Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
69
guess than impolitely shrug their shoulders and leave you standing there. The best thing
to do is ask several Japanese and then follow the majority opinion. Or you can duck into
a shop and ask someone where a nearby address is, although in my experience, employees
do not know the address of their own store. They may, however, have an area map.
MAPS
The maps in this guide are accurate and up-to-date and will help you find the businesses
listed in this guide—but you'll need to arm yourself with a few more maps to properly
navigate Tokyo. Maps are so much a part of life in Tokyo that they're often included in
shop or restaurant advertisements, on business cards, and even on party invitations.
Although I've spent years in Tokyo, I rarely venture forth without a map. The Tourist
Information Center issues a “Tourist Map of Tokyo,” which includes a subway map.
Better, in my opinion, are the free maps from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government,
which range from a city map to detailed maps of Tokyo's many districts. Armed with
these maps, you should be able to locate at least the general vicinity of every place men-
tioned in this topic. Hotels sometimes distribute their own maps. In short, never pass up
a free map.
For more detailed maps, head for Tower Books, Kinokuniya, or one of the other
bookstores with an English-language section, where you'll find several variations of city
maps. My favorite is Shobunsha's Bilingual Map of Tokyo, listing chome and chome
subsections for major areas; the compact folded map can be carried in a purse or back-
pack. If you plan to write a guidebook, consider the Bilingual Atlas of Tokyo, by Tokyo
Chizu Publishing Company, or Kodansha International's Tokyo City Atlas, both of
which cover all 23 of Tokyo's wards with specific postal maps, provide both Japanese and
English-language place names, rail and subway maps, and an index to important build-
ings, museums, and other places of interest.
4
NEIGHBORHOODS IN BRIEF
Taken as a whole, Tokyo seems formidable. Instead, think of Tokyo as a variety of
neighborhoods scrunched together, much like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Holding
the pieces together, so to speak, is the
Yamanote Line,
a commuter train loop
around central Tokyo, passing through such important stations as Yurakucho, Tokyo,
Akihabara, Ueno, Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya, and Shinagawa.
Hibiya
(map on p. 92) This is not only
the business heart of Tokyo, but its
spiritual heart as well. Hibiya is where
the Tokugawa shogun built his magnifi-
cent castle and was thus the center of
old Edo. Today, Hibiya, in Chiyoda-ku,
is no less important as the home of the
Imperial Palace,
built on the ruins of
Edo Castle and today the residence of
Japan's 125th emperor. Bordering the
palace is the wonderful
East Garden
and
Hibiya Park,
both open free to the
public.
Marunouchi
(map on p. 174) Bounded
by the Imperial Palace to the west and
Tokyo Station to the east, Marunouchi
is one of Tokyo's oldest business dis-
tricts, with wide avenues and office
buildings. Since the turn of this cen-
tury, it has undergone a massive revival,
beginning with the replacement of the
historic 1923 Marunouchi Building,
with a 36-story complex of restaurants,
shops, and offices, followed by con-
struction of the Shin-Marunouchi
Building, the Oazo Building, and the
Peninsula Tokyo. Currently, the historic
