Hello everyone!! Welcome to Japan!! So you finally decided to make a trip to Japan? Good. It is a wonderful place here. Follow me as we proceed on with this trip.
This is Narita Airport. There are 2 airports to Tokyo, one is Narita and the other is Haneda. Haneda is a closer to Tokyo but serves domestic flight usually. While Narita is mostly for international flights. That is where most people like us will arrive at. As you can see, the weather is cold and wet here.
Looks familiar? That means you are probably walking in the wrong direction. Really.Turn back now.
This is the departure hall so unless you want to return back to your country/transfer flight/waiting for your 2 lovely online Japanese friends to pick you up because I don't know why the heck would they wait for you here at the departure hall and not at the arrival hall? Beats me. Go ahead.
What you want to do, is to head down to purchase train/bus/cab tickets.
You can buy train tickets here. Train is the fastest mode of transport from Narita to Tokyo. I would recommend it as it is pretty afordable too. The cost ranging from ¥1000-3000, depending on how fast you want your ride to be. More info here.[www.japan-guide.com]
We took the Skyliner express as it was fast.

You can get your Suica/Pasmo cards here. The machine language can be changed to a user friendly english, so don't worry if you can't read Japanese. The cards cost ¥500 each. You can top up any amount you want.
Unsure of what to get? There is not much different in either cards as the functions are very similiar. You can check it up here if you want.[www.jrpass.com]
My friend here got a Suica, and I think it looks cooler than a Pasmo. So I got one for myself too.
Off we go to Tokyo! Sample street here. The trains tracks are pretty close to some of the houses that you can reach out and touch them, if not for the window glass and the train speed. I wonder how these people can sleep with the train moving past just outside their houses every now and then. You can see some farms/sakuras/rivers along the way too.

Meals cost about ¥1000 but breakfast is usually cheaper for us as we usually buy our breakfast from convinence stalls. Learning how to use chopsticks is useful because some restaurents [ramen/sushi] don't provide forks/spoon utensils. Not a problem for us though.

Keep LEFT on excalators, unless you are rushing. Queue up orderly on train platforms as there would be line markings to follow. Don't bring disorder into their orderly society/show rude/be discourteous. Japanese people are very very very very very polite and friendly.

Food from Convinience stores [コンビニエンスストア] are cheap and are plenty around Tokyo. They make good/fast meals on the go. Be sure to try Onigiri [お握り] as it usually cost quite cheap of about ¥100-200. Also, convinient stores are everywhere! Every corner of the street and you are definitely within walking distance.

Seriously, you can't mess this up. They aren't just found in Japan anymore. The flush buttons are usually at the sides and not on the controls panels. Seats are usually warmed so your bum doesn't feel cold when pooping. The water pressure can be set from a nice comfortable splash to strong hydro penetration. Your choice.

Standard trains in Tokyo. Best and most convinient way to travel. Don't get lost though. There are downloable app/maps. Signs and directions are written in English too. As usual, no problem for people who can't read Japanese.

Rush hour is about 8am to 9am and starts at 5pm again. The evening rush hour is usually much less crowded. If you want to experience a once in your life time TOKYO-METRO-TRAIN-CLUSTER-F*CK experience. By all means, be my guest. Also, to all hentai/perverts/chikan out there, you will get caught if you try out one of those ideas of yours. Like seriously, don't even think about it.

Closest train station is Akihabara Station. Like duh?
Familiar? Main street of Akihabara. The reason that otakus travel to Japan.
Lots of shops for figurins, mangas, doujinshis and novels. Basically all the otaku stuff you can find here conviniently. And electronics too, like who goes there for electronics anyway?
For those that like Gundam/AKB48. Just outside the station.
Be sure to check this up. Tokyo Anime Centre do host some exhibits here frequently. They were showing binan koukou chikyuu bouei-bu love art when we were here.
Common sight where maids will promote their cafes even under the cold wind. It was like 10 degree celsius here!

You should really try out the maid cafes just for a unique experience. The food is decent but their service is adorable and cute with the whole moe moe fuwa fuwa kawaii theme. XD
You aren't allowed to anyhow take photos/videos of the maids and place, except for the food only.

Top floors are usually where all the important products are. If you know what I meant. *wink wink*

Check the green building out for your adult *ahem* needs. You can't miss it as it is just outside the Akihabara station.



Steins;Gate, anyone?

A few minutes walk from Asakusa station.



Main gate Kaminari-mon.You should see 3 pairs of deities as you walk.
Lot's of tourist/tourist shops here. You can get some "traditional" items here if you want. Just get the food as it is more authentic.
Asakusa Shrine entrace with the pagoda.
The shrine itself. Get your charms here for almost anything. Or burn a joss sticks for your prayers.


You can see Skytree here. It is really a huge tall tower and is very close to Asakusa.
Be sure to traditionally wash your mouth/hands.
You can get you luck derived here by shaking the cans with sticks in it. And I got lucky! Yeah! :D

I didn't go to Ginza but here is a picture of a street close to it.

Takeshita street. Very unique girls street fashion. Lolita/goth/kawaii/gyaru/whatever loud fashion, you can get it here.
Crepes shops are everywhere. These 2 compeititing shops are just opposite each other! I guess it is a common food for students/youth that hang out around Harujuku.
Strawberry cheesecake crepe. Yum!!


The station itself.

Closest station is Ikebukuro station. Crowded as usual.
You might want to head over to P-parco mall just 2 mins walk from the station. There is an Evangelion store [the most heavily over marketed franchise, like Evangelion cookies and cups? Really?] and some Nico Nico Douga basement.
Animate, also another place to buy items for your otaku needs.

Ikebukuro is somewhat a female version of Akihabara, so you'll see plenty of fujoshi stuff.



The Towering Sunshine-60! You can get a view of Ikebukuro and the city at the top floor for a price of ¥620. But that is not the main reason why we came here.


















This is why we are here. Pokemon Center Mega Tokyo! The store is located in Sunshine 60. You can get your official Pokemon Merchandise here. Or just pose with the Pokemon statues. There are a lot of noisy kids here too.
Famous street of Ikebukuro with music blasting through the street lamp speakers. Durarara fans would recognise this place immediately.
I didn't see much ramen shops around Ikebukuro but I think ramens shops around Tokyo taste much better.

Closest station is Harujuku station. The Shrine grounds entrance is a close walk from Harujuku. However, the shrine itself is a much further walk in.
This is one of the entrances into the Shrine grounds. There are many gardens/sites you can visit along the way as you walk in towards the shrine.
Just outside the Shrine.

Be sure to wash your mouth/hands before entering to respect the shrine itself.

You can get your wishes written around the shrine tree on the right for a price or buy one of the charms if you didn't get them in Asakusa shrine. Besure to check the website for any ceremony as it would be a cultural expereince to witness it.

Closest station is Shibuya station. You can exit from the Hachiko entrance, depending on which line you took. Yup, that is the entrance name.

It is really a waiting area for the locals here. The locals are wondering why GaiJins [外人] are taking photos of Hachiko. Because to them it is really just a normal waiting spot statue.

Check out the Hachiko mural just outside the station entrance. Also, another waiting spot.
The famous Shibuya scramble crossing! Scramble crossing aren't just unique to Shibuya or Japan. But I guess this is the most popular crossing. Ironically, scramble crossing is to make crossing the roads more efficient but alot of visitors or GaiJins [外人] take we/selfies/photos in the middle of the crossing which defeats the true purpose of the crossing. We took a photo at the centre anyway. XD

Familiar? This is the 109 Shibuya building. This only sells female fashion here. For guys, there is 109 Shibuya Mens building at the Shibuya crossing which only sells males fashion.
Also, Gyaru culture/fashion is dead, so don't expect to see Gyarus in Tokyo. You can still spot lolitas in Harujuku, but I think that is about it.

Closest station is Shinjuku station.

This is on top Keio departmental store. Shopping centres here and there.
Kabuki-cho. We came here in the morning to take a look because we aren't interested at all in the karaok/spa/cubs/hostess/hotels here.
Common sight here.

Kabuki Central road. You can see the Godzilla on his hotel here.

There are 2 stations, Tokyo Skytree station and Oshiage station. Either stations are fine.

Ticket pricing cost about ¥2,060. For more info on the pricing here[www.tokyo-skytree.jp]

We went up for the night view because the day view was too cloudy.
You can get your Japanese sweets and goodies at Skytree shopping floors. I highly recommend Tokyo Banana, Castella or Bamakuchen if you dont know what to get. If not, you can do your last minute confectionary shopping at the ariport.

Meguro River is a beautiful place to view sakura flowers/trees. Be sure to check when do the flowers bloom before planning your trip.

Odorite [踊り手] might want to visit Yoyogi park. Which is just beside Meiji Shrine.

Imperial Palace is another place to visit. But unfortunately it was close when we were there.

Odaiba Diver city, Seventh floor is where the Gundam Front Tokyo store. Or you can come and take a look at the 18m tall Gundam statue. Shows starts at around 7pm. It is a light show where they project light onto the giant statue with some videos and Gundam head movement.

So yup. That was my first trip to Japan. If you have any questions, post it here and I will try my best to answer them.
Rate this guide?