Night out in Tokyo - any suggestions

[RichE 0]

Myself and a couple of mates will be spending a night in Tokyo in February next year en route to Niseko.

 

Where should we go?

 

As none of us have been to Tokyo before, does anyone have any suggestions on where we should go for a couple of beers and some dinner?

[boardbaka 3]

Baghdad Cafe in Nishi Azabu is a good. There are literally thousands of places as you probably know.

[RichE 0]

I should have also mentioned that we are not a bunch of yobo's, so don't hold back.

 

While we like to have fun, we are not a bunch of Ozzies that like to get 'ugly' and make fools of ourselves.

[me jane 0]

Where are you going to be staying?

 

...I wonder how many bars & restaurants there actually are in Tokyo. I reckon that there are probably close to a million.

[RichE 0]

We haven't booked our accomadation yet. But we arrive at Narita (I think) at 6.00am and don't fly out until 10.00am the next day. So we are not limited to staying near the airport.

 

While names of actual bars and restaraunts are appreciated (thanks boardbaka), we are mainly looking for suggested areas where we could have a meal in one place and then maybe go to a couple of nearby bars (including nightclubs).

[me jane 0]

I don't know about Oz but in the UK the pubs close and you have to go to a club if you want to keep drinking. Most bars are open here until 4 or 5 am so you don't really need to go to nightclubs unless you want to. Main night club areas are Roppongi and Shibuya. Roppongi has more foreigners. Mostly I have better nights out here if I avoid the clubs. Things just get far too messy...

Shibuya is a pretty good central place even if you don't go to clubs.

With a 10am flight you don't really need a hotel. You could sent your stuff direct from Narita airport to wherever you are staying in Hokkaido. Check out Tokyo in the day, then go to a few bars until the first train to the airport. (e.g. first train leaves Shibuya at 4:38 & gets in at 7, or there is a direct one leaving at 6:13 & getting in at 7:30). Catch a few hours sleep at the airport, hour more on the plane & hit the snow. Perfect!

 

This site is pretty good for figuring out trains and how far everything is from stuff.

[RichE 0]

Thanks for your suggestions 'me jane'.

 

We have thought about doing the 'all-nighter' and not bothering with a hotel.

 

Nightclubs aren't essential, just somewhere with a good atmosphere later in the evening.

 

It's also important that we find somewhere that's showing the winter olymics on TV.

 

By my rough calculations, it looks like the Mens Super G race is going to be on that evening (Japan time).

[sunrise 0]

Which airport are you flying out of - Narita or Haneda?

 

Be aware that it's quite a long trek to Narita from Tokyo. Haneda is much closer.

 

Do you really want to stay out all nite in Tokyo and possibly wipe yourself out for some valuable skiing time?

[sunrise 0]

Me Jane, they probably don't want to send their stuff on cos it will take 2 days to get to Hokkaido from Honshu.

 

Maybe the Clubhouse in Shinjuku would have the Olympics on TV. You can probably email them to ask them:

http://www.clubhouse-tokyo.com/indexE.html

 

They also have wireless internet there.

[me jane 0]

Really? I didn't know it took that long. That's not such a good plan then.

[Ocean11 0]

http://www.bento.com/ra-shinj.html

 

Find a nice place with a range of sake, no frigging TV, and experience some civilization before getting a sensibly early night in a reasonably priced hotel.

[Bonio 0]

I got desperate for some British beer when I was in Tokyo and went to the Dubliners Irish bar in Shibuya one night. Its a big Gaijin hangout so it would probably be a waste if your just spending the one night< but it does do fish and chips

You can leave you luggage over night at Narita cant you? There should be a left luggage there>

[RichE 0]

Sunrise: We fly into Narita. We've booked the Sydney/Tokyo legs already using frequent flyer points. I didn't have enough points to book the Tokyo/Sapporo legs and will be buying a separate internal JAL ticket departing at around 10.00am on Sunday morning. At this stage, we don't know which airport that flight will leave from.

 

Like I said, we've thought about the 'all-nighter' but aren't too keen because we'll probably be pretty tired already - after the overnight flight into Tokyo from Sydney the night before. Plus we'd like to ski on the Monday (maybe even night ski on the Sunday night if we get through to Niseko in time).

 

Assuming we do fly out of Narita for Sapporo, we'll probably check most of our luggage and take a small bag with a change of clothes.

 

We are after something 'authentic' that's more of a locals hang-out i.e. not full of foreigners.

 

We will be seeing enough Ozzies when we get to Niseko.

[boardbaka 3]

JUST WING IT BOYS!

[TJ OZ 0]

I would definatly head to Shibuya and take in the atmosphere there. Lots of bars and restaurants and shopping. We have spent hours wandering aroung checking out this area. A great place for a pub crawl. It wouldn't surprise me if you found a place with the arrimpics on. I have heard they have some cheap accomadation backpacker style or one of those capsule hotels. Easy to get to and from the airport as well.

Cheers

[Thunderbird2 0]

And avoid Roppongi. Theres a few Roppongi threads on here -take a look

[damian 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by RichE:
...will be buying a separate internal JAL ticket departing at around 10.00am on Sunday morning. At this stage, we don't know which airport that flight will leave from.

...Assuming we do fly out of Narita for Sapporo,

Don't assume that. From my experience, all Sapporo bound JAL flights leave from Haneda. Depending on where you are in Tokyo, Haneda can be a pain to reach. Narita has more distance but the train link is super easy (again, depending on where you are based in Tokyo). I suggest that if you fly out from Haneda then find a hotel near Shinagawa station, which I believe offers good access to the best Haneda line (I may be corrected on this, my bad memory is fading). Shinagawa station is also a destination for the Narita express. This means that you will reach your hotel easily and also reach Haneda easily the next morning.

For a night out from Shinagawa just catch the yamanote line (Tokyo's big circular train line) a few stops up to Shibuya. Then semi-wing it: almost impossible to recommend a good place to go, but do have some venue in mind first as without it you will wander those freaky streets with no hope of finding a bar. Even though loads of drinking goes on, Japan is not a pub culture, rather it is a food culture so you should make it your primary aim to eat the night away and drink whilst doing it (this is a foreign concept to most Anglo Saxons). Once in Shibuya there are clubs around if you want a late night, try an easy to access place like Womb. Be prepared to catch a taxi home after midnight-ish.

Tokyo is world famous for having crap hotels. Either you cant find one, if you can it is likely:
- bleak and glum dump pretending to be top-tier (so called 'international business' hotels)
- or a b-grade kennel for humans (domestic business hotel), or,
- it is costing you USD600 per night to stay in an amazing hotel.

The choice of everyday hotels is limited.

[fb_steve 0]

do the shibuya bars have happy hours? im in tokyo for a few nights in feb too and i want have a big night on the beer but as cheap as possible

[sunrise 0]

It does seem that there are some flights to Sapporo that go out of Narita from what I've been told. Not many, I'd imagine. There's at least one British style pub in Shibuya which has sports, etc on TV. Can't remember the name - it's a little past the 109 building going up Dogenzaka (from the station). Anyone know it?

[scouser 4]

 Quote:

From my experience, all Sapporo bound JAL flights leave from Haneda.

Mine too and what he says about the link is also true.

[TJ OZ 0]

I remember a place that showed the english league. I think that it was in the streets up behind the starbucks - which you can't miss as you walk out of the train station. Didn't go in though. Big signage, so easy to find I reakon.

[RichE 0]

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions.

[me jane 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by RichE:
... and will be buying a separate internal JAL ticket departing at around 10.00am on Sunday morning. At this stage, we don't know which airport that flight will leave from.

This might be a good place to get the domestic tickets from. It has big discounts if you buy at the right time.
Japan saver

They are all from Haneda as far as I know. Agree with BPC about Shinagawa.

[sunrise 0]

And there's also the birthday saver - you can get a really cheap flight within a week of your birthday (in case you happen to have one around that time).