3 days in Tokyo?

[3flightsofstairs]

Hi there,
Anyone been to Tokyo with a one year old? Going to NZ but thought we'd do some jetlag managment in a place that's open 24/7 and that we'd never been to before. Is it too busy for a buggy? Should we take our Macpac?
Any suggestions of what to do, where to go, what it's like etc. would be gratefully received!

Blimey....I know this thread is from ages ago, but are you still about, 3?

Anyone else been to Tokyo for a short length of time?

Mrs JandLanG and I are there for 5 days sans tiddlers at the end of Sept.

Never been before.

Anyone any thoughts/ideas/suggestions/experience?

All contributions welcomed as always.

Ta!

You can get information about museums and temples in your guide, so I'll focus on the rest.

The underground is easy to use in Tokyo, so get a good guide and enjoy. In every station, there's a train map and you will see next to the name of the station the price that you need to pay, based on where you are now. The names are in latin characters, so you can then write this down and go to the window to get your ticket.

Be ready to pay a lot for everything. It is not a cheap place.

Also, be ready to get lost all the time. It is fun. The streets have no names, so it is not easy to find your way aroud.

Restaurants tend to have "wax models" of their dishes on the window, so if you can't speak Japanese, at least you can point at what you want

You can each buy a PASMO card for use on the Tokyo underground at the ticket machines (these are used like Oyster cards on the London Underground). These ticket machines give instructions of use also in English.

The train stations are numbered on each line so it is quite easy to get around. What you need to ensure though is that you use the right station exit; if you leave via the wrong exit you could end up a long way from where you needed to go. You could certainly do with a decent map showing where the station exits lead out onto.

Do visit the basement of the department stores as these are where the food halls are located.

I would agree with it being expensive.

Japanese people are unfailingly polite but many Japanese people do not speak much if any English. English tends to be understood more in hotels and department stores.

The views from the Tokyo Government Offices observation deck is fab and it is also free.

Was there a few years ago with 5yo DD and a 22month DS. Really enjoyed the place and adored the sticky rice!

Zoo was good (& really cheap compared to London) and we had a great visit to Tokyo Tower.

Other than that we went to the Tokyo motor show, Mega Web (another car place - are you getting the theme here?) and Hello Kitty Land (for DD) plus generally wandered the temples & museums and visited some friends.

One day we went to Yokohama and went on the big wheel there. Plus we had a fantastic meal in a private dining room in China Town.

The following year we went back and did pretty similar but spent a few days in Kyoto too. Took the bullet train between the two cities.

We found Tokyo really easy to get around as a lot of the signs were in English and the underground was easy & cheap to use.

If you're really stuck for something to do with kids then there's always the Disney resort but it's not really my thing.

Forgot to say that when we were there we spent a couple of nights in a traditional hotel and then stayed in a serviced apartment the rest of the time.

It saved us a fortune on breakfast and meant that after a long day DH and i could settle with a few beers in the lounge whilst the DCs had their own bedroom.

wow, thanks for these responses...hadn't checked for a few days...leaving on friday...v excited!

any more for any more?