never been there, got 3 days there soon b4 leaving japan for the forseeable future..

will be staying for free at at relations pad in shinjuku , and want to see some good places, snap like crazy and do some filming..

would like to travel on foot / bus as much as possible as i know the tokyo underground looks a mess compared to the short but sweet one up here in sapporo..

erm, thats it really, cheers!

Don't sweat the subway. It's really not that bad - just very big. I've been to Tokyo twice and have yet to get on a bus. The subway's too convenient to mess with anything above ground.

As for cool places to wander around and take photos, try Harajuku, Shibuya, Ginza, Ueno - just about anywhere! If you've never been before, you can't really go wrong as to where to go and what to see.

Caustic Saint wrote:Don't sweat the subway. It's really not that bad - just very big. I've been to Tokyo twice and have yet to get on a bus. The subway's too convenient to mess with anything above ground.

I have lived here for the last 7 or 8 months and I have only got on a bus once. That was when I was with somebody. Japanese busses are just to crazy. Also the seats are just to small for somebody that is tall.

This is a self-link, but there was a decent discussion about cool non-touristy places to visit in Tokyo on my blog last year...

will check that link out ta very much!

looks like i`ll venture out and try the tube then, maybe get pics of some "tondemo nai jiji" action ^^

ko,
dude, i envy you. you're going to japan for your first time and you're going to have a blast.

you know what i like to do? wherever you are in japan, just start walking in a random direction and see what you see. if you didn't do that, you would never find the "special japan" that eludes las turistas, like finding a cool cafe that plays pavement and also specializes in italian motorcycle repair or maybe to be helped out by a kind old lady or better yet, a pack of cute schoolgirls (just look lost--aLOT).

get on a train and just get off at a random place and start walking and snapping pix (i take video with a small DV cam) of stuff you like. i guarantee you'll get some good stuff. some out of the way temple or even better, something that is weird (or postable at FG!)

that being said, there is also a lot of "sameness" to much of the tokyo city-scape, but it'll all be so new to you that you might not realize it.

here's some regular touristy stuff and some other out of the way places. mostly in west tokyo, me and rob pongi's stompin' grounds.

go to:
shimo-kitazawa: good records and thrifts. play some video games and talk to the locals at "Duke's Bar". friendly folks, fake mexican food and 70's vinyl! hell yeah.
shibuya-the area around "hachiko" the dog statue where alot of the "lost in translation" stuff is shot. giant TV sets and teen aged girls. go to the ichi-maru-kyu and see the legions of "kawaii" gyaru. drinks and DJs at Sugar High or keep ravin' at Xanadu. be careful of the fungus around there!
odaiba-take the driverless train to worship in front of kenzo's Fuji TV building and the fake statue of liberty
ginza-to go to the sony building and to hunt for the godzilla statue
kamakura-so you can go "inside the daibutsu" the ultimate metaphor for japan
akihabara (at night) for gadget hunting and lotsa lights.
shinjuku-right around koban 8--BOOM! now that's japan! troll around kabukicho, see your favorite noise band at "liquid room" sneak some snaps around golden gai-look out for yakusa!
harajuku-any saturday afternoon
hakone-to kick it back by fuji-san. take 15 baths at the Fuji-ya hotel, just like helen keller!
kichijoji-peppermint lounge (thai food) and inokashira koen (the pongi backlot)
yokohama-chinatown has decent grub. waterfront distractions and fun faire.
jujo-to see just how drab tokyo can be
ikebukuro-rocket to the top floor of Sunshine City in one of the world's fastest 'vators. Sip that Y1200 cuppa joe REAL slow
roppongi-all night long in the disco or bar of choice. rob pongi likes XYZ bar. spend a bundle on a thunderous disco like velfarre at least once.
ueno park (or any) at cherry blossom time to see how wasted japanese people can get.
ride a shinkansen anywhere for no reason at all.

since you are in harajuku, you are lucky. it is a way cool spot. in addition to the teen madness, there's lotsa restaurants, cheap eats, curry shops, a huge freakin' toy store, close to Yoyogi Park which is great for people watching. meiji jingu shrine is right there too, which is a place you can go for some quiet strolls (if it's not a weekend). overall, it's very upscale. stay around there if you can help it. lotsa cute girls that you can meet around there, which you will like. don't forget that they won't come up to you, you have to break the ice. once you do...look out for those w. tokyo gals! you'll soon have more than you can handle, i am sure.

get ready for visual stimuli overload. the first trip is always the most impressionable. from the time you step off the plane, you will feel really foreign venturing far into the past and further into the future. i think it hit me as soon as i was on the Narita Express train on the way in and you'd see these blinking lights mixed with blackness of the chiba countryside.

you are going to have the time of your life. get ready and don't forget to study your nihongo, my lad!

mr. sparkle wrote:ko,
dude, i envy you. you're going to japan for your first time and you're going to have a blast.

It's his first trip to Tokyo, not Japan. He usualy stays up north in the snowy wastelands of Sapporo.

gotcha! well, it all still applies. i think my favorite part of tokyo is shibuya for pure spectacle. shimo kitazawa or kichijoji for low key hangin' out. i like going to japanese rap shows in shimo--japanese is VERY easy to rhyme, you know. i forgot to mention BAR DROP which is a cool little disco/live house in kichijoji. every time me and rob go in there to pick up college girlies, the crew will not let us leave. they play rare 80's vinyl, punk and have special shows too.

i'm partial to the inokashira line, i guess.

one time, me an rob took my irish cousin to the alcatraz/ER bar in shibuya. rob totally hated it because the random speakers would say that we were "bad people". he kept repeating,

"NO, we are the FRIENDLIES!"

so they handcuffed him and shoved him into a cell. i got him out by donating my rare blood type, which is type R ABO++. when they found this out, they provided me with a date who had harmonius blood and proclaimed me an UBERgaijin. oh yes, and she WAS hot!

Now THAT was weird.

my my mr Sparkle! thanks for taking the time for all that info!

will digest that lot over brekkie tomorrow ^^

yeh i`ve only been in japan for 16 months or so, and we are leaving for the time being (my dad passed away leaving all sorts of legal matters to deal with, the family house needs underpinning and totally redecorating, my bro can`t do it as he is autistic, and theres tons of my mum/dads possesions that need putting on ebay / going to antique shops etc)

its gonna take close to a year to sort everything out and i hope to take up some extra education / training in that time, finally bang out my planned websites , travel a bit etc then may return or stay put, not sure yet.. possibly just stay put bit old for all this moving lark..

luckilly my aunt in law has a place a 10 mins from shibuya station so getting back home shouldnt be too hard..

i have 1 day all to myself which i want to cram in as much as poss, and i think we are going to disneyland for one day also

the other 2 will be with the wife probably to asakusa / wherever she wants to go the other day is open to suggestion , hence the post here..

and yep its my first time, aiports the exception, anywhere outside hokkaido in japan.. maybe next time i`ll have a ton of yen and finally get to travel the country.. who knows?

have bought some spare dv tapes and an extra battery for the camcorder/digicam in advance =^^=

btw CHEERS sparky for taking the time to post!

kotatsuneko wrote:my dad passed away leaving all sorts of legal matters to deal with

Kots,

I'm sorry to hear your Dad passed away. Hope everything is ok.

kamome

thanks Kamone..

having no parents kind of makes you feel a bit lost at times..

my company staff were rather shocked when i informed them, at 35-40 i guess most of their parents are still alive with no doubt some grandparents knocking around also..

still, gotta look ahead lifes too short not to

kotatsuneko wrote:still, gotta look ahead lifes too short not to

That's for sure. Mr. Sparkle's recommendations are good (I've done virtually all of them), and those would be good activities to take your mind off of family issues.