Food-wise, best advice is to go out for lunch rather than dinner, as prices are normally at least halved then. I still found it cheaper to eat out in Tokyo than London or Paris, though. Just find a ramen or sushi bar in a station somewhere – will set you back less than a fiver and be at least as good as you’d get in most posh Japanese restaurants outside Japan. If you’re at the Imperial you could also do worse than head to the Marunouchi Building near Tokyo Station (probably about 5 minutes’ walk) – loads of good restaurants in there, many with English menus: http://www.shinmaru.jp/english/index.html

On the ATM front, that’s one thing I still don’t get about Japan. They just don’t have them anywhere – everyone still goes into the bank to get out cash. Only there don’t seem to be that many banks around either, and they shut (as in most countries) ridiculously early, meaning no office worker can get to them. As it’s largely still a cash economy (though credit cards are becoming increasingly popular, debit cards appear not to exist, from what I can tell) I have no idea how they cope.

Other than that, biilu o kudasai (beer please) and kohee o kudasai (coffee please) tended to get me by.

I know a few Japanese dishes from eating at the Japanese restaurants in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk; but I fear if I ask for sushi or tempura I might reveal an astonishing level of ignorance when asked “What kind?”. Plus I’m not too fond of sushi. Plus eating top-grade sushi in Japan is something I really ought to do with my wife and not alone. I’ll get a right bollocking if I enjoy myself too much without her.

Y,

Many thanks for your help. I will tattoo the symbol for beer onto my arm this very afternoon, and try to remember the rest in conventional fashion.

Most Japanese ATMs are not international. If you ever need to find another one, you can try asking your hotel reception. The staff usually speak decent English and will be able to point you in the right direction.

Thought I might just drop you some characters which hopefully you will find useful during your stay there.

Food
??? = udon (noodle)
(small family run restaurants sometimes have a ‘banner’ hanging outside with these characters)
?? = soba (noodle)
? = rice
?? = sushi
?? = sashimi (i vaguely think this is correct)
? = beef
?? = miso
anything with ?? = drink-related
anything with ?? = food-related
? = tea
??? = beer
? = pronounced as yaki, anything with this is usually hmm, fried/bbq-ed/grilled etc. eg: teriyaki,
yakisoba (???)

hope this helps you a little with the food

You don’t know any Japanese dishes, Tim? How’bout sushi? Teriyaki? Try to ask for California roll (kidding, kidding, don’t be alarmed).

When you come here, I’ll take you to an excellent ‘Japanese fusion’ place; it’s fantastic.

Excellent topic, recognition of the building facades; maybe I’ll write about it @my place -come over some time.