Need help planning a trip to Tokyo!
 

Hello everyone,

My family and I are planning a trip to Tokyo. There's only going to be 3 of us so we are planning to fit into 1 hotel room with 2 beds. :) Is that an issue at all usually?

We will be landing in Tokyo on the afternoon of Dec. 19th and leaving on Dec. 24th in the morning.

It's my first time in Tokyo (went to Osaka twice last time) and the first time for my other family members. We will be taking a day trip to Yokohama for one day to visit a friend.

Question 1: What hotel is centrally located and recommended? We are currently booked for the Sheraton Miyako but we have heard this hotel is a little farther away from the city. We will have JR East passes for the week so transportation is no problem but is there maybe another Sheraton-family hotel that is more highly recommended? Or is there another hotel which is near more to the business of Tokyo? Walking is no problem. We are looking to book points for the hotel but a price of up to $200/night is reasonable.

Question 2: Where to shop? I love to shop within a reasonable budget! I am hoping there's something like Osaka's Shinsaibashi suji rather than department stores. I like going to Uniqlo to shop vs. Louis Vuitton.

Question 3: Any recommendations for places to eat?We want to try some ramen/udon stalls or japanese sukiyaki (like Chinese hot pot?), mosburger (because it's so interesting). I remembered in Osaka there were a lot of these "Home-style" restaurants which worked like cafeterias but with home-y food. Are these available in Tokyo as well? I know Osakan food like "Takoyaki" and "Okonomiyaki" were delicious. Any Tokyo-specific recommendations?

Question 4: Things to do? Any recommendations for things to do would be much appreciated. A sumo match would be cool but it looks like we're arriving after the sumo match season?

I would appreciate any recommendations that any of you can give.

I'm a bit pressed for time right now but will amend this post later with more information.

In the meantime, here's a thread I made earlier about dining options in the vicinty of the Sheraton Miyako.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=722723

What do you mean by 'the city' anyway? It's quite a puzzling comment, and you've made it twice (in Question 1)

If I recall correctly, the Sheraton Miyako isn't located particularly close to major transit hubs, but it's hardly "outside the city." Given Tokyo's fabulous transit system, just about anywhere the subway goes is a good location.

There's actually an advantage to staying in a non-touristy area. It's quieter, you get to see the lives of ordinary Tokyo residents up close, and the restaurants are cheaper and more mom-and-pop.

I never recommend restaurants to people, because my own approach is to just start window-shopping around mealtimes and go into whichever restaurant has a display that brings together the three magic elements: 1) What I feel like eating, 2) Price, and 3) Good presentation and atmosphere.

These days, Tokyo has every imaginable kind of food, and even in the old days, I never thought of any specific dish as being unique to Tokyo.

My suggestion for good sushi and sashimi, if, like me, you don't find the notion of fish for breakfast in Tsukiji appealing, is to go to a department store's food section, find the fish sales area, and see if there's a little area with counter service hidden somewhere behind the refrigerator cases. I almost always get great sashimi at such places.

Just wondering why not choose Westin Tokyo instead of Sheraton Miyako if you are using points. Just 2000 points more. I stayed there once and the experience was good.

hi camping,

Thanks for the info. Do you have any particular positives to recommend the westin? Location? Food? Or room details?

Thanks!

thanks for the quick response LapLap. I was doing a bit of research earlier on tripadvisor and one of the posts had implied the miyako was sort of far away from presumably downtown Tokyo which is why I thought it was not so centralized "in the city". But ultimately as kindly pointed out Japan has such a fantastic transport system that shouldn't matter.

Public transport here in YVR is slowly improving but is so inefficient so I am always inclined to stay where I don't need to rely on it as much.

Any recommendations you have are very welcome :) you are a fantastic resource!

I think what Lap Lap meant in questioning your reference to "the city" was something that comes up here often. Tokyo is not really "a city." It is a collection of many cities all crushed together, each of which has its own personality, pleasures and attractions. That makes it difficult to even know what "central Tokyo" really is. The central government district is Akasaka but the cultural center is someplace else as is the fashion center, the entertainment center, the shopping center, and so forth.

We get a bit obsessive around here asking folks what "they" want out of a visit to Tokyo and encourage some research before posting. What you want to see might be very different from what I or someone else might want. I would be very happy to never again pass through Shinjuku, Roppongi, Shibuya and several other "must see" boroughs but others don't consider a visit to be complete without those places.

Oh, and your comment about the public transportation system is absolutely correct. With a little thought (and a transport map) you can get virtually anyplace in "the city" easily, comfortably and relatively quickly. Or you can get hopelessly lost. YMMV. :-)

Since you mentioned you have JR East passes, you should probably choose a hotel closer to a JR station where you can use the pass. Westin would fit the bill. Sheraton Miyako is right on top of a station, but it is subway not JR.

We ended up going with the Flights & Nights promo so unfortunately, since it only goes up to Cat. 4 hotels, we went with the Miyako. So no Westin :(
It also looks like Priceline is not an option because the "Sunroute Plaza" 4* hotels are showing up with rooms with 1 bed and the "Inter-Continental Tokyo Bay" 5* hotel does not have availability on the hotel's website.

So it's definitely the Miyako now though I understand (from some tripadvisor review) there is a JR station roughly 15 mins away with a hotel shuttle going towards there?

Question 1 is resolved. Any other tips for Q2-Q4?

Thanks so much so far for all the information. It's very much appreciated!

As for things to do, I echo previous posters on many threads- do a bit of research, and tell us the age and interests of the people in your group. What do you guys want to get out of your trip?
These are my recs from a previous insomniac posting about my first trip to Japan (you are right, LapLap, it did come in handy :) :

On my second trip, I hit the Tokyo Edo museum and the Taiko Drum Museum. You can find all these places in any online or paper guide. I would also suggest a day trip to Nikko or Kamakura- I haven't been, but heard enough from others to know its worth it.

And here is a post I made on another forum- some repetition but with more info:

Hi Pureboy, thank you for sharing this again on this thread. This is what I was sort of looking for. Just recommendations of things to do in Japan. It's a family trip that we are on so we are not looking for any too too bizarre but if we end up in a karaoke room singing our hearts out, it won't be too bad.

I am wondering if there's a street market in Tokyo where you can find some interesting well-priced stuff? The closest Japanese example I have is Shinsaibashi-suji in Osaka. I'm not looking necessarily for street stalls only but I'm not looking for a high-end fashion store either. I'm looking for the standard cell phone strings, souvenir knick knacks and ankle socks? Not really picky, but like to shop.

Outside either the west or east gate of Shinjuku station you can find tons of that stuff. In Shibuya, if you make the main crossing out the Hachiko gate towards the Starbucks, you'll see lots of the same, go down into the streets, tons of stuff. Any of the large stations in Tokyo will have it in the vicinity. You might also go over to the Akihabara area, Omotesando, Ikebukuro, etc.

I know what you mean by Osaka, if you are in Namba area (e.g. like Shinsaibashi) it is like heaven for the goods you are talking about. Blocks and blocks of it. Tokyo it exists but in smaller chunks, but there are many more of the chunks.

One place that hasn't been mentioned yet is Asakusa Kannon Temple - Senso-ji. It is in the delightful old entertainment quarter of Asakusa, which is now just an older neighborhood of Tokyo. The temple is nice to see and the neighborhoods surrounding it are pleasant to stroll in but the thing that fits into this thread is the nearly half-mile long covered shopping arcade called Nakamise Dori that runs the entire distance from the outer temple gate to the inner one right in front of the temple grounds. You can spend as much time browsing the stalls as seeing the temple grounds. Any guidebook or tourist map will show it. Then, there is also the water taxi stop right beside Asakusa Station (located in a portion of the beautiful Matsuya Department store) in the riverside park. You can catch the water bus and get a nice, backside view of Tokyo while you ride down toward the bay on the Sumida River. Get off at the intermediate stop at Hama Rikyu Imperial Garden, spend some time in the garden and then catch the water bus back to Asakusa - or just exit the Garden and catch a cab back to your hotel. Hama Rikyu is also only a short walk from the Tsukiji Fish Market but there is not much there in the middle of the day.

If you enjoy shopping, you really should experience an upscale Japanese department store at least once. The really high end stores are in Ginza and some of the other up-scale neighborhoods but the one at Asakusa Station will work fine for that. Matsuya is a well-known store. The white gloved door attendants and elevator girls, sales people who bow and greet you as you approach. It is a whole different world from stores in the west. If you do go, be sure to visit the basement where the food departments are. You can browse and "graze" for the midday meal for very reasonable prices. Buy something to eat that you don't recognize!

JR

There are two subway stations very close to the Sheraton Miyako but neither are 'right underneath' the hotel, they involve a 5-10 minute walk.

There is a very regular complimentary shuttle service to a nearby JR station called Meguro. The shuttle was quick and reliable and, when I used it, departed at set times every 15 minutes.
As the service ran like clockwork throughout the day, it was easy to get myself to the lobby moments before the next shuttle departure and arrive at Meguro station ten minutes later. For some people (myself included) this makes the Sheraton Miyako more convenient for the JR network than the Westin (which involves an 8-10 minute hike along a series of moving walkways).
It is possible to walk to Meguro station from the hotel, this takes around 25 minutes. (The shuttle stops at around 11pm or so, I do not recall the exact time).

----
I should be re-visiting the area just to the North of the Miyako and hope to explore the area more thoroughly now that I don't require MrLapLap to push me everywhere. I'll post any good finds.

It's very hard to keep track of all the dining opportunities in Tokyo, but we've made an attempt. Please do look through the following thread (which does get updated)
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=468207

Ramen offers you a black hole of choice.
Luckily, the internet lets you get an insight on to what you might enjoy.
This youtube user has posted videos with footage of some of the more celebrated of Tokyo's Ramen restaurants.
http://www.youtube.com/profile_video...r=46E2Q&page=2
The same poster was kind enough to include the name and address for each restaurant in English.
It's a fantastic research tool, I'm sure it will get you salivating before your trip.
Please post here if you require help with locating any of the addresses.


As you will be staying in Tokyo, may I also urge you to consider getting this:
http://www.kodansha-intl.com/books/h...770025036.html
Tokyo City Atlas: A Bilingual Guide published by Kodansha.

Good point on the Sheraton's shuttle service. I looked it up and was composing a reply when the forum crashed two days ago. :/

To the OP: the Ramen Museum near Shin-Yokohama station will be a fun excursion--probably best as a part of a day trip to Yokohama. They feature famous ramen restaurants from around Japan in a recreation of old Japan streets setting. The map is on the penultimate page of the online brochure.

In Tokyo, you can find some tachikui udon/soba restaurants. Tachikui means stand and eat. If you guessed that they don't have chairs, you are right. They are usually found near train stations or sometimes on train station platforms for busy commuters to grab a quick bite. I have been to a couple around Kanda but they were nothing special.