Tokyo?

[LCPL_0311]

Don't know ifthis is the right forum to ask but i am planning to go to Tokyo this year.

Can anybody give advise on hotels on Japan. Any one knows any hotels near Roppingi(spelling?) or guesthouses also.

[landofsmiles]

I've just been there for 5 weeks. Stayed here Somerset which is right next to Tokyo Tower and 10 minute walk to Roppongi. Expensive though as most things are in Tokyo. 500,000 Yen for a month...but then someone else was paying :-)

Can't help with guesthouses. Suggest you google "guest house tokyo". Doesn't matter where you stay in Tokyo the Subway is excellent but it is the biggest city in the world so can take a while getting across it!

[Raisuli]

Check out the Shinjuku Washington reasonable price, nice location close to the main train/subway station (Shinjuku Sta.) and shinjuku nightlife area. I stayed there in 2006. Plus it's a stop on the airport/tokyo bus so no problems with transport from the airport


Shinjuku Washington hotel Tokyo Shinjuku hotels Tokyo

[Patrs]

Landofsmiles where's the second picture located? I've been to the Tokyo Tower.
OP the only place I can recommend is the Century Southern Tower Hotel in the Shinjuku area. Stayed there a couple of times

[landofsmiles]

Errrrrrrr...I sometimes rode the Subway and got off at random stations and went up for a lookaround. I think it was near Aoyama Itchome and then I walked to Shinjuku. Wouldn't like to be a window cleaner at that place!

Shinjuku Station is an incredible place. World's biggest and busiest...something like 2million people a day go through it.

[landofsmiles]

[Patrs]

I see someone had some crepes in pics #2.

[CasbaKelly]

Originally Posted by Patrs

Landofsmiles where's the second picture located? I've been to the Tokyo Tower...

The second picture is located in Shinjuku and very near Shinjuku Station, maybe a 5~7 minute walk. I think it is a College to study about anime, manga etc. I forgot the name of the place but it looks very, very nice.


CasbaKelly

[Patrs]

Originally Posted by CasbaKelly

The second picture is located in Shinjuku and very near Shinjuku Station, maybe a 5~7 minute walk. I think it is a College to study about anime, manga etc. I forgot the name of the place but it looks very, very nice.


CasbaKelly

Thanks, I'll have to check it out in March.

[dkdman]

Originally Posted by landofsmiles

I've just been there for 5 weeks. Stayed here Somerset which is right next to Tokyo Tower and 10 minute walk to Roppongi. Expensive though as most things are in Tokyo. 500,000 Yen for a month...but then someone else was paying :-)

.............

[landofsmiles]

Someone else is paying again for me to stay for 3 months Beautiful spring day today and it's Golden week here...several holidays strung together. Out on a riverboat cruise this afternoon in Tokyo Bay. This is a futuristic looking ferry that crosses the Bay several times a day>>>

[ATMwalking]

Nice pics. What is that park where on Sunday they dress up all Gothic Lolita? Was crazy to see and a wee bit appealing

[landofsmiles]

That's Harajuku on a Sunday afternoon.

The first 4 pics above that have girls in them are from around there.

[nickels]

:: Metropolis Tokyo :: Japan's No. 1 English Magazine Advertising Special

[Datsun]

So, how expensive are the girls in Tokyo? Guess the prices are the highest in Asia.

[t0rn]

more pics of girls in boots needed!!

[landofsmiles]

It's hot here now and there's not many boots about or fur. It's knee socks and then 4 or 5 inches of pure white leg then short frilly skirts now. Must remember to take my camera out with me more! I have a mate with me this time who's lived in Thailand for a while and before coming here he thought looking at halfdressed Thai women couldn't be beaten. We've just sat for 2 hours this afternoon in a bar in Shibuya watching the endless procession of beautiful girls go past and he's now converted and could have sat there all day.

To satisfy his urges I dragged him off to Kibickcho close to Shinjuku which has 100's of Pink Salons...BJ type shops; Massage/Karaoke/Soaplands. The pic above with the Pink sign and the strawberries I believe is a Pink Salon...much of the time you have very little idea what is in these places as everything is in Japanese. Most are not gaijin friendly...they don't want us farangs in there and the main reasons I'm told is communication problems because we don't speak their language and they don't speak ours; we are too "big" and also they believe that foreigners carry all the diseases!...but one tout started negotiating with us and we ended up going up in a tiny lift to a skanky small room which had 4 cubicles in it with a lady in each. I was all for leaving but my mate was keen to break his duck and bartered down the tout from an opening 16000yen to 10000 for full service for him. The women weren't my type but I agreed to a massage and happy ending for 5000yen but it wasn't very happy as I couldn't rise for the occasion due to the setting and hearing the groans of the woman underneath my mate a few inches away. Anyway that's one ticked off his list of things to do in Tokyo.

On the way home he was moaning about how much it had cost him compared to Thailand but I had to tell him it was cheap for Tokyo and they must have been having a quiet time.

[nickels]

10,000 isn't bad for full service, depending on what the girl looked like.

[damaz]

Originally Posted by t0rn

more pics of girls in boots needed!!

Yup it's much needed I like that look very cute girls as well...

[paulf1]

When I went to Tokyo a couple years ago it surprised me how many times I was denied entry into clubs................stopped at the door and Japanese only, Japanese only sorry.
Fook them I will not return.

I will spend my money in LOS

[nickels]

Originally Posted by landofsmiles

Ha, "Strawberry Jam," you gotta love the names they have for these places.

[Danielku]

Yes, quite the different place. Spent two nights in Tokyo on a stopover two years ago. I stayed at the Hyatt Regency for about $200 Canadian per night including internet and breakfast. The Regency is in Shinjuku, and is the poor cousin of the Park Hyatt, just 5 minutes walk from there. One night I was lost and trying to find a watch store that carried the Grand Seiko model I was looking for. Problem is, no one speaks English. In one store, after trying to communicate for about 2 minutes, the salesperson grabbed my arm and walked me out of the store - I couldn't believe it. Make sure you get a hotel card with their address in Japanese. As for the metro, it can be quite difficult to understand on your own. Best to book some tours and go with the tourists.

[landofsmiles]

I find the Subway very easy to use and it's excellent. The difficult bit though is trying to decide what exit to come out of the stations. Shinjuku is a nightmare...biggest and busiest railway station in the world...2 million people a day go through it and it has something like 50 exits!


Went to a major Sumo tournament a couple of weeks ago...Sumo Banzuke at Ryogoku Stadium. Found it boring initially as there is so much posturing and thigh slapping and a bit of salt throwing before each fight which much of the time only lasts a few seconds. Got into it though after a couple of Asahi's (beers). Tournament lasted 15 days and the 2 Mongolian Yokozunas Hakuho and Asasyoryu contested the final...Hakuho won.

Pic from Day 12>>>

[nickels]

That's a fairly decent seat. How did you find sitting crosslegged in those tiny spaces for several hours?

[landofsmiles]

Think it was 8000yen per square...not sure as we were being treated...and we had to fit 4 foreigners into that little space so was a tad bit cramped but as there were only the TV cameras set up behind us I could sit on the rail. I did video one fight which luckily turned out to be the longest. I'll try and upload it on YouTube.

[landofsmiles]

Probably the No.1 people watching spot in the world...Shibuya Crossing outside the station. 5 roads converge and the traffic is stopped every 2 or 3 minutes to let pedestrians cross all the roads and also diagonally across the intersection all at the same time. This was mid afternoon on a weekday so not at the busiest time and really you need to get up high to get the full effect as 1000's of people cross at once...seats in the 1st floor window of the Starbucks you can see in the pic are very sought after!>>>



There's a video of it taken on a saturday afternoon here>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXtOdSgf6Ic

[Icebox]

really like your pics land of smiles

[BooYah21]

Went to a major Sumo tournament a couple of weeks ago...Sumo Banzuke at Ryogoku Stadium. Found it boring initially as there is so much posturing and thigh slapping and a bit of salt throwing before each fight which much of the time only lasts a few seconds. Got into it though after a couple of Asahi's (beers). Tournament lasted 15 days and the 2 Mongolian Yokozunas Hakuho and Asasyoryu contested the final...Hakuho won.

Actually, Harumafuji beat Hakuho in a playoff.

[landofsmiles]

You're right..there was a play off. Yokozunas Hakuho and Asasyoryu was the final regulation match of the tournament....someone has posted a video of it here taken from Japanese TV coverage>>> Tokyo Day 15 - Hakuho v Asashoryu - May 24, 2009 and the PlayOff here>>> http://www.truveo.com/tokyo-day-15-p.../id/1172305242


I can't get my video to load on YouTube :-(

[landofsmiles]

Finally got my video uploaded on YouTube>>>

YouTube - Sumo Tokyo May 2009 Day 12

[LCPL_0311]

Originally Posted by Raisuli

Check out the Shinjuku Washington reasonable price, nice location close to the main train/subway station (Shinjuku Sta.) and shinjuku nightlife area. I stayed there in 2006. Plus it's a stop on the airport/tokyo bus so no problems with transport from the airport


Shinjuku Washington hotel Tokyo Shinjuku hotels Tokyo

The hotel is recommended in expedia. That is my choice right now. Any more info on its surrounding. Any advice on getting from the airport to hotel and vice versa.

[BooYah21]

Personally, I would find something cheaper. The Washington is ok, but really no different than a typical business hotel (although it looks nicer on the outside). The rooms on the inside are small. Might as well stay at a business hotel like Toyoko Inn. There is one in Shinjuku's kabuki-cho, which is a more fun place to stay than the west side of the station (where the Washington is). Rooms are about half the cost of those at the Washington.

Toyoko Inn Shinjuku Kabuki-cho

Probably the cheapest way to get into Shinuku would be to take the keisei train from Narita to Yawata, and then transfer to the Toei line (Motoyawata to Shinjuku)... probably about 1500 yen. Direct train from the airport is about 3500, and maybe 20-30 minutes faster.

[LCPL_0311]

Originally Posted by BooYah21

Personally, I would find something cheaper. The Washington is ok, but really no different than a typical business hotel (although it looks nicer on the outside). The rooms on the inside are small. Might as well stay at a business hotel like Toyoko Inn. There is one in Shinjuku's kabuki-cho, which is a more fun place to stay than the west side of the station (where the Washington is). Rooms are about half the cost of those at the Washington.

Toyoko Inn Shinjuku Kabuki-cho

Probably the cheapest way to get into Shinuku would be to take the keisei train from Narita to Yawata, and then transfer to the Toei line (Motoyawata to Shinjuku)... probably about 1500 yen. Direct train from the airport is about 3500, and maybe 20-30 minutes faster.

Thank you about the hotel. How far is it from Roppongi? Is it a good location to go around Tokyo?

To you and members here who are familiar with Tokyo, any more advise please that you can give is aprreciated.

Also, i found a deal of airfare and hotel at a travel site below 1300 dollars. Since its my first time going to Tokyo, its a good deal. I will check out Toyoko Inn.

About the train, the signs in the station also have it in english right? And do they announce the stops?

[landofsmiles]

This was on the famous Takeshita Street in Harajuku. One board had "Happy Room" on it...the other pictures of ice creams and strawberries. Now I'm not certain but I don't think these ladies were advertising an ice cream parlour...but then T.I.T...This IS Tokyo!>>>

[Halley G]

i hope that signs means what i think it does