops, restaurants, and a convenience store, plus a multi-deck observation area. Officially, it's a surveyed area of town complete with regular addresses for each store and regular postal service delivery. If it's a clear day, you have quite a view. The infrastructure fanatic in you will marvel at the construction techniques and just how much extra was spent on that visitors center above and beyond what would be needed for a simple bridge-tunnel transition.

Unless you really want to go over the bridge portion, your best bet as for time is to just go back the way you came for another $10. If you continue on over the bridge section, that portion will be about 900 yen for the bus, and then 1450 yen for the train and will take much longer. But, you do get to see a more ex-urban side of Japan not normally seen by Tokyo visitors.

Bus tips: Upon arrival at Kawasaki Station, go east and down the stairs into the underground shopping area. Go to the information desk that's obviously placed, and say you want to go to Umihotaru. They will get very enthusiastic, and give you a map showing you how to get to the proper bus stop (Kawasaki Station is a major bus terminal, with dozens of stops). You'll go through the underground shopping area and then go up the designated set of stairs that they circled on the map to street level. Note that only certain buses that cross the Aqua Line will stop at the island, and those operate only Monday-Friday. The bus will go through the bowels of industrial Kawasaki and make one brief stop before entering the tunnel.

Here's the bus schedule (note the second column schedule with the *'s are the ones that stop at the island):

http://www.kap.co.jp/english/pdf/bus_sched.pdf

Be sure to get started early enough in the day so that by the time you get to umihotaru, you have enough time to spend there and still be able to catch the last bus. There are two bus stops on umihotaru - be sure to get the right one for the direction you're going (so, if you want to come back through Kawasaki, you need to get on at the stop other than the one you got off on). Also, for either direction, be sure to take a small ticket from the machine to your right as you board the bus - this proves that you boarded at the island so that when you get off at the end of the line, you don't get charged the full fare from the other side. No need to do this when heading out there since you start at the beginning of the line.

valve bouncer

Props to the OP for starting a pretty unique thread! I'll ask my old man for recommendations on this as apparently on one trip to Japan he regaled my old dear with his regard for the high quality of guard rails, lane dividers and tunnel entrances. In my quiet moments I will admit that, being my father's son, I do share a certain affection towards Japan's urban infrastructure, especially the spectacular bridges and tunnels.

jerry a. laska

Ken Ohyama has a Flickr page(and also a book) called Interchange with unique and interesting highway/railway interchanges in Japan. Although not limited to Tokyo there are still a number of Tokyo sites included. The flickr page also contains links to Google maps for each photo. You might be able to find some places you want to visit from his pictures.
This is another site with photos that may provide you some ideas.
The Tokyo Design Connection advertise some tours that touch upon some of things you are interested in. You might want to contact them.
Your best bet may be to attempt to hire an english speaking car and driver or LapLap suggestion of motorcycle might be better.
I assume you are looking for things like this view of Hakozaki Juction:

Steve M

Another Tokyo attraction for the infrastructure fanatic is the "Underground Temple" complex of flood control reservoirs. Check out these pics:

http://www.michaeljohngrist.com/2009...emple-saitama/


Here are the procedures for taking the tour (click on the English link in the lower right):

http://www.ktr.mlit.go.jp/edogawa/pr...ame_index.html

I've yet to go on the tour myself, as so far the tour has always been closed or sold out when I've been in Tokyo, but it might work out for you.

jpatokal

Don't take the movie's drive as a literal guide -- it's heavily edited and passing through the same scenes in the same order is impossible.

Anyway, I've always found the Limousine Bus from Narita airport to Shinjuku pretty impressive, especially once you get near the city and sneak past the Imperial Palace on an endless sequence of twisty little viaducts and tunnels.

CountyHunter

Thank you for all of your helpful responses. I really appreciate each of you taking the time to post your ideas, thoughts, and suggestions on this unique topic. Many thanks to Steve M. for writing in detail about how to visit the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line, as that will surely help guide infrastructure explorers to reach that marvel.

As for what we will do, I think we will "wing it" once we get there, so if time is on our side and the opportunity arises we will attempt the journeys -- and I will post a report for others to see and learn.

smithrh

You know, it's really nice to know I'm not alone in being an infrastructure fan....

FWIW, there are a whole lot of videos on YouTube that cover train rides and drives in Japan and Tokyo in particular. While some are not of high quality, quite a few are in HD and have very nice background music that they're set to.

Unfortunately, I wasn't bright enough to bookmark any specific videos but searching on "tokyo expressway drive" or "tokyo train ride" should get you going.

I mention this as the aqua line is one of the videos.

jrm68

There is a blu ray series of driving views of Japan
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=PCBP-11806


if you search youtube.com for tokyo driving view you can find the parts uploaded, but I prefer it in HD. There are quite a few virtual trip Japan dvds and in my opinion the ones from the helicopter are best, but you should enjoy the road ones.

I will also be at the Park Hyatt in March, what dates are you going?

smithrh

The link you embedded points to a DVD, not a Blu-ray. Additionally, it's Region 2 which will problematic for people in the US that can't change regions on their DVD player.

I entered in "tokyo drive" in their search window but was bombarded with a lot of miscellaneous content...

msb0b

If you can read Japanese, you can sign up for a free Niconico Douga account and watch people's live stream from their onboard cameras.

Right now (6pm Japan time) there are 12 such broadcasts. Search for 車載 on http://live.nicovideo.jp

LapLap

I've just been reminded about a beautiful Cornelius video which shows lots of the roads (and some of the rail) across Odaiba and other parts of Tokyo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuzNvbHY6yA