You can explore the “Shinjuku Gyoen National Park” which used to be an imperial domain. The park has a large garden and a wide variety of plants. At the Hotel Okura you can experience a tea ceremony.

2. Streets of Shinjuku and Basement of Department Store

On this tour you can explore Shinjuku, one of the greatest commercial avenues in Japan, where eating and drinking establishments, department stores and theaters stand side by side.

3. The Asakusa Route

In this tour you can enjoy the atmosphere of vibrant Asakusa which once was a flourishing downtown area representative of Tokyo.

4. A town of Sumo with the Atmosphere of Edo

You will learn about the tradition and history of sumo wrestling, a Japanese national sport, the Sumo Museum. You can also learn about the history and culture of the Edo period at the Edo-Tokyo Museum.

5. The East Gardens of the Imperial Palace and the Outer Garden

Although they are located in the center of the metropolis, the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace and Kitanomaru Garden still have vast green areas.

6.    30 minutes from Shinjuku; Journey to Enjoy History and Nature

After a 30 minute train-ride from the heart of Tokyo, you can experience a face of Tokyo different from its liveliness. A tour guide is recommended for this trip, as this area is very intricate, similar to a labyrinth.

7.    Historic Gardens and Seaside Regions Accessible by Automated Train

After you take a ride on the unmanned train, “YURIKAMOME”, you will also enjoy taking a walk on the seashore in the Odaiba-kaihin Park.
This is a tour where you can enjoy both the center and the oceanfront of Tokyo.

8.    Exploring the Streets of Harajuku and its Shrine

Harajuku” is a trendsetting town for various fashions from casual to trendy. In this tour, you will explore the typical streets of Harajuku.
9.    Japanese Street and an Oasis in the Hear of the City

You will be satisfied with the beauty of the Japanese gardens in the Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens. The Gardens are designated as a special scenic beauty spot by the Japanese government.

10.    Japanese Architecture and tour of the Diet Building

In this tour, you will take a walk from Marunouchi through the Hibiya and Kasumigaseki area. This area has been playing the role as the center of politics and the economy in Japan since the Meiji Period (the end of the 19th

April 8

Sometimes called the flower festival, people pour hyrdranger leaf tea over temple statues of Buddha as an offering, in the Sensoji Temple and all over the city.

Golden Week

Late April-early May

A major holiday including a number of national holidays. Many businesses closes and locals take time off.

Cherry Blossom Viewing

April

Families get together under the blossoms and picnic in parks around the city.

Sanja Matsuri (Kanda Festival)

Third weekend in May

Tokyo’s largest and most celebrated festival. Features big parades of portable shrines carried by people in traditional costume.

Sanno Matsuri (Sanno Festival)

Mid-June even number years only

Features a street festival and parades

Sumida Hanabi (Sumida Fireworks Festival)

Late July or early August

Tokyo’s biggest fireworks display near the Sumida River, Asakusa’s Sumida Park

Tokyo International Film Festival

October

The annual festival is held at a number of venues throughout Tokyo.

Tokyo Motor Show

Late October-early November

Passenger cars and motorcycles are showcased on odd-numbered years, commercial vehicles on even years. Makuhari Messe, Chiba.

Omisoka (New Year’s Eve)

Buddhist temple bells ring 108 times and people gather at temples and shrines to bring in the New Year

1. Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building- An excellent place to get a view of Tokyo.

2. Imperial Palace East Gardens- Beautiful gardens next to the Palace.

3. Sensoji Temple- Tokyo’s oldest temple.

4. Shibuya- A famous shopping district in Tokyo.

5. Odaiba- A popular shopping and entertainment destination

6. Harajuku- A well known shopping/fashion region were youg people hang out on the weekends.

7. Meijii Jingu Shrine- A popular and picturesque shrine in Yoyogi Park.

8. Ueno Park- A spacious popular public park known for its Cherry Blossom’s from late March to early May.

9. Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden- A large park with nice gardens and more than 20,000 trees.

10. Akihabara- Tokyo’s “Electric Town” the place to go for all your tech shopping needs.

Now, at $800, you better be able to pull out that glass CD if you mention it.

Here’s the truth about Akiharaba: It’s overwhelming, especially if you can’t read Japanese and are disoriented anyway, and there’s a lot of megaphone barking outside the stores. Everything as priced is too expensive, but dickering is like a Japanese pastime. If you’re good at the game, you can get a good deal—until they pretend they don’t speak English anymore. Some say maps are useless in Akihabara and that’s no problem because the idea is to get lost in electronics heaven. But let’s get real. Most people have other things to do when they’re in Tokyo.

Here are the top ten stores to check out while you’re there. Browse, buy, move on to other things before you get sucked into the maze. And remember, if you’re not near your hotel, anything you buy, you’ll have to tote around Tokyo the rest of the day.

1.    Yodobashi Camera. Just opened 2005. Turn east, look for the giant 9-story building devoted to nothing but electronics.

2.    Super Potato. Just so you can say you’ve been there. The Japanese have a thing for weird potato pairings; there’s a grocery store called “I am Potato,” which is hilarious to any native English speaker. Lots of Nintendo and Sega, for the vintage game lover.

3.    Laox. There are eleven stores just in Akiba under this ownership, each of them specializing in something different like computers, watches, cameras, etc. You likely want the Duty Free store. Asobit City is popular with gamers.

4.    Akky. Three stores, specializing in bound-for-overseas electronics—in case you’d rather not have the Japanese version of Windows and Microsoft Office on your new PC (and you don’t, instead of paper clip, there’s a dolphin that squeaks at you!).

5.    Yamada Denki-Labi. Right across from the train station, you can’t miss it. Computers and weird household accessories.

6.    Sofmap. 16 stores, one of them has a duty free floor. If you can locate store number one, that’s the one with the duty free stuff.

7.    Ishimaru Denki. Ten stores, some for electronic equipment, some for computers, some for music, movies, and games.

8.    Media Land. Arguably the best video game store on Earth, according to the Otaku Genki Manual. Ten floors and ten dollars cheaper than rivals.

9.    Book Off. First for a picture in front of yet another stupid English name, second for the second-hand junk found high above a sort of Starbucks. (Warning. Japanese coffee is usually awful. If you can find a Starbucks, love it, cherish it.)

10.    Yellow Submarine. For obvious reasons, but also because the building it’s in—Kitazawa Building—has every repressed child’s sweet dreams inside. Robots, figurines, Manga and comics. Just keep climbing floors, you’ll see.

1.    Yomamba: Or whatever they’re calling themselves these days. These are the Japanese goth girls. Extra tan, not pale, white lipstick, eyeliner and eye shadow, lose, raggish clothing, bleach blonde hair. The idea is to look like a ghost. Or a photo negative.

2.    Gold digger: You’ll find her in Rappongi, looking hot and ready to party. The hand in the front of your pants is a distraction from the hand on your wallet. Good luck.

3.    Schoolgirl with old man: That’s not her dad. Who do you think bought the outfit?

4.    Club girl. Hot, flat, annoying in a way. She speaks more English than she’s letting on. Kind of like the club girls at home, actually, except flat.

5.    Business woman: While chipping away at the glass ceiling in black skirt-suit, she likes her men aggressive but polite, but most of all she likes them not like her boss. Foreign? She’s open to anything.

6.    Korean girl at the bar: Travels in packs of hotness, doesn’t’ talk to anybody. She’s just here to study and is generally afraid of everything not like Korea. No, she doesn’t speak English. Or Japanese, for that matter, if she can help it.

7.    Ex-pat white girl: Probably a teacher who is sensitive about the chauvinism all around her. She’s ready to get drunk and talk to somebody (anybody) who speaks her language and looks decent. Be a knight in shining armor with a good ear and she’ll love you until one of you gets on a plane and gets out of there.

8.    Ex-pat white girl who’s fluent in Japanese: She’s never had friends in any country, hence the reason she’s had time to learn Japanese so well. Probably a barker. If not a barker, then one who will insist on scholarly oneupsmanship until you decide making love via dictionary with Japanese girl down the row is a better option.

9.    Japanese girl down the row: Is dying to talk to you but is afraid to talk to you. Give it your best. No promises. Better odds if you’re in an English-style pub.

10.     Kimochi girl: She stands outside of a building saying “kimochi” as she tugs on your arm. She’s dressed in dark, drab colors and looks around a lot as she says it, and very likely has bad teeth. Yeah, she’s either a hooker or a masseuse or a hybrid of both. Kimochi means “feels good.” Proceed at your own risk.

2.What the Dickens! — Also just a short stroll from Ebisu station. For the soccer hooligans that really miss home. Ale and cider on tap, British pub food. Some good banter.

3.New York Bar — $20 just to get in and not the place to be if you’re short on cash. But it is one of the best roof-top bars in the world, overlooking Shinjuku.

4.Bonebo – Don’t tell anybody we told you. It’s so hidden you’d think it’s meant to be kept secret. A converted recording studio, it’s somewhere inside Jingu-mae ni-chome.

5.Geronimo – 10 shots in a row gets your name on the wall. Second floor next to Rappongi station.

6.Bar Ambrose – Rappongi, in the Pyramid building. $4 drink Happy Hour, which means this is a great starting place.

7.Hobgoblin – Rappongi, pub-style, lots of ex-pats. House brew will make you spew.

8.Bar Bourbon Street – Because you miss America, don’t you? Jazz in Rappongi.

9.Bandol – Wine bar, because sometimes you want to appear sophisticated when getting shitfaced. In the Minami-Aoyama area.

10.Castillo – Lots of eye candy, Cuban cigars. What else do you need to know? In Rappongi.

1.    Stand. Do not stand when the subway doors open. Do not stand anywhere. You will be run over, especially by old Japanese women who don’t care how large and foreign you are.

2.    Fall asleep on the subway. Somebody will steal your phone.

3.    Assume the trains run 24/7. They don’t.

4.    Assume once you’re on a train past closing time, it will continue to its stated destination. It won’t. It will stop where it stops and you will be asked to leave. There’s nothing worse than hanging out with Tokyo bums near the train station at 2 AM. They don’t even speak English other than “American?” That used to mean you had money and were kind. The dollar as it is these days, they may have learned to say “European?”

5.    Give money to the bums, if you wouldn’t be inclined to at home. But remember, Japanese homeless can be much more persistent, and will follow you a pretty good distance to get a hundred yen out of you.

6.    Assume the cops like you. They don’t. They’re looking for a reason, any reason, to bust a foreigner for something. Have your passport handy.

7.    Pass anything chopsticks to chopsticks. It’s insulting in their culture. They do this only at cremations, when passing a bone of their loved one between each other.

8.    Stick your chopsticks in your rice bowl straight up and leave them there like antennas. It’s another death thing. During O Bon, this is how they signify the recently deceased place at the table.

9.    Assume all the temples are different. They’re not. Go to one or two. Enjoy yourself. Note the difference between a Shinto shrine and a Buddhist temple and then you’re done. Honestly, going to more the one would be like going to a Starbucks and expecting a McDonalds. Go to Asakusa or Kamakura, look at the giant Buddha (Daibutsu) and be on your way.

10.    Assume you are allowed anywhere Japanese are allowed. You’re not. Welcome, if you’re a white American, to your first experience with segregation.

Bonus: Check out a Kabuki performance in Tokyo, despite the giant line and despite that they go on for hours and hours. Stay for 30 minutes to an hour and then get the hell out of there. You’ve seen all there is to it.

2. Horsemeat. It might taste good but could you live with yourself? Why not have some dolphin or chimp while you’re at it?

3. Eyeballs. More than likely, someone will order half-a-tuna head and they will shove their chopsticks in the eye-socket, yank out the fish’s eyeball, and then offer it to you if you’ve never tried it. It’s “good for the brain,” they’ll tell you without a thought for the irony, given the psychological scarring you’ll have.

4. Chicken hearts on a stick. (One of various kinds of yaki-torri.)Look, to emulate John Travolta, chicken livers taste good; chicken breasts taste good; chicken legs taste good. Chicken hearts? If your grandma never dropped a chicken heart on your plate, it was for a good reason.

5. Chicken skin on a stick. The Colonel mastered how to serve chicken skin: breaded, fried, crispy and delicious. In Japan, it still looks like chicken skin, feels like chicken skin, and tastes like chicken skin. They put it on a stick just to make it more awful.

6. Chicken cartilage on a stick. ‘Nuff said.

7. Chinese sweet bean rolls. Every Japanese person will tell you they’re delicious. That’s because the Japanese have a completely different concept of delicious, which includes not-cooked-enough dough stuffed with not-sweet-enough bean paste. The consistency and the pairing will leave you looking for a Pepsi, which you won’t be able to find. Just be glad it’s not something else, because it could be and you won’t be able to read the package to know. It might be a Chinese bun gastronomic surprise!

8. Okonomyaki. Literally translated as “whatever you want,” this is the Japanese native cuisine that is the nearest approximation to pizza. But it’s nothing like pizza. It’s gross. Again, they’ll tell it’s wonderful. Don’t listen.

9. Japanese pizza. Many foreign things have been adopted by the Japanese culture and, just like America has done with culinary imports, have been adapted to Japanese taste. We’ve already established that sometimes that taste is not quite on the mark, and neither is their adaptation of this Italian classic. Unless mayonnaise, squid, and fish sounds good on your pie. And you don’t mind paying $25 for a large, which is roughly the size of a doughnut. Japanese doughnuts, by the way, don’t seem to have any sugar in them. If you do order a pizza, try it near Christmas. At least then you’ll get to see your bike-delivery guy hating his job as he stands at your door in a Santa suit when it’s 60 degrees outside.

10. Fried jellyfish. Never tried it. But be careful because in a picture menu, it looks just like chicken. Don’t go pointing willy-nilly. Make sure you ask if it’s really chicken.

Bonus: Someone may offer you the “delicacy” of octopus lips. These are surprisingly edible, but just barely. You have to chew around the rock hard mouth center, which is kind of like chewing a tire off of its rim. But if you like salty, smoky, little-bitter things, give it a shot.

Bonus #2: Try a shot of turtle’s blood if you dare. It’s for “energy.”

2.Doko desu-ka…(Where is…) — Best pronunciation: doh-koh dess-ka. Begin the question with the object of the question. For example: Where is the toilet? = Toilet-wa doko desu-ka? Btw, “toilet” is pronounced toh-ee-ray, and roll the “r” just a little bit, almost as if it’s an “L.”

3.Kudesai (Please) – Self-explanatory; use where appropriate. Or after extra-gaijin requests like asking for a fork: Kudesai, Foku-wa arimasuka? (Ah-ree-mas-kah). Literally: Please, fork is there? Japanese = talking like Yoda.

4.Gomenesai (I’m sorry) – When you step on somebody’s foot on the subway. (Also useful if you accidentally stroll in to a Yakuza joint.)

5.Daijobu (That’s okay) – When somebody apologizes to you, which may be unlikely.

6.Nama birru hitatsu (One draft beer) – The Japanese number system is crazy. There are different words for numbers, depending on whether you are numbering cylindrical things or flat things or bottles or rabbits or birds or fish…on and on and on. When ordering beer, stick with “hitatsu,” which is for bottles of beer. “Nama” means “raw” or “draft,” which really comes out of big bottle usually anyway. If you want two beers, the number is “futatsu.” Three is “mitsu.” Any more than that, just hold up the appropriate number of fingers and smile. They’ll get it. Tell them whether you want Sapporo, Asahi, or Kirin. They usually have Bud and/or Bud Light, and sometimes even Heinekin.

7.Nan-sai desu-ka (How old are you?) — This could come in handy. Age of consent is typically 20, so watch yourself. The word for “20” is “ni-ju,” or 2 x 10, so any age that begins in “ni-ju…” is fair game. Do not confuse it with ju-ni, or 10 plus 2.

8.Kimochi (Feels good) – Not for you to say, but to understand. If an attractive girl tugs on your arm and uses this word repeatedly, she is likely one of many different kinds of prostitutes—or a legitimate masseuse. Proceed at your own risk. If she says “Sen zuri,” she’s definitely a prostitute.

9.Ikura? (How much?) — This is in no way related to #8. You will need this for other things, too, you perv. If you ask in Japanese, though, be prepared to get a Japanese answer. The best way to handle this is to know your general numbers, ich, ni, san, shi, go…et cetera.

10.Shitsurei (Excuse me) – That’s pronounced sheets-oo-ray, potty mouth. (Though you can have fun with them by asking them to use the word “city,” hardee-har-har.) It’s a polite word, used mostly if you are interrupting someone or getting a strangers attention. If more casual or feel you are even footing with someone, “chotto,” works well, too. For example, you might ask a ni-ju sai woman “Chotto, chotto. Opai-pabu-wa, doko desu-ka?” Just kidding. Don’t ask that. If so, you just asked where the nudie-bar is.

Bonus: When leaving a restaurant, it’s traditional to bow a little to hosts and say “Go chiso sama desushita!” — go-chee-soh-sah-mah-desh-tah. It means, literally, “It was a feast!” A nice way of thanking them for their hard work.

So, check out Shibuya, where you can find some great $20 all-you-can-drink-all-night specials. On the way there, just outside Shibuya Station, you may run into these things.

1. Hachiko. This is the name of the dog they immortalized in bronze at the Station. He symbolizes loyalty because legend has it that his master died at work, but Hachiko showed up at the train station every day anyway. The statue is also a hotbed for anti-American sentiment, right-wingers on top of vans shouting into bullhorns and handing out petitions to everybody that doesn’t look like you.

2. Rainbow dog. Yes, another dog. Well, dogs. The Japanese like to make stupid little yippy dogs stupider by dying their hair all kinds of colors. Don’t be surprised when you nearly trip over a dog with pink, blue, and yellow hair.

3. Weird orange-leisure-suit band wearing sunglasses at night. They play right outside the station and can gather a crowd—not because they’re any good, but because they’re weird.

4. Clusterf**k at the intersection. There’s a big, four-road intersection right outside the train station. On a Friday night, say 7ish, it looks like a concert just let out. Just squeeze yourself in and go with the flow in the general direction you want to go.

5. Fake drugs. Once you’re across the sea of people in the intersection, you’ll likely run into an out-door hipster market with likely Yakuza merchants selling “legal drugs” they compare to ecstasy, mushrooms, whatever. Try if you like, but it’s probably Sudafed.

6. Pimps. Lots of ‘em, looking for men, most definitely Yakuza. Proceed with caution, and according to your own morals and/or budget. Tip: The prostitution laws in Japan are very politician-friendly. Prostitutes and pimps get arrested, Johns typically don’t. But it may not be worth the risk, right? Best to ignore them and continue on your way.

7. Clubs. Just walk around and you’ll see them. Often small like everything in Japan with some kind of drink special. The super hot wearing-very-little Japanese women are there with somebody, guaranteed. The Korean girls are in large, beautiful groups and not interested in talking to anybody. So it’s just like going to a club back home. If you don’t know them already, you may not have any luck.

8. Japanese teens dressed in Hip Hop gear. Lots of ‘em. They’ll make you laugh. Enjoy.

9. Schoolgirls out too late and with men much too old for them. This is a “special” relationship. The old man is paying for her school uniform and school-associated necessities. She offers him “company.” This is kind of legal, like escort services.

10. Trains not running after midnight. If you didn’t come to party all night, you’d better make sure you’re back at the station, timing the last train just right so you’re sure it can make it back to where you’re going before the entire Japanese rail system shuts down for the night. Otherwise, unless you want to pay way, way, way too much for a cab, you’re stuck in Shibuya until dawn. Better there than somewhere in between after they kick you off the train.