Quote:
Originally Posted by Jello89
I would love to visist Tokyo. I love the city. But I would also like to see some nature/cultural things and so on. I dotn mind walking or taking trains/buses. I dont mind if its an hour ride or so. Where do you suggest I stay?(to be able to access all these places with resonable transport time and cost) Also what are some things you suggest I should visit?
I hear about a train pass or something that touritsts can purcahse? Do you know anything about this?
Have you ever heard of this place?
Hotel Edoya
Thanks alot!!!
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Honestly I have only been to Tokyo when we landed at the airport there, I live about two hours away. I'm going there the weekend of December 20-21 though. I live in Yokosuka and I go to Yokohama a lot too. Tokyo is such a huge city. Yokosuka is like the size of Seattle where I used to live, Yokohama is bigger, and Tokyo is biggest. Even in my relatively small town, there is always something to do and there are always people around, and there are a lot of malls and shopping. It's really exciting.
I have never heard of the Hotel Edoya but it looks nice. It might be expensive though. And anywhere you stay, there WILL be a train station, subway, or bus within walking distance.
To ride the trains you buy tickets, but if you are going to ride a lot you buy a pass card, either a Suica or a Pasmo. It's not really a tourist thing, everyone has one. You buy the card and put money on it, and then you scan it as you go into and come out of the train station, and it deducts the right amount from your card. It's not a discount card, your travel will be the same price as a normal ticket but it's much more convenient to not have to figure out which ticket you should buy.
You can also use your Suica or Pasmo card on some buses, and inside stores in the train stations for snacks and drinks. (The two cards are the same, only one train line sells Suica brand and one sells Pasmo. They are totally interchangeable.)
In Tokyo there are a lot of different neighborhoods, like Akihabara, Asakusa, Harajuku, etc. If you want to browse eletronics stores, then visit Akihabara. You get the idea.
You might want to visit Kyoto too. Kyoto is more old-style Japan, where they have old castles and shrines. It is a couple hours train ride but maybe you could go and stay there one night.
If you want, I can mail you a train map in English. I work on the Navy base so they have a lot of tourist info here that might be hard for other people to find. To me that map has been invaluable. It has every train stop on it, so you just have to count the stops till the station you want to get off at, instead of having to try to listen to the Japanese announcements on the train and possibly missing your stop.
Let me know if you want me to send you some stuff like that! It is really easy for me to do.