My husband has a business trip to Tokyo for 10 days and I?ll be accompanying him. He?ll be working during the day while I?m playing so I?m looking for recommendations of ?must see? attractions. This will be my first trip to Japan---we leave in a week and we?ll be staying at the Grand Hyatt in Roppongi?I?m sure the hotel concierge will have suggestions of places to go but wanted to get your input from first hand experience.

Also, if anyone has any fantastic restaurant recommendations, please share!

Thanks?

Our favorite site was the Edo Tokyo museum, a beautiful modern museum about the history of Tokyo with recreations of historic parts. Good English language explanations. Ueno park. The park is beautiful and the museums there too. Also Tokyo department stores, especially the floors with housewares such a beautiful dishes and wooden serving pieces and the basements with their amazing food shopping. Enjoy your trip!

Go and watch the movie 'Lost in Translation' before you go!

IMHO it would be worthwhile to spend a full or half day with our guide Jun. She will help you to see Tokyo without the hassle of being in a huge busy city where you do not speak the language. Her email is [email protected]. She made our stay in Tokyo.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I'm in Tokyo as we speak and absolutely loving every second.

I did watch the movie Lost in Translation and my husband and I went to the Park Hyatt and had dinner and drinks at the New York restaurant and bar. Not very Japanese but fantastic, sexy atmosphere and great steak!!!

Elainee, thank you so much for recommending Jun. She is a real gem! I spent a full day with her yesterday and I want to echo your sentiments: She showed me a Tokyo I would have never seen on my own. She is lovely and was so grateful that you recommended her!

Anyway, I'm off to enjoy more of the gorgeous weather and sights.

I'll post a trip report when I get home.

Thanks again to you all.

So glad you spent the day with Jun. She is a lovely person and gives you a special view of Tokyo. Thanks for posting this.

Lala: When you post your trip report will you tell us where you went w/Jun? I am considering having her w/us for a daay in Tokyo and am trying to decide what area to concentrate on w/her. Thank you.

Would either Lala8 or Elainee mind telling how much Jun charges?

-Walk through Ueno Park. lots of cool temples and Museums. There is a open air style shopping district south of Ueno train station you may find interesting. peacefull getaway from the massive city

-Tskujii Fish market is quite intersting. I would not miss it, just don't get run over by one of those carts

- Shop, there is so much shopping in tokyo, more than any other city I have ever seen(I have been to many big cities including NYC,London and Paris) I had to Drag my wife out of several stores. She is small so all of the clothes fit her very well. Do you husband a favor, shop during the day while he works.
My wifes favorite area to shop was Shibuya (which is good for me beacuse it is very fun to wander around there while she did her thing. Ginza is also a great shopping area (lots of larger deptarment stores). Harjuku/Ayromona has lots of stores and boutiques for the younger crowds. Shinjuku has quite alot of shopping also. Actually most everywhere in Tokyo has lots of shopping - these are just some of the larger Shopping zones.

- Go shopping (oh yeah I already mentioned that) - but no really you will be blown away by the insane amout of shopping these people do (where the heck to they but it all?)

- Shinjuku has some free observatories on top of a couple of buildings that you can go to.

- Asakusa Senjoi temple is a nice place to check out - a nice area to walk around also (old japan looking area)

- Menjoi temple (near Shinjuku - I am sure I did not spell it right) is very nice also

- Take a day trip to Kamakura, a little sea side village about an hour from tokyo, you could easily do this by yourself, there is an excelent english speaking tourist office in the train station that will explain all the sites. You will see a Giant Bronze Budda and you can climb up a large wooded hill to see temples and ocean views - the whole town can be seen in about 6 hours


I don't really think you need a guide - just a good book. But if the guide is affordable go for it, it will be helpful for the language assitance alone. Make sure you have a phrasebook with japanese characters in it. Don't worry about transport though all subway signs and announments are in english

A question for Lala8 and Elainne - re. Jan:

We booked a tour in Japan - april 2005, but we shall arrive to Tokyo 2 days before tour starting. It seems to us a good ideea to have guide for our first day.
Can you please give me more information about Jan - can she propose a itinerary or is she ready only to show what we want to see and visit? Has she a car? how much she charge? How much time in advance have we to contact her?

Thank you in advance.

Liliana

Valtor,

If you are on a guided tour for most of your Trip to japan - you are really not going to need a guide. The first day you will be a zombie from jet lag(assuming you are coming from the US) anyway. Just buy a good guidebook and you will be fine. Tokyo is EXTREMLEY safe and friendly. It is fast paced but you get used to it. Most train stops are in english. And if you stay in a hotel with engish speaking staff (you probably are) they can direct you to resturants and etc.
If you have ever navigated subways in NYC, PAris,London you will be fine in tokyo. even if you have not maps are all over have have english writing on them most of the time. Line are also colorcoded

I think a guide would be usefull - but since you are on a tour it really is overkill.

Elainee really raved about her guide Jun....really, really raved about her. Sounded to me like she made their stay in Tokyo truly special, and they saw a lot of things they never would have managed on their own. They were with her before they started a tour, too, and were oh so glad they did. [email protected] is Jun's e-mail.

Newly arrived in Japan with jetlag, you can waste a lot of time just trying to get oriented and decide what to see. To many, Tokyo ends up being much bigger and spread out than they anticipated. Yes, it's easy, but going from point A to point B often takes lots longer than imagined, and although the subway lines are easy to read and navigate, the multiple entrances and exits confuse even Tokyoites. To make the absolute most of your time, I would recommend a personal guide....the tour group guide will follow the tour and not deviate...a personal guide will help you see whatever you like. I believe her price was quite reasonable too...I'd do it if possible.

Kim: you have made me think about my plan for the first few days after we land, re jet lag and getting oriented. I'm going to post now asking for some advice on that.

From Elainee's prior post, you can see that Jun charges $100 half day, $150 full day.
For more info, click on Elainee's name and her posts will come up; the recent one recommending Jun is easy to spot ("great Tokyo guide", or something like that)

Thanks to all. I wrote to Jun and already received her answer. As our time in Tokyo is limited and we want to use it to see as much we can, we shall take a full day tour with she for the first day and a half day tour for the second day. So, we shall have an afternoon free time to walk alone.
Then, we start our Japan tour with General tours.

In Europe we never take a tour, but there we stay longer,the towns are smaller (much more smaller), the language is not a problem, etc..