Parksey wrote:K wrote:Off to Tokyo next week. No real clue what I'm doing there but I'm there for like a month. Any suggestions outside of the usual tourist stuff?
If you are there for a month, you are doing more than Tokyo right?
I have just come back from there myself. To be honest, seeing as I have acted as a guide for my UK friends twice, I generally only know the tourist sights. Saying that, even the tourist sites are pretty fun.
You will need to see the neon garishness of Shinjuku, Shibuyu and Akihabara anyway as a visit to Tokyo isn't complete without those (the latter in particularly if you are into that anime/manga/gaming culture, though it's not quite for me).
From what I can tell, Tokyo doesn't have a great deal of historical sights, bar maybe Asakusa. You can do that, Ueno and the Skytree easily as they are all fairly close. For something older, Nikko is about an hour and a half away.
Get a JR pass! I can't get one due to not being on a tourist visa, but it makes life so much cheaper and easier because the Shinkansen gets quite pricey, but cuts down journey times pretty much anywhere on Honshuu.
It's going to be warm and very humid - you will probably sweat a lot. It's quite rainy at the moment too, so maybe bring some things that are thin, light and waterproof.
Language-wise, in Tokyo you will be fine I reckon. I was surprised at how good everyone's english was, which made my role as a half-arsed translator a bit defunct. A little Japanese will help, so bring a phrasebook perhaps but don't worry about it. If you look non-Japanese, like I do, often I would speak in Japanese and they would reply in English anyway.
All train signs, notices and announcements *seem* to be in English. Even where I live, the JR lines have English.
If you want to drink though, you want to ask for "nomihodai" or 飲み放題 in kanji and on menus. It's basically all you can drink for about ¥1000-1500 and often lasts two hours and has tonnes of different drinks on the menu.
You may often have to pay a table charge though in Tokyo, though this is far less common elsewhere.
I am surprised at how cheap Tokyo is. I was warned Japan was expensive, but even an upper-range restaurant is far less a drain on your wallet. If you want to eat cheaply, I reckon you eat *very* cheaply, with a bowl of ramen, udon or meat and rice setting you back a few quid. We saw happy hours offering beer for ¥100, which works out at about 60p! It seems way cheaper than London.
Where are you staying? What's your plan?