Big Break Tokyo
Essential Tokyo
(Filed: 22/05/2004)
Hottest hotel Four Seasons Marunouchi Best bar Geronimo Shot Bar Best sundowner Hibiki (on the 46th floor of the Caretta Shiodome)
Best temple Senso-ji Best one-stop shop Matsuya in Ginza Best restaurant Ekki Loudest bar/restaurant Buttu Trick Bar (aka the Buddha Bar)
Best view Tokyo seen from the Mori Tower Best area Odaiba - for its views, cutting-edge architecture, restaurants, shopping and attractions Best new area Roppongi Hills Best traditional areas Asakusa and Yanaka Best attraction Oedo-Onsen Monogatari Spa theme park.
Best show Kabuki-za theatre Best shrine Meiji-jingu Shrine Best guidebook Time Out: Tokyo (new edition priced £12.99)
Best freebies Tsukiji Fish Market and the weekend rock `n' roll party in Yoyogi Koen Park
Some extensive research in this next section
New ideas for old hands
Tsukiji market
Tsukiji (go to the station of that name and follow the crowds) is the largest fish market in the world (Japan consumes a third of the world's daily catch). Get there before 6am to see the tuna auctions and forklifts zipping around with boxes of Tasmanian salmon, Greenland prawns, Filipino cuttle fish and Chilean trout. The adjacent sushi restaurants and stalls selling seaweed, pickles, ceramics, gumboots and sandals are also fun. An English guide is available at the market office at the entrance. Nearby stands the Tsukiji Honganji temple with exotic Hindu-influenced 1930s architecture.
I think this tip was first given in an 1840 guide to Yokohama
One final tip - there are enough free tasty samples in the depachika (food court basements of department stores) to allow you to skip lunch.
Puff for the Intercontinental
