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How To Get Around Tokyo 

The international airport is in Narita (Tokyo's suburbs) which is located around 1 hour away from Tokyo. Once you land, you will need to take a train from ''terminal 2'' to get to Tokyo. It is important to make sure which terminal you will arrive at, because not all the bus shuttles are available at the all 3 terminals. You will have to find which bus can take you to ''terminal 2''. Once at terminal 2 of Narita Airport, you can either take the Skyliner or the regular train. The Skyliner is more expensive, but way faster. If you are in Japan for a few hours only, or a day, I would strongly suggest that you take the Skyliner instead of the regular train.  
 
It will take you approximately 40 to 45 minutes to get to Ueno station, which is a metro station in Tokyo.The best way to get around Tokyo is by train and the metro. It was fairly easy to get downtown by public transportation. The only thing you need to keep in mind is that all signs and directions are in Japanese and that you will rarely find any in English.  

 

This is the link of the skyliner official webpage: 

http://www.keisei.co.jp/keisei/tetudou/skyliner/us/index.html 


You can also find the Tokyo metro map here: 
 http://www.mappery.com/map-of/Tokyo-Metro-Map-official

 

Once you arrive to Ueno metro station, you can  pretty much get to wherever you need to go. It all depends on what you want to do. Either visiting the beautiful modern city, the Japanese Disney world or even going to the zoo or shopping. When I went to Tokyo, my hotel happened to be on a street near Ginza Avenue, which is one of the biggest streets in Tokyo. You could actually compare it to Times Square. To get there, you would have to take the metro from Ueno station to Higashi Ginza station. Luckily, stations in the subway are numbered. Ueno is station G16 and Higashi Ginza is station A11. The metro in Tokyo is not like the metro back home.  You do not pay an amount for the whole trip. You only pay the amount according to the station you are heading to. Just to give you an example; when I went to Asakusa neighbourhood, I had spent too much for my ticket and the employee at the ticket cabin gave me back the exceeding amount of money! That leads me to tell you that Japanese are very honest, polite and friendly people. They are always willing to help you find your way around the city. There was even a lady who paid my ticket for the metro and took me to the right station while holding her two babies in her arms! Don’t be shy to have conversations with them; they are very open minded, curious and approachable people. 

 

Getting around Tokyo can be intimidating at first, but in reality it is quite easy. The most difficult part is to make yourself understood and buying your tickets in the ALL JAPANESE WRITTEN machines. I suggest you ask help at the desk!

What to do 

From my personal experience, taking the ''hop on and off '' bus tour was really enjoyable! You will get to see the Ueno zoo, where they have live pandas! The bus stops at every single touristic attraction you need to see. I highly recommend this tour, it will save you time and energy.  


Here is the map of the hop on and off tour bus: 
http://www.skybus.jp/images/gaikokugo150402.pdf 


Here are the princes for the Hop and off tour bus:  
http://www.skybus.jp/hop_asa.php?lang=en&bno=06 


The price for the one day pass is around 10 USD$ for children and 20 USD$ for adults.This ride is really is worth it. They provide you with headphones so you can listen to the historical and architectural information and a poncho since it is not rare to take the ride under a rainy sky.  

 

Concerning the stops of this tour, I highly recommend that you stop at the imperial palace, it is very close from Ginza avenue and all the nice Isakayas (which are typical Japanese pubs). On the other hand, I suggest that you do not hop off the bus at the Hotel New Otani Tokyo stop. I hoped off  there and regretted it immediately. It is not to be negative, but there was absolutely nothing worth seeing at that stop. Once  you hop off of the bus, you have to expect waiting a good hour or even more before getting picked up again. So make sure you are willing to stay that long at that very specific stop. Also, the skytree is not worth hopping off. Staying seated in the bus and taking pictures of the skytree is more than enough. 
 

Here are the three stations that are worth to hop off at: 

  • Asakusa Hanakawado 

  • Ueno St. 

  • Marunouchi Mitsubishi Building 

At night, it is very fun to take your time in the small streets aside the train station in Ginza. The restaurants there are filled with Japanese businessmen finishing work. You really feel the city’s vibe in this area. I randomly picked an Isakaya  and went in for dinner. It was one of the most amazing experience of my life. I got to eat with complete strangers who wanted to share all their dishes with me. I asked for a set menu, I had a budget and I told the young lady to bring whatever she wanted. I ended up eating a mushroom salad that was beautiful! It looked like flowers. I also had sashimis, which were offered by the strangers next to me! And I had the most delicious chicken skewers ever. To make a long story short, if you want to enjoy yourself in Japan, speak with Japanese people, visit Japanese convenience and grocery stores. 

 

If you are traveling with a low budget, you might want to save restaurants for special  occasions. I ate for less than 2 USD$ at the convenience stores, such as: Family mart and seven 11. They have all kinds of food for a very small amount of money. Something that you really must try in Tokyo is the green tea. Once you drink green tea in Tokyo, you wonder what you were drinking back home. Something fun to do in Tokyo is laying in the beautiful parks. It is very impressive to see how many parks this modern city has. You can relax and enjoy life and its beauty pretty much at every corner. 

 

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