Twelve years since last in Tokyo - what's changed?
 

Hi. I'm hoping more regular visitors to Tokyo can give some useful info on what's changed there for visitors over the last decade or so. Anything from useful new tech/apps to connectivity to getting around to booking events to paying for things to - well anything at all really. I'm not off till October, just looking ahead right now. Thanks in advance

Credit cards are pretty much accepted at most places now on Tokyo. Still best to carry some cash, but 90%+ of the time you will be able to use your card.

Smoke free travel.

Crowds everywhere and at all times.

New rail and subway lines -- Fukotoshin line and Ueno/Tokyo line (which goes more places than just those) immediately spring to mind. There are others as well.

Lots and lots of places for you to do research. Good luck.

The things I've noticed in order of impact..

Amazon
Uber/GoTaxi apps
Google/Apple Maps
Higher cellular data speeds
Suica/Pasmo, etc. more prevalent
Everyone, everywhere is taking pictures all the time
More dogs

I'll add one from a Gaijan perspective -- over the last decade there has been a remarkable difference in the usage of English on signs everywhere -- from the highway to products in the grocery store... I credit the Olympics for that -- Tokyo is MUCH more navigable for foreigners than ever.... When I first moved here I couldn't find much English at all in train stations, supermarkets, or department stores -- now it is everywhere! And I can use my phone to ride the train instead of having to recharge my Suica all the time -- so much easier and convenient. Even the taxis are easier -- S.Ride and Go Pay make paying for taxis so much easier as well....

If you were last in Tokyo in 2011, when the yen was like 75-80 to the dollar, everything in Japan will now seem ridiculously cheap, as the exchange rate now hovers around 130-140 and consumer prices have not gone up that much.

To me, by far the biggest change is having Google Translate on your smartphone - this way, you can translate and read all Japanese inscriptions. You are no longer illiterate in Japan! This takes away the excitement of pointing at menu items without having a slightest idea what they mean and hoping to get something edible, but it's a huge improvement overall.

People seem to bow a lot less than they did 12 years ago. The beautiful Harajuku station building has been demolished and replaced with an awful looking glass and concrete monster.

But overall, Tokyo hasn't changed that much.

That's an interesting perspective.

My first time in Japan was 2005, and Tokyo was quite navigable with English back then already (Osaka on the other hand was pure hell - it was the only Japanese city where I got lost).

No more rickshaw (jinrikisha) rides from the airport to Tokyo. They have trains, busses, and taxis for that now. ;)

To their credit, they did not really demolish it. They took it apart, built a (much needed) new one, and are putting the main hall of the old station back in place in the next year (or two).

Do you like mediocre experiential art designed exclusively to be an Instagram post and, important note, you have to get wet to do it? And it's also going to be very busy with the most obnoxious tourists?

Oh, and they tore down the Okura and Nakagin Capsule Bld.

Even in normal, non-chain Izakayas?