My Tokyo experience

Advantages: Very nice trip, worth going back again
Disadvantages: No

...Japan is always one of my favourite country to visit in Asia. Let me share with you my itinery in my last trip. This tour took place when I last visited my parents in Hong Kong. Day 1: Got up at 6 to get to the airport for the flight at 9am. After 3 and a half hours, finally arrived at Tokyo. Went to the toilet straight after, there are still two types of toilet(the Western and Japanese styles), like the way it was when i came a few years ago. Weather was not too bad, a bit cloudy but not too hot. Arrived at hotel at around 6 and started my Tokyo adventure after a brief break. Last time I stayed in the Ginza area which is quite commercial. This time, I stayed in Shinjuku, which is like the Soho of Tokyo. much more exciting, with lots of department stores and restaurant. One of the places that I would definitely go when...

medgenie 26.06.2008 · Read review
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Review of Tokyo (Japan)

The Beckoning Cats of Tokyo

Advantages: Culture. Interesting
Disadvantages: Difficult for foreigners to understand the cultural significance

...Maneki-Neko, Japanese Beckoning Cats, can be found in the shop windows of stores and restaurants in countless streets of Tokyo and any other of Japan’s major cities. If you take a peep into the windows of the noodle shop, eateries of all types and stores, you will come across the Maneki-Neko grinning somewhat impudently at you from the counter and inviting you into to savour the produce of the shop. In business, the Maneki-Neko is believed to bring success because her raised paw beckons in customers. It also welcomes in personal happiness and harmony. A black Beckoning Cat brings health, while a gold one, which is quite rare, brings in riches. Beckoning Cats one often sold as money boxes. In a house they are supposed to beckon in good friends. Actually the Japanese beckoning cats are part of a very ancient...

ashford 03.07.2001 (27.09.2001) · Read review
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Review of Tokyo

Trip report from Tokyo

Advantages: Exotic for people from the west, it is a very safe place, toilets :-)
Disadvantages: Expensive accommodation, language barrier can cause problems, a bit crowded

...This trip report has also been posted on my homepage http://gardkarlsen.com. Here it is displayed with pictures, videos and links. So please feel free to visit my site. Millions of men in dark suits, crowded subway trains, sushi, taxi drivers with white gloves, neon lights, earth quakes, capsule hotels, sake, sumo wrestling, samurais, geisha, bullet trains, toilets so advanced that you need an instruction manual to use them, manga, polite people, Lost in Translation?.this is our trip report from JAPAN. A short summary The dream team Nikki and Gard on another adventure :-) This time we headed for Japan and we traveled in the period May 15th to May 28th 2005. We started out in Tokyo where we stayed for about a week. We used a Japan Rail Pass to get to Nagoya (the World Expo) and after that we went to Kyoto where we stayed 5 nights...

gard 27.07.2005 · Read review
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Review of Tokyo (Japan)

A superb value hotel in one of the best Tokyo locations

Advantages: Clean, modern, excellent location
Disadvantages: Small rooms and not cheap, but not many places in the area are cheap!

...I'm lucky to have never stayed in a bad hotel in Tokyo. For this trip I decided I wanted to stay near Shinjuku, so previous hotels were out of the question and my budget is getting smaller all the time. Through a combination of reviews on Tripadvisor, rating on hotels.com and a good listing of hotel rates from lowest to highest there emerged a clear winner, the Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku! Getting there We arrived in Tokyo on the Shinkansen train from Kyoto, switched train lines at Tokyo station and emerged at Shinjuku (one of the major stations in the city). The journey from Tokyo station was easy, it's not hard to get to Shinjuku really as it's such a major station. If you're arriving at Narita you have a couple of options to get to the hotel, you can take the Narita Express train or there is also a bus which stops right...

non_sense 29.03.2009 · Read review
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Review of Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku, Tokyo

Tokyo by Mo Hayder

Advantages: Different time periods integrated nicely
Disadvantages: Begins at a very slow pace before a gradual build up

...-mate and the two Russian escorts with whom Grey lives and works. It includes Shi Chongming?s wife in 1937 and an extremely moving friendship he develops with a former colleague and his family who also chose to remain in Nanking when the Japanese invaded. In her earlier books, Hayder displayed a tendency to going into way too much detail when describing any acts of violence, to the point where some readers have sworn never to read another of her books. Although there are fewer violent scenes in TOKYO, they are similarly graphically described. And it?s not so much the description of the violent act that could cause distress so much as the description of the result of the violent act that is a little over the top. People who are easily repulsed by graphic descriptions will probably not appreciate these scenes. TOKYO leads to a shocking conclusion...

damieng 18.02.2005 · Read review
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Review of Tokyo - Mo Hayder

Tokyo rocks 24/7

Advantages: Friendly, loads of things to do, good public transport,
Disadvantages: expensive, expensive, expensive

...The last time I visited Tokyo was way back in 92 - a flying 3 week trip through Japan spending 7 days in the capital. Even though Tokyo is (was) a hugely expensive place to visit you simply must take in the sites at least once in your life. Tokyo is a heavily populated concrete jungle of a place, that doesn't have the openess of a London, the style of Milan or the chic of Paris. What it does have is a kinetic energy that surpasses all three cities and more. The nightlife in particular is a real eye opener. You make think London or New York are pulsing 24/7 but they are mere squibs compared to the neon eyecandy in Japan. There are so many places to go, clubs & restaurants of course, but you can shop, play floodlit golf, play the arcades, go to libraries, drink tea & socialise...in fact whatever you do during the day you can do...

Sonatine 03.08.2000 · Read review
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Review of Tokyo

Bloodsport / Enter The Dragon / Showdown In Little Tokyo

Advantages: Brilliant films
Disadvantages: Only three films

...I think that these three films are three of the strongest martial arts films made, they all have different elements of quality to them. Each film is in my opinion the best film of the actors involved. Enter the dragon is the oldest film and it does show, however it is in my own opinion the best of three, bloodsport has Van Damme at his best and for me was a truly enjoyable watch, more violent and realistic than Enter the Dragon but for me not quite as good. Showdown in Little Tokyo is also a strong film with more realism than Enter The Dragon but the martial arts skill is not even close. As a whole the three films are very watchable time and time again and make an essential part of a martial art fans collection....

Madclown 10.03.2009 · Read review
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Review of Bloodsport / Enter The Dragon / Showdown In Little Tokyo (Uncut) (DVD)

Tokyo Police Club - A Lesson In Crime

Advantages: Sharp, feisty and energetic
Disadvantages: It' only a EP and not a full album of their super tunes

...If only all young guitar bands were smart enough to rock out this fast, banging out seven first-rate mod-punk party-starters in barely more than sixteen minutes. This foursome has nothing to do with Tokyo (they're from suburban Toronto) or law enforcement; they have everything to do with Buzzcocks-style velocity and Strokes-style guitar hooks, without slowing down for a breath. Their debut EP has no fat on its bones, from the moment David Monks opens "Cheer It On" with the shout "Operator, get me the president of the world -- this is an emergency!" "Nature of the Experiment" actually seems to have a fairly intelligent and, indeed, heart-tugging lyric ("It's my impeccable disorder/Where I keep on falling for her"). But intelligence rarely pokes its unwanted head into Tokyo Police Club's mission, which is making you do...

monkeymagic297 16.06.2007 · Read review
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Review of Lesson In Crime, A - Tokyo Police Club

Tokyo in 3 days

Advantages: The world within a city
Disadvantages: Easy to get lost,

...I recently took a spur of the moment trip to Japan when i had 5 days spare. As a student i wanted to get the most out of the few days i was spending in Japan, but when i arrived i realised that Tokyo was only the beginning. From the plane the terrain was incredible varying from beautiful mountaineous peaks to forests and rice fields. Then arriving in Narita Aiport, (60Km from centre of Tokyo) I realised i would have to go back. On a budget the best way to get into Tokyo i have been told was the Narita Express which takes you from the Airport directly to Tokyo. I did not use this route however and instead used the train (Rapid - Sobu Line) which took over an hour, but gave an insight into the countryside between the town of Narita and Tokyo. I decided once in Tokyo to split up my travel into 3 sections and spent Day 1 in Central...

zodiakclare 03.03.2004 · Read review
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Review of Tokyo (Japan)

About as traditional as you will get in Tokyo

Advantages: Traditional, lively
Disadvantages: Crowded

...If you can fight your way through the crowds A visit to the temple Sensoji is worth it. The area of Asakusa has many temples and is potentially a cheaper area to stay in than most parts of Tokyo as it has many Ryokan, which makes for a nice traditional place to stay in Japan, rather than a hotel. Walk your way down through the markets (take note of the signs warning you of pickpockets, it really is a very busy area) towards the temple. The markets sell all your standard temple stall things, Souvineers, kimonos (of the cheaper variety of course), food (try out the mitarashi dango, little round balls on a stick covered in sweet sauce) As you enter the temple wave the incense over your body, it is believed this will cure what ails you, if you aim it at the particular spot that has a problem. Most of the temple was destroyed...

worm1976 28.07.2005 (29.07.2005) · Read review
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Review of Asakusa, Tokyo