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IN JAPAN EVERYTHING RUNS ON TIME. Trains. Clocks. Bowels. Even typhoons. Departing Narita as a major storm blows in snarling traffic and toppling telegraph poles, the lady at the check-in counter is unruffled. “Typhoon-o come 5-o-clock-o. Your flight-o depart 4.30pm. No problem-o.” Outside people are horizontal in the howling wind. People run on time too, screaming in all directions, when Godzilla turns up. If this happens to you, run screaming for the nearest tidal wave. It’s the Japanese way. Or so the movies have it. All idle guff of course. In reality people are running for trains. Including Godzilla.
Things here are different. A sign in a toilet at a posh Tokyo business hotel read: “Do not splash water or detergent on the product. This may cause fire or trouble.” If you don’t want a fire, and prefer your bottom the way God intended – beware. Then there are those peanuts whose wrapper states: “Not to be used for the other purpose”. Quite right. Japan is fraught with peril. Late night TV shows feature Steven Seagal action movies – dubbed in Japanese.
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Narita airport, duty-free, and getting around
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| Subway posters are almost an art form |
Narita Airport Terminal 2 is an orchestrated scrum, albeit a very efficient one. Immigration queues snake through the hall, long enough to make the most hard-boiled traveller faint. But fear not. These lines move, briskly. Terminal 1 is a tougher nut. First things first. Your mobile phone won’t work here unless it’s a made-for-Japan model or a 3G version. Purchasing a Sim card won’t help either. There’s a simple solution though. Borrow your Japanese colleague’s phone. Or rent one at the airport (tel: 81-43] 243-6662, www.tokyobay.co.jp/worldphone).
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Change a fair bit of money (US$1=Y100) at the airport. Hotel money exchange is a rip-off and banks handling foreign currency have cumbersome procedures. They also close early afternoon. Tokyo does not have the ubiquitous money changers so common in Hong Kong or New York. Carry as many Y1,000 notes as possible as these will come in handy feeding subway ticket vending machines. And carry the proud, if sinking, US dollar that all hotels recognize. Hong Kong dollars are difficult at best of times.
Getting into town is a snap on the Narita Express train (NEX, infoline: 050-2016-1603), at Y2,940 for the one-hour ride to Tokyo Station, or on the convenient shuttle Airport Limousine (www.limousinebus.co.jp) bus (Y3,000 to most hotels in town within an hour-and-a-half to two). The orange buses are controlled by state-of-the-art GPS controlled by staff at the Tokyo City Air Terminal so everyone knows where the buses are. No drivers have been lost thus far, which is reassuring. Arrive dishevelled and disoriented and the last thing you want is for the bus to get lost.
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| Narita Airport duty-free shopping |
Duty free shopping boffins may like to know that a 12-year-old one-litre Johnnie Walker Black Label sells for around Y3,300 (US$33) and a 12-year-old one-litre Chivas for Y3,200. A Chanel “Chance” 7.5ml parfum is priced at around Y11,500 while a 50ml bottle of Chanel “Allure” eu de parfum will set you back Y9,200. Duty free at Narita Airport Tokyo serves up a reasonable range of designer brands from Dior, Chanel, Shisheido, SK-II, Clinique and Biotherm to Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo, Cartier, BVLGARI, Burberry, COACH, Hermes and more. A silk Hermes tie costs around Y19,000 with Ferragamo ties a tad cheaper at Y15,000. For souvenirs and munchies there’s the Akihabara Tax Free Shop. Pick up an assortment of neatly wrapped Japanese desserts from Y500 up.
Getting around town is a doddle by subway and most train rides within the downtown area are about Y130-160. Yes those pesky brown Y10 coins that will soon overwhelm your bulging wallet are mighty handy. Subway train lines are colour-coded, good Tokyo maps are available, and stations are numbered too. The only trick is in selecting the right ticket machine. You do not normally want a JR (Japan Railway) machine unless you’re planning to hop on the above-ground Yamanote ring line that links Tokyo to Ueno, Ikebukuro, and Shinjuku. There are also four private Toei lines that require separate tickets as they do not accept transfers. Taxi flagfall starts at Y710 and the wallet gets speedily pummelled thereafter, the drivers’ extreme courtesy offsetting some of the pain.
Train rides may be problematic. Groping lady passengers on a train can land you with a hefty fine. Rather than getting fresh with the ladies on the train, far better to do the decent thing and head to Shinjuku to buy “fresh” underwear off students. The “fresher’ the underwear, the more expensive it is. Despite Godzilla and his deplorably poor manners, fresh fugu fish (which can kill you), sashimi, and underwear are keeping the Japanese economy alive. I thought I’d sell my own Marks & Spencers unders and make a few bucks but people started screaming and running in all directions. Typical.
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| The Peninsula Tokyo/ photo: hotel |
On then with our Tokyo guide, fun stuff, shopping, and a review of the best Tokyo business hotels, service apartments and budget hotel options where you are not inserted into a capsule.
Tokyo business hotels Ginza and Yurakucho area
Tokyo is a vast, sprawling city, and your choice of hotel will determine whether you conclude your business successfully, albeit uncomprehendingly, or whether your feet fall off, smoking. The entire city is brilliantly connected by a thrumming rail network but there is a lot of trudging about involved especially at some of the longer interchanges. I tallied almost 10km on one particularly taxing trip in one day alone. Cut down on weight and bring sturdy shoes. That is unless your business is at a single office, or at your hotel, in which case you can don your best and shell out for taxis.
One would have to begin any Tokyo business hotels guide, right in the heart of town in the Ginza and Yurakucho area, close by the Imperial Palace, and it is here, if your wallet will stretch, that you will find two excellent candidates – the traditional but smartly revamped Imperial Hotel Tokyo and the designer chic The Peninsula Tokyo. This is the Tokyo shopping heartland and your wallet will emerged bruised no matter what your course.
Despite being the newest kid on the block, The Peninsula Tokyo is cautious with its swagger. Any hint of bluster would be anathema to the group. Things are understated and quiet, if brisk. Everyone appears to be whispering and gliding about the gleaming floor. The Peninsula is largish (with 314 rooms) but not massive, the interiors cosy, contemporary, and intimate, with lots of natural light – one of the advantages of a free-standing building that affords fine views of the Imperial Palace and the city. This is a Tokyo luxury hotel where the Standard Deluxe starts at 54sq m in a bright, sunlit setting. Expect pastel tones, embroidered fabrics, espresso machine, 42-inch flat screen TV with DVD player and a mobile phone to which your room calls will be redirected if required. Pay for your outgoing calls at normal rates.
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| New look Imperial Hotel in Ginza |
There are multi-pin sockets for your appliances, a multi-card reader and fax/copier, while WiFi is complimentary in the room. Gold-hued horse chestnut partitions glide open on rollers and the roomy bathroom offers a separate bathtub and shower with twin vanities and a dressing room. The in-room safe is large, vertical, and can manage your computer and bits and bobs. The Peninsula Spa by ESPA has treatment rooms, fitness paraphernalia, and a very inviting pool. Reinvigorated, step out past the vintage 1934 Rolls-Royce parked outside, to catch any one of four nearby train lines. This is a top-drawer Tokyo business hotel with prices to match.
The renovated Imperial Hotel Tokyo smack in the bustling heart of Ginza has shed its musty image. It has long been favoured as a Ginza business hotel choice and as a multi-venue Tokyo conference hotel with 26 spacious ballrooms and function rooms, as well as an enormous business centre. It is large, well located, close to train stations, and superbly positioned if you are on a Tokyo shopping trawl. The hotel has been around since 1890 and has seen its share of history and famous personages, as well as wear and tear – hence the assault on the masonry and fittings. The look is now cleaner but unflinchingly corporate. The lobby is roomy, traditional, with a modernist café, and the obligatory red-carpeted grand staircase. Rooms look onto the Imperial Palace gardens and Hibiya Park. Standard rooms start at 31sq m with complimentary Broadband Internet. After this comes a category for Moderate rooms and, as with the Standard rooms, the space is functional and straightforward. Deluxe rooms from 50sq m going up to 70sq m are more elegantly accoutred while the Julian Reed-designed Imperial Floors offer premium benefits like comfy SleepWorks beds and butlers. The Imperial is a safe Tokyo business hotels choice with attentive service and well-oiled conference and meeting facilities. It is priced below The Peninsula.
For good value downtown, the Mercure Ginza Tokyo (a mid-range by Accor) is a serious option. It has an Alain Ducasse restaurant as well as a bistro and the toilets featured impeccable English. One sign read: “Don’t lean on mirror and throw the thick staff to it.” Get there before management spoil the fun. Look for, “It is necessary to be mind in the Unit.” If all that’s gone, there are still 208 mod rooms with classically patterned Euro wallpaper to pick from, in the heart of Ginza. The hotel is functional and well located with one restaurant and one bar.
Shimbashi area business hotels
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| Conrad Tokyo: Crisp, efficient, central |
The crisp, clean, minimalist Conrad Tokyo is a hushed corporate den with modern abstract masterpieces, high ceilings, plenty of light and dark woody tones. Everything runs in clean straight lines, which should please CEOs. With a lobby on the 28th floor of this downtown highrise near the Shiodome there is little through traffic and this lends the place a quiet, reflective air, with grand views. It is not the easiest of hotels to find coming from the train station though, so consult your map carefully. The suites are roomy, with cinemascope views over verdant gardens. You'll find a large-face room clock, two flatscreen 37-inch TVs, iron and ironing board, a mobile phone for guest use (as your phone will probably be off the air here unless you use 3G), DVD player and more. Standard 48sq m Classic rooms feature a glassed look-in bathroom with the usual floating rubber toys, a jovial Conrad signature. Expect a sleep-well pillow menu, body-jet massage showers, and a 26-inch flat-screen high definition TV. There is Wireless and plug-in Broadband, charged for every 24 hour period. Pour on the customised toiletries by Shiseido, marvel at the art, enjoy some fancy dining, or opt for a 5am Tsukiji Fish Market tour. It’s close by. The Conrad is clearly aimed at top-end pin-stripers on the go among the high-end Tokyo business hotels, and everything about it reflects this intention from small details to its meetings and conference facilities.
The French-designed boutique-style Park Hotel Tokyo is one of the city’s best-kept secrets as even from the basement of the Shiodome Media Tower where the hotel is located, the correct exit/entrance is hard to find. The hotel features an atrium lobby with a skylight, dark polished wood and white leather sofas. The rooms are compact (City Queen is 22sq m and a Premium Twin is 33sq m) and funky with a range of extraordinary pillows to suit all needs.
There are pillows to suit petite Asian sizes with a soft and hard side. If you can’t find the right one, call a “pillow fitter” who will measure the curve of your spine/neck and set up one for you immediately. Guests are predominantly European though the public toilets are hi-tech Japanese – the kind where the toilet seat rises automatically as you enter and flushing sounds start emanating the minute you sit down, with no instructions in English.
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| Spa at Mandarin Oriental/ photo: hotel |
Rest assured at the end of it all you shall be the proud possessor of one clean bottom. In-room find Broadband and nice views. There’s a pale wood, working table, and a flat screen TV. After a session at the business centre, unwind for some aromatherapy treatment.
Nihonbashi, Marunouchi, Tokyo Station area hotels
The Mandarin Oriental Tokyo in Nihonbashi offers Cinemascope views of Tokyo Bay and is in striking distance of the best Tokyo shopping downtown, perched just above the Ginza line and a short taxi ride from Tokyo Station. Housed in the upper nine floors of the Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower, this crisp business hotel is centrally located close to the Bank of Japan and Mitsukoshi department store. As is de rigueur at ultramodern Japanese hotels, the lobby is vertiginously located on a high floor, here on the 38th. Whoosh up in a lift to savour the sunlit views. There are 179 rooms between the 30th to 36th floor, averaging 50-60sq m, each masterfully textured in wood, stone and fabric to create a sense of the elements. Nihonbashi has long been known for its kimonos and rich weaves and this too is sensuously incorporated into the interior design. Expect four kinds of tea in-room, a safe that can manage a laptop and with power sockets, a choice of yukatas and pyjamas, a 46-inch flat screen TV with DVD player, and free Internet – plugged in or WiFi. Toilets offer a separate shower and bathtub. Rooms look west over the Imperial Palace towards Mount Fuji, east towards Sumida River or south across Tokyo Bay. The hotel’s restaurants and bars have a bright contemporary feel where corporate high flyers and elaborately-coiffed metrosexuals will feel equally at ease. High above the city the 950sq m Spa at Mandarin Oriental Tokyo serves up vitality pools, crystal steam rooms, saunas, workouts and wellness treatments by the yard. Try a “Skin oxygen miracle lift” at just under two hours for a trifling Y46,000 before heading to the in-house wedding chapel.
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| Ginza lights up after dark |
A stylish option for those in search of an intimate Tokyo luxury hotel is the Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi, with just 57 rooms yet ample space, and location, location, location. A few minutes’ walk will bring you to the main rail artery and redbrick building of Tokyo Station. Also a few minutes away by foot are Kyobashi Station (Ginza Line) and the Yurakucho Station. In-room amenities include flat-screen plasma TV, DVD/CD player, hypo-allergenic pillows (if required), laptop-size safe, and Wireless Internet. The small spa offers two treatment rooms, sauna, jet showers, and a Japanese-style onsen bath.
Easier on the wallet is the cosy and stylish 205-room Marunouchi Hotel gleaming with burnished pine in the modern OAZO building opposite Tokyo Station. Rooms are bright, minimalist, in pastel tones with gold-hued woods. High-speed Internet access is reassuringly free, piped through fibre-optic cables. The hotel can manage small meetings of up to around 16 persons and offers wedding packages too.
The Palace Hotel Tokyo, just across the road from the Imperial Palace and sited along a river is a pleasant location and not too far away, its sister property Hotel Grand Palace in Kudanshita, offers attentive service at reasonable prices.
Kanda area Tokyo budget hotels
The Kanda area, just one stop from Tokyo Station is a quiet and unremarkable neighbourhood but it offers some usefully cheap Tokyo hotel choices and a fair bit of cheap nosh for when you stagger home. The Grand Central Hotel is a super choice, just a few minutes’ walk from Kanda Station. The rooms are small but not unduly so, with hair-driers, free high-speed Internet (with cable provided), working desk, small TV with Japanese channels, a yukata robe and a clean if compact toilet where it is possible to brush your teeth without having your elbows banging on the walls waking neighbours. Downstairs is a neat café, vending machine for soft drinks and snacks and a Laundromat. A Single Room here starts at just Y9,030. Grand Central Hotel is clean with polite staff who speak good English and strive to understand most accents. Its sister property Central Hotel is in the area catering more for Japanese guests and starting even lower at Y6,825. Now that’s a cheap Tokyo hotel.
Akasaka, Roppongi business hotels, budget options
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| Ritz-Carlton Tokyo, Roppongi |
Roppongi is bright and brash with several hotel options. One of the top business hotels in the area is The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo, a short walk from the station in the 248m Midtown Tower. Soaring above the city does have its advantages with excellent views of Tokyo Tower and beyond. Find your way from the arrogant arching atrium of the Midtown entrance to an unobtrusive hotel entrance and carpeted corridors on to the high-speed elevators that will whisk you up to the lobby on the 45th floor with its art pieces and modern sculpture. There are 248 rooms in all attractively designed in light pastel with an accent on simplicity. Nothing over-the-top here. Find a 40-inch SONY flat-screen TV and DVD, a large dial room clock with old-fashioned “hands”. Remember them? The dressing and bathing area features twin vanities, two cupboards and a separate bathtub and shower with the added distraction of an LCD TV. The in-room safe is flat and has a useful power socket for laptops. After hours soak up the treatments at the spa by ESPA or savour gourmet treats at The Ritz-Carlton Club where endlessly flowing confections will satisfy the most demanding palate. As a Tokyo conference hotel, The Ritz weighs in with over 1,100sq m of function space including a 560sq m ballroom. Grab a “technology butler” and get your meeting started.
The chic, ultra-mod 389-room Grand Hyatt Tokyo is also conveniently located a short walk from Roppongi Station in the highrise cluster of Roppongi Hills. The Grand Rooms are spacious, starting at 42sq m with a large working desk, DVD player, humidifier, 32-inch flat screen TV (with a 13-inch TV in the bathroom), WiFi, and a flat safe with built-in power socket for a laptop recharge. A glass partition separates the bathing area. The Grand Deluxe rooms are 55sq m while Grand Suites take you up to 85sq m, enough to swing Godzilla by the tail. Nagomi Spa and Fitness serves up 1,300sq m of wellness escape with a red granite swimming pool, whirlpool, sauna, gym and treatment rooms. The place ranks high among Tokyo business hotels and also offers versatile meetings and conferencing space with 2,800sq m to play around with. If you're in a spiritual mood, visit the Shinto Shrine, and if you must throw away your money – and your life – head to the wonderfully uplifting Grand Chapel with a giant rock in a velvet box for your significant other.
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| Stylish Grand Hyatt, Roppongi Hills |
For a Roppongi budget hotel, or at least a cheap Tokyo hotel by stratospheric city standards, though one as modern and neat as any, look at the hotel IBIS Roppongi, conveniently sited close to the Roppongi intersection. This small functional hotel will put a roof over your head from Y13,382 which is a bargain for this area. Pick from a Single, Double, Twin or Triple Room. There’s a Suite too on the top floor. A small but user-friendly “PC Corner” in the fifth floor lobby will plug you into the Internet with MS Word and Excel, making this an all-in work centre. Dine Japanese or Italian, and croon in a private room at the Lovenet karaoke.
The gleaming 865-room ANA InterContinental Tokyo, between Akasaka and Roppongi has good facilities and service to match. Almost half the rooms are non-smoking. All offer Internet access, with satellite TV. The fully renovated property is housed in the "intelligent" Ark Hills complex in the centre of the nightlife buzz. Talk to it. Expect modern facilities, fitness centre, business centre, brisk service, and good Japanese nosh. Sister property is the boutique-style but big The Strings by InterContinental Tokyo with a European flavour in Shinagawa on the JR Yamanote Line to the southwest of the city.
Traditional options in Akasaka include the immense Hotel New Otani – actually three hotels in one – with its splendid 10-acre gardens, 37 restaurants and bars, pool, spa, and complimentary high-speed Internet in Executive Rooms. Close by is the Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka.
Tokyo service apartments are burgeoning in this area competing strongly with Tokyo hotels, offering high standards of service and long-stay amenities and far cheaper rooms. Look at the Oakwood Residences Akasaka and Oakwood Apartments Roppongi Central. The Oakwood Roppongi service apartments offer 69 smart options each with flat-screen TV, satellite hook-up, large work desk and Broadband with a Studio starting at Y15,000. If you need a stylish but cheap Tokyo hotel, this may be the way to go.
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| Four Seasons Chinzan-so/ photo: hotel |
Tokyo business hotels in Toranomon area
The grand and expansive Hotel Okura Tokyo near Toranomon Station is smack next to the US embassy outside which there’s always someone or the other shouting slogans and being carted away by police. Get used to it. Hotel Okura rooms are large and stately in the manner of Gone With the Wind, with period furniture, heavy silken drapes, and classical European touches everywhere. This where royalty and heads of state tend to stay so you’ll be in excellent company. A highlight at the Hotel Okura is a charming tea ceremony room overlooking a garden where you can sip the finest brews and meditate on that business deal ahead. There are 855 rooms in all including 85 suites, all with TVs linked to wireless keyboards for surfing the Internet. The mini-bar here includes a cell phone battery (Japanese phones only). Superior Deluxe rooms offer contemporary chic in pastel beige hues and pinewood. There are a number of fine restaurants. All in, with a good business centre, fitness club, dental service, barber, and a shopping arcade, Hotel Okura is a good bet among any Tokyo business hotels shortlist if work brings you to this downtown area.
Ikebukuro business hotels and budget options
Ikebukuro is a bit out of the way to the northwest of the city but within the JR Yamanote over-ground line loop. This is a bland but growing business district. Upscale options in this vicinity include the Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Chinzan-so, sited in a 17-acre Japanese style garden with all the classical western elegance you’d expect – inroom video player, CD player, non-allergenic pillows and, for a serious unwind, the 2,068sq m Yu spa. Room facilties include down pillows and duvets, satellite TV and WiFi. The Four Seasons is a short walk from the Edogawabashi Station and a not-too-pinching taxi ride from the JR Mejiro Station. The Crowne Plaza Metropolitan Tokyo, is a modern high-rise in Nishi-Ikebukoro, close by the station, with snappy business facilities and very good Internet rates especially for “advance purchase” in particular periods. The Tokyo budget Sakura Hotel runs small lodges in Kebukuro and Jimbocho where you can get a private roof over your head from Y9,000 or muck in at the dormitory for Y3,200 up.
Shinjuku business hotel and service apartments
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| Park Hyatt Tokyo: Shinjuku views |
Say Shinjuku and it immediately conjures up visions of the racy neon-pulsing Kabuki-cho entertainment area or, at the opposite end of the scale, the Park Hyatt Tokyo with its immense views of Yoyogi Park and the city, immortalised in the Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson movie Lost in Translation. The hotel is part of a modern tower complex and arrival is pretty understated. So much so it may take a while to figure out the entrance if you are walking in. Of course, most will opt for the short taxi ride from Shinjuku Station on the JR Yamanote Loop line. Once up the lift to the lobby on the 41st floor, guests could wander endlessly down hushed hallways asking for reception, which is eternally “at the end of the corridor”. The corridor runs past mysterious, inviting restaurants, and dimly lit bookshelves, and you might easily find yourself in the lift again heading up to the stylish New York Grill & Bar where you might sip their signature L.I.T with its melange of saké, Sakura liqueur and Peachtree. If you do make it to the lobby, well-groomed men and women in black will glide up noiselessly and attend to you with perfect poise. Extra spacious 45sq m rooms offer complimentary high-speed Internet and WiFi, a smart work desk, personal entertainment, walk-in closet, and Egyptian linen that's easy on the eye as well as on the body. The safe can manage a small laptop. And there’s an LCD TV in the toilet. Design is very Zen, simple, with starched-white fabric crisped across the beds and deep pastel carpets. In Suites you can hook up your iPOD. At the Club on the Park, indulge in exotic spa treatments including hydrotherapy.
Other Shinjuku options are pretty muscle-bound when it comes to rooms. These include longtime stalwarts the four-star Keio Plaza Hotel Tokyo and the 815-room Hilton Tokyo, a business and leisure veteran with its distinctive wave architecture. The Hilton has just come through a top-to-toe US$35 million refurbishment and offers Broadband or Wireless Internet access at Y1,680 for a 24 hour period. The Hilton Executive Floors offer access to the Executive Lounge with complimentary breakfast, flowing cocktails, and in-room LCD television and DVD player. The Kiku Ballroom at the Hilton Tokyo can accommodate 600 persons seated (or 900 for a stand-up reception). Also find a pool, gym and sauna. Or look at the 744-room Hyatt Regency Tokyo (formerly Century Hyatt Tokyo), with complimentary Internet, Regency Club Rooms, pool, spa, 18 function rooms and five restaurants.
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| Fraser Place Shinjuku: service apartments |
While all these properties are a short hike from Kabukicho, on the “other” side of the tracks, the Prince Hotel Shinjuku is in the thick of the action right by the tracks. It’s a seemingly grotty and dull old brick building, but it is nevertheless a useful choice with friendly staff and easy access to trains. All rooms have Internet access at just Y525 per day. This is also one of the rare hotels that can change Hong Kong dollars should you happen to be carrying these. Being an old-fashioned place, the lobby is in the basement and not perched atop some dizzy height.
In the Kabukicho area of Shinjuku at the epicentre of the neon storm, find the new Best Western Shinjuku ASTINA Hotel Tokyo that opened in late March 2008. The hotel is right across from Shinjuku city hall, a five minutes’ walk from the subway. Check for introductory offers and specials.
Tokyo service apartments and residences are many and varied with excellent services and facilities, often very competitively priced when compared to hotels. A new and trendy spot in the Shinjuku area near Okubo and walking distance to the Shinju-ku JR station is the intriguingly named Fraser Place – howff Shinjuku Tokyo. This 175-room service apartment and hotel features “designer rooms” on the 21st and 22nd floors in various formats, colours and finish. These range from a timber-lodge “loft” style almost Alpine in its frugality and style, to all-white cream-cake rooms with elaborate stucco and see-through glass washrooms. It’s almost love-hotel-meets-Philippe Starck. All rooms have a useful kitchenette, iPOD docks, and CD/DVD players connected to state-of-the-art Bose home audio. There’s also a gym, colourful lounge, and café though no pool. The Internet charge is Y600 per 24 hour period. Most floors are non-smoking. Fraser Place is different and worth jotting in your diary. Also look at the established and popular Oakwood Apartments Shinjuku (they also have spots in Akasaka and Roppongi). Oakwood will set you back just Y13,000-Y16,000 for a Studio. Now that’s a cheap Tokyo hotel and more.
Yebisu Garden Place (Ebisu) area
The Westin Tokyo features some novel 42sq m Westin WORKOUT Rooms with the signature “Heavenly Bed”, fitness equipment, exercise mat, treadmill and flat-screen TV almost as flat as your tummy will be by the end of the stay. The place is clubby with deep rich tones and gleaming black floors. Staff are responsive and quick. Internet is free at the Executive Lounge though you’ll need to pay Y1,800 per day in-room (with 50 percent off on Executive Floor rooms). There’s a Mitsukoshi department store next door and, talking of workouts, it’s a stiff 15-minute walk to Ebisu Station on the Japan Rail Line. The hotel’s Galaxy Ballroom is the centrepiece of its pitch to be on your list as a Tokyo conference hotel choice. The Westin can manage both intimate corporate meetings and larger events. It is a good Tokyo business hotel if work brings you to the east of town.
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| Ginza Crossing: Tokyo shopping epicentre |
And, in Takanwa and Daiba, find the usual French flair and Euro-trimmings at the Le Meridien Grand Pacific Tokyo and the Le Meridien Pacific Tokyo.
Tokyo shopping and fun guide
So on to our Tokyo guide, Tokyo shopping romp, offbeat fun, and a few seedy dives. It can get wild. Peel your eyebrows off the ceiling at “maid cafés” in Akihabara where waitresses dress to serve and please, “butler cafés”, theme bars where staff are kitted out as doctors, or nurses, or gawp at students selling underwear to delighted old codgers in Shinjuku.
Ginza and Yurakucho with their sizzling neon and stratospheric prices are great fun and the epicentre of any Tokyo shopping expedition. Start with window browsing and an occasional brave foray inside. The teeming epicentre of Ginza is at the intersection of Chuo-dori and Harumi-dori. Come up for air at the Mitsukoshi department store and gawp at amazing window displays at Waco (an oldies hangout). In this vicinity are Matsuzakaya, the Jena bookstore, Hankyu, Mikimoto (tel: 3535-4611), Seibu, the Sony Building, Sukiya Camera (specialising in Nikons), the Nissan showroom and the humungous come-in-and-play Apple Store complete with a giant rotating apple emblem on the roof. Between Mitsukoshi and the Hankyu department store, along Harumi-dori, you’ll find a rash of side streets bristling with designer-ware cheek-by-jowl with simple discount stores. This is the rarefied preserve of designer brands like Dior, Longchamp, Giorgio Armani, Hermes (in a stunning mod building), Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Breitling, Chanel, Ermenegildo Zegna, St John, Shanghai Tang, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tag Heuer, Burberry, and COACH.
The large, easy-to-spot no-brand Muji store (10am-9pm, www.muji.net) in Yurakucho is a wonderful alternative to hysterical spend. It has a decent café too. Muji stocks a delightful array of “no-brand” clothes and household goods all the more refreshing for their lack of mindless similarity to thousands of other so-called brands. Muji prices are generally affordable.
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| Omote-Sando Hills for high rollers |
One of the more interesting spots for silk ties and formal shirts in Ginza is the specialist Teijin Men’s Shop (tel: 3561-7519, www.tjnaso.co.jp), where prices start at around Y13,000 for a splash of colour around the neck and from Y11,000 up for cotton shirts. Teijin also has, a short stroll from here, an oversize items “sports” shop.
For a more sober wind-down pop out at Tokyo Station and head for the New Marunouchi Building and the Maruzen mega-bookstore (tel: 5288-8881). The fourth floor is devoted to foreign publications and frazzled foreigners rehearsing their konichi-was. Maruzen is an established bookstore whose antecedents date back to 1869. If paying by credit card do not be alarmed if a sales girl enquires, “One? One…?” She’s asking if you wish to pay in one or more instalments. Just show one finger (the right one) and smile.
Omote-sando is sleek wall-to-wall Dior, Armani, Burberry, Max Mara, Hanae Mori, Kenzo and more. The pride of the district is the new Omote Sando Hills (tel: 3497-0310, www.omotesandohills.com) development, a funky reconverted old building with an atrium and intriguing ramp-style angled walk-up to all floors without steps with the result everything appears to be tilting. You are always walking either up, or down. There is no specific floor as each floor is essentially leading up gently to the next. Omote Sando Hills shopping will take you past the likes of Dunhill, Roger Dubuis, Harry Winston (jewellers), Gieves & Hawkes, Dolce & Gabbana, Han Ahn Soon, Tsuru, Ann Demeulemeester and so on. There are also a number of eateries and ice-cream parlours should the feet give out. And yes, there are escalators and lifts. This is the high end of Tokyo shopping where elegantly draped fashionistas prowl, six-inch platforms are the norm, and women click about on stilettos that could skewer a marlin.
But neighbouring Harajuku offers a rare treat – the five-storey Kiddyland (tel: 3409-3431), bursting with oddities, stuffed character toys, games and mad inventions. This is a super children’s shop and fun for parents too. Everything from horrifying masks to electronic games, toys, novelties and giant stuffed “Totoros”.
Akihabara is highly rated for its electronics. If it beeps, buzzes or pings you’ll find it at LABI Akihabara (tel: 5207-6711) or Laox (tel: 3253-7111). Get off at Akihabara Station and look for the “Akihabara Electric Town” exit. The shops start right at the station. Bic Camera can be found in Yurakucho (tel: 5221-1111, http://www.biccamera.co.jp/shoplist/index_english.html), Shinjuku and Ikebukuro, while Yodobashi Camera (tel: 3346-1010) is in Shinjuku with a huge array of discount cameras.
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| LABI, Akihabara: electronics galore |
The more adventurous could venture into Japan Sword (tel: 3434-4321, Toranomon Station, Sakura-dori, www.japansword.co.jp), for reproductions ranging from Y18,000 to Y70,000 or more for prized tameshi-giri blades that have drawn human blood, and I don’t mean while shaving. And the less intrepid can play with dolls at Yoshitoku (tel: 3863-4419, Asakusabashi), an outfit that has been making pieces for the royal family for generations. Or simply dip into pearls at the Tasaki Shinju Pearl Gallery (tel: 5561-8880, Tameikesanno Station Exit 9).
However, the big question for those of us not covered by a Lose-One-Limb-Three-Digits-And-All-Of-Your-Mind insurance plan is where to have fun in Tokyo without actually losing an arm and a leg. For the best prices and eye-popping action, head to Shinjuku and its racy Kabukicho district pulsing with lights, discount “100 Yen Shops” (where everything is priced at Y100 or less) and burly black touts sporting American accents. The items for sale at 100 Yen Shops are unexceptional but how many people can tell their friends they picked up a Hello Kitty notepad for less than US$1?
A large outdoor video screen marks the beginning of Kabukicho. From here on, you’re on your own. Browse books at Kinokuniya (tel: 3354-0131, www.kinokuniya.com), or pop by a 24-hour Don Quixote discount store and its mind-boggling array of everything from inspired gadgets to no-I-don’t-really-need-a-George-Bush-doll kind of stuff. Enter at your peril and rummage about the stalls that seem to follow no particular order.
Any Tokyo guide would be crammed with amazing things you can do. Visitors in town over a Saturday can check out the interesting weekend flea market around the Shibuya Meiji Shrine. Not far from here, Yoyogi Park is worth a stroll as well though the Sunday synchronised dance-and-rock buzz is gone with residents voting out the surging decibels. Shibuya is awash with restaurants and bars. If you need a place to hang out because the weather’s too cold, or hot, or wet, waltz into Mark City, a mega-department-store with restaurants on the fourth level. And for antique collectors, Harajuku’s Fuji Tori (tel: 3400-2777, www.fuji-torii.com) is a popular prowl. If you're able to rise at crack of dawn, try a walkabout in the Tsukiji Market (there's a stop on the Toei Oedo Line) at 5am or earlier. The clamorous bidding area where giant tuna and exotic catch are hauled on the scales is not for everyone but tourists can still sniff the action in other open zones.
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| Kabuki-za for very, very slow trad theatre |
The National Children’s Castle (tel: 3797-5666, www.kodomono-shiro.or.jp/english) may sound like something out of Harry Potter but is, in reality, just another office block. Inside it is a different story altogether. The place has several floors devoted to kids from toddlers up with play netting, mini-pool tables, swimming pool and assorted distractions. The “castle” is between Shibuya Station and Omote-sando Station. There is a modest entrance fee. Toddlers are free.
Ogling at buildings is another excellent, no-cost, pastime and the Dentsu tower, all gleaming minimalist grey metal, sheer glass walls and vertiginous lifts, is breathtaking. For fun pop into the basement Advertising Museum (tel: 6218-2500) for some quirky displays.
Other items at the top of your quick to-do Tokyo list might include, a temple tour of the stately Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa, a visit to the Imperial Palace, a stroll through Ueno Garden, especially during the cherry blossom season in late March, or an evening at the Kabuki-Za theatre (tel: 3541-3131), where ponderous plays run for hours, unravelling in mysterious slow-mo. Now that your wife is shopped out and your bank manager is hollering on the line, pack her off to a Kabuki show. Collect her three days later at interval. The kids will, of course, be camped at Tokyo Disneyland (tel: [81-47] 354-0001), in Maihama, a 20-minute train ride from Tokyo Station on the JR Keiyo Line. For another stage show with a twist, venture to the Takarazuka Theatre near the Imperial Hotel where an all-woman cast performs Japanese musicals.
Tokyo nightlife, music, and cool bars
For nightlife there’s no better start than trawling varied Roppongi bars and pubs. The spiky-haired young and restless have been increasingly replaced by the middle-aged and legless in search of twee after-hours titillation at gentlemen’s clubs, but the place retains its buzz especially on Friday nights. Here, the Cavern Club (tel: 3405-5207, www.cavernclub.jp), featuring The Beatles Abbey Road album jacket as its entrance theme, hosts enthusiastic bands playing classics like “All you need is rub” but there’s a cover charge – or “music charge”, Y1,890 for males and Y1,575 for ladies. The show times are usually 7.30pm, 8.40pm and 9.50pm.
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| Roppongi model does her thing |
The unpretentious basement Birdland in Roppongi (tel: 3478-3456, www.birdland-tokyo.jp) is a 30-year stalwart of the jazz music scene and hosts live performances of local artists Monday to Saturday. The emphasis is on traditional 1950s jazz with a cover charge of around Y3,500. It opens at 6pm and serves food and drinks.
For those missing Blighty, the Hobgoblin pub (www.hobgoblin.jp), is a fairly authentic replication, with pub grub, four huge plasma TV screens, and suitably dark ale. Hobgoblin is reputed to be the largest pub in Tokyo. Its adjacent Vodka Bar (tel: 3568-1280) is a chic spot to rev up for an evening out in Roppongi. Choose from almost 150 varieties of firewater. And if you’re not forty-something and prefer a more hip crowd and blaring house music, head down to Space Lab Yellow (or simply, Yellow, tel: 3476-2368, www.club-yellow.com). Yellow has a dance floor, lounge and bar. Brown G (tel: 5411-0717) in Omote Sando is a hip and cool lounge with cream sofas and small lampshades. The place is modern and smart. Don’t bother with the much touted and frantically advertised Gaspanic clubs unless you’re into raging overdrive and relentless hip-hop head-banging. You may be in the mood for a kosher above-board Alpha Male establishment like Seventh Heaven (tel: 3401-3644, Roppongi) where Y7,000 buys entry and another Y7,000 a lap dance by a languorous leggy blonde who will declare she loves you in a heavy East European accent after the first drink. I’m sure she means it. This is your cue to RUN SCREAMING IN ALL DIRECTIONS. Look for the nearest tidal wave.
For some sizzling steak and grills check out Side Door (Roppongi, tel: 5785-0573). On the streets take your pick of pubs, Tex-Mex, discos, grunge, live music and roadside noodle stalls where salarymen in obligatory grey suits noisily slurp soba. Dig into tonkatsu at small dives where you’ll need to hit the right flashing button to order your dish.
If there’s change left over, head up a few blocks from Max Mara (on Aoyama Dori, not far from the Omote Sando crossing) down Kotto Dori (well known for its antiques shops), to the Tokyo jazz Mecca – Blue Note (tel: 5485-0088, www.bluenote.co.jp). With a basement live theatre drawing top-notch international performers (and a restaurant, adding:blue), this is a place for serious music buffs. There are entry charges per person depending on the act. If you’d rather just watch the show, grab a cheaper beer and nurse it, lovingly.
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| Cavern Club Roppongi: The Beatles |
Insomnia Lounge (tel: 5568-5112, Ginza Station Exit B9) is an orderly, calm, mood lighting sort of place where patrons chill out. With clean minimalist lines, exotic drinks and great views, Mu-Mu (tel: 5229-6600, Nishi-Shinjuku, 49F Sumitomo Bldg, Shinjuku Station west exit) is worth a stop if in the area. For noise, sweat, live gigs and a nonstop party atmosphere, explore what’s on at the Liquid Room (www.liquidroom.net).
If that doesn’t do it, head up to the Park Hyatt’s swish 52nd floor New York Bar (tel: [81-3] 5323-3458), listen to jazz and watch the Shinjuku lights below through floor-to-ceiling windows. This is the bar that featured prominently in the movie Lost in Translation. Fortunately, the waitresses speak English.
A nice way to end an evening is at an oden stall where you’ll be served steaming soup with assorted broiled meats and vegetables. If the tummy is still talking, stroll over to the yakitori stalls under the train lines at Hibiya and Yurakucho and grab a fast bite. The chicken meatballs are scrumptious. Wash it all down later with some Dai Ginzo saké (the best variety, or Jun Mai) or stronger shochu (wheat grain spirit) popularly drunk with soda and a crushed preserved sour plum. Ask for imo shochu, a particularly potent potato extract, lie back in bed and wait for the earth to move. Well, maybe it’s just a passing train. Or it could be GODZILLA. Grab your stuff and RUN SCREAMING IN ALL DIRECTIONS.
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FAST FACTS
The exchange rate is roughly US$1=Y100. A good book to cart with you is the old but still relevant Little Adventures in Tokyo by Rick Kennedy. Also handy is Tokyo for Free by Susan Pompian. Two online resources are Metropolis magazine (www.metropolis.co.jp), a handy guide with decent bar reviews, and TokyoQ magazine, sponsored by Nokia. For more on the joys of saké head to Japan Saké (www.japansake.or.jp).
View a large format printable Tokyo subway map.
Ginza business hotels and Yurakucho
Imperial Hotel Tokyo. Tel: [81-3] 3504-1111, fax: 3581-9146, (www.imperialhotel.co.jp). Standard Rooms in Main Building from Y31,500 (single), Standard in Tower Wing from Y35,700 (single), Superior on The Imperial Floors from Y45,150 (single).
The Peninsula Tokyo. Tel: [81-3] 6270-2888, fax: 6270-2000, (e-mail: ptk@peninsula.com or tokyo.peninsula.com). Superior from Y60,000, Executive Suite from Y100,000.
Mercure Hotel Ginza Tokyo. Tel: [81-3] 4335-1111, fax: 4335-1222, (e-mail: mercure.res@mercureginza.com or www.mercure.com). Rack rates from Y44,200 with Internet best rates from Y26,000.
Shimbashi downtown area hotels
Conrad Tokyo. Tel: [81-3] 6388-8000, fax: 6388-8001, (e-mail: tokyoinfo@conradhotels.com or www.conradtokyo.co.jp). Rates from Y74,000.
Park Hotel Tokyo. Tel: [81-3] 6252-1111, fax: 6252-1001, (e-mail: info@parkhoteltokyo.com or www.parkhoteltokyo.com). City Single rate from Y19,950, City Twin from Y25,200.
Nihonbashi, Marunouchi, Tokyo Station area hotels
Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi. Tel: [81-3] 5222-7222, fax: 5222-1255, (www.fourseasons/marunouchi). Standard from Y62,000.
Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo. Tel: [81-3] 3720-8800, fax: 3270-8886, (e-mail: motyo-reservations@mohg.com or www.mandarinoriental.com/tokyo). Deluxe from Y71,400, Executive Suite from Y136,500.
Marunouchi Hotel. Tel: [81-3] 3217-1111, fax: 3217-1115, (e-mail: info@marunouchi-hotel.co.jp or www.marunouchi-hotel.co.jp). Rates from Single Y23,300, Deluxe Twin Y37,160 (single occupancy).
Palace Hotel Tokyo. Tel: [81-3] 3211-5211, fax: 3211-6987, (www.palacehotelstokyo.com). Standard Single from Y24,000.
Kanda area budget hotels, Kudanshita area
Grand Central Hotel. Tel: [81-3] 3256-3211, fax: 3256-3201, (e-mail: gch@pelican.co.jp or www.pelican.co.jp). Single Room from Y9,030, Double Room from Y12,810. Credit cards accepted.
Central Hotel. Tel: [81-3] 3256-6251, fax: 3256-6250, (e-mail: ch@pelican.co.jp or www.pelican.co.jp). Single Room from Y6,825.
Hotel Grand Palace. [Tel: 81-3] 3264-1111, (www.grandpalace.co.jp). Rates from Y18,000 Single.
Tokyo Green Hotel Ochanomizu. Tel: [83-3] 3255-4161, fax: 3255-4962, (www.greenhotel.co.jp/en). Single Room rates from Y8,600, Double from Y14,000. Credit cards accepted.
Akasaka, Roppongi business hotels, service apartments
ANA Intercontinental Tokyo. Tel: [81-3] 3505-1111, fax: 3505-1155, (e-mail: info@anaintercontinental-tokyo.jp or www.anaintercontinental-tokyo.jp). Published Rates from Y32,000 and Internet rates from Y19,550, single.
hotel IBIS Roppongi. Tel: [81-3] 3403-4411, fax: 3479-0609, (e-mail: info@ibis-hotel.com or www.ibis-hotel.com). Single from Y13,382.
Hotel New Otani. Tel: [81-3] 3265-1111, fax: 3221-2619, (www.newotanihotels.com/tokyo). Main Wing Internet rate from Y42,000.
Grand Hyatt Tokyo. Tel: [81-3] 4333-1234, fax: 4333-8123, (e-mail: info@tyogh.com or www.grandhyatttokyo.com). Grand Room rates from Y60,000 (single), Grand Club Room from Y71,610 (single).
Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka. Tel: [81-3] 3234-1111, fax: 3262-5163, (www.princejapan.com). Twin Room from Y32,500.
Oakwood Residence Akasaka. Tel: [81-3] 5572-8801, (www.oakwood.com/serviced-apartments/international/JP/212/Tokyo.html). One Bedroom from Y23,333-Y25,333.
Oakwood Apartments Roppongi Central. Tel: [81-3] 5412-6800, (www.oakwood.com/serviced-apartments/international/JP/212/Tokyo.html). Studio from Y15,000-Y18,000.
The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo. Tel: [81-3] 3423-8000, fax: 3423-8001, (www.ritzcarlton.com). Deluxe Room Internet rates from Y48,000.
Toranomon central business district
Hotel Okura Tokyo. Tel: [81-3] 3582-0111, fax: 3582-3707, (www.okura.com/tokyo). Standard Superior, single, from Y36,750, Comfort Single from Y52,500.
Ikebukuro area luxury hotels and budget stays
Crowne Plaza Hotel Metropolitan Tokyo. Tel: [81-3] 3980-1111, fax: 3980-5600, (www.ichotelsgroup.com). Rates from Y19,000 single, Advance Purchase Internet Rates from Y12,000 single.
Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Chinzan-so. Tel: [81-3] 3943-2222, fax: 3943-2300, (www.fourseasons.com/tokyo). Standard from Y55,000.
Sakura Hotel. Tel: [81-3] 3971-2237, (www.sakura-hotel-ikebukuro.com). Rates from Y9,000, and dormitory from Y3,200.
Shinjuku business hotels and service apartments
Best Western Shinjuku ASTINA Hotel Tokyo. Tel: [81-3] 3200-0220, (www.bw-shinjuku.com/eng/index.html). Standard Single Non-Smoking from Y20,000.
Fraser Place – howff Shinjuku Tokyo. Tel: [81-3] 5925-3111, fax: 5925-3555, (e-mail: sales.Shinjuku@frasershospitality.com or http://shinjuku.frasershospitality.com). Studio Deluxe from Y13,750, 1 Bedroom Deluxe from Y26,250.
Hilton Tokyo. Tel: [81-3] 3344-5111, fax: 3342-6094, (e-mail: tokyo@hilton.com or www.hilton.com). Standard Room from Y33,700 (high season) and Y22,900 (low season).
Hyatt Regency Tokyo. Tel: [81-3] 3348-1234, fax: 3344-5575, (e-mail: reservation@hyattregencytokyo.com or www.Tokyo.regency.hyatt.com). Best Internet rates from Y24,570, Twin Room.
Keio Plaza Hotel Tokyo. Tel: [81-3] 3344-0111, fax: 3345-8269, (www.keioplaza.com/index.html). Rates from Y30,000.
Oakwood Apartments Shinjuku. Tel: [81-3] 5338-3131, (www.oakwood.com/serviced-apartments/international/JP/212/Tokyo.html). Studio from Y13,000-Y16,000.
Park Hyatt Tokyo. Tel: [81-3] 5322-1234, fax: 5322-1288, (e-mail: mail@parkhyatttokyo.com or www.parkhyatttokyo.com). Park Room from Y68,200, Park Suite from Y165,200.
Prince Hotel Shinjuku. Tel: [81-3] 3205-1111, fax: 3205-1952, (www.princehotels.co.jp/shinjuku-e). Single from Y18,000-Y21,000.
Shinagawa area hotels
The Strings by InterContinental Tokyo. Tel: [81-3] 5783-1111, fax: 5783-1112, (e-mail: book@intercontinental-strings.jp or www.stringshotel.com). Single from Y37,000, Internet rates from Y25,480.
Yebisu Garden Place (Ebisu)
The Westin Tokyo. Tel: [81-3] 5423-7000, fax: 5423-7600, (e-mail: wetok@westin.com or www.westin-tokyo.co,jp). Deluxe Rates from Y60,900, Westin WORKOUT Room from Y75,600.
Takanawa and Daiba area hotels
Le Meridien Grand Pacific Tokyo. Tel: [81-3] 5500 6711, fax: 5500-4507. Rates from Y25,000.
Le Meridien Pacific Tokyo. Tel: [81-3] 3445 6711, fax: 3445-5137. Rates from Y22,000.
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