| J Mata |
19 March 2005 |
Stayed at Mansions at Roppongi, The - Tokyo, Japan.
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Awesome place for lunch - Danto, about a couple blocks from Ginza station - located in the basement of an office building. Cute, traditional style lunch establishment with very friendly staff. One of the waitresses was especially amused at the size of my gaijin Born loafers ("Oki-desu!") which failed to fit in the shoe cabinets. Food is great, and you cannot beat the set courses for value and taste. Check out Frommer's Tokyo Guidebook for more details. We also loved a Koren BBQ place in the mall ourside of the Disney Resort - a bit on the expensive side (naturally, given its location), but DELICIOUS. Take a Japanese friend, as (surprisingly, again given its location) there are no English menus.
Freshness Burger - not so much. Avoid this place unless you need something to soak up the booze after a night in Roppongi/Shinjuku/etc. Getting around: incredibly easy. Public transport in Tokyo is a completely hassle-free experience. Read the maps carefully (if possible, plan out your trip beforehand using a site like zone81.com's subway planner) and check out the Romanji translations in all stations, and you are set! We loved Tokyo (and our one day in Kyoto). We hope to come back very soon to experience more of the city - eight days and we only scratched the surface!
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| R Kelly |
10 February 2005 |
Stayed at Sunroute Hiroshima, Hotel - Hiroshima, Japan.
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Hiroshima should be a MUST see for anyone going to Japan - if only so that what happened in Aug 1945 will never happen again. The city has done an amazing job with the Peace Memorial and the museum is a fascinating and vivid walk through history and is quite fair in its write up on the events. The park itself is beautifully laid out with lots of things to see and contemplate. One night - two day stay would be sufficient - also worth seeing is the Miyajima Island with its floating torii shrine which is about 25 minutes by train (and a further 10 minutes by ferry) from Hiroshima main JR station.
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| B Mary munck |
05 February 2005 |
Stayed at Akasaka Excel Hotel Tokyu - Tokyo, Japan.
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We were all over Tokyo visiting tourist sites and general shopping. We used the subway and JR trains which provide very efficient transportation. We liked the Shabu-shabu restaurant in the hotel for a Japanese treat and several of the restaurants by the Akasaka-Mitsuke subway stop were very good.
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| J Reich |
22 January 2005 |
Stayed at New Miyako Hotel - Kyoto, Japan.
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Went to Daitokuji temple complex. There aren't too many people there during the week, so I pretty much had the tour guide to myself, which was nice. Note: most things in Japan are cash-oriented, and it's even harder to find an English ATM in Kyoto than in Tokyo-- and the one I found wasn't on Cirrus or Plus, so my ATM card didn't work anyway. But at least the streets have names and signs in English, which helps.
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| J Cadeot |
16 January 2005 |
Stayed at New Miyako Hotel - Kyoto, Japan.
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Kyoto is a nice city mixing modernity and traditions. We enjoyed the many temples (especially the Golden Temple) and Potocho Street, full of restaurants. City buses are very efficient and I would recommend their use. Transfer from Kyoto train station to Kansai airport takes 1h15.
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| R Tan |
01 January 2005 |
Stayed at Radisson Miyako Hotel Osaka - Osaka, Japan.
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Ate at the Kintetsu food floor. Similar to other department store food floors. Seattle's Best Coffee located adjacent to hotel. Took the subway one stop from Ue-Hommachi stop (hotel) to Nipponbashi (Den-Den Town electronics area). The large Kuromon food market is also in the area.
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| A Law |
31 December 2004 |
Stayed at Mansions at Roppongi, The - Tokyo, Japan.
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If you take AirBus to ANA hotel, after you get off the bus, go inside ANA hotel and take escalator one floor upwards and you will see taxi stand at the front door. Make sure you download the Hotel map and present it to taxi driver. Watch out the hotel lightbox on your left.
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| C Alafriz |
31 December 2004 |
Stayed at Kyoto Royal Hotel - Kyoto, Japan.
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If you only have 1 day, like we did, walk around the immediate vicinity of the hotel and you will get a good feel of Kyoto. Don't miss Pontocho Street by the river (line of traditional restaurants), the streets of Gion (the old Geisha district) and Higashiyama Area where there are many temples to boast of.
If you have more time, then do the temples off the city center... I think the Kinkakuji and Ryoanji area is the next best.
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| E Kastanja |
24 December 2004 |
Stayed at Phoenician Plaza Hotel - Sapporo, Japan.
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When visiting Sapporo take shoes with rubber soles in stead of leather soles, weather in December is very slippery, this is what I experienced. To go around in the city by Taxi was very easy, plenty of taxi's around, and the price was acceptable. E.g. for a 5 km drive from hotel to JR Sapporo Station cost us about 1100 Yen.
If one would like to buy electronics, I recommend the BIC Building which is next to the JR Sapporo Central Station. They have got EVERYTHING there stored on somewhat 7 floors!!!
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| C Chung |
10 December 2004 |
Stayed at Mansions at Roppongi, The - Tokyo, Japan.
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The Metro is the easiest way to get around Tokyo. If there is a day you know you are going to ride the Metro a good amount I would recommend the 1-Day Fun Pass for 1000 Yen (about $10) for the TOIE and Tokyo Metro Line so you don't have to think about the cost. If you're not sure about how much to buy your ticket, buy the cheapest then pay the fare difference when you arrive at your destination station at the Far Adjustment Machine before you go through the turnstiles. Roppongi Hills just opened up and at night it's a lovely area to walk around; it has museums/gallery, restaurants, shops, movie theatre, and views! If you're thinking about getting electronics in Tokyo you might want to think twice. With all the globalization, the electronics in Tokyo are not as far from what we have in the States. I bought a digital camera and came home and found it being sold at Best Buy. Good thing the price is about the same. And if you buy it at home, you're guaranteed to get instructions in English! I would recommend buying snacks and Japanese souvenirs to bring home instead.
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Traveller's Tales: Getting around in Japan
