Stopover in Japan (Narita-Tokyo)
 

Hi all,

I'm heading back to HK in the summer (June-July) with the girlfriend. As we are flying JAL we have the pretty much standard stopover at Narita airport

Since we are there, we are planning a short, mini 3-day trip of the city... any suggestions? (we aren't big clubbers or drinkers... so mainly "what your parents will bring you to")

I got several more popular ones for now...
1. Tokyo Tower
2. Imperial Castle/Palace
3. Tokyo Amlux AutoSalon

roppongi hills city view
that fish market place to get super fresh sushi
shibuya
shinjuku

Go to the hot springs at the Tokyo Dome.

But yeah, Shibuya, Shinjuku, you can easily spend a few days wandering around and shopping/eating at random places. If you're a nerd, you could speed 3 days in Akihabara alone, easily.

For fresh sushi at Tsukiji, you gotta be there at like 5am, and you'll have to line up. Might be worth it though.

good site to check on the spots to hit up in Tokyo:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2164.html

If you like sightseeing then I recommend places like Odaiba or Asakusa great places to take pictures and walk around.

Well we now have 4 days there...

Oh god I always though Akihabara would be a 1/2 day ordeal for me... but since I'm a super nerd.... QQ

Thanks for the Hot Springs suggestion skinnypupp, GF actually brought it up today she wants to go hit one up.

Shibuya would be a definate stop.

Again, thanks for all the suggestions!

I'd recommend Shibuya for shopping, not so much for eating. But it's a walk away to Harajuku (shopping/eating) & Ebisu (eating). Depends on what you plan on shopping/eating where to go as well.

there's a place called the manyo club in Yokohama (about 45mins train ride from tokyo)...there's hot springs + massages

Ikebukuro has Sunshine City, a big underground mall that's connected to the Sunshine Tower I think...there's a few places of interest there as well

i'd recommend visiting sunshine city and going to namjatown to try out some weird ice cream. octopus, pit viper and cow tongue ice cream are must try's lol

what's in Akihabara?

I thought akihabara was a waste of time. Nothing there to go "wow" about in my opinion, but go anyways so you can form your own thoughts. I guess it's good the first time around. Here's where I'd go again;

-odaiba (seaside mall or something like that, and super autobacs if you like cars and that)
-ginza
-walk around imperial palace (really nice on a sunny day)
-ikebukuro
-shibuya
-temple in asakusa

hmmm ... there's a mall by tokyo station that I thought was cool. Found a place that sold dragonball stuff. Can't remember what it was called.

Take small trips outside of tokyo. Utsunomiya is pretty cool for the temples and stuff. Aside from that, just sit back, relax, and take it all in.

i don't know if they still do this, but Sunday's at Akihabara is when the cosplayers come out.

some random guy mowed down pedestrians and went on a stabbing rampage a few days after i was there, that's why they cancelled that for a while

Tokyo Tower is a waste of time.

While you're in Shinjuku, hit up the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. It's got better views of the city AND it's free AND more accessible than Tokyo Tower.

Here's the link.
http://www.metro.tokyo.jp/ENGLISH/TMG/observat.htm

If you're a beer lover, I'd definitely hit up Asakusa. The HQ for Asahi is there, and you can catch a quick cab ride to Sensoji Temple. A couple of my pics...
(PS - I suggest Temple first, Asahi second LOL)

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._1434436_n.jpg

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._4920400_n.jpg

Here was my thread from 2009
http://www.revscene.net/forums/photb....html?t=587718

^ thanks man I'll take a good look at that thread

I you like ramen, check this out.
http://www.japanbash.com/2010/01/ram...-must-try.html

I tried Tetsu and Basanova green curry ramen.
2 of the best ramen I've ever had! Well worth it looking for it if you like ramen.
Basanova might be a more of a detour as you have to take a few private rails, but Tetsu is along the Yamanote line which is on the line you will be on to get to all the main locations mentioned above.

The green curry ramen I had at Basanova.
They have a few english speakers there if you need help ordering from the machine.
http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/8272/dsc02341et.jpg

Tetsu Ramen with soft boiled egg.
I couldn't read the menu on the machine so I chose the most expensive one.
Also lucked out on the add on for a soft boiled egg which was what i was trying for.
http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/1696/dsc02771t.jpg http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/609/dsc02772oy.jpg

This was the best food blog I found when I was planning my japan trip. http://paulstravelpics.blogspot.com/...ion-guide.html


I also suggest you get this. Awesome train with a power outlet on each seat.
This will save you a lot on the round trip from the airport and even comes with a suica card loaded with 1500 yen.
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/suica-nex/

The people above gave you most of what you should do, but what about your gf? Since you have a girlfriend, you may want to do something she wants:

1. Roppongi hills in Roppongi. Shop shop shop with famous brands.
2. Laforet in Harajuku. More shop shop shop with lots of different genres. From the cool hip hop style to the famous visual kei style and even some lolita stuff. Eye opener right here.
3. Cosmoworld in Yokohama. You must go with the girlfriend and ride the Cosmo clock 21 at night. Huge ferris wheel that lights up at night. Amazing view and super romantic.
4. Eat lots of fresh sashimi and sushi. I liked a restaurant in Kanda. It's called Edokko sushi edonoya. Cheaper than lots of other places but amazing quality.
5. You will be going to Akihabara, but your gf will be bored. Extremely bored. Therefore in the middle of your Akiba trip, go to a Taito game station and win her a stuffed toy from a UFO catcher.
6. Go to a maid cafe in Akiba. It's called @home cafe. Google for address. Go with your gf and see what happens.

I have pictures of the items above here if you like to see. http://garychan.ca/tokyo/

Can you take me? I won't bother you (much). You can probably just leave me at Asahi HQ, I'll be good.

Eating won't be an issue there, since they're freaks about the quality and cometition is tough, anything will be better than here.

Don't waste your time at Tokyo Tower or at the Fish Market. The hardcore chefs get their stuff from there anyways, so no worries because its all frozen anyways.

Just goto Yodobashi Camera in Akiba and you'll definitely come out with something you didn't expect.

i'd recommend checking out paul's blog as well for some interesting things to check out in japan. he use to post on rs but i haven't seen him in awhile here.

Hahah Asahi HQ was so awesome. Definitely a must-go :)

Here's the buildings as you walk up across the bridge
http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._3935324_n.jpg

BEER BEER BEERRR
http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._4920400_n.jpg

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._4513265_n.jpg

Pee break lol
http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._3599826_n.jpg

Tokyo tower... sadly I didn't go when I went.

sega city in akhibara (must go arcade).

um honestly, I just got lost in the city, and had no general direction on what I wanted to see. I stumbled about a russian orthodox church and I thought that was fantastic. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3380/...014aeb92_b.jpg

laneways are pretty cool too

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3652/...aa4ccc6c_b.jpg

tsukiji is pretty cool


shibuya station

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3616/...d1e3ce33_b.jpg

lots of old temples

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3595/...11e9699b_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3334/...85169e16_b.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andreassamaris/sets/72157616857446483/
take a look. Enjoy japan.

*sigh* im starting to think even though we extended to 4 days it will nowhere be enough...

4 days is sufficient to see all the "must-sees"

I'm going in May, and luckily my flight lands in Haneda :)
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-.o 3 day's?...thats not nearly enough,it's so vase.

When we booked the flight back to HK, we never planned it because we thought our parents would never let us do that/we felt uncomfortable asking.

but then the awesome thing is that both my parents and her parents suggested we do a short sidetrip to japan...