[Michael Cantor]

I have a great deal of experience and information about Tokyo, but to say it is ridiculously dated would be an understatement. I lived there from '63 to '65, and spent two to three months a year (in numerous trips of two weeks or so) through '80 - and, except for a couple of brief trips in the 80's, that's it. I can still function in Japanese with a (put on) heavy Tokyo accent, but I'm less than useless on specifics.

What I can tell you is that Tokyo is (or at least was) closer to Los Angeles than New York or Paris in physical layout. There is no single heart of the city. There are many neighborhoods, fairly widely separated, but with superb metro service. The Maranouchi-ku line is the main line which runs in a rough circle around the city, and the Chiyoda-ku line bisects the circle, running from Tokyo station in the south to Shinjuku (it was real sharp and "inside" to refer to it as "juku" in 1964 - now it's probably equivalent to "hubba-bubba) in the north. Ideally, you locate within the Maranouchi line, but I also suspect that may be very pricey. (And Orwn is right about the sprawling city - if financial circumstances force you outside the city, make sure you're near a train line.)

Each one of the main stops on the train lines - Tokyo, Chiba, Harajuku, Shinjuku, Roppongi, Akasaka, Asakusa, etc - is a city within itself, and fascinating to stroll. But walking from center to center can be lengthy and not all that interesting. I suspect your visit will include a lot of walking - and a lot of train riding. Or you may find one corner of the city - hopefully, the one where you're staying - that you fall in love with and spend most of your time there.

When I was there (and I gather it's still true, although not to the same extent) the part of the city to the west of the Chiyoda-line was far more
westernized, and was where almost all the visitors stayed. The eastern half was older, more residential, much more Japanese in style and feeling. (The geisha who flits in an out of a number of the poems in my book was from Yanagibashi, a classic entertainment district in the older part of the city. ) The center of the more traditional activity in the older part of the city is Asukusa, I gather it has become more open to foreigners in the past fifty years, and I have the feeling that you might have a better change of finding your kind of accommodations there.

Good luck. And if you meet any ex-geishas or cabaret hostesses in their seventies or eighties be sure to pass on my regards. You never can tell.