DAX

We are planning to spend an entire evening in Tokyo on December 22 (from 6pm to midnight) What's the best area to go? Is there a better area to entertain our son? Shibuya. Shinjuku, Ginza? He's not into Anime or Pokemon, but he is very interested in what Japanese teenagers do for a fun evening.

hawaiiantraveler

For a 17 year old, definitely Shibuya at night or day

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3007.html

a little older and Shinjuku would be my choice......lots more to see and do in Shinjuku

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3011.html

Aloha!

Mary2Go

My 19 year old son enjoyed lunch at this restaurant in the Harajuku area. Lots of teenagers hanging out, shopping and eating. Harajuku girls are a sight to see! They serve okonomiyaki which is sometimes described as Japanese pizza, although it is more like a pancake. The website has a map, we wound up asking a policeman when we got turned around. Have a great trip, I am sure your son will be fascinated. We got a kick out of buying junk food at the 7-11 by our hotel!


http://www.sakuratei.co.jp/en/index.html

DAX

Thanks Hawaiantraveller & Marytogo, the links are very helpful. It seems that Shinjuku is better than Shibuya, at least according to my neighbor who travels there for business.

Any other suggestion? Any further food recommendation? How do I get to Shinjuku from the Ueno Station. Is there anything interesting around the Ueno station?

crosscheck

My boys (then 13 and 16) loved the electronics in Akihabara, the high-tech bowling in our hotel (the Prince Park Tower) and although they are not "gamers" or shoppers, they could have spent an entire day and night in the video arcades and sneaker stores of Shinjuku. (BTW -"Arcade" in Japanese is "Game Centah".)

Sneakers are a MUST buy - You will see styles there that are not available here. Many teens in all of the above locations. They were fans of ALL the food - noodles, sushi and fancier places.

DAX

Thanks all, we had fun exploring Shinjuku. We spent over an hour hunting for a sports card store that our son found on the internet. It was an unusual store on the fifth floor of a residential apartment building selling rare baseball & football cards. The most interesting part for me was the narrow food alley immediately north of the train station. I enjoyed watching all the locals enjoying themselves inside the small udon bar, yakitori grill house etc. The places were so tiny that we could actually see the food from the alley.

crosscheck: You're right about the sneakers. Our daughter went crazy over all the sneakers that she never saw in the US.