http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/ Welcome to Been there. Your tips on the places you know - that you love, live in or have just visited - are what make this guide. http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/20098 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/20098 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/2661 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/2661 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/2644
Tokyo is basically an unplanned city - it has developed in a chaotic, messy way which means, sadly, that Tokyo is a very ugly city when seen from the macro level. But this also means, thankfully, that it is a joy to explore on the micro level.

Set off in any direction and you will come across tiny temples and shrines, strange shops which never seem to have any customers, ugly houses, more ugly houses and then a beautiful decaying old Japanese style residence.
You don't have to travel far for this experience - that is another wonderful thing about Tokyo's chaos - you can walk 10 minutes from the busiest train station, take a few turns and find yourself in a lovely, quiet, ancient residential area.

And the best thing about all this is the order behind the chaos - wherever you go and however far you walk, you will always be only a few minutes from a train station or bus stop. In Tokyo you can comfortably get lost, and Tokyo is a great place to get lost in.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/2644 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/2643
Always busy and noisy with the calls of the sales staff touting their wares, they give an insight into the astonishing variety and sophistication of Japanese cuisine. Also, they also frequently offer tantalising titbits to passers-by.

On an upper-floor, there is usually also a selection of reasonably-priced restaurants offering a variety of different styles of Japanese cuisine.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/2643 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/2636 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/2636 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/519 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/519 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/2594
The stables themselves are fascinating, and worth the trip alone. Outside: normal-looking suburban houses, Inside: dirt floor, padded walls and a sumo ring. In exchange for getting there for about 8am you'll get to see the wrestlers run through their techniques and warm ups (when we went this included beating each other in the belly with a lightly-padded baseball bat) and you'll see plenty of short matches between rikishi of all levels without having to pay to see a whole basho and at far closer proximity than anywhere else.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/2594 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1190 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1190 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/940 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/940