Thanks, bluegreentravel:). Yes, the capsule hotel was quite the experience, not bad for $26 a night in Shinjuku too:).

I've censored out my signature & DOB. My name is on my website (dsw-photo.com) so figured it is too late to be anonymous:).

Thank you, travelgirl88:). The depreciation of the yen makes everything 20-25% cheaper than it was a year or two ago. Eating out was quite reasonable, plenty of cheap restaurants where you can eat for 600-800 yen. The sushi I got at Tsukiji was my most expensive meal at 3500 yen. I didn't visit any 'higher-end' restaurants though.

The subway wasn't too hard to navigate. I only had a little trouble sussing out the different JR lines and the subway system though, but nothing too difficult. E.g. you can get from Shinjuku to Shibuya on either the JR lines, or on the subway, but I never figured out what was best/easiest.

You'll have a great time, I've been to quite a few Asian countries, but Japan is truly unique. Very friendly and polite people and so much to see and take in:).

Yes, a good source of advice & info. I spent quite a bit of time planning my trip to fit in as much as possible in the short time, and think it really helped.

Fantastic TR, and amazing photos ^ Thank you for sharing!

Your TR brings back fond memories of our own vacations to Tokyo. It has been a couple of years since we've been there and I'm hoping to get back again soon.

Great photos and an excellent report. It definitely makes me want to visit some day!

Great report!

Great pictures! The weather this weekend was wonderful, I even managed to arrive after the rain ended on Friday. I spent a few days in Narita and never actually made it to Tokyo. Sometimes quiet is nice.

Brilliant photography!! I'm sure you have much better equipment, but my respectable compact megazoom bit the dust on my flight over to Japan in January. Boy was I pissed. Seeing your pictures makes up for my loss of them.. thank you!

Too funny. The very first hotel I stayed at in Tokyo was at the suidobashi grand. It was back when I was a wee lad and met Frederick Fennell with our current band director. In fact, this was during his tenure as the initial director of the Tokyo wind ensemble.

Nice TR. many places I have enjoyed. I have 14 days in Japan in June. My 4th trip back since may 07.

Loved the TR. All your TRs are awesome. Thank you Daniel :)

Very nice report.

I'll be in Hong Kong for the first time in August, 2.5 days. I hope I can hang like you did here!

we are going in June and really appreciate the info
Great pictures

Thank you, Madone59:). I have always wanted to visit Japan, and when planning my annual trip back to NZ, tried to sus out some options via Japan. The best way was with Emirates/JetStar. The cost via the Emirates website was ~$US6000, but when I booked the same flights through Kayak.com, it was a more reasonable ~$US1800:).


Cheers, El Cochinito. I would really love to go back some time and see abit more too:).

Thanks, dakid23:).

Thanks, Cohall:). Yes, definitely one of those rare places where everything is easy, convenient, but with still a decent dose of culture/new experiences:).

Cheers, Feorlen:). Narita sounds like a cool town to explore, on my list for next time:).

Cheers, jpetekYXMD80:). Yes, an easy place to taek great photo's. You should have gone to Akhihabara and picked up a new one:).

Thanks, mkjr:). Yes, the hotel was a great place to stay. Nothing flash, but very clean, cheap, a decent breakfast buffet, and three subway/JR stations within walking distance.

One thing that intrigued me though was the housekeeping. They changed everyone's bedsheets with clean ones each day. Is this a Japan thing? It was definitely a business/family establishment and not a love hotel anyway:)!

14 days will be a great amount of time to see the country too:).

Thank you, DL17:). Hopefully a few more TR's in the next few months.

Cheers, brg:). I used the Lonelyplanet 'Tokyo' guide to help plan and guide me around, was a real great resource of info.

Thanks, Gamecock:). Hong Kong looks like a cool place to explore. I haven't been yet though, apart from the airport.

Your trip report is exactly what I was in the mood for tonight. Inspirational and poetic. Your pictures do most of the talking along with the to the point captions. I enjoyed all of it and look forward to more and using it as a reference for future trip to Japan. Would you say it is worth buying electronics (minus the plug/hydro) there?

cheers

Great TR as usual DanielW! Been a fan of all of your past reports, especially the amazing photos, so always glad to see another report. As others have said, this is a bit of a "tamer" locale compared to the other reports.

I've been to Japan many times and always enjoy going back - love the range of foods as well, going from expensive but high quality sushi to inexpensive but still very good ramen.