Wondering if there any F-Chatters from Tokyo? I will be there for a conference from August 5-9th. I will be at the Grand Hyatt and was going to ask for pointers on what to do/see for the few days I will be there. Also if you are nearby, if you would like to grab some sake and sushi!! :yahoo: Send me a PM if so! Cheers.
I'm in the Ferrari Club Of America and I'll be in Japan later this week. I just transfered duty stations and will be stationed in Iwakuni, which is in the Yamaguchi prefecture. Gotta love military travel and all. I should be in Tokyo at least a few times, so let me know if you'd like to meet up somewhere. It's always great to meet fellow enthusiasts in other countries
I'm in Tokyo. Grand Hyatt in Roppongi Hills, I assume. Nice place! The Oak Door bar/grill is a great popular high class haunt, and the brunches at French Kitchen are unbelievable. August will be too hot to use the terrace, unfortunately, but I take my wife there quite often during spring/fall. I have to say, if you're a business traveller I have to warn you about Roppongi. It's close by your hotel and it's the default hang-out area after hours. This is fine, there are lots of decent places, but there are touts trying to get you into adult bars, too. Not bad per se, but recently there has been an unbelievable wave of people getting totally out of it and getting $10,000 credit card bills a month later. *many* people I know personally have had the same thing happen. Some of these get resolved, but the majority do not, as the 'patron' is thought to be blind drunk and neither the CC companies nor the police give a flying fark. Ask me how I know. There are many reports that drinks have been spiked with rohypnol/ghb or whatever, so it's not enough to think you can 'take care of yourself'. Just do not follow those guys alone and with a credit card. Period. On a lighter note, I don't know if you're into fine food, but if you can make it to a couple of places Tokyo as a city has more Michelin stars than any other city in the world. A great deal is the Tapas Molecular Bar at the Mandarin Oriental, full course in molecular gastronomy for around $120 plus service charge. Very entertaining. Of course there is loads of great local food all over Tokyo. At some point you will probably find yourself in Gonpachi just down the road from your hotel. Bush went there, Tarantino modelled the house in Kill Bill II off it. The Japanese food there is very good, reasonably priced, and it's foreigner-friendly. Damn.. this is a big, big, city. I don't know if I'll be around when you're here, or even if I'll be free if I am, but if you give me any kind of pointers on what you are looking for I can do my best to give you some good advice. I've lived here most of the time since I was 21. I'm now 37. In general I suggest just walking around lots of different areas such as Marunouchi, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Akihabara, Odaiba and make sure you stop by Tokyo Tower and the Palace for a healthy dose of tourism.
