Tokyo - Third Time's The Charm
 

So I'm going back to Tokyo next weekend with my bf, who has never been. I'm 31, he's 25. Previously, my trips were with my former bf, who was half Japanese so he visited family there constantly and had the basics down and did it all for me.

So, now that we're back on our own, it's kind of like I'm going for the first time haha.

Of course, I'll have to do the tourist stuff- Metro Education Office tower, Odaiba, temples, palace, Muji flagship, etc.

We're also thinking about taking a day trip. We don't really care about history or hiking, but it'd be cool to see something not Tokyo. We're only there Fri night to Tues AM, so we can't go too far. It seems that Atami is a good place? We're totally down with onsen (we live in Korea and go to jjimjilbang often), so it seemed appropriate.

How's Tokyo Disney Sea? I really want to go to Fuji Q, but he's being a puss. He mentioned regular Disney, but I went there last year.

UNRELATED: Any good stores for big Americans? 5'11" 250 (180 cm 115 kg). I can buy pants/ shorts no problem in Korea, but shirts are a pain (shoulder, wrist cut).

With regards to food - my bf is CRAZY cheap. I imagine we'll stick to what I remember as the "cafeteria style" noodle shops, cheap sushi and 7-Eleven food haha. Any particular good cheapies that stand out? I will, however, splurge on nice tempura. That's one of my favorite memories.

Finally, I don't expect myself to master Japanese in any amount of time, but any good "Basics" websites? My bf is Malaysian Chinese, so fingers crossed they use a lot of traditional Chinese characters hahah. (Yes, I know it's not 100% the same!)

With only 3 actual holiday days, and your BF being a first timer, don't bother with any day trips. And don't bother with DisneySea either unless you're a huge theme park fan.

If you want to see some countryside, Nikko is a good day trip, provided that you leave early in the morning (on the Tobu Line from Tobu Asakusa Station).

If you're coming from Korea, jet lag won't be a problem, so while I wouldn't advise an out-of-town trip for anyone on a short visit who had to cross oceans or continents to get there, but if you've given Tokyo a once-over and want to get out of town, Nikko is a good bet.

If you don't want to spend so much time traveling to your non-Tokyo adventure, you could always take the train to Kamakura, home of the Great Buddha of calendar picture fame. Trains leave a couple of times an hour from Tokyo Station, and you can take in the historic and artistic atmosphere of a smaller town and maybe even a ride along the coast on an old-style choo-choo to the island of Enoshima. On weekends, students who want to practice their English congregate at the station exit to act as volunteer guides. All they ask is that you pay for their admission fees and lunch.

When I lived in Tokyo many years ago, Isetan Department Store in Shinjuku was supposed to be the place to go for Western-sized clothes, but I don't know if that is still true. I've noticed that many of the department stores now have larger sized clothes in women's wear, but I don't know if the same is true for men's wear. Since Tokyo is much more international than it used to be, department stores may have learned to accommodate the growing population of foreigners. All the major department stores have information desks, so you can ask there.

For less formal wear, T-shirts and the like, Uniqlo has saved me numerous times when I suddenly needed longer or shorter sleeves than anticipated, due to changes in the weather.

I kind of gave up on buying cloth for myself in Japan, I am 6 ft. tall, 190 lbs., and shoe size 11. Even “Extra Large” size clothing in Japan to be tight around shoulder for me. I was also directed to Isetan previously. After XL clothing it will be XXL and XXL but found out that those are meant for “person of size” and I will have enough space around belly to fit few soccer balls but still shoulder area to be tight.

As for souvenir T-shirts Asakusa Sensou-ji area and Narita and Handeda international terminal are good place for size to fit Western people.

I once met an expatriate living in Japan and he was planning a vacation to Guam, one of the reason choosing Guam was so that he can do cloth shopping.

But again, I gave up on cloth shopping for myself in Japan so I have not actually looked around recently.

Thanks everyone. We're staying near the US Embassy (cheap AirBnB, quiet hood, I know, but good deal). Any good ideas for good budget restaurants? We are, obviously, willing to commute. In the past, I remember we always stuck to what was busy. The Asian way.

One more thing! Onsen. We love a good sauna visit here in Korea. It doesn't have to be like super luxurious, just good quality baths, variety, clean. Any suggetsions?

Although traditionally Tokyo did not have Onsen, today there are few Onsen within metropolitan area of Tokyo.

Onsen referrers to natural hot spring, not just hot water spa with public bath. Tokyo does not have natural hot springs which is sprawling from ground naturally, but today we can dig down so deep into the ground to find hot water very deep underground.

Ooedo Onsen Monogatari at Odaiba, one of famous and popular in Tokyo. This is like large amusement for Onsen, not just dipping in hot spring tub. The price reflects that.

Time Spa Resta (looks like website is Japanese only), near Ikebukuro at Sunshine City. Open from 11:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. The price is not much different from Ooedo Onsen Monogatari, but this facility is 18 years or older only. More quiet atmosphere.

Utsukushi no Yu (again, website in Japanese only). Right near Takaido station of Inogashira line (from Shibuya). The difference of this place compare with above two is the price. Above two can be more than 2000 yen per person, but this place is 900 yen per person weekdays and 1200 yen per person during weekends.

If you are looking for more traditional Japanese Onsen atmosphere then I recommend a day trip and get out from Tokyo.

Tokyo is one of the few places I've been where you can pretty much walk in any random restaurant and get a good meal. Everywhere I've been is clean, everything always tastes pretty fresh, and I've never (that I remember) gotten sick or anything from any food I've eaten. There seems to be a minimum standard of quality that doesn't exist in a place like New York (where I'm from). So I wouldn't worry about it - if you're on a tight budget, just walk around and go anywhere that has nice looking plastic food outside at reasonable prices.

One budget place I will specifically recommend is Yo! Tekko-ya in Odaiba. Ramen shops are a dime a dozen in Tokyo and many of them are good but this one is just special somehow. I don't know what they're doing differently but I go there every time I go to Tokyo and it is always, always the best ramen I have on any trip. If you haven't been to Odaiba before, I recommend going there anyway because it's basically one big amusement park that nobody seems to know exists. There are rides (both real and VR), a *giant* arcade, tons of really interesting and unique shopping, nightclubs and/or live houses (what they call rock clubs), etc. If you go there on a weekday outside of lunch or dinner time it will seem completely deserted, because there's not a lot of residential living and most of the workers on the island will be at work. So you pretty much have the run of the island.

I actually ate at that ramen shop on my last visit! We were at the malls there, we saw a line and just hopped in. It was quite good.

As mentioned before, you won't find the best onsen places within Tokyo. However, some of them are still pretty enjoyable. Ooedo Onsen Monogatari (Odaiba) may be your best bet. There's a good place in Itabashi-ku, but it may be hard to get to without a car. The one at Toshimaen is alright, but the Odaiba one is probably better. There's also one at Tokyo Dome complex, which I have not been to yet. For the best onsens near Tokyo, take a train ride out for an easy day trip to Hakone Yumoto, Yugawara or Atami. There're many day-use onsens, as well as hotels that open their baths to day-trippers during the day.

I concur for the most part, although I have definitely had plenty of bad meals in Tokyo. I've had some bad noodles and Chinese, and of course Saizeriya and Gusto are pretty bad every single time.

I also wouldn't recommend venturing far out of Tokyo if you only have three days, but for future reference, Atami is a bit of a dump, full of big, moldering concrete hotels. (Fast to get to on the Shinkansen, though, which is a large reason why all those hotels are there.) If you want to overnight at a ryokan, which you should next time around, it's worth going out further down the Izu Peninsula, or head 180 degrees in the other direction and go up to eg. the Nikko/Chuzenji area instead.

The main Ginza store for Uniqlo has large sizes, at least up to 3XL for men. Men's and women's large sizes are on different floors. It is not very far away from the Muji store that is connected to Loft -- I don't know if that is the Muji main store but it sure seemed big to me.

food & shopping suggestions
 

I just spent a week in Tokyo and did none of the things you suggested. To each his own........
Food is (IMO) not that expensive. I found lots of udon noodle rests in and around our airbnb for 600-11000 yen/per (not inc. drinks). Also, I recommend shopping for both electronics and clothing in Akihabara. The area is amazing.
While there, we ate tempura and sushi at:
http://www.danke-bros.co.jp/#_=_
Another activity you may want to add to your itin is baseball. I saw a pro game in Osaka, and the action was amazing. Also, I suggest you stay for the after game interviews, where the token American slugger on the team is interviewed in Japanese and the crowd goes wild when he says two words in Japanese. Well worth the cost of admission (4200 yen for the best seats in the house).

Tokyo onsen
 

I keep on meaning to try Sakura onsen which is located near Sugamo station on the Yamanote line. There is a free shuttle bus and it is priced lower than the mega-onsens at 1296 yen for entry (bring your own towel or rent).

http://tokyocheapo.com/lifestyle/its...ll-very-clean/

LapLap posted it several years ago in the Tokyo onsen thread
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/japan...kyo-onsen.html

So we checked out the uniqlo store yesterday. The big size is actually giant sized. I'm talking nothing but 3X 4x shorts and a few Blazers. They're so big I don't even know who buys them or why they have SO MANY.

For most chubby Americans, like myself ahem, I can buy pants in the normal section of uniqlo. 36 waist. But, the tops always cut short in the armpits and wrists. I tried 2X in Korea Uniqlo (online special order), but it was still JUST too short. I was really hoping they had real shirts to try in Ginza, but alas.