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 Traveller's Tales: Getting around in Tokyo, Japan
Know the most popular landmarks in Tokyo, Japan. You may read about best transportation, recommended travel itinerary, suggested routes and directions. Also, you might want to read our
city guide.
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31 July 2005 |
Stayed at New Otani Tokyo - Tokyo, Japan.
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We visited Kyoto during the last week of July. Enjoyed visiting the Temples, Shrines, and the Emperor's Palace, but the place is very hot during summer. We found Taxi to be the most convenient way to see the sites in a relatively short time. Don't miss the evening show of watching fishermen using diving birds to catch fish.
Tokyo was tolerable in heat, but humidity was not very comfortable. Metro system is truly outstanding and one doesn't need to know Japanese to quickly figure it out. Get the 1000 Yen Passnet which almost serves all Metros and makes life a lot easier. It is like having a Metro debit card, thus one does not need to buy tickets every time. During our one week stay, we experienced a 6.1 earthquake, a typhoon, and another 4.7 earthquake, but that is nothing unusual in Japan. Visiting Japan is an amazing cultural experience.
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| A Gers |
15 June 2005 |
Stayed at Mansions at Roppongi, The - Tokyo, Japan.
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Good location. Just 5 walking minutes from Roppongi Station. Japanese restaurants and international cusine are within walking distance ( 5 - 10 minutes ). For those who look for the Hard Rock Café, it's 10 Minutes from the Mansion.
The only thing is: Have the phone number ready when you come with a taxi. Even though they have GPS they couldn't find it. They had to call. Take the "Friendly Limousine" Bus Service from Narita Airport to ANA Hotel Tokyo and then take a cap. It's 3000 Yen for an adult and 1500 for a child (Airport transfer) and the taxi from ANA Hotel Tokyo to the Mansions is about 740 Yen (depends on how quick he finds the hotel - lol). Tokyo Tower one of Tokyo's attractions is within walking distance. But when you come there, I would recommend that you do one of these day tours to see the highlights. For all families: Disneyland and Disney Sea are very easy to reach from the Mansions. It just takes 30 Minutes. The waterpark "Summerland - Water Adventure" is two hrs. away. But in the summertime a blast for kids. And the train ride is fun anyway.
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| L Loi |
05 April 2005 |
Stayed at Park Hotel Tokyo - Tokyo, Japan.
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To find food near the hotel, take the lift that serves directly to B2, walk a short distance to nearby buildings such as Shiodome City Center or Caretta Shiodome and be spoit for choice by the extensive range of restaurants and cafes. At lunch time, you can easily find a great set meal for about US$10. There are many shops, cafes, restaurants located along the linkway between the hotel and Shimbashi Station. For a nice day trip, visit Yokohama and see the reputed world's biggest Chinatown. The place is really buzzing with activities. Take the subway from Shimbashi to Shibuya (Ginza Line) and transfer directly to Yokohama line. It takes about 40 minutes on the express train.
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| J Mata |
19 March 2005 |
Stayed at Mansions at Roppongi, The - Tokyo, Japan.
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Awesome place for lunch - Danto, about a couple blocks from Ginza station - located in the basement of an office building. Cute, traditional style lunch establishment with very friendly staff. One of the waitresses was especially amused at the size of my gaijin Born loafers ("Oki-desu!") which failed to fit in the shoe cabinets. Food is great, and you cannot beat the set courses for value and taste. Check out Frommer's Tokyo Guidebook for more details. We also loved a Koren BBQ place in the mall ourside of the Disney Resort - a bit on the expensive side (naturally, given its location), but DELICIOUS. Take a Japanese friend, as (surprisingly, again given its location) there are no English menus.
Freshness Burger - not so much. Avoid this place unless you need something to soak up the booze after a night in Roppongi/Shinjuku/etc. Getting around: incredibly easy. Public transport in Tokyo is a completely hassle-free experience. Read the maps carefully (if possible, plan out your trip beforehand using a site like zone81.com's subway planner) and check out the Romanji translations in all stations, and you are set! We loved Tokyo (and our one day in Kyoto). We hope to come back very soon to experience more of the city - eight days and we only scratched the surface!
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| B Mary munck |
05 February 2005 |
Stayed at Akasaka Excel Hotel Tokyu - Tokyo, Japan.
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We were all over Tokyo visiting tourist sites and general shopping. We used the subway and JR trains which provide very efficient transportation. We liked the Shabu-shabu restaurant in the hotel for a Japanese treat and several of the restaurants by the Akasaka-Mitsuke subway stop were very good.
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| A Law |
31 December 2004 |
Stayed at Mansions at Roppongi, The - Tokyo, Japan.
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If you take AirBus to ANA hotel, after you get off the bus, go inside ANA hotel and take escalator one floor upwards and you will see taxi stand at the front door. Make sure you download the Hotel map and present it to taxi driver. Watch out the hotel lightbox on your left.
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| C Chung |
10 December 2004 |
Stayed at Mansions at Roppongi, The - Tokyo, Japan.
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The Metro is the easiest way to get around Tokyo. If there is a day you know you are going to ride the Metro a good amount I would recommend the 1-Day Fun Pass for 1000 Yen (about $10) for the TOIE and Tokyo Metro Line so you don't have to think about the cost. If you're not sure about how much to buy your ticket, buy the cheapest then pay the fare difference when you arrive at your destination station at the Far Adjustment Machine before you go through the turnstiles. Roppongi Hills just opened up and at night it's a lovely area to walk around; it has museums/gallery, restaurants, shops, movie theatre, and views! If you're thinking about getting electronics in Tokyo you might want to think twice. With all the globalization, the electronics in Tokyo are not as far from what we have in the States. I bought a digital camera and came home and found it being sold at Best Buy. Good thing the price is about the same. And if you buy it at home, you're guaranteed to get instructions in English! I would recommend buying snacks and Japanese souvenirs to bring home instead.
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| P Den duyn |
29 November 2004 |
Stayed at Park Hotel Tokyo - Tokyo, Japan.
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Tokyo is a great city to visit, yes it is one of the more expensive cities in the world. It is a first world city and puts most to shame when it comes to cleanliness and thoughtfulness of other people. That said it still has its own funny idiosyncrasies. For a western lady, watch out going to a public toilet, the tradeoff for that is more shopping than you could possible imagine. It seemed every train stop on the JR line had multiple malls 10 stories high. The subway and railway is a little confusing, bring along a subway map in English (found at all hotels) and then it is much easier to work out where to come and go. Not much is in English and the JR railway line and Tokyo subway line are run sort of independant of each other yet appear to be seamless. The parks and shrines are amazing and well worth a visit to any that you come across, make sure you visit any before 4:00pm as they generally shut around then and you will need some time to absorb it all. There are plenty of places to let your hair down once the sun goes down, Shibuya and Shinjuku are 2 areas that we found however there are plenty more.
All sorts of cuisines exist, however the more japanese you go the harder it is to order, but not impossible as they will try to help you as much as possible.
Overall, Tokyo is well worth a visit, just a little difficult to understand some things, but sometimes we have to get "lost in translation".
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| R Liu |
21 September 2004 |
Stayed at Mansions at Roppongi, The - Tokyo, Japan.
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Stayed at Mansions at Roppongi on the first part of a week-long visit to Japan in late September. This was definitely the best accomodation we had on the whole trip compared to the Westin Miyako in Kyoto and the Shinagawa Prince in Tokyo. Mansions is on a small side street - very quiet w/o street noise - a block or two off Roppongi Dori, on the right heading away from Roppongi Crossing (intersection of Roppongi Dori and Gaien-Higashi Dori - lots of taxis here) and the Almond Coffee Shop (if you hit Roppongi Hills, go the other way) - looks like an alley, but you can see the big white Mansions sign down the alley. Despite the great location, we ended up spending very little time in Roppongi itself. We had a great curry udon at Roppongi Hills, a large outdoor mall complex that is also connected to Roppongi Metro station. We had foot massages at an upstairs salon on Gaien-Higashi and dessert at the Almond. We actually spent one night browsing an all-night department store on Gaien-Higashi that had anything you could possibly need from costumes and socks to electronics and manicures. Walking at night is safe, but you will be eagerly invited into bars and night clubs by non-Japanese guys just doing a job.
Overall, this would be our first choice to stay in Tokyo. Although you could find cheaper hotels, in my limited experience, it would be difficult to get a better value than this.
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| J Ong |
10 September 2004 |
Stayed at Mansions at Roppongi, The - Tokyo, Japan.
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Tokyo is still an expensive city despite years of struggling under a deflationary economy. The best way to move around is by subway, and taxi is a no-no (use it as a last resort) as it's ridiculously expensive. For foreign tourists, best to buy a JR Pass (Japan Railway Pass) before leaving home as it's not for sale anywhere in Japan. This pass will cover most if not all trains going to different cities in Japan, plus the JR lines running within Tokyo. Japanese food is generally good but the best could only be found by chance or recommended by locals as most speak Japanese only. Also, set lunches are better value for money vs a-la-carte menu at dinners. Akasaka temple is a good place to visit and Disneyland is definitely enjoyable for family. Other than that, there are more interesting venues in cities outside Tokyo.
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