Metropolis.co.jp

My friends and I went to Tokyo last year just to do what we normally do here in New York: Hang out. Tokyo is like one big amusement park with many theme parks within it, interconnected by a circular train called Yamanote Line. The towns form around train stations. Every town has its own specialty. One station may have nothing but electronic stores around it. Another may have nothing but bookstores. Another, fashion boutiques. Another, bars and restaurants. And so on… You just get on the train and hop from one station to another.

For foreign visitors, finding the right places to hang out can be a very difficult task. For instance, “Pub” in Japan apparently means that you get a female company assigned to your table. We assumed that it was like Irish pub. We found ourselves sitting with a Japanese girl who hardly spoke English, mixing our drinks and trying to converse. And she would not leave! We had no interest in talking to her. We just wanted to hang out with each other. And, in the end, they charged us a lot for her service.

We often hear that restaurants in Japan are very expensive, but this does not have to be so. There are plenty of places that serve quality food at a decent price. It’s just that these places do not look so inviting to foreigners. Tokyo is a place where reading up tourist guides really helps. Here is a good one: www.metropolis.co.jp. This one isn’t exactly a tourist guide. It seems to cater to English speakers living in Japan, but that’s even better, since you won’t be going to a bunch of tourist traps.