I´m travelling to Tokyo in april with some friends of mine. Since Japan is quite famous for it´s high-tech standards I wonder what would be ultimate high-tech experience one can get around Tokyo.

I know about the bullet trains, but I´m currently looking for something more "sophisticated".

Any ideas? Thanks for your help!

- Go shopping in the new Yodobashi Camera retail store in Akihabara. (Probably the greatest variety of electronic and electric products under one roof).
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3003.html

- Try out the latest "massage chairs" in the above store.

- Visit the Tokyo Technical Center of the TOTO toilet company:
http://www.com-et.com/ttc/facility-g...kyo/index.html

- Visit the Sony building in the Ginza:
http://www.sonybuilding.jp/e/index.html

- Visit the KDDI Designing Studio near Harajuku
http://www.kds.kddi.com/guide/floor_03.html

- Visit Odaiba and look at the weird buildings, such as the Fuji TV building
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odaiba

- Visit the Toyota "City Showcase" at Odaiba - ride around in their miniature electric vehicles and view the latest hybrid technology and concept cars:
http://www.megaweb.gr.jp/English/

- Go to Nagoya and visit Toyota factory:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3308.html
(OK - so this is high tech but not "urban sophis" )


I know other people will have more suggestions...
Come to think of it - wasn't there a thread on this topic last year?

CEATEC!!!

Exact dates vary, but it will be the first week in October. Sorry it's no good for you McKaye

For me it was like stepping into the future, and on a ‘tech’ level, I haven’t had any experiences in any of my subsequent visits to Japan that have surpassed it.

The website hardly does it justice though… www.ceatec.com (it’s free, but you’ll need to pre-register)

I gotta go to the toilet company technical center, can someone translate the train station and line for me please?

To be honest, I don't think Odaiba is that high-tech, even the Toyota Showcase (basically a large advertisement) seemed pretty boring to me. There is a Toshiba or Fujitsu or something showcase as well, about 1/2 mile away from the Toyota one. Also not that stunning.

The Sony building is best for smallish kids, they can play games for free.

I don't know that there is that much that is space-agey. Shinkansen (bullet trains), well, everyone loves them, including me, but they are rather old technology.

It's Sakura-shinmachi on the Denentoshi Line. Only 4 stops out of Shibuya, and it's a cute area to walk around in, too. It appears you need to make reservations, however (there's a rather long on-line form).

It's in Setagaya.
Station is Sakura shin machi - on the Tokyu Den-en-toshi Line

Hmmm....two choices then:

(a) ask the Park Hyatt to arrange it OR
(b) just show up and act like a confused gaijin with the web page printout

What do you folks think?

They have a sales company in the US. Maybe that would be the simplest way? I did a traineeship for them in the early 90's but unfortunately haven't really kept contact lately. They have very nice restrooms in Tokyo...

Please check: http://www.totousa.com/contactus.asp

You could of course just come to Kitakyushu-city and go on the Toto or Inax factory tours. They will no doubt let you sample the wares !

Also Inax factory and ceramics museum right next to the new Nagoya Centrair airport (NGO).

Come to think of it, I've always thought of myself as more of an INAX man...

I'm sorry, it's got to be Toto. Why? Well, whenever I look down at one of their toilets, I see their name and think, "Toto too?" So call it nostalgia for the yellow brick road.

Anyhow, I just followed mosberger's advice and emailed the U.S. contact center. Wonder if they will be totally mystified or not!

That's interesting. When I'm looking down at the TOTO logo, my thoughts always turn to: "I bless the rains down in Africa ... "

"Gonna take some time to do the things we never had....

Yes, at the first time I got petrified!
.....after that I had to spend a couple weeks or so to get used to...

You sure it's not the Hershey Highway?

You might enjoy a visit to Flushing, NY as well.

OK, if anything really DOES come of this, you guys get the blame! I got an email back from the VP of operations of the North American subsidiary of Toto saying they would be able to arrange something, and we are now officially in communication about date and time and such.

Does sound like fun, doesn't it? Indeed, one could say, "things are already looking down." Or is that a proctologist joke?

I love FT!