Tokyo Bitches Tour 2007

[HighFlyer]

About Tokyo station - did you find the walk to the platforms for the line that goes to Disney an awfully long way?

Oh gosh yes! Its a good few miles walk, well, certainly felt like that anyway. Just goes to show the sheer scale of the station!

Dean - So its Fugu and Foie Gras now is it? Glad to hear you are still being adventurous with your food [:p] Have a great evening and a safe journey home.

Thanks,
Sarah

[buns]

Richard

Thank you for the detailed report[y][y]

Like others, Japan had never really appealed, but after reading about your fantastic adventures, I could be swayed.


buns

[RichardMannion]

Originally posted by buns4vs
Richard

Thank you for the detailed report[y][y]

Like others, Japan had never really appealed, but after reading about your fantastic adventures, I could be swayed.


buns

I can't do it justice, but Decker or Wolves can - the Molecular Tapas would be right up Mrs Buns and your goodself' alley!

[buns]

Originally posted by RichardMannion

Originally posted by buns4vs
Richard

Thank you for the detailed report[y][y]

Like others, Japan had never really appealed, but after reading about your fantastic adventures, I could be swayed.


buns

I can't do it justice, but Decker or Wolves can - the Molecular Tapas would be right up Mrs Buns and your goodself' alley!

Coupled with good "G" availability, this could be a runner.

Thnaks once again

buns

[HighFlyer]

Indeed, i believe Mrs Decker said "You know who'd enjoy this too? Mr & Mrs Buns".

Tokyo is a little overwhelming in terms of being a complete culture shock, though you can balance that out with the sanctity of a lovely hotel such as the MO, with its Spa and several nice restaurants. I would definitely recommend a visit!

Thanks,
Sarah

[buns]

Originally posted by HighFlyer
Indeed, i believe Mrs Decker said "You know who'd enjoy this too? Mr & Mrs Buns".

Tokyo is a little overwhelming in terms of being a complete culture shock, though you can balance that out with the sanctity of a lovely hotel such as the MO, with its Spa and several nice restaurants. I would definitely recommend a visit!

Thanks,
Sarah

Sarah

Firstly, great to hear you had a fab time.

Secondly, I know your endorsement here will sway Mrs Buns[y][y]

Thanks once again

buns

[fozzyo]

Phew! We got back, and glad to say the flight was as it should have been! Excellent FSM and crew - full trip reports on hotels, tapas, flights etc all coming in the next few days. My first load of photos have been uploaded to my website site - can be viewed here.

[Darren Wheeler]

Thank you for all your TR. You've got me looking at Japan for next year.

I don't think it's a country I would travel to on my own for the first time so am looking for escorted tours. Any recommendations?

Why not book through Virgin Holidays, get 10 percent off, plus an extra 1,500 miles for staying at one of the Virgin partner hotels (like the Keio Plaza)?

Get the door to door limousine bus from Narita to the hotel front door and for tours just book when you are there through the hotel staff (Hakone/Mt. Fuji, Nikko, Ghibli Museum, Sumo, Kabuki etc). There's lots of choice and you have the freedom to pick what you want to do on any given day. The Keio Plaza (and some other hotels) even have a free shuttle bus to Disney!

For a first visit, unless you are in a group the Limousine Bus from Narita is excellent. There are direct routes to all major hotels and your bags are taken care of. It saves you having to deal with all the walking and stairs that are involved with taking the train.

The alternative is a package holiday which will easily double your cost. Companies still charge a premium for Japan. It is safe enough with enough English signeage to allow you to feel comfortable enough when out on your own. Just pick a well known hotel so if you get lost any taxi driver can get you back again!

Paul

Glad to see that Tokyo hasn't changed much.

It looks like you only just scratched the surface of the city.
You will have to go back for the rest
You did not get to Ropongi area? where was the mandarine hotel situated?
The river boat ride is superb, plus the temple gardens,fantastic place to visit, plus on a Sunday outside the Olympic swimming pool and the TV studios, the road is closed off and the street is full of bands playing live, some very good.
Did you get to try "shabba shabba"? where you have the food thinly sliced and you cook it in boiling water in front of you?

Was the cherry blossom on the trees? if so, the Japanese get litre bottles of Saki both cold and warm and sit out having picnics under the trees in the evening.

Do the train station ticket offices still have abacus's? very strange to see that was.

We took the Shinkansen to Fujiama, then on to Nagoya, then Kyoto (fantastic temple gardens) then took the local trains to Kobe and Osaka. Then back from Kyoto on the Shinkansen, to Hiroshima. This is a must visit.

I think you all will have to go back for a fortnight!!:D

[HighFlyer]

Alan,

We did venture down to Roppongi for an evening out, thats where we did Kareoke. And the Blossom season was just starting to fade by the time we arrived. We saw some of it, but not in all its glory.

There sure is a lot to see and do in Japan, but bearing in mind that we were there for only 4 days (Mat and Dean a little longer) we didnt have time to do as much as we'd have liked.

Thanks,
Sarah

Sarah,
that's why I think you need to go out for two weeks

One thing that is a total must next time is to spend one night in a traditional Japanes hotel, where the hotel is all wooden, you have a "bath" in a huge hot tank, followed by your room is no shoes, you get to wear traditional shoes, and chong-san's (I take it you brought one of those back?) and you eat around a small table before the room is changed into a bedroom. its really different to anything else.

So much to see in that country (well, group of islands.....)

Did you go into any of the department stores? is the escalator cleaner girl still there?

[ChuckC]

Sarah,
Clearly this is a place where a future V-Flyer Social might take flight. I can see the organiz(s)ing committee now ... LSoM, LRoM, Decker, Mrs D, mitchja, Fozzyo and Wolves.

Thanks again for sharing it all with us.

Chuck-

[RichardMannion]

Originally posted by ChuckC
Sarah,
Clearly this is a place where a future V-Flyer Social might take flight. I can see the organiz(s)ing committee now ... LSoM, LRoM, Decker, Mrs D, mitchja, Fozzyo and Wolves.

Thanks again for sharing it all with us.

Chuck-

There could be merit in that Chuck. The whole reason this trip came about was the abundance of G's availabe to NRT over the Easter period, there were practically at least 8 G's showing every day for the outbound and the return (some days had many more!).

So that can be a future Easter V-Flyer trip.

Thanks,
Richard

[Darren Wheeler]

Oooo pretty please.

Gives me chance to save the pennies and use the miles too. [^]

Save clogging up V-Flyer, I've uploaded some Tokyo Bitches Tour photos onto my Flickr account here for you to look at. Happy times...

Dean

Great photos. That gents at the Mandarin Oriental - is it accessible from the part of the bar where you go to have the Molecular Tapas?

Managed to get booked in for the night before we leave Tokyo - really pleased. They even asked if there is anything we won't/can't eat - I said no, I don't want to restrict the chefs.

The shot you have of Shinjuku skyscrapers includes the Keio Plaza which is a Virgin Holidays hotel. I'll try to take a photo of the Park Hyatt from the other direction

Paul

Japanese telly must be fab...
Watch this super-human Japanese fisherman dude...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkBkZpK-fYQ


From the Japanese show Ninja Warrior. Magoto Nagano is a 34 year old fisherman and is only the second ever to complete this obstacle course.

Great photos Dean, thank you. [y]

Paul, yeah those toilets are on the lobby floor, which the Molecular Tapas Lounge is off.
Enjoy the meal, hotel and the view

Dean

Originally posted by McCoy
Japanese telly must be fab...

Japanese telly is not fab. I love Japanese culture, rock/pop music, movies etc but trust me, Japanese telly is awful. Once you have got over the inital laughs of all the gaudy trimmings of the variety/chat shows they are really nothing special. It's a bit like if Comic Relief was on every night, on every channel. The alternative is NHK that might have a documentary about an old lady's collection of cheeses from around the world. Japanese satellite and cable offers more choice but that doesn't count as it's mostly dubbed imports and movies.

Paul

Thank god for Star TV Asia and BBC World!

Dean

[buns]

Wolves

Fantastic photos of the tokyo jaunt[y][y]

Thanks for being considerate for not clogging up the Site bandwidth


buns