We arrived at tokyo narita airport and found the aiport bus to tokyo the best way to travel......however, the bus didnt drop-off at our hotel but we thought, we can easily walk to our hotel from the last drop-off.........little did we know that the address in tokyo are prob the most unorganised, difficult address's to find in the world! we walked and walked and walked (with our large suitcases) down the most busy shopping street in ginza and found a starbucks - who didnt speak any english but managed to use hand gestures to help us find our hotel.....across the road!
so eventually when we arrived, the hotel was modern and high rise (as all the buildings in tokyo) and the staff were friendly and helpful. We got an upgrade to a suite as it was our honeymoon so we had a separate bedroom with double bed and average furniture and coffee and tea facilities. The bathroom was modern and spacious and the toilet was fab......seat warmer, water spray etc. this is the norm in toliets throughout tokyo - public toilets and pub toilets are so clean and pleasent compared to the typical english pub toliet!!!!
We were room only so having starbucks and new yorkers cafe around the corner was a great, a coffee and a douhnut is def a holiday breakfast in my eyes and a great start to the sight-seeing day! The hotel had a french themed restaruant, which looked lovely and served breakfast, lunch and dinner but we didnt go in coz there were just so much to do away from the hotel it was just a bed and a base for us really.
The hotel as got to be one of the best locations in tokyo, in the heart of ginza and the shopping heaven! very much like the heart of new york, the same atmosphere and busy-ness and great to experience the day to day life of a japanese business-person. There were lots of tourists but mostly japanese rather than wetsern and after a few hours in tokyo you can see why........everything is in japanese........doh.....i feel abit nieve now we have been and come back to think everything else really, we english are guilty of expecting everything to be in the home-tongue and english but not in toyko. And on reflection is its apeal and charm but when its nearly midnight and you are struggling to find something to eat for dinner it can get you down!
So my advice is to learn at least conversation japanese or to be able to read a menu in japanese to meet them halfway.
After that slight drawback we still saw and experienced everything we wanted to and had the best honeymoon!
A few bits and bobs about the city......go to tokyo bay, a beach and cafe's and boat trips are ace. The imperial palace is great, takes you away from the city and gives you a cultural insight to the city too. We also went to Ueno Park, which was lovely but much more touristy - the zoo was good and seeing the temple and pergoda was lovely.
We got around on the metro everyday - and night - which was great, easy to use and from the hotel you have three different stations and about 6 different metro lines to choose from so you can get anywhere you want! A night at reponggi hills complex is also worth a visit - modern, gorg restaruants and bars.
I would love to go back to tokyo but i will def learn some japanese before i go!