tokyo stopover

jenks said:

i've got a compulsory one night stop on the way back from sydney in tokyo in august. i arrive at 18:00 and am out again the next day at 12:00. what, feasibly, could i get done in that time to give me the merest glimpse of japan?

otherwise i'm going to come over all bill murray and go look for scarlett johansson

all ideas gratefully received

Click to expand...

If money's no object, have dinner in the New York Bar on the 52nd floor of the Park Hyatt, overlooking Shinjuku, a la Lost in Translation. Even better, score some BDB powder from one of the many smart shops and then take your table. All those millions of twinkling multicoloured lights and screens from several hundred feet up - it's mightily impressive.

http://tokyo.park.hyatt.com/tyoph/dining_11.html

jenks said:

i've got a compulsory one night stop on the way back from sydney in tokyo in august. i arrive at 18:00 and am out again the next day at 12:00. what, feasibly, could i get done in that time to give me the merest glimpse of japan?

otherwise i'm going to come over all bill murray and go look for scarlett johansson

all ideas gratefully received

Click to expand...

One thing to bear in mind though, if you land at the main Tokyo airport, it takes a couple of hours on a train to get into the centre of the city, and it will take another couple to get out again. Taxis are ludicrously expensive.

jenks said:

i've got a compulsory one night stop on the way back from sydney in tokyo in august. i arrive at 18:00 and am out again the next day at 12:00. what, feasibly, could i get done in that time to give me the merest glimpse of japan?

otherwise i'm going to come over all bill murray and go look for scarlett johansson

all ideas gratefully received

Click to expand...

There's an underground (literally) 'rock bar' in Shinjuku, on Piss Alley, that has to be visited to be believed - I can't remember the name (it probably doesn't have one), but when you see a red halogen light beaming up through a grill and hear a deafening noise, that'll be it.

Shinjuku's great at night, esp if it's raining, you can hang around slurping noodles and pretend you're hunting down replicants. Roppongi is a bit crap, but there is a really funny free entry Eurodisco club where all the businessmen and Western porn stars go, and you get all the Yakuza hanging around in trenchcoats and brothel creepers.