8 days in japan

Only have time for one things right now, but I did look at the train schedule (paper) that I have for July through Sept. I don't think you can get Oct. schedule yet on hyperdia.com. I tried and coudl only get schedules thru Sept. Anyway, based on the JR paper schedule I have here, you can't get from Narita to Kyoto on a shinkansen train using JR pass (Hikari or Kodama Shinkansen) at that time of night. You have to go from Narita to either Shinagawa or Tokyo stations and switch to the Shinkansen to go to Kyoto. Based on you rtime of arrival it isn't possible because the JR pass train leaving from Narita to go to Tokyo is at 2043 (8:43) and gets in to Tokyo Station at 2145. But the last JR pass shinkansen leaving from Tokyo station to Kyoto is at 2006 (10:06 pm). Ditto for Shinagawa.

So unless the train schedule changes drastically for Oct., you can't do it on JR pass.

Actually, you can't even do it on Nozomi trains that aren't part of JR pass, because the last Nozomi train leaving from Tokyo station to Kyoto is at 2118. And like i said, the Narita express fro mnarita to Tokyo doesn't get in til 2145, too late to make that connection.

You could get a room close to Narita airport (Hilton is recommended on here by others, free shuttle from airport; other hotels might be a bit less expensive) and get a shin. to Kyoto in the early morning. That's what I would do. Or get a room in Shinagawa close to the station, but then you have to get yourselves and luggage to Shinagawa (which can be done with you timing) and get a shinkansen to Kyoto early in the morning. This avoids going in to Tokyo.

Re your JR pass question: How long is your trip total, how many days?

If you've seen Tokyo and don't want to go there after you land, how come you are planning two nights there at end of trip? What time does your flight depart from Narita? You might be able to get to Narita the day of departure (i did this, from Kyoto on JR pass shinkansen, with a 3 pm departure) or the evening before departure and just stay close to airport. That gives you more time in Kyoto/Osaka areas.

Personally I would spend the entire time in Kyoto. It is a wonderful city and with young children you won't be able to cram as much into a day as I did. Make sure you go to the Costume Museuem with them -- they should like that a lot.

Thank you for your help. My schedule is as follows:
Arrival :Tokyo. 7 pm on 28 Oct
Departure:Tokyo. 10.30am on 4 Nov
After reading your answers, I have decided to stay in Tokyo for our first night. The next morning I leave for Osaka. Spend 2 nights, stay at hotel near Universal Studio. What else should I see there?
After Osaka, I intend to spend 3 nights in Kyoto perhaps doing a side trip to Nara (Is it interesting? Should I spend all my time in Kyoto instead?)
On 3rd Nov, I have to return to Tokyo as my flight leaves at 10.30am.
Would appreciate any suggestions on where to eat with kids and what are the interesting things to see in Osaka and Kyoto.
In Kyoto, I am not sure if our last night should be spent in a Ryokan. If I get good recommendation, I don't mind trying out otherwise I will be staying at Granvia Kyoto for the convenience. Please give me feedback.
Thanks very much.

Sorry, one more question:
On my way back to Tokyo from Kyoto via Shinkansen, is it possible to go to Hakone or Mt Fuji area?

With kids, you might want to consider Disney. Universal Studios is OK...but not as good as Disney. Universal in Orlando beats Disney in Orlando for me, but in Japan, Disney wins, hands down. Disney Sea is especially good I think. Disney Land has fabulous Halloween stuff...we went last year for it and it was outstanding.

Hakone/Mt Fuji area is not on the way from Kyoto to Tokyo. You could do it as a day trip from Tokyo.

What to eat with kids...our daughter has grown up here, so she eats just about anything. Things that everyone seems to love are udon, katsudon (breaded, deep fried port cutlet with sweetish sauce and egg over rice), spaghetti, and curry. Just about every restaurant has a kids set that might be good for your two youngest. Hotel buffet dinners are always a hit since they can select their own food from a wide variety of items...though don't do this in a hotel that isn't excellent as the price will be high and quality low. In a good hotel, the price is reasonable and the quality is high. Actually, the Tokyo Bay Hilton at Disney has a great restaurant, Square, which has a unique concept in buffet - stations are set up and your food is freshly prepared for you. Great place.

Did you try using www.hyperdia.com for trains?

With a 10:30 am departure from Narita, I'd spend the night at a Narita hotel. My daughter and I spent a night at the Narita Hilton last month and enjoyed it a lot. Boso no Mura was great fun...hands on Edo village in Narita town. Not a lot of English information on line, but they do have some English speaking staff there if you need it. We spent 4 hours there, and could have easily spent the day. We did fabric stencils, cooking a sweet, applied a design to candles, and painted a paper mache decoration. There were other things to do, but it was very hot and we were melting so headed back to the hotel pool, but easily could have spent more time there. My daughter loved it (she's 8). The Hilton has brochures in English for Boso no Mura, and we just took a taxi there rather than changing bus twice. The driver who dropped us there came back and picked us up when we called him. Very nice. Now that I look, I'd spend your night of arrival in Narita, too. I wouldn't want to mess around with getting to a Tokyo hotel for one night checking in after 9 PM, more likely 10 or 11.

What kinds of things do your kids enjoy? My recommendation is to think about that in light of what places have to offer. Do a bit of online reading on Nara and see if it seems like a good place to spend one day of three there or not. We skipped it last March because even with 7 days in Kyoto and the surrounding areas we had so many other things to do, and Kyoto has alot of temples if you want that. Some people say nara is a "must see"; we did not feel like that after researching so we skipped it. You'll have to see what you think.
The only things we wanted to do in Osaka were baseball and sumo tournament, neither of which will be available while you are there. Kyoto is much more interesting and varied in my opinion.
I agree w/Kim about staying in Narita the first and last nights. Much easier than getting into Tokyo, a two hour trip.
What interests your kids? Maybe they'd like to see Himeji for a half day trip if you want to get out of Kyoto. But I think Kyoto could keep you very busy. Do they like hands-on art/crafts like what Kim described? There is alot of that in Kyoto. My son and I did a fabric stenciling/painting workshop -- that was one of the favorite things we did. So you can personalize it based on your interests.
Cabs in Tokyo are cheap. You can get to and from the station pretty quickly by cab no matter where you stay. So unless I was staying in Kyoto as a base for a week and had numerous day trips planned I would not feel it was important to stay at the train station. I'd stay where I wanted to stay and cab it to/from the station. I think you can get a whole different feel of the city by staying somewhere besides the train station.

I meant cabs are cheaper in Kyoto- not Tokyo. We stayed on the eastern side by Higashiyama and it was $18 to get to the main train station by cab

First of all, thanks for your replies. May I know more about the Narita town? What is this Boso no mura? I might consider spending my last night in Narita Hilton. As for the stenciling class, can I know more about it?

The shinkansen does not go to Narita Airport.

Odawara is on the way between Kyoto and Tokyo. Some of the Hikari shinkansen stop there, not just the Kodama. From Odawara you can buy a Hakone Free Pass for transportation in the Hakone/Fuji area (or pay as you go).

You would need a 7-day JR Pass. Check the office hours for the JR Narita Airport station where they do the exchange. You should be able to do the exchange on your arrival day.

If you stay at an airport hotel then get your JR Pass to be activated on Oct. 29. At the same time you can get your reserved seats for the Narita Express to Tokyo and for the shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto. Then you can still use the Narita Express from Tokyo to the airport on your last day as that would be day 7.

If you go into Tokyo on your arrival day then you will have to pay for one of the trips to between Tokyo and Narita because one of those days would not be a JR Pass day.

You could take the shinkansen from Osaka to visit Himeji castle. Or visit Osaka castle.

Yes, indeed I forgot that I should only activate the rail pass on 29th. Thanks for the reminded. Also, KimJapan, I read one of your earlier threads and you mentioned that Narita Hilton is only US$100? I am a Hilton Gold as well. How can I get such attractive rates? Bear in mind I have 3 kids so I need 2 rooms with an extra bed in the second bedroom. I will have to see if they have connecting rooms. In Tokyo Hilton where I usually stay, the hotel cannot upgrade us because the upgraded rooms are not connected.
Will appreciate KimJapan's reply for booking the rooms. Thanks very much to all of you.

Boso no Mura is an open air museum with Edo Period buildings and homes spread out over a large area. In the "main" area, there is a street of "shops" where guests can try out various crafts and cooking. The activities vary each day...there is a schedule, but only in Japanese. The number of participants is limited for each one to about 6 people - there is a sign up sheet at the entrance. In August, each activity was run two or three times in the day. One activity takes from between 20 minutes to over an hour. http://www.chiba-muse.or.jp/mura/ is their website, but only Japanese. http://www.city.narita.chiba.jp/english/welcome/sightseeguide/ has some information about Narita including Boso no Mura.

Hilton Narita...I book online, and follow the rates closely. I got the $100.00 rate about a week before our stay. I reserved the lowest rate they offered about 3 months out (was 27,000 yen) and then kept changing the rates to lower ones as they came up. They treat Gold members not especially well, but with consistency at least. You will get coupons for 2 continental breakfasts in the restaurant that you can upgrade to full breakfast buffet for 1100 yen extra per person. My daughter was not charged at all for some reason..she's 7. Usually after age 6 they charge. You also get free use of the big pool and fitness center as a gold. We were upgraded to the top floor, largest rooom that wasn't a suite. It had a connecting door if I remember correctly. You might try phoning them directly to see what they can give you for the 5 of you.

Sometimes, actually often, Hiltons Japanese site hilton.co.jp offers good rate packages...again, only in Japanese. In the end, I did end up with the best rate from Hilton.com, but for a while, I had booked a promo rate that I had found only on Hilton.co.jp Might pay to browse around there.

Thank you KimJapan. If we arrive at 7 pm, is it too late to go to Boso No Mura for dinner? If not there, where would you recommend we go for dinner after checking in at narita Hilton?
Also, since our sole purpose of going to Osaka is to vist Universal Studio, would it be easier if I stay in Kyoto and make day trips there instead of staying one night at Hotel Kintetsu, the USJ's official hotel. Is Osaka an interesting city to stay overnight? Is Osaka Hilton out of the way?

Thanks

Boso no Mura closes around 4 or 5 I think. Landing at 7:00 pm won't even get you to the Hilton Narita before 8:00...after customs/immigrations, then getting the shuttle bus, it'll probably be more like 9:00. Boso no Mura was about 20 minutes by taxi from the Hilton by the way.

We ate dinner at the Hilton in the restaurant on the first floor. They have basically the same menu as other Hiltons in Japan, with 5 or 6 items for kids as well as smaller portions of some items available for kids. For the two of us off the menu cost 3000 yen I think. They also have a buffet, though when I was there it was an outdoor bbq buffet kind of thing and in August it was just too, too hot to sit outside.

If you wanted somewhere outside of the hotel, you'll need to go into Narita...there is a shuttle bus occasionally to Narita Station and one to the Aeon shopping center. The Aeon shopping center has a food court and some sit down family style restaurants. There are also several restaurants along the road leading to Aeon, none of which struck me as special...but all of them are of the cheaper variety. Near Narita station there are of course some restaurants, but nothing jumps out at me.

Since you are going to Osaka only to go to USJ, then you may as well check into your hotel in Kyoto and stay there. It's not that far away, and the official hotels around USJ are not special. The Osaka Hilton is across from Osaka station. We stay there several times a year and it's a wonderful place, except for in the last year they have implemented a new policy that children under 12 are not allowed in the executive lounge after 6:00 pm. We are consistently upgraded to exec floor as gold members, but sometimes have to ask for the upgrade as it isn't as forthcoming as in some of the other properties.

Osaka is interesting for me, as it's bigger than the city where we live (Kanazawa) and I can do some good shopping, get to a big, well stocked book shop and such. For sightseeing, there is not much there that I would recommend you take a day away from Kyoto to spend in Osaka.

Thank you KimJapan for your valuable input. OK, I won't stay a night in Osaka. The best rate I get at Narita Hilton is around USD180. Perhaps I should take the Narita Express and stay a night at Tokyo Staion hotels? Any recommendation? Someone suggests I stay at Shinagawa Prince since Narita Express also stops at Shinagawa station and the Prince hotel is nearby. The next day, I was told I can take Shinkansen from Shinagawa Station to Kyoto. Is it true?
Between Kyoto and Osaka I believe it is not by Shinkansen, right? Since they are so near one another.
Hope to hear from you.

I would venture to guess that closer to your date the rate will be better - it better than halved in our case in August.

Shinkansen runs between Shin-Osaka and Kyoto. Shin-Osaka is about 10 minutes from Osaka.

You can check the trains on hyperdia.com. Be aware that the JR pass is not valid on Nozomi shinkansens. If you take the Nozomi, you've got to pay.