Tokyo Overview

Tokyo--The World's Eastern Capital. Here's where global business starts its day; home of Kabuki and Pokemon, Sumo and Sega; city of safe streets, cell phones, on-time trains and sky-high prices; Godzilla's playground; where East and West collide and coexist.

Districts

Marunouchi-Otemachi is Tokyo's main business hub, but unless you want to visit Tokyo Station (also from the Meiji Period), renew your visa at the Immigration Center, or observe the Tokyo Stock Exchange, there is nothing much for the visitor here. Head for the Ginza instead. There you will find department stores, boutiques, bookstores and eating/drinking places for every taste and budget. The Ginza is the nation's showcase, what Fifth Avenue is to New York and Oxford Street is to London.

A quick subway ride will take you to Roppongi, world famous for its nightlife. Once a sleepy village, Roppongi is crowded with discos, clubs, bars, pubs and restaurants. Tokyo Tower, modeled on the Eiffel Tower, but taller, is visible and easily accessible from here. Take the elevator to the observatory; you might catch a glimpse of Mt. Fuji's perfect cone from up there. Nearby Azabu-Hiroo is where many embassies are located and a number of expatriates (the lucky few who can afford the sky-high rents) live. There is more nightlife in Akasaka-mitsuke (sometimes called "Little Seoul"), but it caters mostly to local yen-loaded patrons.

Young people congregate in three places: Shibuya, Harajuku and Shinjuku. Both Shibuya and Shinjuku are major centers, with the usual mix of department stores, shops and eating/drinking places. Shinjuku Station handles some 4,000,000 commuters daily, but do not be alarmed by the jostling crowds. By day or night, Shinjuku is a lively neon-lit place with a bit of the atmosphere of New York's Greenwich Village. You will also find two major landmarks here: the Tokyo Tocho (Metropolitan Government Office), with its futuristic twin 48-storey towers, and the huge Takashimaya Times Square. Around the corner from the train station are the National Gymnasium, Meiji Shrine and Yoyogi Park, all Tokyo landmarks.

Already bustling centers in Edo times (1603-1867), Asakusa and Ueno belong to what Tokyoites call shitamachi (literally "downtown"). A must-visit in Asakusa is Sensoji, Tokyo's oldest temple, the approach to which is lined by stores featuring colorful displays of traditional crafts.

Entertainment

If a contest were held for the World's Most Entertaining City, Tokyo would certainly rank among the finalists. Night and day, on a shoestring budget or on a big expense account, you can find fun here at every corner.

Those who enjoy sightseeing may want to begin with a view from the top. The best observation decks are located at Sunshine 60 (Ikebukuro), the Municipal Government Building (Shinjuku), the World Trade Center (Hamamatsucho), and Tokyo Tower (Shiba), for four very different perspectives of this sprawling metropolis.

Thanks to an incredible array of museums and galleries, Tokyo on a rainy day can be extremely entertaining.

Adult entertainment reaches its crescendo in Tokyo at night. The most popular playground among visitors is Roppongi, where you will find every form of fun known to man (and woman).

Dining and Drinking

Whether your budget calls for a JPY300 bowl of noodles, or a melt-in-your-mouth Chateaubriand for two at the Capital Tokyu Hotel's Keyaki Grill, you are certain to find food and drink to suit your taste in Tokyo.

Believe it or not, one of the most difficult eateries to find in the city is a simple Japanese restaurant. There really is no such thing. Instead you will find yakitoriya dedicated to the fine art of skewered chicken grilled over open coals, sobaya serving buckwheat noodles with miso (bean paste) soup, and sushiya specializing in the freshest cuts of raw fish this side of the Pacific. There are kaiseki restaurants for elegant dining, with dozens of tiny morsels served course by course on ornate lacquer ware and crockery.

Try robata-yaki or inaka-ryori for country-style cooking. You will find the old stand-bys--tempura, sukiyaki and teppanyaki--at their respective specialty shops.

Perhaps the closest you will come to the quintessential Japanese restaurant in Tokyo is an akachochin shop, easily identified by the huge, red paper lantern hanging outside. The lantern promises good food at a good price.
In the event that you tire of Japanese meals, you are still in luck. Name a cuisine and you will find it: Nepali, Persian, Swiss, Spanish, Greek, Cajun...anything goes. Korean restaurants are represented well, second to Japanese in the capital, followed closely by Chinese, then American, French, and Thai. Tokyo also has a wide range of Indian restaurants and Italian cuisine.

Where To Stay

Basically, in Tokyo, as indeed in the whole of Japan, what you get is what you pay for. As the price goes down, the rooms get smaller and the facilities fewer, but you can still find fantastic bargains. And whatever the price of the accommodation, you can be assured that management has done its best to ensure that rooms are clean and have plenty of hot running water. The Japanese put a very high priority on cleanliness, and when you are a guest, you really are treated like one.

Most major four-star and five-star deluxe hotels are located conveniently within walking distance of commercial/business areas and other places of interest around Tokyo, such as the Ginza, Marunouchi, Shinagawa, Ebisu, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro and Roppongi.
There are many excellent moderate-priced hotels in Tokyo as well. The higher-end ones will have at least a telephone for outside calls, cable TV, and a minibar in the rooms. The lower-priced ones will most likely settle for vending machines in the corridors, local television, and perhaps a coin-operated telephone in the lobby.

Budget hotels do exist in Tokyo. Somewhat spartan, with shared bathrooms (bring your own towel) and cramped quarters, these lodgings are often as cheerful as they are cheap.

Ryokans are authentic Japanese-style inns, usually with only a few rooms, where tradition is observed.

Capsule hotels were built in the 1970-80s at the height of Japan's workaholic years. As their name implies, they offer a capsule-like sleeping space just big enough for a bed and a briefcase. provide the more adventurous foreign traveler with a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Tokyo by the Numbers

Population: 12.36 million
Elevation: 26 feet/ 8 meters

Average Winter Temperature: 42 degrees F/ 6 degrees C
Average Summer Temperature: 78 degrees F/ 26 degrees C

Electricity: 100 volts
Time Zone: GMT +9 (No Daylight Savings Time)
Country Dialing Code: 81
Area Code: 03

Did You Know?

The Greater Tokyo area has a population of over 33 million, making it one of the most densely populated urban areas in the world. After World War II, Tokyo quickly became a highly industrialized metropolitan center while still preserving a distinct cultural heritage. Despite historical tragedies including the 1923 Kanto Earthquake, the loss over 80,000 lives during World War II, the economic "bubble burst" of 1989, and the 1995 nerve gas attack, Tokyo is nevertheless considered a thriving hub of industrialization.

Orientation/Geography

Tokyo is located on the southeastern part of the Honshu Island. Tokyo is a conglomeration of distinctive districts including Shinjuku (the hectic transit center), Shibuya (the trendy shopping district), Ueno Park (the hub of cultural events), Asakusa (the historical district) and Ginza (the upscale shopping district).