Yo Mitch,
Tokyo...
-Akihabara, (electric/electronic city), is indeed worth a stroll: blocks of buildings full of electronic stuff.
Careful: much of the goods are for Nippon home mkt. and many of the devices have Kana, not English
or numbers.
-Shibuya is a groovy shopping area for the younger crowd; sort of a Ginza for the under 40 gang.
-I'd rec'd, and prefer, Roppongi area over Shinjuku, for evening: Roppongi has lots of kids and 20-40
somethings, clubs, etc. Velfarre is the oldest and biggest "club"; the streets are filled, even on a
weeknight and it's jumping. Spago, Cavern Club, et al, are there,too. Weekends are packed.
Shinjuku does have
the most crowded station(s) on the planet, if you want to participate in crowd
packing, espc. at rush hour, lol!
Bozo gave good advice: take the JR from Narita into one of your destinations. The "limo bus", from
Narita is good too, but the bus will have to fight the traffic. About 25-30 bucks, from memory.
In the metro area, the subways are cheap, very clean, on time and go anywhere you want to:
http://www.bento.com/subtop5.html
It looks confusing, but is easy, espc with the color coded routes. Careful, many routes stop running
after midnight/1:00 am ish, etc.
Taxis are everywhere, but very pricey and have to fight the traffic.
Tokyo, (as Bozo noted, pronounced Tok-Yo, not To Ky Oh), is 12+ million with another 10+ million in
greater metro area. Everyone "gets along" and it is very clean, orderly, zero crime, etc. But, its size
and population make for a slow slog in "touring"; thus: subways.
If you are into fish, a run out to the Tsukiji Mkt in the middle of night is worth it, to see the largest
fish mkt on the planet.
All the food is very good and safe: it can range from yakitori at a cart to big buck joints. All alcoholic
drinks are pricey. No tipping, it's in the bill.
I forget how much the trains are, (all my trips were on the exp acct!), but it's reasonable. Subways
are about 2 bucks.
Everyone speaks a lil' English, espc the under 40 crowd. They will try, but many are reticent and
demure, via the culture. All good people, however. Nihon Scammers and punques are few and far
between, in my experience...
I assume you are going to "sleep" sometime that night: good luck...most of the hotels are big
and pricey. There are some "salary man" mini sleeping pod joints, but I've never done it.
Don't cut it too close on getting back to Narita: crowds at check in, are sometimes huge and while
the place is efficient, it is packed. Most airlines frown on "late shows".
If you had a couple/three days or were there on a weekend I could point you to more joints. Enjoy
your brief stop: Tokyo is my 2nd or 3rd Fave city on the planet.
GL,mD