gabrieladraffen asked: Heya Jess!
A few of your lovely Tokyo photos came up on my tumblr feed. They're awesome! I'm heading there at the end of this month, do you have any tips on places to go/stay/see? Hope you're super well and 2011 is going great,
-Gabi

Hi love!

Thank you :> You have to go visit Shinjuku/Shibuya/Harajuku/Ikebukuro on the Yamanote train line, all shopping heaven. It’s freezing over there at the moment and the sun sets at 4:30pm every day, it was a bit difficult to cope with but if you get up early then it’s fine. It’s quite easy to get lost and to walk around in circles so be prepared!

A little love of mine is Koenji. It’s on the Chuo line which you can get from Shinjuku. I stayed there for a week at a really cheap guest house (http://kouenji.seesaa.net/) which I can’t recommend enough. It was the highlight of our trip!

Also, make sure you get yourself a Suica + N’EX pass from Narita airport (downstairs from the main lobby place, right near the trains - http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/suica-nex/index.html). It costs 5,500¥ but it includes the train trip from the airport to the city (return) as well as a Myki type card which you can recharge, which comes with 1,500¥ on it. So handy!

Last but not least, take a train and jump off at any station.  You can have so much fun with that, it’s a beautiful city :> Have a good 2011 too xx