Go to Shinjuku and hang out in the streets. Do this by day, but also, most particularly, and preferably at great length, at night. Eat things from street stalls. Shinjuku at night is one of the human world's greatest wonders.
Good suggestions by William Gibson. It's been 12 years since I last was in Tokyo and about 25 years since I went for the first time. The two visits could not have been more different. In 1978 I was barely 19 years old when I arrived in Yokohama by boat from the USSR. I was surprised by how expensive everything was but discovered that while the Japanese do not hitchhike, they love picking up foreign hitchhikers to practice their english. I stayed in youth hostels and tried to conserve my limited budget. Best memory: out in the country I was riding with an Australian. We got lost and ended up in the middle of mountains with tea bushes. We found a small traditional inn and restaurant where nobody spoke even a hint of English. I ended up walking through the restaurant with the waitress in tow and pointing at other guests' dishes while bowing a lot and saying I am sorry in Japanese. The customers realized the humor of the situations and smiled graciously. My second visit to Japan happened in 1991....to be continued
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