I will be going back to shanghai most likely at the end of december just for a holiday and to visit family and stuff. But will most likely stop at japan for about 1 week. So i want to know what places in japan (most likely tokyo) should i go for entertainment? Since im a 20 year old guy travelling by myself for the 1st time, any info on where i should stay, partying places, major tourist places will be good.

Another quick question, what is the legal drinking age in japan? in australia it's 18! Hope its the same in japan! Lol

Cheers

Drinking age happens to be 20 so you're in luck.

If you're wanting to go clubbing or bar hopping and the like, realize that the metros all close down at around 1 or 2 (can't remember exactly) so either plan on an all nighter, cabbing it back (decently expensive), or doing it up locally.

It was like tea-bagging a bear cub in front of its mother. The sheer audacity of it is the only thing that saved him.

[URL="http://xkcd.com/"]XKCD[/URL]
[img]http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/indecision.png[/img]

Check out an area called Shibuya if you want to find fun clubs and bars. If you happen to be stuck because the trains stop running, you can go in a coffee shop or fast food place like MacDonalds place and wait until they start running again. Also Shinjunku but I can't remember if its east or west Shinjuku thats the fun one. Since you're only staying a short while, a hostel is very convenient and if you find one close to a main subway line then thats even better. Roppongi is another area thats good too. Good luck and have fun. Here's a great website that will tell you almost all you need to know:

Tokyo - City Guide

^also recommends the Pokemon centre

A vegetarian who eats fish is like a pacifist who occasionally punches a small child in the face!

It depends on what you consider a good time actually. If shopping is your thing and you want to get good deals, I suggest you head over to Ueno for clothes or Akihabara from electronics (but not on the main strip - in the alleys off and away from the tourist mess). There are a number of temples and shrines, but they all tend to look the same after going to a few so I can't really recommend them unless you're actually Busshist or Shinto and doing a pilgrimage. You can also visit the grounds of the Imperial Palace - it has a nifty gift store for interesting gifts to take back home. Otherwise if you're interested in seeing what the local night life is like there are a number of areas that cater to many different activities. For clubbing and drinking, Roppongi has cleaned up quite a bit due to corporate interests taking interest in the area so there are many nice hip-hop and house clubs. One of the nicer ones is "Vanilla" - they even have a cover charge discount for foreigners and give two tickets for free drinks:

CYBERJAPAN TOKYO CLUB GUIDE: VANILLA

I can't recommend Shibuya all that much since it's mostly restaurants and bars these days. For example, you can get good drink deals at "GasPanic" but it's usually shoulder to shoulder with people just trying to get sauced before going out to more expensive clubs. There are two notable clubs in Shibuya - "Club Asia" and "Xanadu," but they're kind of run-down these days. If you get stuck here overnight it's recommended you stay indoors in a 24-hour family restaurant because you're likely to be propositioned by prostitutes every fifteen minutes after 2 a.m.

Shinjuku isn't much good either unless you're interested in "Pink" culture in Japan (sexual services for cash) or restaurants and bars. Most of Shinjuku is corporate with the exception of Kabuki Cho and there are two distinct areas - the Japanese side and the ethnic side. Supposedly the Japanese side is "safe" while the ethnic side is "dangerous" but it can be hazardous in either area if you're suggestible to the pitches of touts. There's a popular club called "Coda" there, but it's usually filled with ganguro and center guy types dancing in formation to pop-trance... But if that's your kind of thing, by all means indulge.

[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

Thanks for the posts guys. looks like ill be spending alot of days walking around the Shinjuku area, and nights at Roppongi. Haha and no im not interested in the 'pink' culture of tokyo, hopefully i can get lucky without having to pay for it!

After googling on some tourist sites, so far i might go visit some of these places during the day:
-Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office
- few large department stores
- Imperial Palace
-maybe a japanese style garden (if im bored enough!)

Any other suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Just a few other question:

Apart from Roppongi, will i have language problems? or do most young japanese speak abit of english?

Cheers

The Tokyo Metropolitan building pretty much a tourist spot because of the skydeck - it stays open most of the night because it's considered a date spot for the locals. Department stores tend to be filled with overpriced foreign brands, but you can usually find a few good deals outside of the boutique areas. There's even a few connected to Tokyo Station itself that you can tool around in if you get bored touring the Yamanote line circuit. Also, part of the Imperial Palace grounds open to the public is a Japanese garden (two birds with one stone). In addition to this, you may want to take in Yasukuni Jinja - not for the shrine, but actually for the war museum and the spectacle of black-clad nationalists driving around in their American SUVs playing Imperial Japanese war songs (good for a laugh).

You shouldn't have too many language problems if you have a basic English-Japanese phrase book. Usually in tourist areas they at least have one person who can speak some English, but in general most Japanese people can't speak English or refuse to speak it out of embarrassment that they'll sound uneducated. English does happen to be a hobby for many older people though, so you may be able to take advantage of the situation if you are approached by someone looking to practice their skills on you - for example they may offer to pay for a meal to sit with you and have a conversation while eating. However, this usually only occurs if it is obvious that you're a tourist from the right country (USA, UK, Canada, etc.).

On the other hand, I've encountered quite a few Japanese women that speak advanced colloquial English in Tokyo. Unfortunately, this is usually because they've been around the block more than a few times with foreign visitors... But this is not always the case. College students from international style universities usually speak fairly fluent English as well due to prolonged contact with exchange students from English speaking countries.

Just wondering how much does a train ticket cost in tokyo? because at my travel agency they are selling 4-day railway passes for the tokyo region for 20,000Yen (approx. 180 Australian). Im thinking thats way too expensive for the train ticket!

Cheers

You pay for the distance between station, so it varies. Basically though, the Japanese Rail system operates at a loss with a huge government subsidy so it's pretty cheap and the deregulaterd subways can be even cheaper. For example, from one station to another on the Yamanote line will cost around 130 yen (around $1.20 USD). However, longer trips and use of the designated express trains (such as the old "Bullet" and others) that use designated lines between major cities (ex Tokyo to Osaka) and skip lots of stations cost as much as a plane ticket.

So basically, the railway pass you can only buy overseas as a tourist and gives you free access to pretty much any train for any distance in Japan:

JAPAN RAIL PASS types and prises

It's a really good deal considering the normal cost for relying on the train in Japan, but only if you plan on traveling to a lot of different places outside of downtown Tokyo...