RawrKorea in Tokyo Japan
Akihabara
Shinjuku
Harajuku
Nakano
Shibuya
Ueno
Please be patient, this page will load slower than usual due to the amount of content. ^^
Yes last week I was in Japan visiting all the exciting places in Tokyo! As this was my first time in Japan and I knew nothing about the Metro system or anything else it was quite exciting and I will share my experiences and some advice with you.
Tokyo Metro System and the Skyliner.
The first thing I did once I got to Narita Airport in Tokyo was to get a Skyliner ticket for the city. It takes around 40 minutes to reach the city and there are 2 stops Nippon and Ueno. From there you can transfer to the JR line (or Metro system) if you are staying around the center of Tokyo or transfer to other lines. I was staying in Gotanda on the central green circle line called the Yamanote line which a lot of the famous tourist cities are located on.
The Skyliner will cost around 2,400 Yen or $26 or so dollars. There is a deal where you can buy a Skyliner pass and a Metro pass for one or 2 days at a discount but BEWARE the Metro Pass is for a different Metro system than the central Tokyo system. Yes it gets complicated. There are 2 main Metro systems in Tokyo and there are generally 2 or 3 different Metro maps that you will need to acquire from a Metro station or the Hotel you are staying at. I personally would not recommend buying the Metro pass offered with the Skyliner ticket as I bought one and never used those lines. I stayed within the central Metro system for all of my travels.
A good option is a one day pass if you are going to several different places per day at 730 Yen for a central Tokunai Pass or 1,580 Yen for a Furii Kippu Pass (different lines and distances). If you are more comfortable you can buy tickets for each of your travels and this would be cheaper if you only wanted to visit one place per day. There is a pricing board at the Metro station where you can see the fare to each location by the number next to your destination. E.g. 190 = 190 yen. There are also several other ticketing options which you can discuss with your local Metro information office.
I stayed at Toko Hotel in Gotanda which is a handy location right next to the Metro station on the Yamanote Line. The room I had was a typical quick stay get out and spend time travelling room. Meaning that it was quite small but great for its purpose.
I got out and about right away not to waste any time. I wanted to see if I could find some Pachinko gaming rooms.... well little did I know Pachinko is everywhere! What is Pachinko? It is a game where little steel balls are released into a gaming machine and fall vertically down into loosing or winning holes. As gambling is illegal(?) in Japan gamer's win prizes which they can exchange for cash or something else in a seperate store usually located right next to a Pachinco place. I am not exactly sure how it works but it is a way around gambling for money. I know about Pachinko from one of my favorite Japanese animations called Kaiji (Season 2). Kaiji battles an illegal casino and a Pachinko machine to save his friends and make a fortune!
You can see some Pachinko in action in my Shinjuku Walk through video coming up. You wont believe how noisy it is in there!
Akihabara
I had to go to Akihabara as I saw so much about it online. There is a Gungdam Cafe and AK4B8 Cafe also. There are also hundreds of Otaku stores and maid Cafe's as well as electronic stores and gaming stores.
Maids, maids, maids,maids, maids, maids, maids......
I thought I might be lucky and see a Maid Cafe maybe... well there were literally hundreds of maids all over the streets offering potential customers pamphlets and showing the way to their cafe. As it got later there were troops of maids literally groups of 10 or more just setting themselves up on the street or going to work.
Amongst all the maids were the Otaku stores. These stores cater to the anime or similar enthusiast and usually have T-shirts, dolls and collectible cards of anime stars or AK4B8 stars. There are also stores for collectible toys and I saw a lot of old Star Wars toys from the 70's and 80's. (I like old Star Wars collectibles ^^).
Have a look at the full walk through here:
Shinjuku
I was off to Shinjuku next to see if I could find the Robot Restaurant
http://www.shinjuku-robot.com/pc/
I could not pass up the opportunity for this unique experience. It took me a while of walking around to find but I will give you some directions:
Shinjuku Station > West Exit > Walk down to the main intersection (You may see JUMBO Pachinko on the left side of the street as you walk down) > Cross the street straight ahead > Turn right and walk to the 3rd street on your left and walk down it. About 100 meters you will see robots and bright lights. The Ticket office is on your left the restaurant is on your right.
The Robot Restaurant is in the "Red Light" District so if you are alone you may be approached by foreign men (Nigerians or similar) and asked if you would like to drink with some Japanese ladies. I have heard stories about this so I avoided there proposals. You can check out some stories online if you like but usually its a ploy to clean out your credit card.
The first night it was closed early due to it being a holiday but i managed to go to the early show the next day.
You can choose from a simple menu and the show is 5,000 Yen about $55 or so.
Here is the full show if you are curious:
Shinjuku Walk Through
After a long first day it was time to go back to my Hotel and have a snack and watch some TV.
Harajuku
Next Day I was off to Harajuku. Another famous tourist destination. A great place to buy clothes and toys. One thing I did notice about Japan is how quiet it is. I was there early morning and there were many people going to work but the only noise was the traffic! Also Japanese people use their cell phones less (You may have seen in the Metro picture above only a few people have their phones out).
A great place to visit for toys like Hello Kitty, Snoopy, Lego and all other sorts is Kiddy Land (Walk out of the station cross the road walk down the street with McDonalds on it until you reach the next intersection > Cross the street turn right and head to the next intersection > Cross the street and turn left > walk about 2 - 300 meters).
You might see this store on the right side as you cross the last street before turning left.
In here you will find all sorts of toys on 4 - 5 levels! (You can also follow me there by a different route in my Walk through video).
My favorite tune being played in the shop. ^^
Another hidden jem of a shop you can see at the end of my walk through video. Cross the street at the station and turn right. Walk about 2 - 300 meters and you will see a shop down some stairs. They have lots of cool t-shirts and hats and things!
A view of Harajuku Station and street.
To Find this store head straight out of the station until the next crossing > Cross the street and turn left and head down a street/alley going off to the right and paralleling the main road.
Harajuku Park
Right behind Harajuku Station is a large park where you can walk and see a temple or Kiyomasa - Ido Well.
There are also some strange animals that you can see in the park just lying around under a bush or out in the open. I saw them on TV the night before and I was hoping to see one in the park the next day and I did!
I'm not sure what it is called...?
Here are some photos of the park:
Nakano
Next Stop Nakano. Right outside nakano Station is Nakano Broadway shopping mall. The first floor is rather plian and normal looking however the next three floors 2 - 4 have hundreds of shops dedicated to toys and anime and the like collectors. Another "Otaku" friendly area there are literally too many things to look at in one day without missing something. Again there were some fantastic stores with very old toys and even a Games Workshop store there too!
Check out the walk through. I have time coded the video for each floor so you just need to click on the time and you will be there. ^^ The first floor is a little boring.
There is one store here that has awesome T-shirts and many old TV or Movie / Culture T-shirts Look for the time code 18:46 Awesome T-Shirt Store.
After a long time there I went to:
Shibuya
Just for a walk around to see what was there. At this stage my feet were hurting so I didn't stay too long and I went home for a rest before going to Shinjuku to visit the Robot Restaurant (Above).
Ueno Zoo
The last and final day I was going to go to Tokyo Station but for some reason the TV was showing Ueno trains. So I looked at Ueno and found out that there is a Zoo there. So off I went to the Zoo for my final hours in Tokyo.
Very close to the station is the Ueno Zoo. Taking a walk out of the main entrance and turning right the park leading to the Zoo is hard to miss. The great thing is is that the Skyliner train station is right next to the park so its not too difficult to have a quick look at the Zoo before catching the train to the Airport.
Ueno Zoo has 2 Pandas, Tigers, Polar Bears, Gorillas, Lions, Giant Tortoises and many other exciting birds, reptiles and animals. Well worth a visit!
Take a look:
And that was my trip!
Here is some bonus footage of the Skyliner Journey and a Journey on a Metro train in Tokyo Japan if you wondered about the sights and sounds of travelling by train. ^^
Well until next week have a great time and I will see you again soon! ^^
Posts
