I have gotten a lot of great info here and have enjoyed reading the many trip reports, so I would like to share one from my trip to Japan earlier this month.
Background
This was my third visit to Japan and TDR but my first time with traveling companions - in this case my traveling companions were my parents. Our trip was 11 days in total (including flying from/to the East Coast of the US) and covered Tokyo, Mount Fuji, Tokyo Disney Resort, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Miyajima Island.
Wednesday, July 3
We arrived at Narita around 5pm and were able to get out of customs quickly. Our first stop was the JR office to pickup our JR Pass (for later in the trip) and a NEX combo pack. We then made our way to our hotel, the Century Southern Tower Shinjuku. The hotel was quite nice and very near Shinjuku Station so it made getting around quite easily. Our only hitch was trying to find the hotel lobby. The hotel shares the building with an office tower so when we entered the lobby, we saw signs that the hotel lobby was on the 18th (?) floor. We just couldn't find the right elevator bank to get there! After a few minutes and nearly ending up in the parking garage, someone pointed to the correct elevator bank and we were back on track. By the time we got to our room, it was about 8pm. My mother was tired from the trip from the East Coast so she decided to call it a day. My dad on the other hand wanted to walk around so luckily, I had a plan already in place. We took about a 10-15 minute walk over to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. There is an observation deck on the 45th floor and even better, it is FREE. The views of Tokyo at night were excellent and there are some gift shops up there so we were occupied for almost an hour. Then we made a stop at the Family Mart convenience store to pick up some provisions on our way back to the hotel.
Here is a view of Tokyo by night from the Metropolitan Government Building
Thursday, July 4
We woke up bright and early to make it to our first stop - the Tokyo Skytree. I had read that the size of the lines can be unpredictable and since our day was scheduled to the last minute, it was important for us to not be delayed for hours at the Skytree. Unfortunately I managed to get us lost on the Metro so instead of getting to the Skytree by 7:30 for an 8:30 opening, we got to the Skytree at 8:15. Luckily, we were able to walk right up to the ticket booth and then straight up to the observation level within 10 minutes! The view of Tokyo was impressive from the Skytree and would have been even more impressive if it had not been slightly overcast. There are two primary levels of observation decks at the Skytree with the second, or Tembo Galleria, requiring an additional admission. We went for both to see as much as possible. To be honest, the second level was not really necessary. You walk along a sloping walkway as you get higher and higher but the view looks pretty much the same as it did 100 meters below.
The Tembo Galleria (450 meters):
Back at 350 meters, there is a glass bottom floor:
The view from 350 meters:
After leaving the Skytree we made our way to the Ginza section of Tokyo. We got there by 9:45 so that we could purchase single act tickets at Kabuki-za. Kabuki shows normally take hours (5 or so) but on the day of a performance, you can line up for single act tickets. Since the first act that day was only 45 minutes, we opted to purchase tickets for the first three acts which would take about 2 hours. The show that day was about a Princess who was killed and came back as a ghost to exact her revenge. There was also other storylines about treachery and backstabbing in the royal court. I found the whole thing interesting and need to do some research to find out how it ends. Kabuki is not for everyone as my father took a nap during the performance (mom enjoyed it).
Once we left the theater, we needed to find some lunch so we headed to the foodhall at the Matsuya department store. We strolled the food hall for a while trying to decide what everything was and what we wanted to eat. After picking out some goodies, we hit the streets to try and find somewhere to eat our bounty. Unfortunately there were no benches or parks nearby so we headed to our next destination - Ueno Park. There we found plenty of spots to sit and eat our meals! Once our stomachs had been appeased, we headed to the Ueno Zoo. My main point in taking the folks to the zoo was so that they could see the Pandas. Unfortunately only one panda was on view when we got there, but we spent a while watching the panda move around and eat. We then spent some time exploring the rest of the zoo. I have to agree with some of the comments I have seen online in that some of the habitats at the zoo are a bit small and "concrete", but they do have a nice selection of animals and we did not have enough time to see everything as the zoo was closing at 5pm.
From the zoo, we hopped on the Metro again and headed to Shibuya. I wanted my parents to experience Shibuya crossing. Instead of heading straight to the crossing, we found a vantage point in the station where we could watch the a few "crossings" take place. We then headed down to ground level and visited with Hachiko before entering the crosswalk. We walked around Shibuya for a while and stopped at a couple of shops (shamefully we skipped the Disney Store) before making our way back to the station and Shinjuku. We had an early morning on Friday so we stopped at a convenience store and picked up dinner there to take back to our hotel room.
Background
This was my third visit to Japan and TDR but my first time with traveling companions - in this case my traveling companions were my parents. Our trip was 11 days in total (including flying from/to the East Coast of the US) and covered Tokyo, Mount Fuji, Tokyo Disney Resort, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Miyajima Island.
Wednesday, July 3
We arrived at Narita around 5pm and were able to get out of customs quickly. Our first stop was the JR office to pickup our JR Pass (for later in the trip) and a NEX combo pack. We then made our way to our hotel, the Century Southern Tower Shinjuku. The hotel was quite nice and very near Shinjuku Station so it made getting around quite easily. Our only hitch was trying to find the hotel lobby. The hotel shares the building with an office tower so when we entered the lobby, we saw signs that the hotel lobby was on the 18th (?) floor. We just couldn't find the right elevator bank to get there! After a few minutes and nearly ending up in the parking garage, someone pointed to the correct elevator bank and we were back on track. By the time we got to our room, it was about 8pm. My mother was tired from the trip from the East Coast so she decided to call it a day. My dad on the other hand wanted to walk around so luckily, I had a plan already in place. We took about a 10-15 minute walk over to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. There is an observation deck on the 45th floor and even better, it is FREE. The views of Tokyo at night were excellent and there are some gift shops up there so we were occupied for almost an hour. Then we made a stop at the Family Mart convenience store to pick up some provisions on our way back to the hotel.
Here is a view of Tokyo by night from the Metropolitan Government Building
Thursday, July 4
We woke up bright and early to make it to our first stop - the Tokyo Skytree. I had read that the size of the lines can be unpredictable and since our day was scheduled to the last minute, it was important for us to not be delayed for hours at the Skytree. Unfortunately I managed to get us lost on the Metro so instead of getting to the Skytree by 7:30 for an 8:30 opening, we got to the Skytree at 8:15. Luckily, we were able to walk right up to the ticket booth and then straight up to the observation level within 10 minutes! The view of Tokyo was impressive from the Skytree and would have been even more impressive if it had not been slightly overcast. There are two primary levels of observation decks at the Skytree with the second, or Tembo Galleria, requiring an additional admission. We went for both to see as much as possible. To be honest, the second level was not really necessary. You walk along a sloping walkway as you get higher and higher but the view looks pretty much the same as it did 100 meters below.
The Tembo Galleria (450 meters):
Back at 350 meters, there is a glass bottom floor:
The view from 350 meters:
After leaving the Skytree we made our way to the Ginza section of Tokyo. We got there by 9:45 so that we could purchase single act tickets at Kabuki-za. Kabuki shows normally take hours (5 or so) but on the day of a performance, you can line up for single act tickets. Since the first act that day was only 45 minutes, we opted to purchase tickets for the first three acts which would take about 2 hours. The show that day was about a Princess who was killed and came back as a ghost to exact her revenge. There was also other storylines about treachery and backstabbing in the royal court. I found the whole thing interesting and need to do some research to find out how it ends. Kabuki is not for everyone as my father took a nap during the performance (mom enjoyed it).
Once we left the theater, we needed to find some lunch so we headed to the foodhall at the Matsuya department store. We strolled the food hall for a while trying to decide what everything was and what we wanted to eat. After picking out some goodies, we hit the streets to try and find somewhere to eat our bounty. Unfortunately there were no benches or parks nearby so we headed to our next destination - Ueno Park. There we found plenty of spots to sit and eat our meals! Once our stomachs had been appeased, we headed to the Ueno Zoo. My main point in taking the folks to the zoo was so that they could see the Pandas. Unfortunately only one panda was on view when we got there, but we spent a while watching the panda move around and eat. We then spent some time exploring the rest of the zoo. I have to agree with some of the comments I have seen online in that some of the habitats at the zoo are a bit small and "concrete", but they do have a nice selection of animals and we did not have enough time to see everything as the zoo was closing at 5pm.
From the zoo, we hopped on the Metro again and headed to Shibuya. I wanted my parents to experience Shibuya crossing. Instead of heading straight to the crossing, we found a vantage point in the station where we could watch the a few "crossings" take place. We then headed down to ground level and visited with Hachiko before entering the crosswalk. We walked around Shibuya for a while and stopped at a couple of shops (shamefully we skipped the Disney Store) before making our way back to the station and Shinjuku. We had an early morning on Friday so we stopped at a convenience store and picked up dinner there to take back to our hotel room.