Tokyo districts
 

Hi everybody, I am sending my husband and 16 year old daughter overseas next April (2025) and they will likely spend 4 nights in Tokyo. I will be doing most of the organising, but except for an overnight near Narita in 1985 I have never been to Tokyo and don't know the districts. My daughter is a Japanophile and wants to shop in Harajuku. My husband has been to Japan for a couple of days 20 years ago but stayed with a friend and so has no recollection of the districts. They will probably just see everything anew as my husband will defer to my daughter's interests (the second part of the trip in Europe will be more for him). What would be a good area to stay in for novices? At the moment they will likely be coming from Haneda airport but we haven't booked airfares yet.

Additionally if you could comment on the location of this hotel: https://www.discoverasr.com/en/citad...shinjuku-tokyo . I know Shinjuku is away from downtown Tokyo, would this be too far away from attractions? I like serviced apartments / aparthotels for our family generally, looking for 3-4 star accommodation. Any and all comments welcome, I am still quite lost with areas (and I know, I need a guidebook).

Lavandula

Just a few thoughts. One is that 4 nights/3 days is a very short time to visit Tokyo. Second, JNTO is a good website with information about visiting Japan. Third, one can stay in any number of areas in Tokyo depending a bit on what one wants to do. Shinjuku is fine and is 2 stops away from Harajuku on the Yamamoto train line. I have stayed at the Citadines you mention. It's ok although rooms are small. Clean. Maybe a 15 minute walk to the Shinjuku train station. Safe.

Hi mjs, thanks for your thoughts. We might be able to extend by a day or two but there are time constraints as my husband will have to make an appointment in the second half of the trip (after they leave Tokyo) and my daughter only has a short period of leave as she will be on school holidays. So there is some wiggle room but it will depend a bit on my husband's commitments. I didn't know the JNTO website, I will spend some time combing through that. I think we will have to do some more consultation here at home as to what they will do each day, but in principle if Shinjuku is OK, it seems convenient and we might stick with that area. I will also talk to my husband to see what he thinks of a shortlist of hotels. I found another one called the Knot which is also in Shinjuku but on the other side of the train station, and it seems to be very popular. (if anyone else has comments on the Knot or the Citadines, or another hotel, please do chip in here). Thanks for your thoughts about the Citadines also. I am expecting everywhere to have small rooms. Safe is good, and everyone is up for a walk :)

Lavandula

I should also note that early-mid April is a very busy time for tourism in Tokyo as its cherry blossom time. Generally very good weather. The time I stayed at the Citadines was because my usual hotel was full and I had booked rather late before my trip. Would book hotels soon. Shinjuku is actually a pretty decent area to stay. I often eat out of items from the food floor of the Isetan department store. Shinjuku station is also on the Chuo train line which cuts across the circle line which is the Yamamoto line. Also numerous subway lines too. Shinjuku station is however the busiest train station in the world and even though I have passed through it maybe a 100 times? I can still get disoriented.

I've stayed in Shinjuku on each of my three trips to Tokyo and found it easy enough to get wherever I wanted to go around Tokyo. All three times have been on the west side of the station (Hilton, Hyatt and Keio Plaza), with easy access to the Oedo and Marunouchi metro lines, as well as the Yamanote line at Shinjuku Station (among others). You can also take a limousine bus straight from Haneda to Shinjuku Station and/or some of the hotels in that area. I don't have experience with The Knot but have heard of it -- it's just across the park from the Hyatt, where we stayed last year.

HI, lavandula.

Yes, Shinjuku or Shibuya will be nice for your daughter. Be prepared to see a lot of $300+/night hotels. Tokyo is really expensive, especially if you need twin beds with any bit of space around them. Hopefully, you can find a rate closer to $225. After researching hotels, do check rates at Agoda.com, which is where I've been seeing really good rates. Also, crime is not really an issue in Japan, so don't be concerned about subway pickpockets or muggings. A hotel with convenient access to the Yamanote line would be especially good.

This year, my mother and I stayed in a comfort twin at the Asakusa Tobu Hotel for $154/night for 3 nights. Very crowded tourist area (as all of Tokyo), but we found it very convenient. Pics below. That is NOT on the Yamanote line, but convenient to the Asakusa Line and Ginza Line. The Gate Hotel Kaminarimon is where two of my coworkers stayed and they enjoyed their stays there.

A year ago, my group of six stayed at Hundred Stay Shinjuku, which is an aparthotel. A quick walk to either the Yamanote line (Shin-Okubo station) or the Chuo-Sobu line (Okubo station). They have twin rooms. May be worth looking at that property.

Your daughter will want to go to Harajuku on a Sunday for the best people watching. And if they wander through the beautiful park to Meiji Jingu beforehand, they will likely see wedding parties getting their marriages blessed. Fun things to shop for are the Uni Jetstream Multi-pens, and if they eat at the curry house CoCo Ichibanya, maybe she can get some stickers or a cute keychain of their kitty-cat mascot (see below). I also posted some info for another young woman in another post, which may be of interest.
https://www.fodors.com/community/asi...lease-1726856/

Hope they have a wonderful time in Tokyo!

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...0ca9358515.png
CoCo Curry mascot
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...77f34e8d15.jpg
Tobu Asakusa comfort twin room
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...8d2dbea4e5.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...6cd1e946a7.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...53dc856f00.jpg

Concerning the hotel that ChgoGal mentioned which does look very nice, I just went to their website and for three nights in mid-March it's now about $300 a night.
I brought this up as I have noticed that hotel prices seem to have gone up a lot since last year. The same exact hotel and the same dates where I stayed this spring and plan to stay next spring - March 2025 - has gone up about 30%....and I always compare using Yen not $....just saying....

Also lots of good info about japan on japan-guide.com

Yes, the hotels are super expensive. This Tobu Asakusa stay was for just 2 months ago. I'd booked it on Aug. 24 for an Oct. 19 stay. I was checking rates for months, and when I saw this on Agoda, I jumped. But the next day, the rate for same room was twice as much. Hold cancelable rooms and check often. Just remember to track those holds and cancel!

I'm glad you did ok with Agoda - I have never used it plus I read online that there are sometimes various issues with the price....but I know you are very experienced, ChgoGal!

Thank you for all these valuable tips, they are just great! ! We've found some reasonable room rates so I will hurry to lock those in. Initially we were not thinking of the cherry blossom season, it's a holiday tacked onto a business-related trip to Europe and daughter is along for the ride, but that will be a super pastime this trip. I will make sure we factor this in. The Knot seems to be on a park where I hear there are cherry blossoms so this is now the main contender, but I will check out your suggestions first. I know Agoda, I will check it out. I will also look out for Japan-Guide, mara. The JNTO website is also really good, thanks mjs. I will steer my daughter in that direction as it's very digestible.

We find airfares from Australia are super expensive, too. We were just trying to book last night. Before Covid an airfare to Europe was between A$1500 and A$2000. These airfares are now between A$3600 and A$4100 for economy, almost without exception. We started booking through Skyscanner and selected a fare from a travel agent that had only one star - bad move. Eventually it came to a series of screens where you had to select seats, and each selection cost about $105.00, so for all the plane rides it came to over $800, with a threat that they would just give us random seats if we didn't book. At that point my husband got cross and abandoned the transaction, saying that the airfare was no longer worth it. There were other sellers, just that Mr One-Star was the cheapest by a few dollars. We will try again tonight, but by golly this is a frustrating exercise. And it is already expensive because we are doing a sort of tricky multi-city thing. OK, we will bite the bullet tonight, and I will tell you how we went.

Lavandula

Most airlines now want you to pay for a seat or a slightly higher class fare than the lowest economy....at least I found that on my recent trip from New York to Paris and also on my upcoming trip to Japan on ANA the very cheap economy fare did not allow any seat choice at all......

I think (don't know) that the Citadines location would be more interesting than The Knot. Better location might be Shibuya because of her interest.

Thank you everyone for your contributions thus far. This is what we have done: as per your suggestions I booked a hotel on Agoda, The Knot. This has free cancellation up until 9 April. Agoda was slightly cheaper than elsewhere. I booked it because it is close to Tochomae metro station and there is a park just across the road (Shinjuku Chuo) which has cherry blossom in it, although it is "low key" and not as spectacular as other parks. We hear it is good if we don't want crowded viewing, but probably hubby and daughter will go seek out something better in any case. We are also not far from the government building which has free viewing from the roof. Hubby likes towers so this ticked his box :) . If we find somewhere better we can always cancel and re-book but the reviews from this hotel are quite good. It wasn't the cheapest, not was it terribly expensive, around A$300 a night (about US$190). We are willing to take the risk. Citadines was up around A$3400 for the whole week (A$566 a night!!) and that was a bit too much. Also going by your suggestions, we increased the number of days in Tokyo to 6 nights. I think that suits our daughter better too as she thought that 4 nights wasn't enough. So a win all around. Thank you for everyone's comments on hotels and locations. I am not finished considering hotels but we now have something in case the price goes up.

We also locked in an airfare, SYD-HND HND-BRU BRU-SYD for A$3855 (Qantas / Emirates). I don't want to be grumpy about the airfare. There are changes in Dubai on the last two legs, and we were very picky about the length of the flights, the lengths of the layovers and the timing of the flights so that we have maximum effect in the second part of the trip. We booked through a slightly better-rated ticket reseller. We also ignored the screens that wanted us to book seats, flight cancellation insurance, etc etc. They will give us seats at the airport, that's what used to happen in the olden days, and hubby and daughter will just have to manage. We have yet to buy trip insurance but the tickets were on hubby's Visa card so for now that is protected by the Visa insurance. None of us have ever flown Emirates so this is quite exciting for us, it has quite the hype in Australia.

We will definitely take on board your suggestions about Shibuya and Harajuku, and Meiji Jingu to see weddings. I think they would love that! But another question: does Japan have a visa waiver system like K-ETA or ETIAS? Do we need to do anything beforehand? When it's just me and my daughter travelling I am armed with a barrage of documents (letter from dad saying it's OK to travel with daughter, birth certificate because I go by my maiden name and it's different to our daughter's name, etc). We did get confronted by this in Germany on one occasion but I had all the paperwork. Dad is a lot less particular about this but I am determined they should have all the documentation in place. But as for the sights they see on the trip, I am about to hand the baton over to my daughter for what to see. She can start with this thread, which has been an excellent place to start. Thanks in advance for responses!

Lavandula

It's not so much the neighborhood, but it is far easier to get around being near a subway stop that is not at a train station. Train Stations are big and even if your hotel is close, it could still take you a while to navigate.

The Knot's rooms look comfortably sized, and the rate is great--good to hold something to relieve that pressure. Also, the park will allow for a nice walk if not too crowded. I've never been on mainland Japan during sakura season--that hopefully will be really nice for them. I was thinking this area was near the Bunka Gakuen (fashion) Museum, which I've tried--and failed--to visit. It's not often open, but if your daughter is interested in history or fashion, she should keep an eye on their exhibit page and announcements. https://museum.bunka.ac.jp/exhibition/

Just real quick:
RE: Meiji Jingu; The entrance & path through the park to the shrine begins just southwest of the Harajuku train station. It should be clear as many people will likely be headed in that direction, but thought I'd mention. I've been several times, so I forget if it's clear where the entrance is.

RE: Tech & Money; Google translate on their phones will help them translate things like menus, ticket queuing machines, etc. (Train/Bus/airport signage will be in English.) They'll want an IC card (Suica or Pasmo) for the trains. And Japan is more of a cash country than you'd expect, so a small coin purse, or even a ziploc sandwich bag, to hold coins is helpful. I've had both eSim and Pocket WiFi in Japan, and I do like having a pocket wifi for multiple devices. Also, your family may want to install a web-based phone app like LINE or What's App to communicate.

RE: Shopping; Many stores do not let you try clothes on, or they may have a sample size to try, but not of the actual item. Your daughter should look up what her Japanese sizes are in clothes and shoes. Also, I make a cheat sheet of my sizes, and some general conversions for weather (Celsius to Fahrenheit), Distance (kilometers to miles), money (100 JPY is $.71, 1000 JPY is $7.15, 4000 JPY is $28.72, etc.). Google can do this, but sometimes it’s a pain to type it in. And if spending over $50, there is often Tax Free Shopping/refunds at the larger department stores. It’s usually a separate counter, but the employees are so used to foreigners, they basically just take your receipt, check your passport, and hand you cash back in under a minute.

RE: Food; Finding restaurants to sit down for a meal isn't as easy as you might think. If a place is highly rated, there is often a line during lunch/dinner hours, and tickets to queue. If they're famished, the wait can be irritating. Your daughter should find a YouTube video of how to order at some restaurants, as you may need to push a button to call waitstaff, etc. You should warn your husband and daughter to carry snacks, and not to feel like they've failed if they opt for easy meals, like a bento from a convenience store. (And convenience store foods are fantastic. Especially for cold/hot canned coffees. And--at least once--they should pick up some instant Curry ramen and some chopsticks for the hotel room.) Also, practice with chopsticks from time to time beforehand, and do some fast research on Japanese foods. Katsu Curry (breaded pork), Tempura Udon, Ramen, Karaage chicken/fried chicken, egg-salad sandwiches, sake/salmon flake onigiri/rice balls are great for foreign travelers.

I hope they have a wonderful time in Japan. They will love it if they do a bit of research and preparation on their own. I have seen many foreigners get frustrated by the crowds and food, so I hope they mentally prepare to chill and share the city. I expect they're great travellers, but Tokyo can feel overwhelming. I love it because I feel incredibly safe, and the local people are generally very courteous, and competent in their work. Though, I've noticed they're also less welcoming to foreigners as tourism has exploded there, and it's really changed the landscape for them. Boorish/inconsiderate behavior from tourists is also something I saw a lot of, sadly. Quiet respect and kindness is valued there so much more than in other places.

Have fun planning!

That park, Shinjuku Chuo Park (chuo meaning central) is nice and should not be crowded. It is pretty well off the beaten foreign tourist path. Maybe some tourists from the Hyatt or Hilton but most of them won't even know it exists. Probably some workers from the nearby government offices.

For cherry blossoms go to Shinjuku Gyoen (imperial/national garden). Google says it is a 27-minute walk from The Knot to the main, north, entrance (admission fee). Walk south-ish through the park to the exit near a stop on Oedo Line and take that to Tochomae.Opposite diection would work, subway from Tochomae, south entrance of the park, exit north and you will be close (walk or bus) to Shinjuku Station.中央ChūōDoes mean "central". Saying "Chuo" would have a different pronunciation from Chūō and maybe a different meaning but not in this case. Had to check after realizing that the park is nowhere near the center of Shinjuku. It is in the more western part of Nishi (west) Shinjuku.

btw, it is really easy to get lost in Nishi-Shinjuku. You are going to need a map (or nav) if you want to walk between The Knot and Shinjuku Station. Taxi drivers can get lost there even with a nav system. I would wager that ms_go got lost at least once walking to her hotel from the station.

Oh what amazing tips! Thank you shelemm and ChgoGal! But they do generate some questions: what is an IC card? A kind of bank card? Or a train pass? Where do you get one? And I hadn't expected cash to be important. That will make my husband happy, he seems to be one of the lone voices in Australia still wanting to preserve the cash culture. However it opens up the need to carry and source cash, so we will take that on board. Thank you also for the information about the shopping and sizes. I didn't know about that but it will be tremendously helpful. Also good to have a strategy for currency conversions on a cheat sheet. I would never have thought of that but it will help out both of them. We are OK for celsius and kilometres, Australia is metric. (What side of the road are the cars?? What happens if you stand on the wrong side of the pavement or escalator?)

I think they might end up having lots of meals at convenience stores. The hotel has a bakery and two restaurants but I think my husband will steer away from eating at the hotel unless they are just tired and need a break. Sydney is quite good for Japanese food so we are practised in types of food, and there is a strong SE Asian presence here so they can do chopsticks well enough. I am already thinking about the crowds. Our daughter is neurodivergent (ADHD + some sensory issues) and can't handle some shops (light, noise, and yes, sometimes also people). She said she will take a pair of earplugs, but I am wondering if the crowds will be triggering for her in some way. She is normally a good traveller (we have for instance also been to Hong Kong and she was just fine with the crowds there), and she really wants to see Tokyo, even though I have warned her that there will be a lot of people. If it turns out to be a problem they can just pivot and do parks and gardens a bit more. Even here she can't avoid that issue entirely, but as she gets older she will have to develop her own strategies for coping with this. Anyway, we will see, we won't know until she goes there and Dad will be supportive. But coming back to the food - we discussed packing some food for the morning when they wake up with jetlag at 4am and can't get back to sleep, so we will just extend that and pack a bit more. Thanks also for the tip about YouTube and ordering at some restaurants. My daughter will be all over that! I have printed up this post and the other one you linked to for her to go through with her highlighter at her request, so she will know what to do and will lead Dad in this. They will both be on their best behaviour and will try to be polite. I will make sure they do their research beforehand!

We might come back with some more questions as we research things, so you haven't heard the last of me, but we are now entering the 'digestion' phase. More from us soon!

Lavandula

It is a nice park. We walked thorugh it several times last year (May). Apparently I didn't take any photos in the park, but I did take some of the park from our room at the Hyatt (Mt. Fuji in the background).

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...1eed64d61.jpeg

I'm not sure we got lost walking from the Hyatt (or Keio Plaza on the previous trip) to Shinjuku station, because it's a straight shot right up the street. Getting lost IN the station is another story!

I rarely if ever go to Shinjuku but looking at The Knot Hotel on google maps there is a convenience store - combini - Family Mart - about half a block away on the park side. Most combini are open 24 hours and as ChgoGal said the food there is fine and the staff will heat a takeaway meal for you in their microwave.....Almost every hotel room has a small fridge.....

I found on my trip this spring that credit cards seem to be much more common than they were a few years back. Of course, it is nice to have one without foreign conversion fees if they have them where you are.

Hi there mrwunrfl, I did not see your post yesterday. Thanks for contributing - I am sure Dad and daughter will get lost at least once during the trip. Dad often seems to be getting out of lostness by hailing a cab, but if even the cab drivers get lost - well, we shall just have to make sure they practice map-reading skills. They have no skills in Japanese at all (neither do I) so I appreciate you explaining that ChuoDoes means 'central' (although they probably will not be able to discern the differences between different 'chuo's). They are likely to do more than one park, especially the other big one in Shinjuku. I also appreciate Mara's comments on the combini. I did notice the number of Family Marts on the map, now I see that this is a good thing. When we were in Melbourne earlier this year, we stayed in a district with lots of (mixed Asian) restaurants which has what I now realise must be a combini - it looked like a convenience store but there were a lot of people in there sitting down and eating. There are no convenience stores like this in the centre of Sydney that I know of (although there is a Japanese district on the other side of the harbour, away from us). I will point out those combini to my daughter. She has already started looking through your posts. Thanks also ms_go, nice photo. I think we must have accidentally found a nice area, and I am comforted.

I started looking through some information on the IC cards - there is a lot of information out there on Tokyo. There will be a Tokyo guidebook in daughter's stocking this year so hopefully that will help us bring some of the puzzle pieces together.

Lavandula