In this season there is nothing better than savoring the beautiful display of christmas in your city. Big and small glimmering lights, and trees with mock presents and doves. It would make a perfect postcard picture. In Japan, there are spectacular light shows during this time of the year. And the one that is most popular is the Kobe Luminarie. You can check out the Kobe Luminarie at Dec 6-17, 2007. But below is a list of Luminarie spots in Tokyo, taken from Japan-Guide.com:

Shiodome (more details)
“Caretta Ocean Xmas” is one of Tokyo’s most spectacular illuminations this year. 10 minute shows with music are held every 30 minutes (Nov 30 to Dec 25, 2007; from 17:00 to 23:30). Nearby Nihon TV has its own illuminations.

Roppongi Hills (more details)
The illumination at Roppongi Hills is called “Artelligent Christmas 2007″ and is most spectacular along Roppongi Keyakizaka Street (Nov 8 to Dec 25, 2007; from 17:00 to 23:00). Furthermore, a German style Christmas Market is held (Dec 1-25, 2007; 11:00 to 21:00).

Tokyo Midtown (more details)
Opened in spring 2007, Tokyo Midtown celebrates its “First Christmas” this year with various illuminations (Nov 15 to Dec 25, 16:00 to 0:00).

Odaiba (more details)
“Daiba Memorial Tree” is a large illuminated tree in Odaiba Kaihin Park in front of the Decks shopping center (Nov 10 to Dec 25, 2007 and Jan 1-14, 2008; from 17:00 to 0:00). Several other places on Odaiba, such as Venusfort, have illumination events, as well.

Tokyo Dome City (more details)
“Happy Christmas 2007″ is the name of the beautiful illuminations around Tokyo Dome and adjacent amusement park (Nov 8 to Dec 25, 2007; 17:00 to 1:00).

Ginza (more details)
Christmas trees along Chuo Street and illuminations by many individual stores, including the “Mikimoto Jumbo Christmas Tree”, make the popular shopping and entertainment district even more colorful than it is anyway.

Marunouchi (more details)
Marunouchi’s Naka Dori is lit up (Nov 16, 2007 to Feb 17, 2008; 17:30 to 23:00) and several buildings in the district, including the Marubiru, have their own displays.

Yebisu Garden Place (more details)
The central plaza is illuminated and a huge crystal chandelier will be displayed during the “Baccarat Eternal Lights” event (Nov 3, 2007 to Jan 14, 2008; from 16:00 to 23:00)

Shinjuku Southern Terrace (more details)
“Shinjuku Southern Lights” is the illumination display on the Shinjuku Southern Terrace, south of JR Shinjuku Station (Nov 9, 2007 to Feb 14; from 17:00 to 0:00).

I found a website that gives you the COMPLETE guide to shopping in Tokyo. These list of places to visit are essentials in making your shopping experience a completely one. ESSENTIAL is key here..

Mitsukoshi

Established in the 1930’s, the flagship Mitsukoshi store is in Nihombashi (Ginza Subway Line). Two lions (modeled after the lions in Trafalgar’s Square, London) guard the front entrance and once inside, another statue - Magokoro, the Goddess of Sincerity - reaches from floor to ceiling. There’s also a 1930’s Wurlitzer pipe organ and a theatre! For more information see the Mitsukoshi web site.
Odakyu

You’ll find a big branch of Odakyu on the west Side of Shinjuku Station - it’s owned by the Odakyu Railway Company. Prices are mid to high.
Seibu, Tokyu and Keio

These department stores are owned by railway companies. In Shibuya there are two branches of Tokyu, Keio is situated on the west side of Shinjuku Station while Seibu in Ikebukero is one of the largest department stores in the world (telephone 03 3981 0111). Prices are reasonable.
Parco

Parco is a “bazaar style” department store. You’ll find a big branch in Shibuya.
“0I0I” (pronounced “Marui”)

0I0I is in most major districts. As a clothes and accessory shop it has a tendency to be faddish and a little over-priced - some of the smaller shops in Shibuya or Harajuku may have the same things cheaper.

Check out the rest of the list here…

Man, watching this makes me want to take the next flight to Japan. I love those palm trees by the seaside. And the temple, I love how precious looking it is. Someone wanna bring me there? :D

Mount Takao (高尾山 takaosan) is a mountain in the city of Hachiōji, Tokyo, Japan.

Standing 599 m tall, it is a popular hiking spot, although there is a local superstition, especially amongst young adults, where couples who climb Mount Takao will separate shortly thereafter. You know what is interesting about this bit of news? The word “Takao” sounds like “Fight” in Cantonese, a dialect in the Chinese language. Could the mountain be jinx by its unforgiving name? :P

The Tama Forest Science Garden is located at the mountain’s base, it’s filled with various plant species for study purposes.

Mount Takao is closely associated with tengu, minor kami from Japanese folklore, and a Buddhist temple, Takaosan Yakuōin Yūkiji, is located on the mountain.

This garden is a varied as the fashion styles in Shinjuku district. It is a garden that features 3 different gardens; an English landscape garden with wide lawns, a traditional Japanese garden with teahouses and a symmetrically arranged, formal French garden. Furthermore, there are some forested areas and a greenhouse. This garden used to be a part of the Imperial family’s garden in 1904 but in 1948, the garden was open to public hereafter.

The large number of cherry trees undoubtedly makes this a popular spot during the cherry blossom (hanami) season. Shinjuku Gyoen is a place that is worth a visit. Who doesn’t love gardens anyway, especially when flowers are blooming everywhere? :)

How to get there?

You can check out this map:

Source: Japan Guide

Odaiba is the largest artificial island in Japan. Odaiba was originally constructed in 1853 by the Tokugawa shogunate as a series of six fortresses in order to protect Tokyo from attack by sea, the primary threat being Commodore Matthew Perry’s Black Ships, which had arrived in the same year. Daiba in Japanese refers to the cannon batteries placed on the islands.

In 1928, the Dai-San Daiba (第三台場) or “No. 3 Battery” was refurbished and opened to the public as the Metropolitan Daiba Park, which remains open to this day.

The modern redevelopment of Odaiba started after the success of Expo ‘85 in Tsukuba. The Japanese economy was riding high, and Odaiba was to be a showcase as futuristic living, built at a cost of over JPY 1 trillion. T3, as it was nicknamed, was supposed to be a self-sufficient city of over 100,000 residents. The “bubble economy” burst in 1991, and by 1995, Odaiba was a virtual wasteland, underpopulated and full of vacant lots.

In 1996, the area was rezoned from pure business to allow also commercial and entertainment districts, and the area started coming back to life as Tokyo discovered the seaside it never had. Hotels and shopping malls opened up, several large companies including Fuji Television moved their headquarters to the island, and transportation links improved.

What is there to see in Odaiba? There are a tone of futuristic looking buildings and shopping complexes there. A big reason why Odaiba is considered a futuristic shopping district is mainly due to the rezoning plan, as stated above, which was to change the outlook of Odaiba and turn it into a shopping district.

A little trivia about this island: This city is featured in the anime series Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02 as the hometown of the first two groups of Chosen Children. The program featured real-life locations such as the Daikanransha ferris wheel, Rainbow Bridge, Tokyo Tower, Tokyo Big Sight, and Fuji TV. The location also features prominently in the anime Genshiken, in which the main characters attend Comiket, an event held at Tokyo Big Sight.

How to get to Odaiba? Check out this map:

Source: Japan-guide

This is a video post of the night life of Ginza and Shibuya

It’s a nice mass of concrete, really.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market, commonly known as Tsukiji fish market (Japanese: 築地市場, Tsukiji shijō) is the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world and also one of the largest wholesale food markets of any kind.

The market is located in Tsukiji in central Tokyo, and is a major attraction for foreign visitors (few Japanese casually visit the market), especially for visitors who have arrived from Narita International Airport; the best times to visit are between 5:00AM and 9:00AM.

You can get a variety of the most fresh AAA sushi grade fish here, simply because they’re just fresh out of the sea. It is definitely any sushi chefs and chef’s dream to be here. Usually bidding for fish starts early in the morning with the best choice going to the highest bidder in the market. You wouldn’t want to miss it but you would need to wake up extraordinarily early to catch the action.

The Tsukiji fish market is located near the Tsukijishijō Station on the Oedo subway line and Tsukiji Station on the Hibiya subway line. There are two distinct sections of the market as a whole. The “inner market” (jonai shijo) is the licensed wholesale market, where the auctions and most of the processing of the fish take place, and where licensed wholesale dealers (approximately 900 of them) operate small stalls. The “outer market” (jogai shijo) is a mixture of wholesale and retail shops that sell Japanese kitchen tools, restaurant supplies, groceries, and seafood, and many restaurants, especially sushi restaurants. Most of the shops in the outer market close by the early afternoon, and in the inner market even earlier.

Sensoji Temple is one of the largest and oldest Buddhist temples in Tokyo and is a popular spot for Matsuris. At the entrance, the common sight of a large paper lantern imposes itself over visitors who wishes to enter to pay their respects to the Buddha residing within. The lantern is painted red and black suggesting thunderclouds and lightning, which is why the entrance is aptly named as kaminari-mon or “Thunder Gate”.

Thousands of visitors, local and international, visit the temple yearly for the matsuri festivals. Due to such hot reception, naturally the temple grounds are built to cater to tourists with souvenir shops, traditional shops selling pro-Japanese and religious artifacts and restaurants serving traditional noodles and local cuisines.

If you’re looking for divine consultation, there is a Kau Cim (fortune telling) place within the temple grounds that will satisfy all your life questions. You just have to pay a compulsory donation of 100yen to get in, of course. Querents, or the person fore telling your future, will shake labeled sticks from enclosed metal containers and read the corresponding answers they retrieve from one of 100 possible drawers. It’s an experience that is nothing ordinary if you’re into that sort of thing.

Where else would you go for your electronics, if not Akihabara? The town is known as Japan’s electric town or the Akihabara Electric Town (秋葉原電気街, Akihabara Denki Gai).

It is located less than five minutes by rail from Tokyo Station. Its name is frequently shortened to Akiba in Japan. While there is an official locality named Akihabara nearby, part of Taitō-ku, the area known to most people as Akihabara (including the railway station of the same name) is actually Soto-Kanda, a part of Chiyoda-ku.

Akihabara is best-known as one of the largest shopping areas on Earth for electronic, computer, anime, and otaku goods, including new and used items. New items are mostly to be found on the main street, Chūōdōri, with many kinds of used items found in the back streets of Soto Kanda 3-chōme. First-hand parts for PC-building are readily available from a variety of stores. Tools, electrical parts, wires, microsized cameras and similar items are found in the cramped passageways of Soto Kanda 1-chōme (near the station). Foreign tourists tend to visit the big name shops like Laox or other speciality shops near the station, though there is more variety and lower prices at locales a little further away. Akihabara gained some fame through being home to one of the first stores devoted to personal robots and robotics.

Manga, Animation, Games, Electronics and all the other weirdest, strangest gadgets in the world can be found here.

How to get there?

kihabara Station is a busy station on the Yamanote Line loop, served by the JR Yamanote Line, JR Keihin-Tohoku Line, JR Sobu Line, the Tsukuba Express and the Hibiya Subway Line.

From Tokyo Station
3 minutes and 130 Yen by JR Yamanote Line or JR Keihin-Tohoku Line.

From Shinjuku Station
Take the orange colored JR Chuo Line (rapid service) from Shinjuku to Ochanomizu Station (10 minutes) and transfer to the yellow colored JR Sobu Line (local service) for one more station to Akihabara (2 minutes). The one way fare is 160 Yen.

Via Japan Guide