3 days in Tokyo
 

HI everyone,

My husband and I are starting our trip through Asia in Tokyo (via a 3 day layover) and are really looking forward to it. I was hoping that someone out there might have some suggestions on a budget -friendly hotel (we're not goingdirt-cheap, but still don't want to spend a fortune) in a great location. I know we are planning on going to the fish market and the electronics area, but are there any good tours of the city that we can sign up for? Also, we will be spending my husband's 30th birthday there and he loves sushi, so any great restaurant recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks for your help!

I stayed at the Sakura Ryokan in Iriya, Tokyo in 2000 and it was pretty nice. It was near the Iriya subway station but not near a lot of sites. You could walk to the Asakusa Kannon Temple but it would take 15-20 minutes at least. The staff was nice and spoke English. It is more of a business hotel rather than a traditional ryokan but it was worth the value. One of the things I didn't like was having to insert coins into the TV to get it to run. Here is a link with a brief description and a map:

http://hotels.lonelyplanet.com/hotel...n-P122836.html

Also, just go to a sushi place that looks good. It is really hard to recommend a place since the lettering is almost always in Japanese. Most of the restaurants in Tokyo have the plastic food in the window on the outside so you can get a good idea what they serve. We did go to a nice sushi place in the Takashimaya Mall in Shinjuku though but I have no idea what it was called. It was on one of the upper restaurant floors. Enjoy Tokyo, it is very interesting!

I am looking at a hostel in the Ikebukuro area. It seems pretty decent and is near the Ikebukuro station. Is this a nice area to stay in? Are we pretty accessible to all of the sites? My main concern is the fish market. I'd love to see the tuna auction, but I know you have to be there extremely early in the morning.

If you come from the US you will usually wake up very early the first day. You can then just stay up and take the subway to Tsukiji. I think Ikebukuro is pretty far north and Tsukiji is pretty far south so the ride may take a bit but then you are closer to most of the sites.

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