Almost certainly the wrong time to ask for information

[fivemack]

I believe some of my readers may have been to Tokyo at some point.

I'm there for about 36 hours; the flight from Taiwan arrives mid-afternoon on the 27th, so I probably don't get to my hotel until the evening given how far out Narita is. I have all of the 28th; the flight to Canada leaves 1520 which means I probably have a couple of hours in the morning of the 29th - I'm not an early riser.

What should I see? The Web is saying 'admire the shops in Akihabara' - but I have a PC, laptop, PDA, digital camera already, and not really the money for another. And 'visit the Imperial Palace gardens and walk round the outside of the Imperial Palace', but I'm not sure that's a whole day. I'd like to find something appropriately Japanese to see one evening, rather than The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or, even worse, Harry Potter 4; but I'm not sure where to start.

Help me, O my far-flung friends!

Comments

[redbird]

I'd send you to my friend r_ness, but he's in Ankara or Syria or someplace, with intermittent access via net cafes.

[(Anonymous)]

Ride the Yamanote line all the way round and just ogle the city. Hang out in Shibuya. Go see Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building No. 1. Wander the Ginza strip. Try to find your way around Shinjuku station. Check out Roppongi. Go to Chiba City just so you can tell your friends "The sky above Chiba was the colour of television tuned to a dead station." Find some parks and cemeteries.

And Akihibara is kinda cool.

Note that Tokyo-Yokohama is gargantuan (more people than Canada). It's very hard to be bored just wandering around.

[rezendi.livejournal.com]

oops. that was me.

Keep yourself warm

[(Anonymous)]

One thing to do, maybe in Taiwan, is to buy yourself some nice warm cheap clothing, because Mum has checked the weather reports and says that it's snowing in Tokyo, and also we think that clothing is very expensive in Japan. Also, and this is an aesthetic addition from James, I don't think that the neo-punk look, so fashionable in Tokyo at the moment, would really suit you. Unless of course you have cornrowed your hair into alternating green and red neonstripes while you've been away. In which case, feel free. Loads of love from Cambridge.