I will be in Tokyo from Oct 1 through the 14.
Anyone care to recommend restaurants, activities, museums, etc?
I also want some advice about exchanging money. Should I do it before I go? In the airport? See if the hotel does that?
How easily am I going to be able to find the baggage carousels in Narita airport to find my bags?
My friends that I am travelling with are convinced they can do it without checking a bag and just have a carryon each. I think they are crazy.
Oh… We are also taking a weekend side trip to Kyoto so any recommendations there would also be helpful.
The baggage carousels aren’t hard to find. It sometimes takes me a while to get my bags since pulling bags of a 747 doesn’t happen quickly. But if they aren’t standing in line at the baggage carousel, they will stand in line at immigration.
I would change some money at the airport although the lines can be long. Make sure you get a money exchange form before you get into line and fill it out. But once I am in town, I hit the Citibank branch and get cash with my ATM card. The bank there doesn’t charge a fee so you just pay your bank’s fee of maybe $3.
Where are you staying in Tokyo? In town or in the burbs? It would matter for some of the restaurant recommendations. Are you traveling ‘balls out’ or on a budget?
Other than that I think the Edo-Tokyo Museum is interesting. The models of Old Edo street scenes are phenomenal. They also have volunteer tour guides who speak a number of languages. The National Museum is in Ueno Park and is worth a trip. but museums are surprisingly inexpensive to visit. If you like beer do to the Yebisu Beer Museum. There isn’t much to see if you don’t speak Japanese. But there is a bar at the end that sells six or seven different varieties for 200 yen a glass. Cheapest brew in town. BIC Camera is a big electronics store. They sell everything and its worth a trip.
Haven’t been to Kyoto so I can help you with that.
Shit. You know what I mean.
Kyoto is absolutely beautiful.
Don’t miss Kiyomizu-dera. It’s an absolutely astonishing Buddhist temple built in the side of a mountain (my oldest daughter was blessed there as an infant - not that you care 
)
The Wikipedia article covers the most interesting sites in the Culture section.
If you want to shop or buy gifts I highly recommend the Kyoto Handicraft Center. It’s truly amazing.
Have fun!
Our hotel is about two miles south east of the electronics district. That’s as much geography as I know. On the Japanese equivalent of mapquest it appears to be on a body of water (but not near the harbor).So who knows.
I think we are looking for cheap breakfasts and lunches but are willing to go 20-30$ per person for dinners.
No, I think they’re right. Now, with the new restrictions on carrying liquids, they may have to buy shampoo once they hit Japan, but you can certainly carry enough clothing to last you for a 2-week trip.
I’m assuming that you’re not going for business. If you have to dress in suits all the time, then, yes, you’d have to check luggage. But for a simple vacation, you really don’t need much for a 14-day stay.
If you have quick-dry stuff, you can wear one outfit on the plane and carry another in your carry-on. Carry a few pair of underwear and some socks, and you’re set. If you don’t want to wash your socks and underwear (and I could see choosing not to), you might just choose to buy a pack or two of socks and underwear when you arrive.
As for cheap (ish) breakfasts/dinners, there’s a noodle bar on virtually every corner. I spent three weeks in Tokyo and never ate in the same place twice.
Beware of street cars that come down the street sideways!
I’ve lived here for 16 years, so if you have any questions, go ahead and ask.
No problem on finding the carrel. They are there before you go through customs. (You have to go though immigrations first, then pick up your bags and then go through customs.)
Twenty to thirty dollars isn’t much for dinners. Do you drink? If you don’t drink you may get by, but expect to pay more. Tokyo doesn’t have the reputation as one of the most expensive cities because of its overly cheap restaurants.
What’s your purpose? Are you coming over for business or sight seeing? How much time do you have to play around?
Depends what you are looking for to eat. I can tell you that I often went to the mini-marts and got a noodle bowl or something like that for a couple of bucks. Of course you can always hit Starburcks.
How adventurous are you? Personally, I always found the department stores to have very reliable restaurants. The ones around Tokyo Station are close by to you. Pretty reasonably priced. The other option is to check out the restaurants under the train line. There is a pretty heavily used rail line in Ginza which is elevated and underneath the tracks are a ton of restaurants. You can get almost anything there and it can be pretty affordable. Some of the restaurants are pretty nice. I don’t know Akihabara all that well. But you can get anywhere on the sub from there.
While you are there, go to a pachinko parlor. Its a type of vertical pinball machine. Get $25 worth of balls and play a bit. Its a sort of gambling. Once you win, you have to go trade in your pachinko balls for a ‘gift’ Then you take the gift outside to a special booth and they’buy’ it back for money. My buddy won a few bucks playing pachinko. Its a very Japanese pastime,.
None of us drink so that’s not a factor.
The trip is purely for fun so we have all the playtime we want.
For exchanging money, do most of it at ATMs in Japan. You’ll get the best rate. Citibank has ATMs with English menus. Hotels have bad rates. Narita banks and other banks in Tokyo are OK. Don’t exchange at airports in the States, you’ll get killed.
More and more restaurants take cards, but usually not for lunch. Ramen shops, and other cheap places won’t take cards.
I’d recommend looking on the web and seeing what you like. After you get a basic idea of what you want, it will be easier to answer questions.