Tokyo layover from a Tokyo crew member: the crew hotel districts, the food not in the guidebooks, the etiquette that matters and the 24 hour version
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#1 JAL, Tokyo, seven years, and there is a Tokyo first timer thread on here from a visiting crew member. This is Tokyo from a Tokyo crew member for the visiting crews: the districts the airlines put you in, what to eat that the guidebooks miss, the etiquette that matters and does not, and a 24 hour version that works.
The crew hotel districts
Most foreign crews are in Shinagawa, Shinjuku, or near Haneda or Narita. Shinagawa: central, quiet, the Yamanote line, good for the 24 hour version. Shinjuku: loud, endless, the west side for the food and the east for the nightlife, and a station that eats crew alive. Near the airports: use the train, an hour into the city, worth it every time.
The food that is not in the guidebooks
The standing soba shop in every station (300 yen, three minutes, the best value meal in the country). The department store basement food halls (depachika) at 7pm when the discounts start, for a dinner of the best things in Japan at half price. The yakitori under the tracks at Yurakucho for the crew who want noise. The kissaten (the old coffee shops) for the morning, with the egg sandwich. The konbini (convenience stores) which are genuinely good and which the crew who know Tokyo eat at without shame. The ramen list Renee mentioned is a real crew tradition and the Tokyo Station ramen street is the starter version.
Etiquette that matters
No eating while walking. Quiet on the trains (no phone calls). Cash is still needed in the small places. Shoes off where the floor changes. Tipping is not done and is confusing. The queue is sacred. Pointing is rude, gesturing with the open hand is fine.
Etiquette that does not
The bowing depth (a nod is fine from a foreigner). Perfect chopstick technique (nobody is watching). The fear of doing something wrong, which paralyses visiting crews and which the Japanese do not hold against foreigners at all.
The 24 hour version
Arrive, a short nap (the Tokyo body clock from Europe is brutal and from the US is worse), then out by 3pm. Shinagawa to Asakusa on the train for the temple at dusk, the walk to the river, dinner at a depachika or the Yurakucho tracks, the Tokyo Skytree from the ground rather than the top, back by 10. Morning: the kissaten egg sandwich, a walk in the Imperial Palace east gardens or Yoyogi, the standing soba, the crew bus. Twenty four hours, one temple, one garden, three meals, no exhaustion.
The 48 hour version
Add a day trip to Kamakura (an hour, the big Buddha, the sea) or Nikko, or a full day in one neighbourhood (Shimokitazawa, Kichijoji, Yanaka) with no plan. Tokyo rewards the crew who pick one thing and do it slowly.
For the JAL and ANA crews reading
You know all this. Correct me on the depachika discount hour, which I have seen argued about in three crew rooms.
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#2 United SFO, Tokyo regular, and the ramen list is 31 shops and Tokyo Station ramen street is indeed the starter version. The depachika at 7pm is the crew dinner secret and Hiroshi has just told the whole forum. Thank you and also how dare you.
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#3 Japanese, and the depachika discount hour is between 6:30 and 7:30 depending on the store and the day, and the three crew rooms are all correct about their own store. The standing soba is the true Tokyo crew meal.
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#4 Japanese, and 'the fear of doing something wrong paralyses visiting crews and the Japanese do not hold it against foreigners' is the sentence every foreign crew needs before Tokyo. Relax. Nod. Eat the soba.
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#5 United Newark, and Tokyo from the East Coast is the worst body clock in the network and the short nap then out by 3pm is the only method that works. Hiroshi's 24 hours is the one I will use next month.
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#6 Finnair Helsinki, Tokyo every month, and the Kamakura day trip on the 48 hour is the Finnair crew tradition. The big Buddha and the sea. We call it the reset. Six years and it still works.
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#7 Qantas Melbourne, and the Tokyo layover from Australia is the kind one: a two hour time difference and a real city. The kissaten egg sandwich is the breakfast every Qantas crew knows. Hiroshi has the crew Tokyo exactly.
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#8 Cathay, Tokyo weekly, and the konbini without shame is the honest crew Tokyo. The 7 Eleven egg sandwich and the Lawson chicken are crew meals of record. Hiroshi has the courage to say it.