NRT

The best things to go see are Hanayashiki, Tokyo Disneyland, Toshimaen/Hydro Polis, International Aquarium, Nippon Ham Fighters, Yomiuri Giants, Akihabara (Electric Town), Tokyo Stock Exchange, Tsukiji Fish Market, East Garden, Hama Rikyu Garden, Shinjuku Garden, All-Japan Judo Federation, Japan Karate-do Federation, Asakusa Kannon Onsen, Beer Museum Yebisu, Bridgestone Museum of Art, Drum Museum, Edo Tokyo Museum, Fukugawa Edo Museum, Goto Museum of Art, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan Folk Crafts Museum, Kite Museum, Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art, National Museum of Modern Art, National Museum of Western Art, National Science Museum, Nezu Art Museum, Ota Memorial Museum of Art, Shitamachi Museum, Sugino Costume Museum, Sumo Museum, Suntory Museum of Art, Sword Museum, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo National Museum, Sunshine City Building Observatory, Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office Observatory, Tokyo Tower, Imperial Palace, Harajuku Park, Ueno Park, Yoyogi Koen, National Children's Castle, Sumida River Cruise, Asakusa Kannon Onsen, Kokugikan Stadium, Chosho-an, Seisei-an, Toko-an, Ekoin Temple (the Shrine of the Rat Boy), Meiji Jingu Shrine, Sensoji Temple, and Ueno Zoo.

Quick Tips:

Early spring, from mid-March to mid-April, or autumn, from October to mid-November, would be good times to visit, as it's not too cold or too warm. Avoid Golden Week, from late April to early May, when practically all of the Japanese take a week off traveling. Foreign exchange programs Two Worlds United or through your nearby education institution offers an opportunity for an extensive visit. Resources: Narita Airport, Planet Tokyo, Tokyo Food, Tokyo Tourist Information, Tokyo self-guided tours, Japan National Tourist Organization, Japanese Culture: A Primer For Newcomers, and Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Best Way To Get Around:

You can use the trains, subways, taxis, buses, or a car-in descending order of desirability for the visitor. Taxis are expensive, but good for a short hop. Language is a problem when trying to get around.

Kanamara Matsuri Festival (aka The Penis Festival or The Festival of the Steel Phallus) dates back from the Edo period (1603-1867), a 2-day celebration is held annually on the weekend closet to April 15th, confirm this with Tokyo Tourist Information, to coincide with spring and the Cherry Blossom Festival in Kawasaki, a suburb between Tokyo and Yokohama.

The festival began as a celebration of the vanquishing of a mythological sharp-toothed demon that resided in a fair maiden's vagina and bit off the penises of her suitors. A local craftsman fashioned a steel phallus that broke the demon's teeth.

People of all ages, men, women, children, Japanese, non-Japanese participate in this event. There are phallic shaped candies, radishes, people dressed up as their favorite cartoon characters with a distortion of their anatomy.

Visit the Fertility Museum while in Kawasaki.

Japan Rail (81-33-423-0111) main Tokyo Station. Board the Keihin Kyuko Daishi Line to Kawasaki Daishi Station east of Tokyo.

Kanamara Shrine (Wakamiya Hachiman-gu Shinto Shrine) phone 044-222-3206, fax 044-233-3060.

NRT - Tokyo Narita Airport is a major international gateway hub, handling some 25 million international passengers yearly. The airport is 66km northeast of Tokyo and has excellent rail and bus connections. Routes to Narita International Airport by automobile are Shin-Kuko Expressway via Higashi-Kanto Expressway and Route 295.

Haneda, the other nearby airport, was the first commercial airport, built in 1931, before Narita opened and took over the international traffic. Now Haneda handles mainly domestic flights, with the exception of China Airlines, which flies to Taiwan.

Among the services offered at NRT are children's play areas, TV zones, Yahoo! Cafes, wireless LAN service, quiet zones with chairs that lie nearly flat for free. showers and day rooms to take a shower and or sleep at a reasonable cost. If you're fortunate enough to have access to one of the airline lounges like through independent Priority Pass, it's a little more comfortable, with magazines to read and possibly Internet access, complimentary drinks, and little snacks prior to your flight departure.

Terminal 1, central building, 4th floor, prior to going through passport control, the observation deck has a good food court with lunch sets (around $8) mainly for airport staff or sushi on a conveyor belt priced by the color coded plates. Oriental Bazaar sells authentic Japanese souvenirs 0730-2030, telephone +81 (0)476-32-9333; Uniqlo has reasonable clothing prices opened 0800-2000, telephone +81 (0)476-30-0052.

I remember, in the past, when we had 8-hour layovers on United Airlines, we didn't see any conveniences, we just laid down where there was a flat space not in the way of anyone until it was time for our connecting flight.

Walking through the airport, I observed very briefly a small group of Japanese performing the business card exchange ceremony, giving great importance and prestige to the act of exchanging business cards, giving it with both hands, bowing very low (the lower you bow, the more higher status you grant to the other person), taking their cards, observing them with great honor, and not placing the cards in their wallets, which I heard would be a demeaning gesture, not to store the card in a higher place.

If you wanted to leave the airport to go explore and make it back in time, leaving the airport the same day excludes you from paying the departure tax.

In the 80's, we went to a simple coffee shop at the airport where two slices of cake, one coffee, and one tea came to $15. I couldn't wait to leave their country; I felt my wallet hemorrhaging.

Narita International Airport

There are showers and day rooms where you can take a shower and/or sleep at a reasonable cost ($5 for 30 minutes use of a shower, $10/hr for a day room; last visit was $3 for a shower) at Tokyo/Narita International Airport.

Facilities are small and clean. There are eight shower rooms, seven single day rooms, one twin room, two Internet-access computers, a lounge area for six, and complimentary newspapers and magazines.

Hours: 8am-9:30pm, shower closes at 9pm, day room at 8:30pm

Northwest WorldClub Lounges are private membership lounges available to those holding memberships, through a pre-arranged agreement with another airline/lounge, or guests of one. You may join independent Priority Pass which includes Worldclub lounges.

There are two lounge locations fairly close to each other: #2 Satellite in Terminal 1, 4th floor (Phone: 81-476-32-7491 Fax: 81-476-32-0104), and New Central Terminal Building, Terminal 1, 3rd floor (Phone: 81-476-32-4992; Fax: 81-476-32-0342).

Of the two locations, the one on the fourth floor is much more desirable. The fourth-floor location is considerably larger, with three laptops available for Internet use nearby the complimentary drinks and snacks. In comparison, the third-floor location feels cramped, in a much smaller available space.

You may freshen up, have some drinks and snacks, and relax a bit, reading material available till your next Northwest flight is called. But suggest you know when your boarding time is and be at your gate by that time. Our gate was fairly far away when our boarding was announced. By the time we reached our gate, they were on final call and almost finished with boarding.

Tokyo Tourist Information Center assists the traveler with questions, suggestions, and information. It opens daily from 9:30am to 6:30pm, except year end through New Year's holiday.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
(Main Building No.1, 1F) 8-1,
Nishi-Shinjuku 2-chome, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo

Telephone: 81-03-5321-3077, fax 81-03-5321-3078