Hi all,

I'll be going to Tokyo for a week in August (18-25). I have read most of the threads in this forum and found heaps of relevant info. I had a few specific questions. Some background: It will be my first time in Tokyo, and I do not speak any Japanese.

1. My flight arrives at NRT on a wednesday at 2020 (from HKG in NH-C class). Is it fair to assume that I should be able to clear customs and immi in about 60 min after landing? I'll probably take the limousine bus. Would it run at that time?

2. It seems to make sense to stay at a airport hotel, and then go to downtown tokyo the next morning. Are there any hotels at NRT landside where you can walk / quick shuttle to?

3. In Tokyo, it seems that the main shopping area is GINZA and/or SHINJUKU. Individually are these compact areas where one could walk between the major stores/malls and to/from hotels?

(MOST CONCERNING ISSUE FOR ME IS) :
4. Which hotel would be the most suitable from the shopping and walking to shops perspective. Ideally, I would prefer a major chain 4-5* hotel, (and my first choices would be Starwood or the Intercontinental group, but pretty flexible in this regard.) I would like to pay not much more than $200 per night. How easy is it to 'hotel hop' within Tokyo, i.e. roughly how much would a downtown cab ride between hotels etc cost.

5. How safe is Tokyo generally, for a single, first-time, non Japanese speaking traveller ? And how friendly is it.

6. I shall be going to SIN & HKG before Tokyo. How would prices in shops in Tokyo compare to these places.

7. I have seven nights in Japan. I would ideally like to spend 3-4 in tokyo, and 2-3 nights in another place. Kyoto seems to be interesting option. Does this seem correct, or is their a better possibility.


thanks for all the help,
AJ

Ahhh. Tokyo.
Here are my opinions...
1) An hour for customs should be doable. Don't know about the bus. I always train it.

2) Go into town. You won't be that tired. Why waste the next morning getting into town? Nothing within walking distance.

3) There are shopping areas everywhere. ZYou'll be taking the train and subways around town. Taxi's add up quickly.

4) The Westin is basically in a shopping center. Plus easy range to Harajuku, Shibuya, and Shinjuku. Don't know about $200 though. I think with an SPG50 I was able to score a $225 rate or something. Check it out.

5) Tokyo is likely the SAFEEST metropolis in the world.

6) I'd have to guess that HKG is the cheapest. You won't find any bargains in Tokyo.

7) You sound like you've got it dialed in. Make sure to enjoy the Shinkansen.

Cheers,

Scho

Here's a link to the schedules for the Narita limousine bus:

http://www.limousinebus.co.jp/e/time...ex_n/tcat.html

Apparently, the last bus leaves at 23.00. But I'm sure you can catch the one leaving at 21.45 or 21.55...

Tokyo is definitely more expensive than Hong Kong and Singapore. I would disagree that Hong Kong is the cheapest of these three Asian cities. Singapore is the cheapest in my opinion. Take a look here:

http://www.finfacts.ie/costofliving.htm

Tokyo is a very, very safe city. People are more than willing to help you when you ask and will often go above and beyond what you asked for.

Agree with the above on getting around... taxi drivers don't speak English (with very very rare exceptions) and the concept of addresses doesn't work in the same way as it does in the rest of the world. It is by far easier to get around by the subway system, which is very efficient, easy to use, and labelled in English. It is also a fairly easy place to walk around, but obviously much too big to do everything that way.

One "difficulty" for a visitor to Tokyo is that it really doesn't have a single "centre" or "downtown" in the sense that most big cities do - it is more a collection of many different "centres" so it is unlikely that you could find a hotel base within a few minutes of everywhere you want to be.

In terms of costs, Tokyo is more expensive than either HK or Singapore. Between those two it depends very much on what you are buying. Since you appear to be coming from the UK, then HK has got substantially cheaper in the last few months since the HK$ is tied to the US$ (as is Singapore's in a looser way). And those cost indexes are based on a certain style of expat living, including larges houses and school fees, so they are not really meaningful for the tourist (or indeed for people who choose not to live in the traditional expat style).

Basically any major train junction (Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ikebukuro, Ginza...) will have its associated shopping area, clustered within easy walking distance of the station. Tokyo is very much built around trains, subways and pedestrians, you will basically never (except late at night) need to take a cab.

Again, you don't want to take cabs, you want to ride the subway. There's a major hotel cluster in West Shinjuku, within easy walking distance of the shopping meccas of East Shinjuku.

One slightly offbeat option would be to stay in Odaiba, the Japanese equivalent of London's Docklands (reclaimed land turned into futuristic city), except it's a lot more happening at night and has some pretty good shopping too.
There are some very good hotels in the area (the Nikko Odaiba comes to mind), and "mainland" Tokyo (Shinbashi/Ginza) is only 15-20 minutes away by two train lines.

The language barrier is a bit of a bother, but Tokyo is extremely safe and exceedingly polite. Not quite the same thing as "friendly", but I doubt you'll have any problems.

Don't waste an night at Narita, take the bus into your chosen hotel on arrival, even if you show up late. Why kill the following morning getting into Tokyo? From Narita you would either have to take a slower train into Tokyo or go back to the airport to take the bus. Wasteful.

The Keio Plaza Intercontinental in Shinjuku is a very acceptable hotel. It is not as expensive as the Westin Ebisu and not as nice but it is fine; you can save money and stay there. It has a wide range of room qualities and prices -- they used to have an "Executive Club" that you joined in advance for free which gave preferred rates. They do have an English website, I believe, for Keio Plaza hotels -- check it out.

The standard trip week would be 4 nights in Tokyo and 3 in Kyoto. However, around this time, there are Japanese summer holidays that may make travel more challenging. Also, Japan is quite hot and humid in August -- be prepared for that. You may have to make train reservations in advance. In Kyoto, the Westin Miyako is a good *wood choice.

Check out the Japan rail pass (7 day) version. It has defects (most notably, it is not good on many bullet trains between Tokyo and Kyoto, though still 2 per hour), but is very convenient and can save you a bundle. Although you have to pay for the pass before leaving the U.S., you can not make reservations until you pick up the pass on arrival at Narita airport. This might be a significant negative during the busy vacation period. The pass would be valid on the Narita express train to/from the airport (instead of the bus) during your seven day period and that trip alone would equal 1/4 the cost! Throw in Kyoto and you are way ahead, since you'd get day trips to Kamakura and such for free on JR.

The only items to buy I've found to be bargains in Japan were throwaway umbrellas and domestic liability insurance (the latter would seem to be more applicable if you were starting a business!). But there are no deals in Singapore either; the electronics area (SimLim square) is a waste of time.

Enter into Tokyo with a spirit of adventure and you'll love it. As everyone else noted, Japan is completely safe -- one of the fun things to do is to wander and get lost; you are never too far from a subway or rail station that can take you home again, and most of them are well posted in English.

First, thanks everybody for the great help. ^ ^ Now, a couple of clarifications:

Is the Keio Plaza (previously ic hotel) the same one as the now Keio Plaza summit hotel:
http://www.summithotels.com/hotel_ho....cfm?id=TYOKP&

Also as far as walking to the major dept. stores etc in GINZA and/or SHINJUKU goes, I have searched on the web and seem to have shortlisted these hotels:

- Keio Plaza, A summit hotel
- Hilton Tokyo
- Century Hyatt
- Le Meridien Pacific
- Renaissance Tokyo Ginza Tobu

All these hotels roughly seem to be charging between 20000 - 23000 yen per night for the basic rooms. Is this about par? Which of these would the most suitable? Any experiences in these...

And they all claim to be within walking distance of the major shops/ dept stores etc in the area. Could anybody confirm/dispute this claim.

thanks a heap,
AJ

Perhaps this would be more helpful:

http://www.state.gov/m/a/als/prdm/2004/31886.htm

I really don't understand this... in Hong Kong the US government pays its employees US$203 per day for a hotel room plus US$126 per day for meals & incidentals?

Does anyone know of any jobs the US government has going? These are absolutely ridiculous rates! We pay about HK$700 (US$90) for hotel rooms for our staff, and a per diem of HK$340 (US$45) for meals etc.

Someone somewhere is being ripped off. I'm glad I don't pay US taxes.

Most of the Shinjuku hotels you mentioned are clustered in the Skyscraper District (west side of Shinjuku station) whereas the major department stores (of which there are several) are South and East of the train station. It's a pretty good hike between the two but there are lots of things to see/buy in between. The boulevards in Shinjuku can make it seem like a long walk so, if you must although not really advantageous, you can take the subway between the two.

Same goes for Ginza except that I would say the shops are closer together and the department stores are smaller but clustered together as well. Most Ginza hotels (incl. the Renaissance) are on the edge of the district which means a nice walk (again, lost of things to see/buy along the way) to get around. Many subway lines intersect at Ginza which makes it very convenient.

Tokyo is like one giant shopping city divided into shopping districts. Most districts have huge department stores to go with their Oxford-St-like shopping streets but invariably, every district has a distinct shopping area. Within those districts, everything is within reasonable walking distance. To move from one district to another (which you should for variety and to experience the tsunami of humanity in Tokyo's subway), you should take the subway. Taxis are prohibitively expensive. The meter starts at Y660 (!) and everytime it ticks, it goes up by Y80 (!!). It's a coronary-inducing exercise watching the meter go. Subways are easier to navigate and easier on your wallet as well.

If you can, try not to limit yourself to just Ginza and Shinjuku. Shibuya has a great shopping area and very popular with foreigners and Roppongi Hills is the latest and greatest in Tokyo's ambition to be a vertical city.

Prices in Tokyo are astounding compared to Singapore and HK. I would probably load up on souvenirs and stuff in the latter two before I arrive at the former. Tokyo is, indeed, very safe. I don't think I encountered a seedy area in Tokyo and I felt safe walking around at night (except for the pushy touts in Roppongi who are annoying but harmless - part of the experience, I guess ).

Tokyo will reward the adventurous, so bring your best walking shoes and explore away!

Yup, that's the same Keio Plaza which seems to have changed affiliations. No more "executive card," it seems.

The Keio Plaza, Tokyo Hilton, and Century Hyatt are all close to each other and all are decent upscale hotels. The Hilton and Hyatt run regular free shuttle busses to/from Shinjuku station. Keio doesn't, but that could be because they own a bus company that has stops next to the hotel. All three hotels can be reached from the station in ten minutes walking max.

I don't know much about the Le Meridian, but I suspect the Renaissance Tobu is of a lower standard than the aforementioned three hotels and hence not as good a buy at the same price.

I disagree with the previous poster who said all the department stores are on the opposite side of Shinjuku -- Odakyu, Keio, and the wonderfully named "My Lord" department stores are all on the west side of Shinjuku (like the hotels). Lumine straddles the station. There is also Yodobashi and Sakura camera which are WAY more than camera stores. But you will want to take a trip to Akihabara to look at the main electronics district.

Hilton and Century Hyatt has very frequent free shuttle going to Shinjuku Station. (JR & Subway). Century Hyatt's stop is right in front of Odaikyu Halc department store. The main Odaikyu store is next door. I personally think Hilton and Century are better choices than Keio Plaza as with Keio, your option would be either walk or take the subway for 1 or 2 stops to go to Shinjuku, about 140 yen each way I believe. They are also slightly better than Keio Plaza.

20000 yen is a bargain for this class of hotels in Tokyo. I am sure by now you get the impression Tokyo is not exactly a low cost destination.

Tokyo dont have Malls in the sense western countries have. The land is too expensive for Mall set up. Dept stores usually have over 10 floors for you to explore. Unless you are very rich, otherwise dont expect to be able to buy much in Tokyo. But window shopping is still a lot of fun. As for the electronics, Akihabara is the area to go. However, we found they are more expensive than in U.S. Unless you want the latest and stuff not available outside Japan, otherwise, it is not even worth the time to go.

Shops at Ginza are the high class stuff, such as Channel, Gucci etc The dept stores at Ginza also are of the high end. Shops at Shinjuku are upper end but not as high end as those at Ginza. Harajuku are more youth oriented, lots of fun shops. Ikebukuro has 2 biggest dept stores, Tobu and Seibu, and yes, there are a Gucci and some other brand names at the Metropolitan Plaza right next to JR Station. If you are really into shopping, then Ginza, Shinjuku and Harajuku are places must visit.

Do go down to the Basement levels of the Dept Stores though. They equal to our supermarkets. one floor usually completely devotes to food stalls selling all kinds of ready to eat foods. another floor devotes to fresh seafoods, vegetables, fruits etc. If you visit about 30 minutes before close, you will find amazing bargains. The freshest, cheapest Sushi and Sasami are to be found at the Dept Store basements 30-45 minutes before store close. 50% off most of the time. they must sell all stuff, no left over. Bakery goods as well. their breads are heavenly. Dept Stores usually close at 8 to 8:30.

Oh, btw, for the same kind of meal in many restaurants, lunch time is usually 30% less than dinner time.
during our trip, half of the time our dinners were the fresh sushi / sasimi bought from depart store basement. ;-)

For reasonably priced souvenirs, there are some very traditional, Japanese shopping streets at Ueno area. Ueno is at the Northwest side of Tokyo center. (Tokyo has 23 districts, Ueno is one of them). It is also a big station of JR Yamamote line (the circular line train at Metropolitan Tokyo).

If you only limit yourself to walking, you would severely limit yourself for places you can go, as well as make yourself very very tired. Tokyo's public transport is extremely convenient, the train and the subway. just bear in mind they stop running after midnight.

Buying a 7 day JR pass is probably one of the very few bargain travellers can find. the pass allows you take any JR trains, including Shinkansen, except Nozomi (the fastest and the most frequent one between Tokyo and Osaka). however, Hikari is only a few minutes slower than Nozomi in a 3+ hour ride between Tokyo and Osaka. The only inconvenience is Hikari only runs 2 times per hour, at :06 and :36. there is also another Shinkansen train called Kodama, which stops at every station therefore it arrives to your destination slower, but it runs 2 or 3 times per hour between the Hikari.

If you decide to get the JR Pass ( and I think if you ever plan to wander outside Tokyo to another city, you SHOULD GET the JR Pass), you must purchase it OUTSIDE Japan before you arrive.

You can now make reservation on the web even before you arrive Japan. Just make sure to mark you are Pass holder when making reservation. Also when you exchange your Pass Voucher to the actual Pass and get the tickets, make sure to give them the reservation references so they can link them together (to cancel your credit card guarantee).

There are ordinary car pass and "green car" pass. green car seats are larger and have a free drink during your journey. but for the difference of over 10,000 yen for the pass, i dont see its worth. the ordinary car is very comfortable, more comfortable than a business class plane seat.

Honestly, you do not necessarily need to make reservation. Because Shinkansen train has at least 5 cars that are for "non-reserved seating" (2 smoking cars and 3 non smoking cars). You can hop on the train and walk to these cars to find a seat. Car No.1 and 2 usually have plenty of seats.
We did our trip in first week of April. Eventhough we had made reservations, we ended up not use them at all, due to weather, or plan changes. The first time we went to the "Green Window" the JR reservation office at the station to try to change our reservation for a train 2 hours ahead of our original reservation, and was told the time we wanted was all full at the "reserved seating". However the staff told us we can try the "non-reserved seating" by directly going to the platform and try our luck. We went to the platform with about 10 minutes to spare. Train arrived. We went on it with many other Japanese who purchased the "non reserved seating" tickets (for them, reserved seat requires a surcharge) and we had no problem finding seats. One morning we got off our overnight train from Hakata (Fukukua at Kushu, the southern island) at Hemeiji (near Osaka), and were going to visit the Castle which is within 15 min walking from the JR station. It was raining hard. We decided to hop on Shinkansen back to Tokyo instead. Got back to the Shinkansen platform, with 1 minute to spare. We hopped on the Hikari, at car No.10 - reserved seating car, and started walking toward the car No.5. Before we even get to car No.8 the train was leaving the station. Car No.5 was smoking car. Car No. 4 was full. Car No.3 was also smoking car. but Car No.2 was 1/2 empty, and Car No.1 was 2/3 empty. So, unless you are travelling during Japanese national holidays, you really dont need to make reservations.

however, if you plan on taking any night train - then you must make reservation as they are quite often full. The one between Tokyo and Osaka is very popular, so as the one between Kyoto and Nagasaki (which we took, from Hakata to Osaka, very comfortable deep reclining seats).

do a search on google type in JR Pass, you will pull up all the info links you need.

Tokyo is probably the safest metropolitan in the world.

Singapore probably is the right place to shop, may even be cheaper than Hong Kong.

Not far from Keio Plaza is a moving walkway that helps get you to Shinjuku station during the day. Keio also runs a bus line called the "100 Yen" line that stops right next to the hotel and leaves from near where the airport bus arrives at the station (stop 20). But the Hilton and Century Hyatt busses are free and they are somewhat newer hotels.

Bear in mind that the walk is not a huge deal in any case and you pass through an interesting area of arcades and camera stores.

Nearby to all three hotels are the two Tokyo Metro Govt Bldgs, the tallest buildings in Japan, and the elevator to the viewing floor at the top is free! Also, there is a tourist office in the basement of one of the Govt buildings. There are many moderately priced restaurants at the top of the nearby NS building which has an interesting outside elevator. Other nearby tall buildings have restaurants on top as well, and one even has a club with what looks like an overpriced drag show. Avoid eating in hotel restaurants; the other nearby alternatives are cheaper and usually better but it's also a lot of fun, as noted, to buy exotic takeout at one of the department store food halls and bring it back to your room.

Strictly based on location, my choice would be the Renaissance Ginza Tobu. Although I've never stayed there, my impression from the reports of others is that their rooms are probably the smallest of the hotels you mentioned. Nevertheless, IMHO Ginza is a far superior location. Things are more spread out in Shinjuku and it is beastly hot & humid in August. You'll be much more comfortable in Ginza and there is a greater variety of stores closer together. In Ginza, you're also more easily accessible to public transport and to other sites of interest.

Since you are there in August, the shinkansens are going to be very crowded with all the families traveling on holiday (kids are out of school in Japan only in August), especially in the morning and evenings when the business traveler is on the move too... My experience is that the green cars always have seats available, even in the worst rush hours.

If it is not too late, you might consider heading out of Japan from Osaka-Kansai. Most airlines consider NRT/KIX to be co-terminals (at least UA does), and it appears you are in business class so this gives you some flexibility, I believe. If so, just visit Tokyo first, then buy your one-way shinkansen ticket(s) down to Kyoto, Nara, and then head home from KIX. It is much less than the JR pass (probably set you back $150 or so).

If you are a fan of the IC Hotel Group then I highly recommend the Intercontinental Tokyo Bay. The rooms have fantastic views of the bay and the beautiful Rainbow Bridge. It is quiet, quiet, quiet (except for the occasional fog horns of the ferries coming in to port.... I love it!). You are just a quick 10 minute hop to Shinbashi via the connected Yurikamome above-ground train line. From there the JR gets you to any of the major shopping areas. You can usually score a good room there for under Y20,000 per night on www.6c.com

Feel free to message me if you want more details.