Trip Report: One And A Half Days in Tokyo
Feb 26th, 2009, 11:59 AM
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Trip Report: One And A Half Days in Tokyo
Our first visit to Tokyo came about because we couldn’t face the idea of a 12 hour layover at Narita. At the end of our 2-week Vietnam and Laos vacation (and I intend to do a separate report for that!) we had an overnight flight from Saigon to Tokyo that arrived at 7:20am Saturday morning. The connection home to Chicago didn’t depart until 7:05pm. So rather than sit in the airport for 12 hours we decided to stay a night in Tokyo and go home on Sunday. Even though this was such a short intro to Tokyo, I’m so happy we did it because we had a fantastic time. I hope this report will be helpful for people who are wondering how to deal with Narita layovers.
The first challenge is getting from Narita into the city. We are chronically bad at packing and therefore travel with a lot of luggage. Add to this an extra duffel of souvenirs purchased in Vietnam and Laos. So the Narita Express, the least expensive (1,000 yen per person or approx $12 USD) and fastest option, seemed too daunting because I imagined blocking aisles with our bags and having to haul them up and down escalators/stairs. A taxi would have been nice but the hotel advised it would cost around 27,000 yen, approx $300 USD…whoa! So we decided on the Airport Limousine Bus ( www.limousinebus.co.jp ) and it was so easy and efficient. You buy tickets at a desk just outside baggage claim for whichever bus is leaving next for your hotel, and the buses pull up at the curb right through the door next to the desk. The buses go to specific hotels (grouped by neighborhood) or to the Tokyo City Air Terminal (T-CAT). For some reason there was no bus scheduled to our hotel’s neighborhood until after 10am, so we were advised to take the bus to T-CAT (buses leave every 10 or 15 minutes) and then taxi to our hotel. This worked out really well. The luggage gets tagged and loaded in the bottom of the bus, so we didn’t have to deal with dragging it around. The bus was 2,900 yen per person one way, approx $32 USD, and took around 50 minutes on a Saturday morning with very little traffic. The taxi from T-CAT to our hotel was something like 1,800 yen for a ride less than 10 minutes (710 yen is the starting meter rate.) Fortunately, when we went back to Narita on Sunday a bus was scheduled to pick up at our hotel at a perfect time, so we went directly from our hotel to Narita for 3,000 yen.
Since we were just spending one night we decided to splurge on a fabulous hotel and selected the Peninsula. It has a great location on the southeast corner of the Imperial Palace area in a neighborhood called Hibiya. It’s just a few short blocks to walk to the Ginza shopping area or the Tokyo Station. We absolutely loved this hotel. Our room was the smallest offered, a Superior King, but was HUGE, practically a suite, by any standard (check out the floor plan on the hotel website) and was incredibly high tech and luxurious, with every detail thought out. Everything was automated, with buttons everywhere to adjust lighting, shades, curtains, TV/Audio, temperature, etc. His-and-hers vanities in the bath, flat screen TV built into the mirror, an oversized soaking tub, separate shower, and a Toto toilet with the S400 Washlet feature (paragraphs could be devoted to this toilet but I will spare you.) The staff at this hotel is absolutely top notch. There were probably 5 to 10 people posted between the front door and the elevators and every single one of them said Good Morning or Good Afternoon each time we passed through the lobby. A couple of them even had our names down by the time we left. The other wonderful thing was that we had requested early check-in and late check-out and got both. (We checked in at 9:30am and out at 2:00pm the next day for no additional charge.)
To be continued…
The first challenge is getting from Narita into the city. We are chronically bad at packing and therefore travel with a lot of luggage. Add to this an extra duffel of souvenirs purchased in Vietnam and Laos. So the Narita Express, the least expensive (1,000 yen per person or approx $12 USD) and fastest option, seemed too daunting because I imagined blocking aisles with our bags and having to haul them up and down escalators/stairs. A taxi would have been nice but the hotel advised it would cost around 27,000 yen, approx $300 USD…whoa! So we decided on the Airport Limousine Bus ( www.limousinebus.co.jp ) and it was so easy and efficient. You buy tickets at a desk just outside baggage claim for whichever bus is leaving next for your hotel, and the buses pull up at the curb right through the door next to the desk. The buses go to specific hotels (grouped by neighborhood) or to the Tokyo City Air Terminal (T-CAT). For some reason there was no bus scheduled to our hotel’s neighborhood until after 10am, so we were advised to take the bus to T-CAT (buses leave every 10 or 15 minutes) and then taxi to our hotel. This worked out really well. The luggage gets tagged and loaded in the bottom of the bus, so we didn’t have to deal with dragging it around. The bus was 2,900 yen per person one way, approx $32 USD, and took around 50 minutes on a Saturday morning with very little traffic. The taxi from T-CAT to our hotel was something like 1,800 yen for a ride less than 10 minutes (710 yen is the starting meter rate.) Fortunately, when we went back to Narita on Sunday a bus was scheduled to pick up at our hotel at a perfect time, so we went directly from our hotel to Narita for 3,000 yen.
Since we were just spending one night we decided to splurge on a fabulous hotel and selected the Peninsula. It has a great location on the southeast corner of the Imperial Palace area in a neighborhood called Hibiya. It’s just a few short blocks to walk to the Ginza shopping area or the Tokyo Station. We absolutely loved this hotel. Our room was the smallest offered, a Superior King, but was HUGE, practically a suite, by any standard (check out the floor plan on the hotel website) and was incredibly high tech and luxurious, with every detail thought out. Everything was automated, with buttons everywhere to adjust lighting, shades, curtains, TV/Audio, temperature, etc. His-and-hers vanities in the bath, flat screen TV built into the mirror, an oversized soaking tub, separate shower, and a Toto toilet with the S400 Washlet feature (paragraphs could be devoted to this toilet but I will spare you.) The staff at this hotel is absolutely top notch. There were probably 5 to 10 people posted between the front door and the elevators and every single one of them said Good Morning or Good Afternoon each time we passed through the lobby. A couple of them even had our names down by the time we left. The other wonderful thing was that we had requested early check-in and late check-out and got both. (We checked in at 9:30am and out at 2:00pm the next day for no additional charge.)
To be continued…
Feb 26th, 2009, 12:02 PM
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SATURDAY
I had done a bit of research using the Lonely Planet guide and a couple of maps and figured out a list of things I wanted to do in Tokyo. I’m good with maps and after studying the daunting subway map for a couple of hours I figured out how we could get from place to place. But since we basically had just one day to squeeze in (probably) too many things I quickly decided I would be a crabby ball of stress and wouldn’t enjoy myself if we tried to do it on our own.
So I searched past Fodors posts and found a highly recommended guide named Junko Matsuda. She responded to my email within a couple of days and we agreed to hire her for 8 hours at a rate of 25,000 yen, approx $280 USD, not inclusive of lunch or transportation costs. She doesn’t use a car, so the day is spent walking and using the trains/subways, which was exactly what we wanted. At the end of the day with her we realized we could have never covered as much ground on our own…not to say it can’t be done, but if you only have a small amount of time and want to alleviate all stress, I highly recommend Junko. Her English is practically perfect, she is an absolute pleasure to spend the day with, and we thought she was well worth her fee. Her email is [email protected]
The weather was as perfect as you could reasonably expect in February, high 40s and bright sunshine (actually a welcome temp for us Midwesterners after being in the 92 degree heat of Saigon.) Here’s a description of what we did in our time with Junko.
Walked around the southeast section of the Imperial Palace grounds (across from the hotel) and the East Gardens.
Walked to Tokyo Station and took the JR Yamanote Line to the Akihabara station.
Left the Akihabara station briefly to walk around the Electric Town shopping area.
Transferred to the Ginza Line (Orange?) and went to the Asakusa station.
Walked to the Senso-Ji temple and wandered around the surrounding pedestrian shopping streets. Lots of nice crafts and souvenirs here.
Had lunch near the temple at a small, simple sushi restaurant suggested by Junko. I took a business card but it is mostly in Japanese except for a website www.sakanaya-group.com, so not quite sure of the name or address. The sushi was amazing and Junko helped translate our order to the super-friendly staff. Chicago has a ton of sushi restaurants, but nothing I’ve tasted here at home comes even close to the freshness and flavor of the fish in Tokyo. I learned for the first time you’re supposed to eat nigiri with your fingers! I’ve never seen this done in the US. Even my hubby, who is not a sushi fan, really enjoyed this lunch.
Took the Ginza Line back to the Yamanote Line and traveled to the Harajuku station. Here I was hoping to see the cos-play girls, but it was Saturday and they apparently prefer Sundays.
Right outside the Harajuku station is the entrance to Meiji Jingu Shinto Shrine. The large, thickly forested park surrounding the shrine is so beautiful. While we were at the shrine we saw a wedding procession and were knocked out at how gorgeous the bride was in her traditional white kimono.
Also in this area is a luxury shopping area that in my opinion is much more interesting than Ginza. The main street, called Omote-sando is lined with international designers and an amazing multi-level mall called Omote-sando Hills. I am interested in modern architecture and wanted to see this street because many of the big names (Prada, Dior, Tod’s) have hired famous architects (like Tadao Ando) to design their stores. And there are many smaller alleys/streets shooting off the main street that have really interesting smaller independent boutiques. And there’s a street called Takeshita-Dori paralleling Omote-sando that is a pedestrian street packed with teen-oriented shops and tons of shoppers...a real visual experience.
I wish we would have had the energy to walk farther along Omote-sando, but at this point (hour 6.5 of our tour) we totally hit a wall, and needed a bit of time to freshen up prior to dinner. We said our farewells to Junko and she put us in a taxi back to our hotel.
I had emailed the concierge a couple of weeks before our trip for help with dinner reservations. We decided we wanted to go to a teppanyaki restaurant where the chefs cook on the grill in front of you. We picked a place called Morimoto (which apparently was a big deal a few years ago because Chef Morimoto was an Iron Chef?) and thought it was wonderful. Very cool design with dark, sexy interiors, and excellent food and service. It was approx a 5-10 minute taxi ride from the hotel, and the concierge thoughtfully created a map for the taxi driver. The taxi drivers seem like such pros with their suits and white gloves that I couldn’t imagine them getting lost, but there actually was some confusion finding the correct street number (almost got dropped off at a Trattoria down the block.) We were pretty exhausted by this point so my husband was grateful to have food prep entertainment...we enjoyed all the graceful knife work by our chef. I think if we were sitting across from each other in a normal restaurant he would have fallen asleep before the entrée arrived. We were back at our hotel a bit after 9:00pm and immediately crashed.
I had done a bit of research using the Lonely Planet guide and a couple of maps and figured out a list of things I wanted to do in Tokyo. I’m good with maps and after studying the daunting subway map for a couple of hours I figured out how we could get from place to place. But since we basically had just one day to squeeze in (probably) too many things I quickly decided I would be a crabby ball of stress and wouldn’t enjoy myself if we tried to do it on our own.
So I searched past Fodors posts and found a highly recommended guide named Junko Matsuda. She responded to my email within a couple of days and we agreed to hire her for 8 hours at a rate of 25,000 yen, approx $280 USD, not inclusive of lunch or transportation costs. She doesn’t use a car, so the day is spent walking and using the trains/subways, which was exactly what we wanted. At the end of the day with her we realized we could have never covered as much ground on our own…not to say it can’t be done, but if you only have a small amount of time and want to alleviate all stress, I highly recommend Junko. Her English is practically perfect, she is an absolute pleasure to spend the day with, and we thought she was well worth her fee. Her email is [email protected]
The weather was as perfect as you could reasonably expect in February, high 40s and bright sunshine (actually a welcome temp for us Midwesterners after being in the 92 degree heat of Saigon.) Here’s a description of what we did in our time with Junko.
Walked around the southeast section of the Imperial Palace grounds (across from the hotel) and the East Gardens.
Walked to Tokyo Station and took the JR Yamanote Line to the Akihabara station.
Left the Akihabara station briefly to walk around the Electric Town shopping area.
Transferred to the Ginza Line (Orange?) and went to the Asakusa station.
Walked to the Senso-Ji temple and wandered around the surrounding pedestrian shopping streets. Lots of nice crafts and souvenirs here.
Had lunch near the temple at a small, simple sushi restaurant suggested by Junko. I took a business card but it is mostly in Japanese except for a website www.sakanaya-group.com, so not quite sure of the name or address. The sushi was amazing and Junko helped translate our order to the super-friendly staff. Chicago has a ton of sushi restaurants, but nothing I’ve tasted here at home comes even close to the freshness and flavor of the fish in Tokyo. I learned for the first time you’re supposed to eat nigiri with your fingers! I’ve never seen this done in the US. Even my hubby, who is not a sushi fan, really enjoyed this lunch.
Took the Ginza Line back to the Yamanote Line and traveled to the Harajuku station. Here I was hoping to see the cos-play girls, but it was Saturday and they apparently prefer Sundays.
Right outside the Harajuku station is the entrance to Meiji Jingu Shinto Shrine. The large, thickly forested park surrounding the shrine is so beautiful. While we were at the shrine we saw a wedding procession and were knocked out at how gorgeous the bride was in her traditional white kimono.
Also in this area is a luxury shopping area that in my opinion is much more interesting than Ginza. The main street, called Omote-sando is lined with international designers and an amazing multi-level mall called Omote-sando Hills. I am interested in modern architecture and wanted to see this street because many of the big names (Prada, Dior, Tod’s) have hired famous architects (like Tadao Ando) to design their stores. And there are many smaller alleys/streets shooting off the main street that have really interesting smaller independent boutiques. And there’s a street called Takeshita-Dori paralleling Omote-sando that is a pedestrian street packed with teen-oriented shops and tons of shoppers...a real visual experience.
I wish we would have had the energy to walk farther along Omote-sando, but at this point (hour 6.5 of our tour) we totally hit a wall, and needed a bit of time to freshen up prior to dinner. We said our farewells to Junko and she put us in a taxi back to our hotel.
I had emailed the concierge a couple of weeks before our trip for help with dinner reservations. We decided we wanted to go to a teppanyaki restaurant where the chefs cook on the grill in front of you. We picked a place called Morimoto (which apparently was a big deal a few years ago because Chef Morimoto was an Iron Chef?) and thought it was wonderful. Very cool design with dark, sexy interiors, and excellent food and service. It was approx a 5-10 minute taxi ride from the hotel, and the concierge thoughtfully created a map for the taxi driver. The taxi drivers seem like such pros with their suits and white gloves that I couldn’t imagine them getting lost, but there actually was some confusion finding the correct street number (almost got dropped off at a Trattoria down the block.) We were pretty exhausted by this point so my husband was grateful to have food prep entertainment...we enjoyed all the graceful knife work by our chef. I think if we were sitting across from each other in a normal restaurant he would have fallen asleep before the entrée arrived. We were back at our hotel a bit after 9:00pm and immediately crashed.
Feb 26th, 2009, 12:04 PM
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SUNDAY
After sleeping for over 10 hours (unheard of for us on vacation!) we got up on Sunday morning with the intent to explore and shop in Ginza until our bus to the airport left around 3:20pm. It was hard to want to leave the amazing room, but we hit the streets around 10:30am.
We headed to the department store Mitsukoshi to check out their famous food court (found some pastries to tide us over til lunch) and then just basically wandered up and down the main drag Chou-dori. I achieved my main souvenir goal, finding a purse made by a local designer (I have purses from every country we’ve visited), and found some cool Japanese toys for my nephew at the 5-level toy store Hakuhinkan Toy Park. Probably the best part was the people watching. I found the Japanese women to be so beautiful and so well dressed, in Ginza and everywhere we went on Saturday.
We hoped to find an interesting restaurant for lunch, but couldn’t make a decision and ended up eating at the café on the lower level of our hotel (good, but not worth going out of your way for.) Oh, on the way back to the hotel we stopped at the Tokyo International Forum, another building of interest for anyone who enjoys modern architecture.
The bus arrived at the hotel at 3:20pm on the dot and we zipped back to the airport. So that’s about it! I guess this turned out to be a pretty long trip report for just 1.5 days! (But if you had 3 or 4 days you could do all these things at a slower pace and you could easily manage without a guide.) Let me know if you have any questions!
After sleeping for over 10 hours (unheard of for us on vacation!) we got up on Sunday morning with the intent to explore and shop in Ginza until our bus to the airport left around 3:20pm. It was hard to want to leave the amazing room, but we hit the streets around 10:30am.
We headed to the department store Mitsukoshi to check out their famous food court (found some pastries to tide us over til lunch) and then just basically wandered up and down the main drag Chou-dori. I achieved my main souvenir goal, finding a purse made by a local designer (I have purses from every country we’ve visited), and found some cool Japanese toys for my nephew at the 5-level toy store Hakuhinkan Toy Park. Probably the best part was the people watching. I found the Japanese women to be so beautiful and so well dressed, in Ginza and everywhere we went on Saturday.
We hoped to find an interesting restaurant for lunch, but couldn’t make a decision and ended up eating at the café on the lower level of our hotel (good, but not worth going out of your way for.) Oh, on the way back to the hotel we stopped at the Tokyo International Forum, another building of interest for anyone who enjoys modern architecture.
The bus arrived at the hotel at 3:20pm on the dot and we zipped back to the airport. So that’s about it! I guess this turned out to be a pretty long trip report for just 1.5 days! (But if you had 3 or 4 days you could do all these things at a slower pace and you could easily manage without a guide.) Let me know if you have any questions!
Feb 26th, 2009, 06:11 PM
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Great report! It sounds like you got to see most of Tokyo's highlights in a very short period of time. Will you be going back to explore other areas of Japan at a more leisurely pace? If you do, I would recommend spending at least part of a day in Narita City. It's really a very charming town.
Feb 26th, 2009, 06:46 PM
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Cruisinred, you are right about the Narita Express price! It is indeed 2,940 yen. I misread my notes...sorry about that!
OJudy, yes, we would love to return to Japan someday. Especially would love to visit Kyoto.
OJudy, yes, we would love to return to Japan someday. Especially would love to visit Kyoto.
Feb 27th, 2009, 02:51 AM
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Thanks for your trip report. We spent 1 week in Tokyo and still missed some of the things you were able to do! But we took it real slow with the knowledge that we will be returning. Anyway, I live in Chicago too and if you are interested, you should check out the Mitsuwa Marketplace right off I90 (exit at Arlington Heights road) if you want to get a Japan fix. The food court alone transports me back.
Feb 27th, 2009, 10:14 AM
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Oh gosh Shanghainese, I can't imagine parting with our luggage. As bad packers we think everything in our luggage is too important to leave. (Obviously I realize this is silly.) We nicknamed one of our bags Walgreens because it was totally filled with toiletries and every type of medication imaginable. (Believe it or not my husband has way more toiletries than me.) So, no, we did not explore storing luggage at the airport. But I think this is a great idea for most people. However, by taking the bus we had almost no worries about dragging the luggage into town. They did not charge for extra bags or weight.
Feb 27th, 2009, 10:26 AM
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Bniemand, it was nice to read your report! We had a very similar experience, in 2005 when we spent 2 days with Junko in Tokyo (before starting a tour of Japan with General Tours). We enjoyed and, as you , consider that with her help we could see much more than we could do alone in this short time.
Also we use the limobus from airport, it was very easy, safe and fast.
Thank you for report.
Also we use the limobus from airport, it was very easy, safe and fast.
Thank you for report.
