Tokyo New City Guide. Mayumi Yoshida Barakan

capsule hotel phenomenon provides an amusing insight into city life in Japan. Located in night life areas and near the major commuter train stations, these hotels have hundreds of tiny sleeping capsules stacked one on top of the other. The average capsule size is 1.1 meters wide, 1.2 meters high, and 2.2 meters long. Standard equipment includes color television with porn channel, radio, alarm clock, air conditioner, emergency button, and sprinkler system. The clients are predominantly intoxicated businessmen who missed the last train back to their suburban homes (women aren't allowed). The occupancy rate is very high, with the busiest check in hours being between 12:00 P.M. and 3:00 AM. The check-out rush comes between 8:00 A.M. and 9:00 A.M. when the hundreds of very serious faced and blue-suited businessmen scurry off to work.

      GREEN PLAZA SHINJUKU—This huge capsule hotel boasts 660 "rooms."

      1-29-3, Kabukicho, Shinjuku-ku. Tel: [phone].

      Rates: ¥4,100 per capsule (male only), for an afternoon nap the rate is ¥1,000 for two hours, 10:00 A.M.-5:00 P.M.

      —Huge sauna, gym, and massage, two minutes from Shinjuku Station. [M-7]

      HOTEL WHITE CITY

      1-11-11 Higashi Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku. Tel: [phone].

      Rates: Same as above, but they also have normal rooms from ¥7,210.

      —Sauna, two minutes from Ikebukuro Station. [M-18]

      CAPSULE INN AKASAKA

      6-14-1 Akasaka, Minato-ku. Tel: [phone].

      Rates: ¥4,000 between 5:00 P.M.-10:00 A.M. Men only. [M-6]

      CAPSULE HOTEL ASAKUSA—This one also has a floor for women.

      4-14-9 Kotobuki, Taito-ku. Tel: [phone].

      —Three minutes from Tawaramachi station. [M-12]

      APARTMENT HOTELS

      For people planning a longer stay, residential hotels with maid service and kitchenettes are ideal, though not particularly inexpensive. Besides the few listed below, they are often advertised in the local newspapers under "Apartments for Rent." The larger real estate companies often manage places for short-term lease (see "Housing" in the Appendix).

      KITANO ARMS—2-16-15 Hirakawa-cho, Chiyoda-ku. Tel: [phone]. The most popular and respected of Tokyo residential hotels, you will have to reserve far in advance to insure a room. Rooms are from ¥345,000 a month. [M-6]

      AZABU COURT—4-5-39 Minami Azabu, Minato-ku. Tel: [phone]. Close to Hiro-o Station, this hotel leases rooms by the day, the week, or the month. A single room will cost from about ¥150,000 to ¥230,000 a month, a studio will cost about ¥9,000 a day. [M-2]

      ASAHI HOMES—Several apartment hotels in Tokyo with monthly rates ranging from ¥350,000 for a single room (¥90,000 weekly). Tel: [phone].

      EATING OUT

      Japanese food is one of the truly great achievements of the Japanese. Its current popularity overseas is no surprise to the locals who even when traveling abroad will search out the neighborhood sushi bar (which is never quite as good as in Japan). But there is a lot more to Japanese cuisine than sushi and tempura. Most versions, however, do not appear outside of the country. For anyone interested in food, Tokyo can be a source of endless culinary experimentation.

      For more than two thousand years the Japanese diet has been based on rice, a fact often pointed out by the Japanese as a reason for the myriad differences between "us" and "them," meaning Western meat-eaters. For the common people, expensive white rice was never a main part of the meal. Rather a mixture of white and brown rice, millet, and greens was consumed while the white rice crop was paid in land rents to the aristocracy. It wasn't until after World War II that perfectly white rice was democratized and became standard fare for all.

      As meat consumers, the Japanese have a history of only just over one hundred years. Considered unclean by the adopted Buddhist religion, meat eating was outlawed in 675 by the emperor Temmu. Hunted animals such as deer and wild boar were allowed on occasion as a sort of medicinal food. In the Edo period, the practice of eating meat to increase strength became somewhat more common, though it was still disliked by the general public. In 1872, the emperor Meiji made headlines by declaring publicly, "I shall eat meat." In the country's attempt to become as powerful as the invading Westerners, meat eating seemed like a possible means of increasing Japanese strength. Gyunabeya, beef restaurants, suddenly became popular especially among the Meiji-period liberals. The beef was prepared Japanese style, boiled in a broth with vegetables.

      The basic diet of the people remained as before, the main part of every meal being the rice, miso soup and pickles served with side dishes of cooked vegetables and sometimes fish. Meals have always been seasonal in Japan. Today, one of the most difficult parts of ordering in restaurants is keeping up with the ever-changing menu of what is particularly great at a particular time of the year.

      EATING OUT IN TOKYO

      There are almost too many restaurants in Tokyo, over 80,000 at the last official counting. The majority of these establishments tend to be small and moderately priced. The best of them, as anywhere in the world, are the most expensive.

      Aside from the sheer numbers, the variety of types of food is mind-boggling. Not only are there the numerous styles of Japanese cooking, but every imaginable kind of international cuisine is represented in some form somewhere in the city. We've concentrated on Japanese food and tried to provide good explanations of the food, how to order, and where to eat. Hopefully, after using this book at one of these recommended restaurants, you can venture off on your own. Restaurants included here range in price from dirt cheap to top of the line, but all offer good, if not excellent, quality for the price.

      For international cuisine, we've primarily selected restaurants with a good reputation for quality. While excellent Japanese food can be had in a broad range of prices, Western food doesn't come cheap. It is, however, generally quite refined.

      While French and Italian restaurants have been plentiful for years now, other non-Western and more exotic cuisine flourished in the late eighties. African, Mexican, Balinese, Middle Eastern—just about every country with an embassy here has restaurants to match. Much of the food is excellent and inexpensive.

      The average seating capacity of Japanese restaurants is somewhere around fourteen persons, which accounts in part for the astonishing numbers. Many of the less expensive restaurants do not take reservations or credit cards. The more expensive ones, Japanese and Western, often require reservations, and most accept at least American Express, Visa, and Diners' Club. Travelers' checks are only rarely accepted. Many restaurants close early, often by 9:00 or 10:00 P.M.

      Following is a brief description of the general categories of eating places in Tokyo.

      • Very Expensive but High Quality

      Ryotei—offering full course Tokyo- or Kyoto-style cooking, usually accompanied by traditional Japanese geisha entertainment, these are the most expensive places to dine, with the prices easily ¥40,000 or more per person. Sand-colored Japanese style buildings with discreet signs, shuttered windows, and a pervasive air of secrecy, ryotei are frequented by parties of politicians and businessmen. One wonders what goes on behind those walls—unfortunately, an introduction is usually required.

      Kaiseki-ryori is a meal traditionally served at the tea ceremony. The most expensive restaurants,