Places to visit in Tokyo, Japan - Akasaka

There so many places to visit in Tokyo, Japan. I shall go by alphabetical order.

Akasaka (赤坂) – This is one of the city areas in Tokyo where a lot of commercial buildings, hotels, restaurants, embassies and even the TBS television station are located. It is also near to governmental offices, Nagatacho and very close to the Imperial Palace (Chiyoda).

There are also some residental buildings in this area. One of my friends is staying in this area as it is near to his workplace. He is a very fortunate man to be neighbour to the classy geisha as there are geisha houses in the area.

I went there thrice but not to visit my friend. The first time I visit Akasaka is when I accompanied my good friend - YY to the TBS television for a tour. She is a big Japanese drama fan.

(At the entrance of TBS)

The second and third time was when I visited the Hie Shrine (日枝神社) in the area. The shrine is located on a little hillstop and we did have some problems locating the shrine as there are a lot of buildings in the area, making it a bit confusing. It is a shrine with a long long history, as far back as 1478. Apparently its original location was inside the Edo Castle and only moved to Akasaka in 1659.

(The board outside the shrine that shared the history)

(We were fortunate to witness a wedding ceremony at the shrine. Bride & groom in tradition wedding costumes)

Well, that time we went there was beacuse we knew that a lot of weddings took place in this shrine (which we saw one) and their love charms were so kawaii.

Arrival at Narita Airport.. what's next?

Now you reached Narita airport in Tokyo, Japan. What should you do now? Well there are a few ways of getting to the city (for me, it will be the Tokyo area). See the following for your consideration:

1) Take the train from Narita station to Tokyo Station (Need to do some transfers at certain stations). But think it is the most cost saving and you should be able to get to Tokyo with a ¥2,000 budget.

2) Take the airport limousine bus (About ¥3,000). They will stop by major hotels and even if you don't stay there. It is easier for you to make your way to your accomodation venue in a cab.

3) Take a cab. Well, I tried that before (out of no choice but this is a story for another day). At that time, japanese yen was at the low side (S$1 will give me ¥70) and I still need to fork out about ¥28,000 for the 1.5 hour ride.

Frankly, I think airport limousine bus works the best for me especially if you have a number of luggages like us. I must warn you that you might need to walk quite a fair bit even with the train stations in Japan as they can be huge.

If you need help, just ask at the information counter at the airport. The staff speak English and will be happy to assist you.