I will be doing some business in the Roppongi - Shibuya area. Any recommendations on Hotel (Grand Hyatt? Hilton? I am a Mariott member but the Marriott is far).

Any recommendations on restaurants in the area?

Thanks

John

i suggest you send a private message to mjm.

Westin is close to both.

The Grand Hyatt is the only international chain hotel in Roppongi. There are no chain hotels in Shibuya that I know of. The Hilton is in Shinjuku (as are the Keio Plaza, Century Hyatt, and Park Hyatt), however there is a nearby subway line that goes to Roppongi in 11 minutes.

The Westin is in Ebisu, and there is a subway line that goes to Roppongi in 5 minutes.

From Ebisu or Shinjuku, you can take JR to Shibuya in 3 minutes or 8 minutes respectively.

Although Roppongi is fairly close to Shibuya (maybe 20-25 minute walk), there isn't really a direct connection via subway that I am aware of.

The Grand Hyatt is very close to the subway station. The other hotels are further from the subway station, but not too bad, from 3-8 minutes, except for the Westin which is about 10 minutes walk from both JR and the subway.

There are a zillion restaurants in Tokyo, aside from recommendations, you could get the Zagat Tokyo restaurant guide (but bear in mind that although it is excellently translated, the recommenders are all Japanese who are not all that familiar with Western cuisine).

Grand Hyatt in Roppongi Hills is new and wonderful and the area itself has lots of shops, restaurants and stuff to do. The location (almost directly above the west entrance of Roppongi subway station on the Hibiya Line) is great.

We had wonderful meals at Seryna Honten (a block from Roppongi Crossing) and L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon (Roppongi Hills). The former served Kobe Beef (to die for) and the latter was French food. Both are high-priced but they were really great experiences. I've heard that Sukiyabashi-Jiro (Roppongi Hills) is amazing for sushi but we enjoyed our sushi experience in Tsukiji instead.

Correct. Your best bets are either Hibiya Line to Ebisu (one stop) and transfer to JR Yamanote to Shibuya (one stop); or walk just a bit north of Roppongi to Nogizaka, then take Chiyoda Line to Omote-sando or Yoyogi-koen and walk a bit south to get back to Shibuya central (a map would be advisable for this though...).

There's the Roppongi Price, too.

Although I don't know how it gets into some of the higher hotel categories in the guidebooks. I've stayed there before and it's pretty darn plain.

You can find the ANA Hotel located in Roppongi.
http://www.anahoteltokyo.jp/e/index.html

how much would this cost? you would have to buy at least 2 tickets. How do people deal with paying for JR and the subway when traveling within Tokyo? If you have a rail pass, all you need are subway tickets. But what if you don't?

People just buy two tickets -- it's not a big deal. If you are going to be there for a while, you can buy cash cards (like JR East's I/O card) that you just insert directly in the turnstile on entrance and exit. The turnstile computes the fare and deducts it from the cash balance. There's one for the subways too.

There is also a daily ticket available at some subway stations at around Y1500 that gives you unlimited use of the subways and JR around Tokyo, but it might be overkill on ordinary days. Subway to Ebisu from Roppongi or Hiroo is Y160, then train to Shibuya from Ebisu is Y130. To get to the train station from the subway, follow the crowd.

day pass is overkill for most people, unless you are running around town nonstop. day pass for subway only is 710 yen for one company and 730 yen for another company - there 2 subway companies served the city and the day pass is not interchangeable. The best approach is just to buy the subway tickets as needed, or use a cash card which starts at 1000 Yen. Again, it cannot be interchangeable between different companies.

the subway fare is usually a bit more expensive than the railway fare but of course subway is a lot faster as railway in tokyo is basically a circular line and a central crossing line, while subway can criss-cross the city thru changing lines.

however, the subway tickets are no more expensive than any major U.S. cities, such as NYC, Chicago or D.C.

from what i remember, the highest fare between stations is 290 Yen, and lowest 160 Yen, with most common fare at 190 yen. i believe i paid 190 yen from Ginza to Roppingi. Roppingi location is only served by subway.

also there are 2 private railway services other than JR. JR pass do not work on the private lines. some areas near ebisu are served by private lines only.

The "cash card" (I presume you mean Passnet?) most definitely is interchangeable between all private lines in Tokyo and it's extremely convenient, it'll figure out the fares for you and even give the appropriate transfer discounts where applicable. The only lines where you can't use it are JR railways and the Tokyo Monorail to HND (which is owned by JR).