The Sapporo Lion Beer Hall located in Ginza is Japans first and oldest beer hall, built in 1899. Even more surprising is how this beer hall has managed to stay standing after the massive air raids by allied bombers during WWII. The fact that this place still exists is enough for me to check it out.

We arrived around 7 p.m. and it appeared that every table had someone occupying it. It was busy but we got right in and seated. The bottom floor has very tall vaulted ceilings and an almost Gothic styling that I enjoyed. Towards the back of this massive room was a mural that covered nearly half of the wall. I thought the mural really added a lot to the atmosphere and brought the restaurant together nicely.

Upstairs was a little less crowded but it still had crowds of  excited people enjoying a cold beer. After speaking with a waiter, the difference in the floors is the menu. Supposedly, the first and second floors have somewhat different menus. I didn’t get a chance to check out the bottom floor menu but I will take the waiters word for it.

As far as the food went, I had the beef stew and thought that is was surprisingly good. It could have been the two large boots of beer that accompanied my stew though. My wife had some fondue, but I don’t think someone can really mess up fondue.

Another great bonus was every boot of beer I ordered came with a little ticket that I had to open to reveal a prize. Apparently, I won both times and received four ¥500 off tickets which I gave to the party of people sitting next to us. It was our last night and we knew we wouldn’t be back , so I figured the nice people next to us would really appreciate a couple free beers on the gaijin couple.

As far as last nights go, we are pretty happy we stumbled upon the Sapporo Lion Beer Hall. The atmosphere, food, and especially the beer were all worth while.

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Here are all of the photos from the Sapporo Lion Beer Hall.

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]]> http://JasonKimball.org/sapporo-lion-beer-hall/feed/ 7 http://JasonKimball.org/tsukiji-fish-market/ http://JasonKimball.org/tsukiji-fish-market/#comments Tue, 09 Jun 2009 09:38:55 +0000 Jay http://JasonKimball.org/?p=1224 Have you ever wondered what 4:30 a.m. would smell like in Tokyo? Well, today it smelled like a whole lot of fish!

With my second trip to Tokyo quickly coming to an end, I decided to wake up early and head out to the very popular Tsukiji Fish Market here in Tokyo. If you have no clue, Tsukiji Fish Market is one of the largest fish markets in the world. Tsukiji handles nearly two tons of marine product per day and that is evident if you have ever been there during the busy times.

I was surprised that I didn’t see as many tourist as expected until just after 7 a.m. One important thing to remember is Tsukiji is a market and people are there to buy and sell products, so stay out of the way if you can. My biggest advice to anyone interested in checking it out is to get their early and stay out of the way of the people and all of the moving carts.

The best part about all of this is that it is absolutely free. That’s right, free! When you are done checking out the tuna auction and various marine life, go eat some of the freshest sushi you’ll ever eat at one of the local vendors in the outer market.

Here are a couple things to remember for your visit:

Here are some of the photos from my trip to Tsukiji Fish Market.

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Here are more photos from my day at the market.

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]]> http://JasonKimball.org/tsukiji-fish-market/feed/ 8 http://JasonKimball.org/ginza-photowalk/ http://JasonKimball.org/ginza-photowalk/#comments Tue, 09 Jun 2009 02:35:24 +0000 Jay http://JasonKimball.org/?p=1209 I haven’t had my camera out as often as I planned since arriving here in Tokyo. So, tonight I decided to take a walk around the hotel and snap a couple photos.

To my surprise, there is something to shoot almost everywhere I turned. I love the endless photo possibilities that a city like Tokyo presents.

Here are a couple photos of my walk around the Ginza area.

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If you didn’t recognize it, the Tokyo Tower offers a close resemblance to the Eiffel tower in Paris, France. To get to the main observation deck we paid about 1600 yen. The views at night were just amazing. Its incredible how terrific cities look at night all lit up like great big Christmas trees.

We left Okinawa and arrived in Tokyo on the 4th during the evening sometime and wanted to get to the hotel quickly after dropping our pet off at the Pet hotel in Narita Airport so we decided to take a taxi to our hotel. The taxi was probably the most expensive cab ride my wife and I have ever experienced, costing nearly $250! I guess that is a lesson learned from this trip.

We are actually staying at a nice hotel named the Park Hotel Tokyo . After checking in to our room, my wife and I noticed that it was missing something, that something was space! The room here in Tokyo is about $20-$30 more a night but offers one-third of the space the room in Okinawa offered. I guess that is all part of the big city experience.

Our first full day we ventured to Shibuya to experience an absolutely crazy metro station during peak hours and also to Akihabara to take a look at what Tokyo has to offer in regards to electronics. No surprises, they have everything.

The great thing is that I got pretty sick and stayed in bed all day yesterday. I am writing this today with hopes that I will feel a little better and venture out to see a couple more sites.

Here are a couple pictures from before I got sick.

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Some of the services offered by the New Sanno include:

Restaurants

Kikuya – A Japanese style eatery.

Wellingtons – Elegant dining at its best.

Emporium – A family style, full service restaurant offering many great options.

Hero’s – A sandwich shop.

Sunrise Cafe – Coffee bar featuring Starbucks coffee and excellent baked goods.

Fair Winds – A place to grab a cocktail and lounge.

Shopping

Hashimoto gift shop – A place to buy a great souvenir of your trip to Tokyo.

Navy Exchange – Award winning Exchange store.

Amit Sanno – Jewelry Shop.

Sutter’s general Store – A general store carrying an assortment of items.

Facilities

Swimming Pool – Heated pool, sun deck, jacuzzi, children’s pool, and sauna.

Fitness Center – Various equipment to accommodate all your fitness needs.

We arrived on Easter Sunday and the place was packed due to their infamous Sunday brunch. However, I was still very impressed with the sophisticated design of the lobby and check-in area. Our rooms were not ready so a bellhop quickly came and stored our bags away safely until we were ready to check-in. We opted to head out for the town while we waited for our rooms to be ready, but the New Sanno offer a considerable amount of shops and restaurants to occupy your time while you wait.

This was our first time in Tokyo and we had some idea of how to get around, thanks to Google! Luckily for us the concierge service offered in the main lobby is by far the best I have ever experienced. They were able to give maps and directions to all the major sights in Tokyo. Also, because we do not speak Japanese they offered to write down everything in Japanese on a paper for us to show if we needed further help. Needless to say, we were impressed.

We checked in and they had a bellhop bring our bags to the room for us. The room was somewhat small but definitely a steal because it only cost forty-six dollars a night. The best part of the room was how comfortable the bed was, it was amazing! I would be willing to fly to Tokyo just to sleep in the bed again.

We ordered room service twice and it was delivered to our room in less than fifteen minutes both times. It was reasonably priced and great tasting.

Overall Brittany and I were both surprised by the great service and friendliness of the staff and also the high standards maintained throughout the entire hotel. I would highly recommend this hotel to any service member taking a trip to Tokyo.

Below I have listed other great information about The New Sanno hotel. Also, check out The New Sanno’s factsheet to determine price and eligibility requirements.

Location

4-12-20, Minami-Azabu, Minato-ku,
Tokyo 106-0047, Japan

Military Address:
U.S. Naval Joint Services Activity
The New Sanno
Unit 45003, APO AP 96337-5003

DSN:
229-7121-Lodging Reservations
229-7220 / 7231 Front Desk
229-8111 (Switchboard)