We are planning to stay 3 days in Tokyo and I was thinking of taking a half-day tour on the first day for orientation. We are experienced travelers but since everything is so spreadout in Tokyo I do not know how best to plan our time there. I was looking at half day Cityrama Tokyo Morning Tour - Meiji Shrine, Asakusa, Ginza. Did anybody take this tour or any other? Any recommendations are much appreciated.

I don't think you would need to take the city tour since you don't have that much time. Suggest you visit by area. Eg Go around

1. Meiji shrine, Harajuku, Omote Sando
2. Asakusa, Akihabara and Ueono.
3. Odaiba (with train ride across Rainbow Bridge) Stop by at Toyota Megaweb if you love cars. Really most amazing car showroom in the world (altho they don't actually sell cars there).
4. Marunouchi (Imperial Palace, Tokyo Station (lots of food and shopping), Yurakuacho (yakitori alley) and Ginza
5. Roppoingi Hills and Shinjukur or Shibuya.

That way don't have to travel all over Tokyo in a day. Won't need to backtrack.

Hope this helps. Of course where you actually choose to go would depend on your interests.

Hi, Irina11 ! When I visited Tokyo for the first time last year, I also looked into 1/2 day sightseeing tours. My hotel had a brochure from GrayLine, with a morning 1/2 day tour and an afternoon 1/2 day tour. I took them both, but on different days. I was very pleased, as I saw a lot in the spread out city. I still had time to re-visit sites I wanted to, and to explore new sites. I always take the 1/2 day tours in new cities; it's an easy way to get one's bearings. Enjoy your stay!

Another way is to take the JR Yamanote line which goes through most of Tokyo in a loop. Good thing it's above ground most of the way.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2017.html

stop where you fancy.

Irina, we made a trip to Japan with General Tours. They arranged a morning city tour with Sunrise tour (a Japaneese company). They had good guides and confortable bus.
Apart from this, we had one and a half a private guide who took us in all the places that we wanted to visit. This helped us a lot, because as you, we had not too much time in Tokyo, but we wanted to see as much as possible.

Hi

We took a tour with Sunrise tours and that was OK. You can check out my trip report with pictures and links on my homepage http://gardkarlsen.com/japan_tokyo.htm . But it was also quite easy to get around using the subway and with the guidebook

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

I just returned from 2 weeks in Japan. We spent 6 days in Tokyo which we loved!! It is a fabulous modern city with fewer specific "sights" but many wonderful places to visit.

If you are going to Kyoto, I'd skip Meiji shrine. Tokyo is really a great urban experience, NYC on steroids with fabulous modern architecture, absolutely clean and well run and even the gangsters wear suits and ties.

I'd recommend Uena park and the national museums and the lovely Toshugu shrine, the Tokyo city goverment buildings, Ginza, Roppongi, Otomesando. Just pick a neighborhood and walk, you will find plenty to see and do. The Imperial Park was beautiful and we enjoyed visiting the corporate museums in some of the office towers (Mori building, Bridgestone.)

We stayed in the Park Hyatt which is a fabulous hotel but inconveniently located in Shinjuku.