Destination Tokyo

[Eternal Squall]

Hello All,

I will be visiting Tokyo come this October. I am very excited as this will make 3 international stops for my wife and I within 13 months. It has been amazing seeing a little bit of the world. Our first (2) trips were non-stop traveling with day trips/activities, train rides all over, etc.... Well that was fun and all, but it completely wore us out, so on this trip we have decided to just stay in one city and hopefully have a relaxing time. Our first (2) trips, I was very knowledgeable of history, location and customs/traditions of each country, having studied them since my college days, but I must admit, I do not know nearly enough about Japan..... I know I have plenty of time to get caught up and do some quality research, but I figure you folks could give me a start.....

So I want to know what is everyone's recommendations for Tokyo?

What do I have to see? Where and what should I eat? Is there an area you would recommend staying? Should I absolutely not go in October?

I might be up for one day trip, what should that one be?

So far all I have scheduled is arrive at the airport, then depart from the airport at the end, so I will need something to fill in between. I do enjoy visiting historical sites, architecture, and sporting events while on vacation. I will need my anime fix, so you can add that to the list.

Can't wait to see where everyone points me to!

[Blaster]

How long will you be staying?
If you are going to be staying around the city for most of the trip, it's a good idea to buy a Suica card. This will make travelling on the trains *so* much easier!
There are plenty of Suica machines that can be used in English, so the card's aren't hard to get.
If it's your first trip, I would recommend trying to stay somewhere fairy close to a station if possible. But that's just my personal preference.
Also, depending on what time you arrive at the airport, it may be wise to use a delivery service for your big luggage. It can be quite difficult trying to get large luggage on the local trains in Tokyo during peak time (around 7-9pm Japan time.) You can specify a timeframe for the delivery of the bag, and it will be delivered the next day within Tokyo. It's also quite cheap, and will make travelling from the airport so much easier. Again, this is just a personal preference of mine.

Tokyo Tower/Tokyo Skytree are good places to start I think. Tokyo Skytree had a more involved process for buying tickets though. First, you had to get a free ticket from the staff, which will have a time on it. You have to come back to the Skytree at this time, and then you will be allowed to *line up* to buy the real tickets. If you can find a tour group that includes Tokyo Skytree, it may be a better option as no doubt tour groups will be able to get in almost straight away - or at least a lot earlier than the public.

Akihabara is the most obvious place to go for your anime fix
Nakano Broadway (in Nakano) has a large Mandarake shop too, and usually has some good stuff.
Shibuya has a well stocked Mandarake too

Asakusa is one of my "must see" places. They were doing renovations last time I went a couple of years ago (which I think they have finished now - but I'm not 100% sure.)
Meiji Jingu is another of my "must see" It is so beautiful there.
If you have the time and the interest, Tokyo Dinseyland is just amazing! I've been a couple of times and I'm always blown away
Odaiba is a nice place to visit too. You have the giant Gundam statue there (and a small Gundam souvenir shop nearby too) and Sega's Joypolis arcade is closeby as well. If you like arcades, this is one of the best.

There is so much food in Japan, it's hard to know where to start! it will al depend on your tastes in food :p
Ramen is most definitely one of the things to eat if this is your first trip to Japan. I quite like the cold soba as well.
Yakiniku is always on my list when I travel there too.
I'm not much of a foodie, so I'm sure other members will have some more suggestions

Hope that is of some help to you

[cutiebunny]

Not sure if you actually booked the tickets yet, but if you have the option of flying into Haneda instead of Narita, do so. Haneda is a lot easier to get in and out of. Narita isn't exactly in Tokyo, and is a 45 minute train ride on the NEX. I'm sorta biased in that I really don't care for Tokyo and prefer to get in and out of the city as fast as possible. Compared to other areas in Japan, people have a higher tendency to be rude. Like, "I'm going to push these people aside on the escalator so I get on that arriving train, even though the next one will be 3 minutes later" rude. I know there are rude people everywhere, but they seem more focused in Tokyo. People in Osaka and Kyoto are very laid back, generally.

It would be helpful to know what your budget is. I recommend staying in a ryokan if you can. They typically tend to be more expensive than the western chain hotels, but well worth it. There are some cheaper ones, though. I stayed at one in Asakusa in 2010 that I would not recommend that particular one due to the bedbug infestation. There are a couple of websites that specialize in making ryokan reservations for you for a small surcharge, so I would go through those. Some ryokans offer breakfast and/or dinner, others don't. If you can splurge on any area of your trip, this is where I would do so.

October in Tokyo is sorta iffy. The leaves probably won't be turning yet in Tokyo but they will in the mountains. It could still be tsunami season. I've been in Japan in late October and it's been nice and cool and I've been there the same time and there were storms. It's a toss-up. If you can go in late October or even early-mid November, that would be better.

For a day trip, I recommend Nikko. You can take an express train from Tokyo station to Nikko and you'll be there in about 2 hours. Buy yourself a bento lunch before you leave Tokyo station and eat it on the train. October at Nikko is nice because it's in the mountains so the leaves are probably turning their iridescent hues. A lot of Japanese temples take into account the changing seasons and incorporate those aspects well. This makes for great photo ops. Nikko is where the first Tokugawa shogun is buried, but it's a very elaborate temple and well worth the visit. You may also want to research as to what times of day are the best to visit certain locations if you're big on taking photos and using the natural light to your full advantage. For example, I'd recommend visiting the shrine near Tokyo Tower, Zojo-ji as close to dawn as possible in October. As recommended by Blaster, Kaminarimon in Asakusa is a lovely shrine as well (though, I actually like the smaller shrine next to it more...not as ostentatious). Certain locations are better other times of the year than others, like Meiji Jingu being awesome to visit in June when the Iris plants are blooming. You may also want to visit certain locations that were highlighted in various anime series, if that's something important to you. That was part of the reason I initially went to Zojo-ji.

I think Akiba is highly overrated. If you want to experience a maid café or any thematic café, go there. If you're hoping to find nifty anime tchotchkes at reasonable prices, avoid it. I personally hate walking into stores like Book-Off and Animate, and knowing that all the shikishi they have hanging there are things that I'll have 0 shot at ever owning as they're usually given as campaign prizes. Nakano Broadway is a good place to buy artwork, with Anime Commit and Mandarake being your two main stops on the top floor. The rest of the Nakano contains lots of small stores selling clothes and various tchotchkes. There are a few UFO catcher stores there and they weren't rigged when I last visited in 2010. Since you're going in October, many of them will be stocked with thematic Halloween toys. If you happen to be there the day after Halloween, you'll have a better shot of winning the thematic toys (and they also stock the machine with Christmas toys then). I also like the second hand kimono stores around Tokyo ; there was a nice one a short walk away from Komagome Station.

What you eat depends on how much you want to spend on food. You can find some decent meals at 7-11, and it, McDonalds (truly delicious in Japan..) and other fast food places also make nice stops if you're on a limited budge. Everyone seems to want to try MOS Burger at least once while there, so that and Lotteria would be good. They usually have some sort of promotional burger item, often tied to anime. Grocery stores often have decent ready made meals, but if you get there about an hour before closing, you'll get to witness (and participate, if you want) OLs battle it out with housewives to snag the cheapest ready made meals. It's rather amusing as you'll see these people hovering over sushi plates, and once the store clerk comes by and discounts them, they just start grabbing whatever they can. There are a couple of "all you can eat yakiniku" places where you pay a flat fee for an hour or two worth of eats, but, you also have to cook them in that hour as well (the table has a small fryer where you put the meat that you pick up at a centralized location in the restaurant). Fun experience, but pricey for the amount of food you're likely to consume. Portable drinks, while plentiful, can be pricey when compared to US versions (about 150 yen for a 17 fl oz drink) so I try to make it worth my while and buy drinks at convenience stores only if they come with prizes. I'm a sucker for that kind of thing. It's been almost five years since I've gone, so I won't give you any restaurant recommendations. But things like okonomiyaki, croquettes, ramen, takoyaki and hot pot would all be things I would eat there. Japan is not a great place to visit if you're a vegan or vegetarian as many Japanese who are pescatarians consider themselves to be vegetarians.

TBH, most of my "must see" places are further afield, like Inuyama Castle in Inuyama. I highly recommend Nikko, though.

[Rekka Alexiel]

Hmm, there's plenty of stuff to do in Tokyo, but... it's mostly city-related stuff. There are many cultural places like Meiji Jingu and Asakusa to visit but besides that you'll have to travel a bit. You could go down to Kamakura, but it's about an hour train ride from Tokyo. Looks like you can take the Yokosuka train all the way there, though, so that would make that trip easier.

Akiba... yeah, I don't like going there very often. I really only go there for Mandarake, and even then they rarely have anything of value for me. If you like the various themed cafes, arcades, and what not, it's not bad.

If you're into looking for artwork, definitely hit up Nakano Broadway. There's all sorts of other stores in there, too; so you could easily spend several hours there. xD

I loved Nikko but it has bad memories for me, so... I'd still recommend it to others, though. ^^ The Onsen is great.

Inuyama is waaaaaaay far away from Tokyo, east of Nagoya. I *finally* went there once before I moved to Yokohama. If you're interested, I have some photos of it here.

What else...? Shibuya can be fun if you've never been there before. Loads of people all the time...and you'll probably have the highest probability of stepping in someone's puke later in the evening if you're not careful. *sigh*

I would totally recommend Yokohama, though. It's a great city and the Minato Mirai area is gorgeous. There's all sorts of places for shopping and dining--and it's utterly gorgeous at night with the lights of the buildings and the iconic ferris wheel. Landmark Tower is also great for shopping and you can go up to the observation deck for another great view. There's a nice cafe up there, too. A little bit south of Minato Mirai 7-10min walk) there's a huge pier that goes out into the bay that is really nice for another view of the area. Yamashita Park also has a nice walk along the bay--it also has a huge rose garden, but not sure if they'll still be in bloom in October. Further down south is China Town...but to me, once you've been to one China Town, you've seen them all. It's certainly nice, but I really don't have much interest in going very often.

That's all I can think of at the moment. If you're able to travel, I would also recommend Nara over Kyoto. I wasn't all that impressed with Kyoto and actually liked Kamakura better. I didn't like how you had to take a bus to get to any of the main shrines in Kyoto, whereas in Nara, you can walk and enjoy the less-city like landscape with more trees, parks, and shrines. They also have a ton of deer. lol

Good luck with your plans and hopefully there won't be any of the many natural disasters that Japan is known for when you're here. Apparently, there's been a lot of seismic activity over by Hakone and Mt.Fuji that's kinda...strange.

[Eternal Squall]

Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions! I am getting very excited for my trip!

I will be staying in Yanagibashi for 1 week, and besides my plane tix, that is all I have planned ....no worries though, all will be well.

I had a few more questions, and wanted to see if the community could help me out in my planning.... Has anyone ever participated in a tea ceremony while in Tokyo? I would like to experience it but would want to know if anyone has any recommendations and/or warnings?

I am going to miss the Sumo tournaments taking place in Sept., but from what I gather, some Sumo stables allow visitors during practice. Has anyone ever done this and would recommend it?

Lastly, I have not been very active regarding cel/sketch hunting/acquiring in 2015, so I have a lot of pent up cel buying energy. With that in mind, if I visit Nakano Broadway(Mandarake/ Commit/ AWS) and want to look through all the artwork they have,(and I mean every single piece) how long would that take me? 1 hour? Half-day? Whole Day? Whole week?

Thanks for all your help!

[JustVan]

Lastly, I have not been very active regarding cel/sketch hunting/acquiring in 2015, so I have a lot of pent up cel buying energy. With that in mind, if I visit Nakano Broadway(Mandarake/ Commit/ AWS) and want to look through all the artwork they have,(and I mean every single piece) how long would that take me? 1 hour? Half-day? Whole Day? Whole week?

I just got back from a trip to Tokyo so I can at least answer this. You can get through Mandarake's entire on-display cel selection in about 10 mins. It's pathetic and disappointing. Across the corridor from the Mandarake cel "store" (at Nakano Broadway) you'll find the Commit cel store guy. He has a much bigger selection. I spent an hour there pouring through his books and cel/sketch bins. I looked at every cel in his cel bins and probably 70% of his sketches (I started out looking intently then started skimming since I wasn't see anything I was interested in). I looked intently through probably 20 cel books, but he has tons that I didn't touch because I don't collect from those series.

DO make sure you look through his multiple "Various/Miscellaneous" books (labeled いろいろ) as well as his "old stuff" folders (starts with 古). If you can read Japanese you'll do a lot better going through the books as they are labeled by series in Japanese and he speaks pretty much no English. Bring a list of titles you're especially interested in, written out in Japanese and he can get those books for you. But do know that sometimes he has cels from those series in other places. To the right of his check out counter you'll find a small selection of oversized cels, so don't miss flipping through those. He had folders for things like Ranma, Sailormoon, Escaflowne, etc., but I also found SEVERAL cels from those series in his "various" folders, so he isn't as organized as he could be. Get on your hands and knees inside the store and look at the bottom row of the cels on display in the cabinet as well. There were some great Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop ones he had that were sort of leaning against the sides that I couldn't see at all when standing.

Also he keeps his Ghibli stuff in a folder behind the counter, so you'll have to ask him to see it and he may stand there/flip the pages for you. You'll also have to ask him to unlock the cabinet if you want to see things in there.

As I recall he also had some boxes up on a high shelf that I didn't want to take down myself or ask about (my Japanese is okay but not that great), so depending on your skills you might ask about them

Good luck! I managed to get some decent things from him, and he had some good stuff from series I don't collect from, but I was also a little disappointed by what I saw. (On average, low quantity AND low quality in categories like DBZ, Sailormoon, Ranma, Esca, no Fushigi Yuugi, etc.) I'm sure you can find some gems, and depending on what you collect you might get lucky, but don't expect to score a ton of amazing pieces.

To answer your question, I'd give yourself 3 - 5 hours to look through EVERYTHING. You may not actually need that long, but I'm being generous. There are also lots of other interesting stores and restaurants around the area, so you might want to spend time down there anyway. But it won't take you more than that.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask me.

[lunacels]

I would dearly love to go someday! I'm living vicariously for now. Eternal Squall, you should post any great finds you make while you're there! JustVan's were great.

[Eternal Squall]

One last question before I go. For those that bring artwork back to the US, which is the best way to transport it?

[cutiebunny]

I bring a sturdy cardboard envelope and a small roll of packaging tape with me. They don't take up too much space and you can always trash it if you don't find anything to buy. All of what I brought back were cels and douga/genga, so they fit inside a nice B4L sized carboard container. If you don't want to lug something around, you could always go to Daiso and buy a plastic container to contain the cels, although I've heard that they're not selling the B4L plastic cases anymore. I haven't seen them for at least a good year in my local branch, but maybe they're still selling them in Japan.