Tokyu Hands. The best materials store in the world. Think of a vertical home depot with each floor being devoted to a different craft (wood working, resins, clockmaking, etc).

http://www.tokyu-hands.co.jp/

Akihabara (the tech area). Again, same vertical concept: 1st floor: TV's, 2nd floor: laptops, 3rd floor: virtual girlfriend porn, 4th floor: fans, 5th floor: cameras, etc.

Go to the top of the New City Hall building by Tange. One of the best views of tokyo.

The love hotel neighborhood near the shibuya station. The most amazing collection of bad architecture anywhere.

Since you're there for 5 days, I'd also recommend taking the bullet train somewhere else too. Kyoto is only 2.5hrs away and is a great city. Osaka too.

hmmm...

tokyo museum

ginza, kisho kurokawa's capsule building is right off of a ginza street. They have a lifesife model that your allowed to go into if you ask a security guard.

baseball game - Tokyo giants

roppongi hills - large scale shopping area with new apartments that are some of the most expensive in japan. Also the japanese graphic artist that did some work on Louis Vuitton (murokami bags?) did some cute characters for roppongi.

go to a sushi bar with the conveyor belt

i dont know if sumo is in season or if they are having any matches in tokyo, but could be a long shot.

You should see a few temples of course. Meiji Shrine near harajuku station is a very good one. From harajuku you can walk through the teenager shopping area and have a good laugh at all the crazy fashions and music...

From there you can walk along Omotesando street and see Louis Vitton store (Jun Aoki) and also the contruction site of a new Tadao Ando building (but i forgot what it is - theres not much to see yet!). There are also a lot of really cool shops and nice interiors on that same street, Tag Heure, jean paul gaultier....

Then, Prada (herzog and demeuron)is not to far away from Omotesando station. Definately worth a look.

Ginza is cool - Hermes building by Piano is ok. Sony store is quite interesting, Apple store is good too.

There is a good exhibition on at the GA Gallery at the moment of International Architecture - Rogers, Foster, Nouvel, Ando, Holl, Ito and many more. I have not been there yet but I am told it is worth a visit. This gallery is in Shibuya I think...

5 Days is a long time to be in Tokyo and you could get out of town as Andrew says but you certainly won't get bored in Tokyo. Explore the small streets and you will be surprised every time.

One last thing, if someone offers you something called Natto - don't eat it.

visit Yoyogi Koen and you'll find tange's stadium,
roppongi has new cool stuff all over the place, go up the mori building for the panoramic view around dusk

BEST ADVICE >>> get a bicycle, you'll save much money and you'll really discover the city, be aware these guys drive on the other side

Natto is awesome!

It's a bean that's made into a form of paste, smells like shit, looks like shit, but tastes excellent!

and actually i think it's Nato, not natto

actually do a lot of what joek mentioned, i did a lot of those things the last time I went, and they were great. The Prada store is awesome, you can find some limited addition stuff in there.

You say Nato I say Natto....

Haha, how can you eat that stuff??

joek,

the question should really be "how could you NOT eat that stuff?"

jk

And btw, i was wrong...sorry joek you were correct, it's natto. I guess a semester of japanese doesnt qualify myself to write the language correctly.

traced

see this building:

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/weirdbuilding.html

the words are translated into "upside down cafe"

oh here's some more stuff, i decided to put some more time into this:

Remember Tokyo = Edo

Many of these topics will probably be referring to shopping. The reason why, is b/c in japan teenagers, college graduates, and young adults live with their parents. It's very common since rent is SO high. Therefore since their living spaces are so tiny, they dont need to worry about furniture, art, etc. Also since no one drives a car, there is a lot of money that these young adults accumulate. Therefore how can they show off themselves or what can they spend money of if it's not an awesome NY loft or a Ferrari in Los Angeles? They shop! Japanese ppl are probably one of the most fashionable ppl on earth. I heard from my girlfriend (japanese) that the japanese consume 50 percent of all louis vuitton merchandise.

SHIBUYA
fashion district where you can see lots of wierd teenagers dressed in crazy outfits. The whole idea behind that is that Japan is a conformist nation. Everyone has to fit into a code "business suit, black hair, short height, skinny bodies, etc." Therefore on Sundays (their only day off) ppl enjoy expressing themselves as an indivdual. Also in shibuya, you will get off the station and there should be lots of people gathering around a dog statue (Hachik) waiting for friends. The dog represents an old tale in japan. The master of the dog went to work and died, the dog waited at the station everyday for his master for 10 years until the dog eventually died. Also there is a crossing called the shibuya crossing which over a quarter million people pass everyday. On each crossing i think about 1,500 ppl cross. The shibuya crossing was shown in the film 'Lost in Translation' where there's that large screen and a dinosaur walking by. It's the most dense pedestrian intersection in the world! Also in shibuya, there's a lot of entertainment and good shopping. I would recommend getting lost in this area. It's quite nice and you're bound to stumble upon anime shops, bars, clubs, record stores, clothing stores, etc.

YOKOHAMA
Port of Yokohama - located near Chinatown. Of course the chinese food in Chinatown is excellent since many chinese immigrants live there. Also you can see some of the wierdest architecture. Yokohama was a city created for westerners to come and trade. It was also a prostitute city. The purpose of the city was to allow foreigners to trade with the japanese but still keep the rest of Japan free from western influence. Therefore buildings were created by the japanese in order to hopefully please the westerners. The architecture was done in dutch, american, chinese, japanese styles.

TSUKIJI FISH MARKET
Get there around 5am if you can and you will see a sight. Lots of local restaurant owners are at auctions for fish. Also try some tuna steak, you can pick one up at a local shop there for less than 5 bucks.

HARAJUKU
Lots of teenagers and of course more shopping.

GINZA
upscale shopping. Enough info was mentioned before.

ROPPONGI HILLS
Information listed above.

RYOGOKU
Center of the Sumo world. This is where the sumo stadium in Tokyo is, sumo stables, and chanko restaurants (Chanko is a pot meal that's fed to sumo wrestlers).

AKIHABARA - electronic district of Tokyo.

EXTRA INFORMATION:

DEPARTMENT STORES
1)Takashimaya - upscale shopping department store.
2)iSetan - Young teenager/adult shopping. Interesting types of clothing that reflect japanese fashion.
3)OIOI (pronounced Mah-ru-eee) - similar to iSetan.

SUSHI
I dont know how much you enjoy sushi but for your sake, and America's sake dont order California Rolls (although they are offered in japan now). Dont eat sushi on weds b/c it's considered to have fish that's not as fresh. It has something to do with the fish market, maybe that's their day off or down time. Dont forget to drink with sake or biiru (beer)

SUBWAY
Go on the subway during rush hour to watch ppl being forced into the cars. There are job positions for ppl to make sure that each car is filled to the maximum.

IMPERIAL PALACE
You cant enter the palace but you can get close to the bridge. What ppl have observed about Tokyo is that it is so tightly dense. The problem is that the Imperial Palace is considered one of the only large open areas. The ironic part is that the public is not allowed to access this area.

ASAKUSA TEMPLE (Sensoji) - If you like Hiroshige or ukiyo-e (japanese prints) you may be familiar with the 100 views of Edo, a series with a print of Asakusa Temple shown from Kaminarimon (the gate that you enter). I would say that this is probably the most interesting temple to visit in Tokyo

SUMMER FESTIVAL - I dont know when you'll be there, but there may be some festivals to visit

Bring an UMBRELLA - Japan gets a lot of rain during this time of the year. You are actually travelling during the wrong time if this is for vacation. I believe that around december you can see the cherry blossoms bloom.

RICEBALLS - get them at any local convience store. They're about 100 yen and you can get salmon (pink sticker) and many other types. Unlike in america, local convience stores in japan offer good food that is healthy and fresh.

TOKYO TOWER - Exact replica of the Eiffel Tower (except red and white) in Paris. You can go up to different levels but it gets more and more costly as you go.

GIRLS WITH CELL PHONES - Watch the young girls and their cell phones. Those girls send text messages faster than any other person on the planet. In fact there are competitions held to see whose's the fastest text messenger in Japan!

Alright i hope this helps you. Remember that a lot of this info is just opinion although I tried to give you some facts along the way. have fun on the trip and tell us about it!

thanks again for the advice, i will post some pics when I return

pick up "Sans Soleil" by Chris Marker -- short documentary that has some great shots / thoughts on japan

So you can get around Japan without Japanese?

well you can get around without japanese, the thing is I've always been over there with my girlfriend who speaks fluently. You may have to do a lot of pointing at the menu (they provide pictures with their items) if you're in a restaurant. I mean the word "onegai shimasu" is basically "I'll have this for my meal." I think basic understanding of japanese language is important. But you can also pick up english subway maps and other types of brochures. Also note that the JET (japanese exchange teachers?) program does not require any previous understanding of the japanese language. But like everything else it doesnt hurt to know it and it will definetly make your experience much more worthwhile.

The reason why i'm saying that you need a basic understanding of japanese is to at least try and get the pronounciation right. A lot of western words are used over there but with slight variations on pronunciation.

ex; Cheeseburger = Chiizubaaga
ice tea - aisuti
date - deeto
television - terebi

note that the japanese language is broken up into syllables. For example the word "terebi" should be pronouced "te-re-bi" with each symbol counting equally in terms of time. Once you get the hang of it you can begin to express different emphasis on each syllable depending on the correct way to pronounce it.

You dont need to know how to read katakana, hiragana, or kanji b/c a lot of signs will be in either english or romaji. Also when purchasing something the price is displayed as roman numbers rather than kanji.

TRACED

Also note that you never tip at a restaurant, in a cab, etc. It's considered rude since you are telling them that their service was poor and that they need to improve. So basically you're telling them here's extra money, try harder next time.

thanks again for all the good stuff

check out superfuture tokyo

hey that's an awesome site. I like that store "no concept but good sense."

Good advice tman - there is one other thing you could do if you wanted to traced. You could meet up with me, I live just outside Tokyo and travel into the city every day. If you are a loose end or need anything, just give me a shout.

hey joek are you from america? Im going into 4th year out of a 5 year degree at USC in los angeles and was thinking about taking a year off after graduation to work in Tokyo. My girlfriend (also an architecture major) has an apartment in Tokyo so we could stay there. She obviously can get a job very easily since she is a Japanese citizen. I however am American and was wondering how welcoming the firms around there are to allow foreigners to work there (especially since my japanese is very basic "Hello how are you doing? Here is my business card, etc.". Also what are the legal responsibilities that I would have to take (work visa, etc.)? Thanks ahead of time.

one more thing, joek do you like the r&b singers Chemistry? I will admit it's a guilty pleasure of mine.

hi tman - i'm a brit. Also right now I am on my small stepping stop between working for designers in England and working for designers in Japan. I am currently teaching at an interior design school in Tokyo, learning language, get some contacts and all that hoping to get myself ready for a time when I can leave this school and work for an architect / designer over here.

Not sure about visas - it is pretty complex. I have a one year working visa which i will renew for a second year but my employer sorted a lot of this out on my behalf. You need a visa to enter Japan to work, it is very difficult to change the status of your visa once here on a toursit stamp although it can be done.

Best thing is to have a job lined up before you come out here if possible. Otherwise, plan a trip here to go for a lot of interviews, return to the US and hope something comes out of your trip. I'm sure it will. Best of luck, let me know if I can help.

Chemistry? R&B isn't something I really go for. Why do you ask?

Oh im not big on R&B either. I just remember that they are one of Japan's biggest pop stars. I think that they've have 2-3 full length cd releases.

Anyways thanks a lot for the help, could I also ask you if knew any japanese going into the country? Were the school and designers okay with your limited ability to speak japanese? Basically, is it easy to work with just speaking english or is a thorough understanding of japanese required?

I knew the 'hello's, thankyou's and the 'can I have this?' - that kind of thing - not much and in fact my Japanese is still very basic as I have only been studying it for about 2 months - I have been in Japan since March. Slowly I am getting to a level where I can have short conversations.

The school here had actually requested an english speaking staff - they want the students to become familiar with speaking some english and communicating to people from outside Japan. Being a small island, many Japanese never really realise that there is a whole world of opportunity out of their own country. (This happens everywhere, I have friends who don't even think outside their home TOWN let alone country!)

In fact I can mostly communicate to students with drawings, using my broken Japanese and their broken English to support it. You will always find ways to communicate when you cannot rely on language.

I guess it would really depend on who you are working for and the situation really. Obviously without Japanese you will not be able to meet with clients effectively so you are limited there. But you know, many people in the design profession have knowledge of english, especially if they are working on international projects. You may be able to work for someone like Toyo Ito with english only but you will learn more about design as you learn more about Japanese language.

I worked for a year in Malaysia for a Malay architect and never really learnt any Malay or Chinese. So it can be done, although in japan, English is not as common as Malaysia.

I shouldn't worry too much about, I have always just jumped into these things and worried about how I will survive afterwards - you always do.

The larger firms (international and others) are definetly hiring non-Japananese speaking individuals. Get your shit out there and you should probably find something. What I would recommend is actually doing JET or some other english teaching program for a bit while you float your portfolio, and transition into architecture after you get a feel for the area and culture.

Oh, and Chemistry sucks.

thanks appleseed - i won't check them out.

oh ya Chemistry definetly sucks (musically) however the skinny guy does have a good range. But then again that's why I said it was a guilty pleasure