Beautiful pictures! I don`t know about all that fishy food though!

Excellent and thank you for sharing. Now I must try and visit during the blossoms next year.

How long does the blossoms last Peter?

Pook, they last for about two weeks from bloom till ground. The timing depends on where in Japan you go to. See this site for this years scheduled blooms and you will see the pattern:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2011.html

Aloha!

Wonderful photos, HT. Thanks for sharing. We'll get to Japan one of these days - looks like cherry blossom season is a great time to go...

Doitashimasite and yes Craig you really should,Jeane(and camera) would have a field day, literally,lol

Aloha!

Fantastic pictures. The food is exactly what we enjoy. Octopus, Calimari, Sea Urchin, Blowfish? Osaka looks great.Rick and Rachel

By the way, where is Oeno Park?Is it like this all of the time or just during the Cherry Blossums?

ht, great pics. i like the kani nigiri, and the kani to take away. i wonder if you can eat them as you walk.jackie scolds me everytime i do this. she says its not nice.

checking for hotels for next year, and maybe even go to kyoto-osaka.

ueno park is in tokyo, easy to get to. and it only blooms during cheery blossom time.

What wonderful photos, Peter! One of these years CHeryl and I will get to japan for Sakura.

Our cherry trees in our garden here in Seattle are about 50% open today - the double pinks.

Great photos! The food looks amazing. Makes me want to go even more, but the airfare for July or August is just astronomical. Still hoping...

Thanks all. Airfare gets cheap at many times during the year. This trip cost us 605.00 r/t HNL/NRT.

Hanuman and others had asked me in an earlier post to put up more food pictures. Here are some of the food pics we took this time around. A varied group of photos to say the least,lol.....

http://tinyurl.com/yb78rzf

Aloha!

ht, mahalo for all the food(kau kau) pics. i like the fish on the sticks. sort of reminds me of having the ayu(sweetfish) on a stick, rafting down on the mogami river in yamagata.

also, the saba(akule). you've never had saba sashimi till you have it in tokyo. delicious.

btw, i'm surprised that you took a pic of a manhole cover. nice pic. a friend of mine took a trip to japan for a year, taking pictures of decorative manhole covers throughout japan, and will be publishing a book about them. i've also taken a few photos of interesting and colorful manhole covers in tokyo.

one day, you must teach me how to use smugmug so i can post all of my pics. of course, some may not be suitable for women and children. lol.

Boston had its own sakura festival this week. The Esplanade along the Charles River was in full bloom, a sea of pinks and whites. Bostonians haven't caught on to the notion, though, that it's an excellent idea to take a day or two off from work and mob the area to enjoy the spectacle.

HT: Wow, the photos are gorgeous, your timing of visiting is right on!

oishikatta desu.

More great pics! What exactly is Oden?

Airfare from LAX to Tokyo is about $1100 right now for July.

Kristina,Thanks, Oden is a Japanese winter soup dish with a dashi base and soy sauce. Ingredients include daikon, various types of fishcakes,boiled eggs, konnyaku,tofu,various seaweeds, etc. Odens' contents vary from prefecture to prefecture and you will always find some simmering pots in local food and convenience stores during the winter months especially the 7-11's and Lawson's throughout Japan. Lawson's in smaller towns off the well beaten tourists paths are actually a great place to have a light and inexpensive breakfast, lunch or dinner. Most are setup so they have tables for you to eat right in the store and serve various simple Japanese homemade comfort foods which are cheap and hit the spot. You just have to remember to return your trays and dishes to the right window when you are done.

Wow the prices from LAX are pretty rough during those months but try for late Nov early Dec for a nice time to visit and better prices usually. Great fall coloring in the Tokyo Kyoto corridor during those times.

Aloha!

Hai Marasan, oishikatta!

You must be getting excited to be leaving in a few days? happy hiking!

Aloha!

ht-san - yes, I am getting excited - have been double checking my train times on hyperdia.....thanks.....

I have manhole covers of Hokkaido! They had squid on them.

We in Australia are very lucky to have a budget airline that has a very competitive fare across to Japan- so much so that if I cared to I could go to Japan at every season of the year- so yes for Cherry Blossom time, and yes to August every year. The former because I want to, the latter because I have to

I have quite a few manhole cover shots from Kyushu through to Hokkaido and lots of places in between. I should put them together online,now if I could locate them all.....

HT...You obviously know what you are talking about re Japan, can I have your advice please?
We leave next week for 2 weeks in Japan (have previously only spent 2 days in Tokyo, so most excited). Travelling with husband and 2 x 16yr old girls (our daughter and her friend)...not silly girls, ones who are interested in the world around them, that is, we will not spend each and every day shopping (thank goodness!)
Anyway, I have Tokyo itinerary (5 days including one day in Kamakura) all mapped out due to having friends there (except one query...do you know the Japan Open-Air Folk House Museum“Nihon Minka-En”? Is that a good day (and a full day) with the girls?
But I really could use your advice in Kyoto please.
It's hard to wrap my head around the names and locations (LOVED your clock analogy of Tokyo in another post). Is it a huge favour to ask you for a daily itineray on what to see/do in Kyoto with the girls? We have 2 full days and one 1/2 day (when we arrive by train from Tokyo, staying at Granvia).
We are also going to Nara (an extra day...or do we skip Nara and stay in Kyoto for 3 and 1/2 days?).
After that we head to Hiroshima and spend the night there.
Any advice you can give would be much appreciated.
Also, restaurants...my husband and I are foodies!
Many thanks from Sydney,
Mel
(PS - We stayed at the Grand Wailea in Maui a few years ago and LOVED IT)

mel1....I do love the Grand Wailea. Your children must have been in heaven with those pools.

Actually I have never been to that museum north of Tokyo but know all about it and would like to get there one day. It looks like a great venue for your children if they are the inquisitive type.

Museums in Japan will tend to have little English even when they say they do. They will probably have an simple English guide of sorts and next to the displays will be a sign with a whole paragraph worth of explanation in Japanese and next to it three or four words in English explaining what you are looking at. The displays will be awesome though and the village setting looks like it would take at least half the day with the train and all.

3 1/2 days is not much time for Kyoto.

OK,think of Kyoto as an oblong valley(clock) with hills to the west, north and east. On the eastern slope at about 4 o'clock is Kiyomizudera. At five o'clock is Sanjusendo. At the six o'clock position is the JR Kyoto Station area. At ten o'clock is Kinkakuji or the Golden Pavillion. At twelve o'clock is the north bus terminal and at 2 is Ginkakuji or the Silver pavillion and the adjacent Philosopher's Path. In the middle is the Gion, Pontocho, Nijo Castle,Nishiki Market and lots of shopping in the doris.
See here for what to do while in Kyoto
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2158.html
Keep Nara for another trip or do a day trip from Kyoto if you feel you must while your their. Just go down the the station and hop on a train. it's only 35-40 minutes away iirc.

Aloha!

Thanks HT! Again the helpful clock analogy.
We do have Nara planned as a day trip in the middle of our Kyoto stay. I have a free guide booked but if we find we are out of time in Kyoto and loving it (as it seems we will!) we can cancel. I suppose my question is, is there anything amazing to see in Nara? (I guess not, if you are sahying keep it for another trip).
I understand it's pretty easy to get around Kyoto by bus, is that right? Are the distances great, for example from Gion to the Philosophers Walk? I'm tryiing to figure out what it do-able each day we have.
Again, many thanks for your help

Nara is definitely worth a trip but imho you don't have enough time. Yes, bus is a good means of transport around Kyoto. See here for details, it will save me typing and give you a better perspective.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2363.html

Come back with any questions and check out all the links on that first site I left for you. it will answer lots of your questions.