*hi everyone ! this is my first post ^^* cool forum!
i was in japan in august of this year and spent a lot of time in tokyo (mainly shibuya and roppongi) and nagoya (miyoshi and sakae). All of which were really fun.. i assume you will be going to Tokyo, - seeing as how your friend lives there - so i can reccommend to you a few places there.
If you like shopping, for clothes, go to shibuya and harajuku if ur into weird japanese trendy clothing. Shibuya has da booomb stores.. LV, Chanel, Gucci, Prada, Dior, Burberry, Commes Des Garcon, Dolce & Gabbana.. you name it... and they have TONS of them too.. and lots of really nice, fancy dept. stores.. 109 tower is cool for japanese clothing. Right outside shibuya station is an area called Hachiko Square where lots of people hang out and flirt (nanpa) hehe. fun fun, even if you dont speak lots of japanese, the people are so nice to Americans they will try their best to communicate, dont be shy !!! they love u ! <3
Roppongi was cool, but there is like more foreigners there than japanese... lots of big black guys that are on the streets at night in suits that will try to lure u into their night clubs. the best club i found there was "Lexingtonqueen"
LexingtonQueen.com is for sale | HugeDomains TONS of celebs go there.. when i was there, Ashlee Simpson and her band were there, and the night after i was there, Vin Diesel was there!
Nagoya was cool.. but its just like a *mini*tokyo, but its still a really big city.. sakae is like shibuya for shopping; i think its just as good in my opinion.
*oh yea* one more thing, a common misperception in america is thinking that most japanese speak english. this is WRONG! they may be able to read/write it, but most cant speak worth crap, so learn your japanese be4 u go, or go with someone that does speak it, or else you will be lost (although the subway system there is very easy and convenient).
anyways, have fun!
*****************************************************
sorry for the harangue ~_~ i loved my time in japan which correlated a certain ardor for tokyo.