wonderboy416
Active Member
I had a week off work in September for Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) and decided to go explore Tokyo since it's a short flight. It's also the city that Seoul is most often compared to so I was really curious to see how the two compared and contrasted one another. They both have massive populations, huge transportation systems and are known around the world for the tech and auto industries. Tokyo is far more glamourized in the media and is easily Asia's most famous city. I couldn't wait to see what I could find. Unfortanetly I had to restrict my visit to just 4 nights as airfare is very expensive from Korea during the holidays here and an extra day would have seen a $150 increase in my fare. At least I found an early flight there and late flight back to help maximize my time. I also found a great hotel that was only $50/night 10 minutes walking from Shibuya station. Not much more than a hostel and almost the same as a capsule or business hotel I got to stay in comfort for less than 1/4 of the cost of a normal western hotel here. If you're traveling to Tokyo and aren't made of money I'd strongly suggest staying at the hotel Fukudaya (you can find it easily online).
First glimpse of Tokyo stepping out of the temporary international terminal at Tokyo's Haneda airport (one of two airports that serve Tokyo, Haneda is much closer to central Tokyo making it the more ideal of the two).
I ignored the advice telling me to take the bus service straight into Shibuya and decided to tackle the complex subway system right away. I managed to find my way to Shibuya with no problem. There was also the option to take the monorail into the city.
I walked around the corner and was greeted by Tokyo's famous Shibuya crossing.
I then decided to ignore the advice from the hotel website directing me to take a bus to the hotel and decided to find it by foot, wasn't too difficult and only took 10 minutes or so to get there.
How to plug your laptop in while in Japan.
If you've seen Mr Baseball you know what this is. Yes you have to shower before taking a bath.
Beer vending machine in the lobby.
An impromptu street festival I ran into on my trek back to Shibuya station to meet a friend.
A statue of the famous dog Hatchiko. Hatchiko would return to this spot every day to meet his master after work. After his master died and was never able to return Hatchiko would continue to return to the spot to wait for him for the next 10 years.
The size of the crowd was just awesome.
Just like in Seoul, restaurants in Tokyo often have plastic replcias of their dishes in store windows.
Who needs to order from a waiter when you can just order off this touch screen?
Went to a singing room.
Little did I know that the word sake in Japan refers to any alcoholic beverage, not just sake as we know it. Mistaingly I ordered this "sake" that was imported from Korea, oops.
Roppongi, where we went to party for the remainder of the night after drinking in Shibuya.
Inside a bar. Notice the sign at the back. At $8 a beer it was a little hard to stomach. I was really missing being in Seoul at this point.
The next day the street festival continued.
The subway system is comparible in size to Seoul's. Like Seoul's it's operated by many different rail co's. Unlike Seoul however it's not integrated with a common fair system. It also won't automatically calculate your fair based on distance traveled. Transferring from one line to another sometimes requires leaving the station and entering another. This is a huge change from Seoul where everything is integrated so well a commuter has no idea when he or she is on a line operated by a different rail co. The Tokyo Metro daypass would only give me access to some of the lines, and some maps wouldn't show the stops on lines operated by different rail co's! Still I found the system worked well and I was able to navigate this giant city quite well. There is also a new smart card introduced for those that live in and around Tokyo which helps. Still this is one area where Seoul is much better than Tokyo. Seoul's system is also much more modern but that is a result of it being much newer as well aside from the older lines which don't look much different from Tokyo's lines.
Next it was off to Asakusa, a traditional part of Tokyo.
Inside the temple.
Another big change from Seoul was the lack of street food.
Off to the area around the Prime Minister's house. It was a holiday so the streets weren't very busy, but there was lots of security.
Walking towards Akasaka.
A nice park I found.
Back in Roppongi.
Pachinko parlour.
What's a trip to Japan without sushi? Oh my it was expensive, but tasted incredible.
At night walked over to Ginza. This is a really famous shopping district with lots of department stores and high end retail shops. It also lights up very nicely.
Another pachinko parlour I saw on the way back to the hotel in Shibuya.
First glimpse of Tokyo stepping out of the temporary international terminal at Tokyo's Haneda airport (one of two airports that serve Tokyo, Haneda is much closer to central Tokyo making it the more ideal of the two).
I ignored the advice telling me to take the bus service straight into Shibuya and decided to tackle the complex subway system right away. I managed to find my way to Shibuya with no problem. There was also the option to take the monorail into the city.
I walked around the corner and was greeted by Tokyo's famous Shibuya crossing.
I then decided to ignore the advice from the hotel website directing me to take a bus to the hotel and decided to find it by foot, wasn't too difficult and only took 10 minutes or so to get there.
How to plug your laptop in while in Japan.
If you've seen Mr Baseball you know what this is. Yes you have to shower before taking a bath.
Beer vending machine in the lobby.
An impromptu street festival I ran into on my trek back to Shibuya station to meet a friend.
A statue of the famous dog Hatchiko. Hatchiko would return to this spot every day to meet his master after work. After his master died and was never able to return Hatchiko would continue to return to the spot to wait for him for the next 10 years.
The size of the crowd was just awesome.
Just like in Seoul, restaurants in Tokyo often have plastic replcias of their dishes in store windows.
Who needs to order from a waiter when you can just order off this touch screen?
Went to a singing room.
Little did I know that the word sake in Japan refers to any alcoholic beverage, not just sake as we know it. Mistaingly I ordered this "sake" that was imported from Korea, oops.
Roppongi, where we went to party for the remainder of the night after drinking in Shibuya.
Inside a bar. Notice the sign at the back. At $8 a beer it was a little hard to stomach. I was really missing being in Seoul at this point.
The next day the street festival continued.
The subway system is comparible in size to Seoul's. Like Seoul's it's operated by many different rail co's. Unlike Seoul however it's not integrated with a common fair system. It also won't automatically calculate your fair based on distance traveled. Transferring from one line to another sometimes requires leaving the station and entering another. This is a huge change from Seoul where everything is integrated so well a commuter has no idea when he or she is on a line operated by a different rail co. The Tokyo Metro daypass would only give me access to some of the lines, and some maps wouldn't show the stops on lines operated by different rail co's! Still I found the system worked well and I was able to navigate this giant city quite well. There is also a new smart card introduced for those that live in and around Tokyo which helps. Still this is one area where Seoul is much better than Tokyo. Seoul's system is also much more modern but that is a result of it being much newer as well aside from the older lines which don't look much different from Tokyo's lines.
Next it was off to Asakusa, a traditional part of Tokyo.
Inside the temple.
Another big change from Seoul was the lack of street food.
Off to the area around the Prime Minister's house. It was a holiday so the streets weren't very busy, but there was lots of security.
Walking towards Akasaka.
A nice park I found.
Back in Roppongi.
Pachinko parlour.
What's a trip to Japan without sushi? Oh my it was expensive, but tasted incredible.
At night walked over to Ginza. This is a really famous shopping district with lots of department stores and high end retail shops. It also lights up very nicely.
Another pachinko parlour I saw on the way back to the hotel in Shibuya.
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