What's New: An Online Update for Frommer's Tokyo

Planning Your Trip to Tokyo

The U.S. dollar's slide against the yen has been dramatic. About a year ago, the dollar hovered around ¥120. In March 2008 the dollar hit a 12-year low at ¥95. As of May 1, it was back up to ¥104.

Recognizing that many travelers nowadays are Internet savvy, Tokyo companies are placing more emphasis on websites in English. Both the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Tokyo Metro subway system have launched updated, more user-friendly websites that should make navigating the city even more of a snap.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government provides subsidies to hotels wishing to upgrade their facilities to make them more handicap accessible. To see a list of accommodations that have received the subsidies and the work they've done to make their facilities more accessible, go to www.tourism.metro.tokyo.jp/english/administration/barrier_free/barrierlist.html.

Getting Around Tokyo

As if Tokyo's taxis weren't expensive enough, new fares now start at ¥710 instead of ¥660 as soon as you sit down, and the 30% surcharge tacked on for night trips now starts at 10pm instead of 11pm.

Where to Stay

Tokyoites were sad when one of the city's oldest hotels, built just in time for the 1964 Olympics, shuttered its doors. Now comes word that Capitol Tokyo Hotel will be reincarnated, on the top floors of a 29-floor office being built on the hotel's former site. With a prime location next to Hie Shrine and Akasaka, it will offer approximately 250 luxury rooms, with completion scheduled for autumn 2010.

Meanwhile, it's always nice to see budget places open for backpackers in Tokyo, and Ace Inn Shinjuku (5-2 Katamachi; tel. 03/3350-6655; http://ace-inn.jp) has a great central location at Akebonobashi and Yotsuya-Sanchome stations. The dormitory-like facility offers capsule-like bunkbeds, long-stay discounts, communal computers, and a public tatami room.

Where to Dine

When the New Otani, 4-1 Kioi-cho, opened for the 1964 Olympics, it wooed international customers with a 17th-floor revolving restaurant offering a bird's-eye-view of postwar Tokyo. After serving several years as a Chinese restaurant, The Sky (tel. 03/3228-0028) has reopened as an all-you-can-eat dining venue for teppanyaki and sushi, as well as Chinese and Western cuisine. Best of all, the buffet allows you to choose your own ingredients and then have them prepared on the spot by chefs behind the counter.

Good Honest Grub (2-20-8 Higashi; tel. 03/3797-9877) first opened as a cozy, local hangout in Ebisu, expanded to Harajuku, shut down for a while, and now has a new location off Meiji Dori about halfway between Shibuya and Ebisu. Its new store is a lot like its first place, laid-back, entirely nonsmoking, and serving healthy comfort food, including vegetarian choices and a popular weekend brunch.

Meanwhile, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government now posts English menus for restaurants that provided them in TMG's Promotion of Foreign Language Menus. So far, only a handful of restaurants are listed, most of them in Tsukiji and the Ginza. Go to www.tourism.metro.tokyo.jp and click on "Restaurants."

What to See & Do in Tokyo

The popularity of Tsukiji Fish Market, one of the world's largest fish markets, is apparently killing it. Due to increasing numbers of tourists, new restrictions that went into effect April 1 make some zones off limits (people who want to watch the famous 5:30am tuna auctions can do so only from a cramped, designated area), though the cavernous wholesale area where fish are cut up and sold is still open to groups of five or fewer. Even so, the fish market's days in Tsukiji are numbered: the Tokyo government plans to shut it down and move it outside the city, to Toyosu, 2012. It's doubtful as many tourists would be willing to make the trek to Toyosu before the crack of dawn, but stall owners, who would be farther from their customers, don't care for the move either.

Nezu Museum (6-5-1 Minami Aoyama; tel. 03/3400-2536), which closed for renovation in 2006, is on track to reopen in 2009 with its fine collection of Oriental art ranging from Chinese bronzes to lacquerware and a private garden.

Shopping in Tokyo

After years of falling sales due to competition and a shrinking population, Isetan and Mitsukoshi merged in April 2008, creating the biggest department store company in Japan and overtaking the number one position from rival Takashimaya. Current Isetan and Mitsukoshi department stores are retaining their respective names, though a new outlet opening in 2011 in Osaka will be the first to bear the joint Isetan Mitsukoshi name.

Several new shopping complexes have opened in Tokyo. Akasaka Sacas, across from Akasaka Station, is Tokyo's newest city-within-a-city built in connection with TV headquarters. Following in the footsteps of Shiodome (Nippon Television) and Roppongi Hills (TV Asahi), Akasaka Sacas houses TBS headquarters, a residence tower, and a 390-story office tower called Biz Tower, which contains shops and restaurants on its lower floors. Akiba Torim, in front of Akihabara Station, joins the Tsukuba Express high-speed train and Yodobashi Camera as part of Akihabara's transformation into a commuter mecca. The new shopping complex targets young females with boutiques, bookstores, restaurants, and a hotel.

Tokyo after Dark

Kento's, which specializes in Japanese bands playing hits of the '50s and '60s, has moved to a new location in the Ginza, 8-2-1 Ginza on the 9th floor (tel. 03/3572-9161).

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