internet cafes plentiful in Tokyo?
 

Is it easy to find an internet cafe in Toko? What is the average rate for an hour? Are they usually separate places or in cofee shops?
Also, how much in yen for a cappuccino at Starbucks in Tokyo?
Susie

I have never entered but yes there are many interenet cafes in Tokyo.
Before you go check such websites below cause I think
many of the cafes have only Japanese signs outside.

http://www.digi-promotion.com/tokyo-...-internet.html
http://www.cybercafe.com/

Avarage price seems to be 400 - 600 yen half an hour.

Cappuccinos at Starbucks are
290 yen, 340 yen and 390 yen.

Some hotels do offer free internet connection.

In Tokyo, I have seen many (and used some of them) Manga Kissa(manga coffee shop). That's where you can 1. pick any manga(comic books) from the shelves and read, 2. Access to Internet for e-mail and surfing 3. Play video games on pc. If you want only 2, the charge could be yen 200-300/15 min. or as stated by Franmboise, about 400-600/30 min. The charge usuanlly includes (without exception where I have been to) various free drinks as much as you want from self-service machine. Most of them were clean places. When I was in Tokyo at the beginning of this month, the lowest rate I found was at a less (relatively)clean manga kissa near Shimo-kitazawa station. The charge was Yen180 for 15min (I think it was not for 30min but my memory is sort of blur). There is one large and clean manga kissa I use once or twice when I'm in Tokyo. It is located at the basement floor on the main street of Shinjuku and a few doors from Kinokuniya Book Store.

As KMloke said some or even many hotels provise free access. The following bisiness hotel chain I have used have a couple of pc at the reception area for free use. Toyoko Inn & Super Hotel.

Do you already know where you will be staying? Maybe I know one near where you will be.

The seats are usually open style with partition (like at a library) or there sometimes are semi-private seats for higher charge.

We are staying at Hotel New Gyominso, a business hotel right across the street from the Asakusa subway station. So any place in the Asakusa neighborhood would be benri (convenient).

I haven't been to any in the area so I did some search and came with the following. They should be all within 5-7minutes walk from Gyomin-So.

Papyrus
http://www9.ocn.ne.jp/~papyrus/
They have an English page. Their accces map even has your hotel Gyomin-So on it. 100yen/10 minutes

Chotto-kibun-tenkan
Asakusa 1-42, Denki-Kan Pacific Court B2. 400yean/1hour

Hot Station (chain manga-cyber cafe)
Asakusa 1-10-5 KN Asakusa bld. 7th Fl.
By Tawara-machi subway station 450yen/1hour

I just realized. You will be staying in NEW Gyomin-so. Papyrus is near Gyomin-so. I don't know here New G.is but it still should not be too far from the cafes above.

If it is a business hotel you might find it has free internet access!

Well they have internet as that's how I found them and made the reservation, by e-mail. They have a port in the rooms but I don't have a laptop. Maybe they'll be nice and let me use their computer if I pay them.

No.. what I mean is that they have a couple of computers set up in the foyer area. Usually, you can press a couple of buttons and then they convert to English!
The Tokoyo Inn Chain is the group of hotels we stayed in which had the "free" computers.

Sorry, what I meant is that they MAY have computers set up in the foyer area. We stayed at the Tokoyo Asakusa which was about $120 for a double room and they had the computers.

kappa: I went to the web site for Papyrus and printed the map. I looked at the Japanese part of the site and the Gyominso hotel shown is the same as New Gyominso. This cafe appears to be a 5 minute walk so very handy. Thanks for the help/advice.

Great! Good luck.

Susie - how was the New Gyominso Hotel? I've been trying to get a reservation but they have not returned my e-mail.

It seems convenient to the subway.

Dave

Hi

My wife and I went to a couple of internet cafes in Tokyo but they were not easy to find. But we asked around and found places in Shinjuku, Ginza etc. There is a bit Mac store in the Ginza area where I checked my mail for free :-) And on some hotels there were terminals where it was possiblr to surf the net for 10 minutes for 100yen. I have posted a trip report with some pictures on my homepage http://gardkarlsen.com. Maybe you can find some useful info there.

Regards
Gard

Agree about the Mac store in Ginza - they have many free computers for internet use on the top floor. It's the best free internet deal for tourists in Tokyo. There's also a Mac new store in Shibuya. If you're in the Omotesando area, try the big Starbucks that has some free terminals sponsored by Yahoo. You'll also find Kinkos around some stations in central Tokyo and you can use the internet there, though it's not so cheap.

We stayed at Sunroute Asakusa Hotel earlier this year, and I used an internet cafe a couple of blocks down the street. It was on the 7th floor of an office building with a Vodaphone outlet on the first floor. There were a couple of different payment plans, and was very reasonable.

One thing to remember if you're looking for an Internet place in Japan - always look up - most of the time they're on high levels such as 7th floor! Learn the Japanese writing for "internet" and look upwards!!

oh yes - I went to that one! It's called Hotto BB Station. If you start at the kaminarimon gate of Asakusa (facing the TIC)(Kaminarimon Ave) and walk right for about one block you'll come to a big intersection (Kokusai Ave). Turn right there and it's a few buildings along - a Vodafone shop on the ground floor & a lift on your left. You will be required to sign up & get a membership card which entitles you to a free drink. Hope you can find it OK.

That's the one, japanfreak. I couldn't remember the name, but Hotto BB station sounds familiar. I still have my membership card somewhere. I am an early riser, and would usually go for a walk before dawn, which always included a stop at the internet cafe to check email. The guy who worked the desk early in the morning soon came to remember my name and my non-smoking preference.