Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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FIELD TOKYO
Many visitors to Tokyo expect to see something a little quirky during their stay - here are a few
places to sample the city's more intriguing facets.
Capsule hotels
The rooms at capsule
hotels are pretty darn small - there's no
more characteristic Japanese sleeping
experience (see box, p.141).
Robot Restaurant
Seeing is believing at
Tokyo's newest must-see attraction, where
performances feature dozens of dancing
girls and robots (see box, p.182).
Game centres
Bash the hell out of the
world's weirdest arcade machines in one of
the city's many game centres (see p.85).
Oddball cafés
Have your coffee served
by costumed girls, fawning guys in
dicky-bows, or surrounded by purring
felines (see box, p.162).
Golden Gai
Tokyo drinking at its
most atmospheric, this is a warren of
minuscule bars in neon-drenched Shinjuku
(see box, p.172).
Standing restaurants
Eat like a horse,
standing up at one of the city's umpteen
noodle bars (see p.148).
Shibuya crossing
It's amazing to see just
how many people can cross a road at the
same time; take in the spectacle over a
coffee at
LOHB
(see p.163).
Cross back over the river again to drop into the weird, wired and wonderful world
of
Akihabara
, the one-time “electric town” rebooted as the focus of Tokyo's dynamic
manga and anime scene.
Roppongi
's nightlife can exhaust the most committed hedonist, but save some energy
to return by day to explore the art triangle formed by the
National Art Center
, housed
in one of the city's most dazzling architectural spaces; the various art and design institutes
of the mammoth
Tokyo Midtown
development; and the excellent Mori Art Museum,
atop the
Roppongi Hills
complex.
Fashionistas should head towards on-trend
Shibuya
and
Harajuku
, and the super-chic,
boutique-lined boulevards of
Aoyama
. When you've reached consumer saturation point,
retreat to the wooded grounds of nearby
Meiji-jingū
, the city's most venerable Shinto
shrine, or peruse the delicate woodblock prints and crafts and artworks in the
Nezu
Museum
, the
Ōta Memorial Museum of Art
, or the
Japan Folk Crafts Museum
.
On the west side of the city lies
Shinjuku
, bursting with towering skyscrapers,
endless amounts of neon, TV screens several storeys tall, and arguably the world's
most complicated railway station. The attractions include the monumental
To k yo
Metropolitan Government Building
, the beautiful gardens of
Shinjuku Gyoen
, and
the lively and ra
sh
Kabukichō
entertainment area.
In the north of Tokyo offbeat pleasures include the rickety
Toden-Arakawa Line
,
the city centre's last tramway; the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Myonichi-kan in
Ikebukuro; and a trio of pretty Japanese gardens:
Rikugi-en
,
Chinzan-sō
and the
Kyū Furukawa Gardens
.
It costs nothing (other than a few hours' sleep) to experience the frenetic early-morning
fish market at
Tsukiji
, on the edge of
Tokyo Bay
.
Hama Rikyū Onshi Teien
, one of the
city's loveliest traditional gardens, lies close by. Across the bay from here, and linked
to the main city by the impressive Rainbow Bridge, is
Odaiba
, a futuristic man-made
island, where you'll find the
Miraikan
, Tokyo's most fascinating science museum, and
the touristy, fun public bathhouse Ōedo Onsen Monogatari.
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SHINJUKU
