Whatever... :rolleyes: Eat my shorts.

Er… not really. I remember Mr Sparkle and the seizure cartoon and the gameshow and the expensive coleslaw and the aiport ‘lottery’at the start – but I’d forgotten about ‘Americatown’.

Anyway, it was way off mark. Coleslaw only costs 10,000yen if you order it after 5pm ;) .


I still think suggesting Tokyo Disney is hilarious :-:

Just a quick note that Yamaya is a neat little store (in various parts of Tokyo) for great food finds. Good place to get pasta, olive oil, cookies, beer and wine, etc.

Then again, when I'm in Tokyo, I prefer to leave memories of America far behind!

True, but I love Yamaya not just for the American stuff, but German, Mexican, French, and other places!

When I lived in Tokyo nearly 30 years ago, there was a housing development near Mejiro Station called Tokugawa House, which looked like an American suburban cul-de-sac, complete with little blond children running around outside.

I visited only once, when one of the residents held a gathering for those of us who were graduates of the same language program, so I don't know if the housing development still exists. But if it does, it would be the closest thing to a real America Town I've ever seen. It had no businesses, though, just residences.

Sounds like you haven't made it out of your 4-Star hotel in Tokyo... :(

I would think a lot of Japanese people would be offended.

To the OP, you won't have any trouble finding American style food, and in Tokyo, you are sure to run into other English speakers.

You’ve just stumbled on one of the true marvels of Tokyo and other large cities in Japan – people seem to find what they expect to find there.

If you expect to see a ‘Western’ country – that really is what you will see. Shinjuku will remind you of New York, Omotesando of London’s Chelsea district – Tokyo has an amazing, and very seductive, knack of fulfilling people’s expectations of it.

For some it is a Western city – there’s enough Japanese people who genuinely want it to be, so they won’t be offended.

For others it is a never ending jumble of villages and hamlets and towns and even cities, where crafts passed on for many generations are carried out, neighbours bathe together and catch up on gossip, families’ front rooms serve as shops, bowls of piping hot noodles in soup are transported by delivery boys on bicycles (fitted with huge gyroscopic devices.) These are a few of the thousands of things that make Tokyo ‘Asian’ too – for some, these are immediately apparent. For others, they would need to wilfully seek them out – but then you’d only seek them out if you knew they were there, and if you knew they were there, they’d immediately be apparent.

Whilst some people would need years to begin to uncover everything that this constantly changing city has to offer, others struggle to find enough to do in 2 days.

So please don’t be too harsh, it is a legitimate view, and there are plenty of people in Japan who would be delighted to hear it!

Thank you LapLap, that is an excellent point.

I think the America Towns, if you're talking about American enclaves, are to be found on US military bases. The nearest ones are probably around Yokosuka (home to a large naval base), south of Yokohama, and then Yokota Air Base (I don't know if it's still operating), west of Tokyo, reachable via the JR Chuo Line.

Obviously, you probably have to be US military to get access...

I believe it's Kua 'Aina , and according to their site, there's now supposed to be eleven of them throughout Japan. My personal recommendation is to go for the avocado and bacon burger, maybe with one of the Kona microbrews.

I think 1.5 days is more than sufficient. Don't you agree?

Well Pickes... I think the jury is still out on whether you should waste 1.5 days in Tokyo.

I am waiting for the publication of "1.5 Days To See Everything You Could Possibly Want To See In Tokyo." Until I see evidence to the contrary, I refuse to accept that there is anything beyond the amazing beer machine in the RCC to merit a visit. No reason to spend more than 1.5 hours in this dull backwater. I call it "The Fort Wayne Of The Orient."

Move along, move along....

This is passing into "Group Lore," isn't it? ;)

JR

It takes you 1.5 days, eh? Well, I can see all those sights in 1.4 days! Try to top that!!! :)

Too bad I am going to be there for a whole week early next month, maybe I'll just see everything 5 times.

No, but then, I lived there for a while, speak Japanese at a professional level, and have been traveling there for 28 years without running out of things to see and do.

One of my favorite things to do on days off is to pick a major street, such as Waseda-doori or Chuo-doori and just walk the length of it. I always find something interesting, such as a street full of stores selling nothing but shelves, or a little "pocket" temple, or a Meiji-period building that somehow survived the bombs.