Travel
Tokyo & more
Travel
If you are coming to Tokyo, we recommend you not only to enjoy the city, but also there there are great places that can be visit as one day trip around the city, as Kamakura and Enoshima, Yokohama, Kawagoe, Hakone or Nikko.
And of course if you are planning to come for around 2 weeks, you shouldn’t miss to visit Kansai, the region on the west of Japan where is located Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Nara and more.
If you want to know more information about a trip around Japan, just ask the groom, that’s is the to say, just ask me.
Where to Stay
Hotels & more
There are multiple options for hotels, depending if you are coming alone, with your couple or with your family.
Capsule Hotels
If you are coming alone and wanna experience Japan, this could be a very good and reasonable price option, or as the Japanese people says, “O SAIFU NI YASASHII”which literally means, nice to the wallet (but please also be aware you can be unlucky and if your neighbor snore, it might ruin your night)
Business Hotels
In Japan, they call business hotels to hotels that offers a small, western-style room with the essential amenities. These hotels are great if you are thinking about saving a bit for the stay and spending more in your trip. There are some famous chains as TOYOKO INN or APA HOTELS among others.
Ryokan
A ryokan is the traditional Japanese hotel, it doesn’t matter if this will be your first time in Japan or not, it is always great to spend at least one night in a Ryokan to have a full Japanese experience, as you will be sleep on a FUTON in a TATAMI room, enjoy an amazing KAISEKI dinner and have a relaxing time in the ONSEN.
The Ryokan hotels, as they usually are near an ONSEN (hot spring) is not so common they are located in the city, but in the countryside, this is a great excuse to do a get away from the city, like going to HAKONE or KAWAGUCHIKO, a lake close to the Mount Fuji.
Airbnb
Airbnb works very well in Japan. I recommend this as a great option with you are coming with your family. You can find Airbnb apartments anywhere in the city.
Other Options
Of course there are other options like normal hotels, they can be a bit more expensive than business hotels, but your room will be bigger for sure, and it is still a reasonable price. These are hotels some friends or family have stayed and they were satisfied, like Mitsui Garden Hotel in Gotanda, if you want to be well located, or Miyako City Tokyo Takanawa, also with good location.
There is one last option, which is also reasonable price, the famous love hotels (please don’t ask the room for more information)
What to Do
in Tokyo
Tokyo is a huge city, with many neighborhoods to explore.
Below are the most famous places to visit.
EAT & DRINK
In Japan, usually restaurants are specialized in one kind of food, and there are many kinds, this is a list of different kind of restaurants. Ramen, Soba, Udon, Sushi, Yakitoki, Yakiniku, Gyoza, Curry, among others. IF you want to try different things at once, the best is to go to an IZAKAYA, which are the classic Japanese pubs. They serve all kind of food, and also it is a great place to have some drinks.
Same as the explore section, there is a lot to say for eat & drink, if you want any specific recommendation about where to eat whatever Japanese food you are craving for, just ask Naoko or me.
EXPLORE
Tokyo is a gigantic urbe, the best way to explore the city is visiting 2 or 3 neighborhoods per day.
One day could be Shibuya and Shinjuku (with Harajuku and Omotesando in between)
Another day could be Akihabara, Ueno & Asakusa, finishing in the Sky Tree if you have still energy.
One more day in the city could be the area around the Tokyo Station, Ginza and Shimbashi, and finishing in Odaiba, one of the man made island in the Tokyo Bay, where you will be able to find a huge Gundam and enjoy a monorail ride through the Rainbow Bridge. To be honest, there is so much to say in this section, but as this page is not meant to be for this, please ask me if you want some more advice about where to go.
TRANSPORTATION
The best way to move around Tokyo is using the JR Line, inside the JR there is one line called Yamanote Line, which color is light green. The Yamanote line is a loop inside the city, and it has many of the common tourist areas in Tokyo, as Shibuya, Shinjuku, Shimbashi (Ginza), Akihabara or Ueno. As there also famous areas that the Yamanote Line doesn’t reach, the other very good way to move around the city is using the subway. By subway you can reach areas like Asakusa, Roppongi, Oshiage or Nakameguro. As it was explained before, if you are planning day trips, again the best way to move around is to use the JR Line, as it contains many lines, but depending where you want to go, probably you need to use other lines apart from the JR.