Tokyo trip - is this doable ?
 

Hello,

I am on business trip to Osaka and would have around 1.5 days and would definitely not like to miss a visit to Tokyo. Here is my plan. Please suggest and any input ...thanks a ton

A. Leave Osaka at around 4pm on wednesday and reach Tokyo by train.
B. Thursday morning visit the following
1. Tokyo Metropolitan Building near Shinjuku station
2. Tokyo Tower and Zozoi Temple
3. Imperial Palace and Sukiyabashi Crossing near Tokyo Station
4. Meiji Jingu Shrine, shopping area Harajuku and Shibuya
5. Asakusa Shrine/ Sensoji temple near Asakusa Station
6. Yosoko Rainbow Tower for Rainbow Bridge near Shibaurafoto station
Take JR train by 6 or 7pm on thursday from Tokyo and head back to Osaka

Is this possible or I am crazy to plan like this based on map and information over internet ? Mainly was trying to combine landmark, shrine and shopping areas in one day trip. I can drop #3 from this list and pick one between #4 and #5 and drop #6 if thats too far.

Any help , guidance or suggestion for new place would appreciate. Would definitely like to go see Tokyo Tower and Tokyo view from Metropolotan Building. Can I do something wednesday night that wud help and any suggestion to stay near any railway station.

thanks for reading and helping
Anna

No Rappungi; no Ginza; one-day itinerary FAIL!

Hello anna & welcome to the forum!

I vote for the "crazy to plan like this" option unless you're an Olympic-class sprinter. I'd pick out five of the attractions you want to see & set a schedule. Even then, you won't have much time at any of the venues.

Personally, I'd cross Tokyo Tower & the Rainbow Bridge off the list. You can knock off the Tokyo Metro Building (or replace it with something similar) on Wednesday evening.

It will help us with planning/scheduling if you could prioritize your choice of venues.
IMHO, you'll get much more from the experience if you limit your venues & spend some extra time at each. YMMV

More seriously: have you considered taking a bus tour, if you just have the one day?

Hato Bus has a couple of full-day tours in English:

http://www.hatobus.com/en/course/fullday_2010.html

My parents went on one of these tours (must've been the "Dynamic Tokyo" one as they went to Tokyo Tower) and enjoyed it a lot.

1. TMB observatory opens at 9:30am - not that near Shinjuku station (nearer Tochomae station). Brave the rush hour and aim to be at Shinjuku station around 9am to get there for opening time. Depending on queues to lift it will take between 5 & 20 minutes to go up and then again to go down.
Assuming you get to Tochomae station for 10:30 it will take around 10 minutes to get to the platform, 15 mins journey then another 10 minutes to re-emerge at Akabanebashi and 15 minutes to then get to Tokyo Tower.
2. 11:20am Tokyo Tower (why?) and Zojoji temple (never heard of Zozoi temple).
Let's assume that seeing both takes an hour
You'll need at least 30 minutes to get from either to Tokyo Station by foot or train unless you get a taxi.
3. 12:50 Tokyo Station. From here to Imperial Gardens takes around 15 minutes.
Then you plan to back track to Harajuku (which is best seen on a Sunday)
Between 10 & 20 mins to get to platform, 20 minutes to Harajuku = approx 40 minutes.
3. 14:30 arrive Harajuku. Getting between Harajuku & Shibuya will take between 10-20 minutes depending on whether you walk or take a train.
Shibuya to Asakusa takes 30 minutes plus getting to to/from platforms, waiting for train. Assuming you spend 35/40 minutes in Harajuku and 35/40 minutes in Shibuya.
4. 16:40 arrive Asakusa. Leaving at 17:40 to arrive at
5. 18:20 at Shibaurafuto station.
Count on 15 minutes journey time plus at least 20 minutes getting to and from platforms to get from Shibarafuto to Tokyo Shinkansen platform. You may just be able to get back for a 19:30 departure to Osaka.

Not an itinerary I'd recommend at all. No time for something to eat, no time to use the toilet, no time to enjoy what you do see. Unnecessary zigzagging across the city. Huge potential for disappointment with chosen attractions.

Hopefully you can see for yourself what kind of day you are proposing to punish yourself with.
I'm with NickW - compared to what you've planned, the bus tours look very enticing.

I think what you need is for mjm to line up the chopper for you. You can see all of those sights in about 25 minutes, giving you the rest of the day for Ginza (for the shopping), Rappungi (for the nightlife), and Kamakura (for the one temple you need to see, once you've seen one temple, you've seen them all).

My Tokyo visits have been equally short and this is a lot to do in one day. Skip Tokyo Tower and the Rainbow Bridge, but do go to the Metropolitan Building if it's a clear day.

From there it's a pleasant walk through residential streets to the northwest entrance to Yoyogi Park and Meiji Shrine. From the southern end of Yoyogi park it's not a long walk to Shibuya. If you're up for more at that point, you can hop on the Yamanote line and head elsewhere.

From my experience, picking a few things of interest and taking the time to see them is more rewarding than trying to run all over a huge city only to get relatively quick glimpses of a lot of things. Whatever you decide to do, have fun!

If he could get it land on top of the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, that would be more convenient; because the OP could substitute the Tokyo City View for one of the other observation points.

Come to think of it, why can't he get it to land on the roof of my building? I've been up there. I've seen the helipad.

Good Q.

Answer is all buildings in central Tokyo except ARK currently only have hover permission. ARK only has landing rights. There are at least three others I know of that have applied for landing rights.

Both of your buildings in fact have helipads. ;) Emergency use only.

Seriously, the two areas I'd pick to emphasize would be the Asakusa/Ueno area (Sensoji Temple, Ueno Park with National Museum) and the Shibuya/Meiji Shrine/Harajuku area. The first would give you older Tokyo, and the second would give you trendy Tokyo, with time out for a quiet stroll through the Meiji Shrine grounds.

This keeps you in two areas of the city instead of zigzagging back and forth.

If it's a clear day, you might want to squeeze in an elevator ride to the top of a tall building. If nothing else, you'll see just how vast this megalopolis is.

suggest please
 

Thanks all for the eye opener . I think the bus tour makes sense (Dynamic Tokyo). Can I save some movey on not taking the hotel and taking an overnight train to Tokyo from Osaka. Does JR pass work on this and approximately how much extra has to be paid ?

Can save the hotel cost and pay it for the bus tour :-)
Please suggest

Is there an overnight train between Osaka and Tokyo? I'm not aware of any.

There are buses of varying degrees of comfort.
http://www.123bus.net/route/tyo/tyo-osa.html for info in English
and the most luxurious I know of (where you might have a hope of some sleep) is this one: http://travel.willer.co.jp/x/bus/dyn...m/e_index.html
Around 10,000yen each way.

You can get a bus using the JRPass, the best you can hope for is something like this:
http://www.jrbuskanto.co.jp/bus_rout...&st=1#detail03

The advice about forfeiting the visit to Tokyo on this trip is one I would be pushing to anyone I cared about who only had 1.5 days to dedicate to the city. I love Tokyo more than I could ever adequately convey here, but it just doesn't make any sense when the area around Osaka has so, so much to offer.

To follow your itinerary the only way I could suggest would be for you to get a bullet train ticket to Tokyo Wednesday afternoon. Go straight to Shinjuku, check into a hotel there and climb the TMB. Spend the evening in the area.
Next day, get up as early as possible and stroll down to Meiji Jingu shrine.
If you check out at 8am, you should be able to reach Harajuku itself by 10am when the shops start to open. From Harajuku go to Shibuya, have a coffee somewhere that overlooks the famous crossing and continue shopping.
at 1pm you could be ready to continue (although I'd recommend having something to eat first).
Go to Asakusa (you should make it there at around 2pm) and explore the area (Kappabashi/Kitchen Town is just by Asakusa)
Head down to Ginza at around 6pm then Tokyo Station, you should be able to fit in a walk through the Tokyo International Forum.
If you do get a JRPass and want to return by train you'll need to get on the 8:03pm departure from Tokyo Station.
Otherwise, the executive class bus leaves Tokyo station at about 9:45pm which would give you the opportunity to visit an izakaya.

I personally don't get your drive to see Tokyo. You could substitute Tokyo Tower and a visit to Asakusa for the Tennoji area in Osaka (not that I would necessarily recommend this). And Shibuya/Harajuku for the Shinsaibashi/Nanba area. Tokyo station and the Tokyo International Forum sort of have their equivalent in Kyoto Station. The dark stillness of Meiji Jingu is at Nara which even has bowing deer.
I'm not saying that the Tokyo attractions aren't worth going to, just that if you only have an hour or so to dedicate to each, I truly can't see what would make them more spectacular than their Kansai equivalents.

If you were based in Tokyo and really, really wanted to experience Osaka then a day and a half there would realistically give you a feel of the city. I'm afraid it just doesn't work the other way around.

Why not save your money and put it towards your next visit? That one day trip to Tokyo will probably be about a third of the cost of a one week budget trip to Japan.

YES - I am also a huge fan of Tokyo but I think this kind of "tick the sights off the list" itinerary is the perfect way to ruin one's experience of the place. What makes Tokyo special is not the well known sights and landmarks, and I think that anyone trying to get a feel for the place in this way will be underwhelmed.

On the other hand, if the objective is just to be able to tell friends who don't know much about Japan: "Oh yah. I went to Japan. Saw Tokyo. Went up to the top of a skyscraper and all that. See that cloud there? That's where Mt. Fuji would be on a clear day," then this is an adequate plan.

I'm glad to know that the Hermes-copter will come to rescue me in case roving packs of wild 秋田犬 should make a ground-level exit from home impossible.

If your going to be based in Osaka for your business trip - why not spend the time in Kyoto instead of Tokyo? Personally Kyoto > Tokyo for me and its much much closer to Osaka.