Tokyo/Kyoto "live" trip report and photos from mr/ms_go

Great pictures, ms_go! Thanks for sharing...I'll be on my way in two days......enjoy your trip!

Thanks for sharing your beautiful photos!

Thank you for the live reports and pictures! Love the pictures!!
Looking forward to hearing and seeing more!

I remember some green car seats having computer jacks at the seats and I do remember there being computer plugs in the front rows of the hikari shinkansens.....not the other seats though

Aloha!

Thanks for sharing. I look forward to reading more and seeing more of your gorgeous pictures!

Nice pictures and thanks for sharing them!

Thanks, everyone!

We did go to Kamakura today and enjoyed it very much. It was kind of cool and cloudy in the morning, but it cleared off as the day went on. We did a lot of walking. It seems to be a bit warmer this evening. We just came in from a walk through east Shinjuku and brought back dinner from the food hall at Odakyu.

Most photos from today are still on our cameras, but here are a few.

http://onelittleworld.zenfolio.com/p974890480

great pics...thanks

Another thank you....we're going to Japan in 6 weeks...your pics are a great appetizer

great pics. domo. the okonomiyaki and maguro don sure looks yummy.

Thanks, everyone. Glad you're enjoying the pictures. We're enjoying it all in person--and the food, indeed, has been great.

We took the train from Tokyo to Kyoto today. It was kind of cloudy and rainy much of the day but cleared up later this afternoon--just in time for a nice visit to Sanjusangen-do. Not too many photos from today:

http://onelittleworld.zenfolio.com/p723457548

Tomorrow's supposed to be sunny and a bit warmer. We will probably focus on Higashiyama and Gion, and we have tickets to Miyako Odori in the afternoon.

Thank you for sharing your photos. They are so beautiful. My husband and I returned from Japan last Sunday. We spent 5 nights in Utsunomiya and 2 in Tokyo.

I wonder if we passed by each other somewhere in Tokyo.

I owe a trip report. Fodorites have helped me with 2 trips to Japan and I haven't repaid the favor.

oh and Miyako Odori, is that the Geisha performance? My daughter and I went to that last year...

Beautiful photos! OMG, those noodles look sooooo good.

Great pictures! I really enjoyed looking at them. We are off to Tokyo, Kyoto and South Korea in about two weeks.

DeniseLMA,

Please do a report. We are all very curious,lol

Aloha!

Sounds like everyone is about to go to Japan.

We changed our plans a bit for today. We started by taking the bus up to Ginkaku-ji. From there, we walked down the Philosopher's Path (visiting Honen-in and Eikan-do), to the Heian Shrine, to Chion-in and then down into Gion to see Miyako Odori, which we enjoyed very much. Mixed sun and clouds and a little chilly, but it was a very nice day.

We took several hundred photos and haven't had a chance to look at most of them yet. Here are a few:

http://onelittleworld.zenfolio.com/p832477191

Tomorrow, we are going to Hemeji in the morning; not sure what we'll do when we get back.

Ms_go, what camera do you use? Your pictures are beautiful (although I do believe a lot of it has to do with the camera operator and not just the camera!)

Thanks, LMGSONIC. We have a Digital Rebel XT and a Canon Powershot SD630. I've posted some from both.

I was half asleep when posting last night (as evidenced by my misspelling of Himeji). I meant to mention that the sakura in Kyoto (what we've seen so far, anyway) aren't quite at their peak but are generally further along than what we saw in Tokyo.

We took the train to Himeji this morning to see the castle. Not a hint of construction yet; I know some have wondered about this, and we were curious, too. Big crowds today for the sakura, particularly beginning around lunch time. We spent the rest of the day at Kiyomizu-dera and in and around Higashiyama and Gion. Nice weather today; partly sunny and a bit warmer.

Here are a few photos:
http://onelittleworld.zenfolio.com/p40368702

Wow, a couple of nice cameras, ms_go!

We've got a Canon PowerShot S2 IS and a PowerShot A1000 IS. I would love to have a digital SLR, but we'll make do with what we've got. We also have an HD camcorder, so I'm sure we'll get some beautiful footage from that.

Thanks for continuing to post...you're really getting me excited for my first trip to Japan. We leave in 13 days!

We visited Fushimi Inari and Uji (Byodo-in and Ujigami Jinja Shrine) today. Our luck with the weather finally ran out...it began raining a little before noon (it rained the last time I visited Fushimi Inari and Byodo-in, too). We still had a good time, though, and particularly enjoyed getting away from the crowds for a little bit.

Here are a few photos from today:
http://onelittleworld.zenfolio.com/p478034593

Tomorrow, we are going to Hiroshima.

Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day in and around Hiroshima. Sunny, temps in the low 60s, and the sakura at peak. We spent some time on Miyajima (climbed part way up Mt. Misen) and some time at the Peace Park and capped off the day with dinner at Okonomi-mura.

http://onelittleworld.zenfolio.com/p514116594

Sadly, we are at the end of our trip. We'll spend a little time this morning enjoying the sunny day in Kyoto, then it's off to Kansai airport after lunch.

By the way, it wasn't until our fourth Hikari Shinkansen ride of the week that we noticed the power ports (one for each row). One of the announcements also referenced wifi, but since I didn't take the computer along to Hiroshima I couldn't try it out.

Looks like you finally hit the peak blossoms on your last day in Hiroshima and on Miyajima! Thanks for taking us along on your trip.

Aloha!

Yes, thank you for sharing your trip with us! Safe journey home.

Thanks, hawaiiantraveler and LMGSONIC, and greetings from the Asuka Lounge at KIX. It is so nice out today; I wish we were staying a little longer, but our daughter has to go back to school (we're already taking her out for one day beyond her spring break) and we have to get back to work. We took a trip up to Kinkaku-ji this morning before leaving for the airport. From what we saw around Kyoto and on the train ride down here, it looks like the blossoms are about at their peak in the area, now. I posted a few last photos from today:

http://onelittleworld.zenfolio.com/p91907266

We'll write up our real trip report during the long trip home.

Travel IS an education......that is what I've always told our daughters teachers

I love being there at peak cb times. Now that you've seen, you know why.

Are you tempted to plan a return?

Looking forward to your report!


Aloha!

We are leaving for Japan at the end of the month and found your photos inspiring. You are a fabulous photographer!

hawaiiantraveler, we absolutely will return! We like to mix it up with our trips, but I'm already thinking about some ideas for a return trip.

Thanks for the kind comments, partypoet. I still haven't looked at most of our photos, so I hope to add some whenever I get over the mountain of work that greeted me at home. I hope you have a great trip!

I did make some progress on a trip report on the way home. This won't be a day-to-day type of report but rather some random observations and thoughts. I'll try to get through this as quickly as I can.

As a bit of background, we are in our mid-40s and traveled with our 16-year-old daughter (“DD”). This trip was timed to take place over her spring break. Although we completely agree that travel is an education, given her school’s strict rules about vacation absences (unexcused!) and her heavy workload this semester, we were only comfortable adding one extra day to the break. Even that was kind of a stretch.

This was my second trip to Japan; I visited with my mother a couple of years ago. It was the first trip to Japan for mr_go and DD; her first trip to Asia. We are neither high-end nor low-end travelers. We usually take one or two international trips per year; this year, we have three trips planned, with two trips later in the year to the Dolomites and London. Since my first visit in 2006, it has been one of my priorities to return to Japan with the family. Japan also was at the top of DD’s travel wish list; she’s a huge Miyazaki fan, reads manga, is a Shotokan brown belt, and obsesses with her friends about anything Japanese.

With just nine nights and 10 days to play with, we decided to make this simple, with two bases: four nights in Tokyo and five in Kyoto. We had many ideas about what we wanted to do but only a few things planned in advance.

Our arrival

I was kind of dreading the 12-hour trip in economy. I’ve done it before, but the 747 (to which this flight was switched after I bought the tickets) has the worst Economy Plus pitch, no individual screens and antiquated projectors. We could have upgraded at check-in for $688 per, but we decided we’d rather put that toward other trips. I took a bit of a gamble with seat assignments and ended up with the four center section seats for the three of us. Better yet, there was no one in front of or behind me, so no one reclining into my space and I didn’t have to worry about reclining into anyone else. Otherwise, the food wasn’t very good and the seat cushion was pretty hard. I can’t tell you what movies they showed as I didn’t watch any (okay, DD says she watched The Secret Life of Bees and Quantum of Solace). Service was very good. Bringing along a couple pounds of chocolate candy for the flight attendants never hurts, in my experience. In the end, it was certainly tolerable. We landed 40 minutes early, and we got off saying that it didn’t feel like a 12-hour flight.

Everything worked like clockwork at Narita, just like I’d remembered. I think it took 40 minutes from wheels down until we were rolling from the curb in a Limousine Bus bound for Shinjuku—and that included being fingerprinted and photographed at immigration. The ride in, however, was just short of the time it took our plane to travel from the outer reaches of Alaska to the northern tip of Japan—okay, maybe I’m exaggerating here, but it took just over two hours and 15 minutes to reach our hotel. Enough of the traveling by this time; we just wanted to get settled in!

Tokyo accommodations: The Keio Plaza Hotel

I stayed in Shinjuku the last time I visited Tokyo and found it pretty easy to get around from there (even with my mother, who doesn’t do public transportation particularly well). We debated about staying in a different area but in the end decided on Shinjuku again. Our primary criteria were a decent-sized room in which the three of us wouldn’t feel like we were on top of each other and high-speed (preferably free) Internet in the room. For various reasons, we need to keep in touch with things at home, including work, and we also like to be able to plan on the fly.

We checked out all of the usual suspects and ultimately settled on the Keio Plaza. I signed up for the free EIC membership and got a package deal with breakfast and use of the member club. While our room wasn’t “deluxe,” it was functional, comfortable and quiet. The hotel has a “super buffet” that all the tour groups and many guests use. Our breakfast, on the other hand, was a smaller affair in the lounge near the check in desk, overlooking the ponds outside the hotel, with seating around coffee tables. It doesn’t have the variety of the other buffet, but it was plenty sufficient and mostly very good. It also didn’t have the line out the door and hordes attacking the food. We much preferred this; a nice way to start the day.

We also made use of the lounge on the 34th floor of the south tower and often were the only ones there. The lounge has five massage chairs, which turned out to be one of the hits of the trip! That, and the nice view looking east. I could sit and watch those endless blinking red lights across Tokyo for hours.

It goes without saying that the service was great. Although it is a huge hotel, most of the time it didn’t feel that way. We never waited for an elevator. We never waited more than a minute or two for assistance from the front desk, cashier, bell desk, concierge, etc. I’d definitely stay here again.

Getting around: Tokyo

For local transit, we purchased Suica cards, and these (or Pasmo) are definitely the way to go. Everything about it is easy (well, except the one occasion when I entered and left from the same station consecutively, for a reason that I will explain later). It is easy to buy, easy to use, easy to check the value and replenish, and easy to get a refund of balance and deposit when you’re done using it.

For as huge and complex as the train system in Tokyo is, it is remarkably easy to get around. Probably the hardest thing for us was finding certain landmarks in Shinjuku station (e.g., the East Central entrance or the JR service center or the food hall at Odakyu)—but it is the world’s busiest train station, after all. After four days, we had just discovered (and remembered) the most expeditious route from the hotel to the JR entrance. Also, in larger stations it can be difficult to figure out which exit to use; it helps to find the large yellow signs that list landmarks and exit numbers. Transfers are usually easy; the one exception for us was at Kanda, which was announced as a transfer point from the JR Chuo line to the Ginza subway line—but you actually had to go outside and several blocks down the street to do so.

Getting around: JR Pass

We purchased seven-day JR passes via the JTB-USA site (extremely easy process; they were delivered in three days), and we visited the JR service center at Shinjuku station the morning after arrival to activate them (for a date several days later).

Using the JR passes is very easy. Just go to the manned entrances at the train stations. Most of the time, the attendants barely looked at them. In all, we used them for Tokyo-Kamakura-Tokyo, Tokyo-Kyoto, Kyoto-Himeji-Kyoto, Kyoto-Inari-Uji-Kyoto, Kyoto-Hiroshima-Miyajimaguchi-Hiroshima-Kyoto, and Kyoto-KIX trips, plus a few rides on the JR Yamanote line. These included five Shinkansen rides plus the Haruka Express. I haven’t done the math yet, but I think we more than broke even. We had little trouble with seat reservations, even though it was high season. One time, we didn’t get our first choice of train (Tokyo-Kyoto). I did do research in advance and was able to tell the agent exactly which train, by number, that we wanted (another nice thing about having a computer along and reliable Internet access). If you’re traveling by train in Japan, Hyperdia.com is your friend!

The hardest thing about using the JR passes was finding them in my purse every time we went in and out of a station.

Kyoto accommodations: Hotel Granvia Kyoto

Last time, I stayed at the ANA Hotel, which is in the center of the city across from Nijo Castle. Getting places from there was doable, but it took some time and effort. Because we had a variety of things in mind for our time in Kyoto, including some trips by train, we decided to try staying at the Hotel Granvia, which is located in the Kyoto train station. It is not inexpensive—especially at this time of year—but the convenience was worth a lot to us. Staying at a train and bus terminus really did help us make the most of our time in the area.

As you might expect, the hotel was quite busy, but once above the lobby floor, we quite enjoyed it. Our room—a “superior” double with extra bed—was on the top floor with a view to the south. Like the Keio Plaza, the room was big enough that we didn’t feel squeezed. The bath—particularly the shower—was very nice (I was teetering on the edge of wanting to redo our shower at home; this shower may have pushed me over the edge). We were concerned about hearing train noise, and we could if we listened for it (particularly, that little musical sequence that signals arrivals and departures), but it didn’t bother us at all during the night. Perhaps our favorite room feature was the alarm clock. About a half hour before the alarm sounds, the lights next to the beds come on, very faintly at first and gradually get brighter—kind of like a sunrise. The Granvia Lounge was just down the hall from our room, offering a closer and quieter option for front desk and concierge services from 7am to 8pm.

Since we were staying in the station, with abundant dining options, we did not opt for a breakfast package. Instead, we hit the Vie de France or Mister Donut every morning.

Final note on accommodations: I know we would have enjoyed a more traditional ryokan experience, and we did consider it. But, for our needs on this specific trip, we were happy with our choices. Next time, though...

Getting around Kyoto

Kyoto has several subway lines, which we did not use, and a fairly extensive bus network, which we did use regularly. After zipping around Tokyo on the trains, we found it does take some time to get around Kyoto by bus. For example, a Monday morning trip up to Kinkaku-ji took almost 50 minutes. The buses can get very crowded, as well, so don’t count out standing for long bus trips. For the days that we were visiting sights within the city, we typically purchased one-day bus passes for ¥500. Even then, we did a lot of walking between sights. Wear comfortable shoes here!

We splurged once on a cab to avoid a long, warm bus ride from Kinkaku-ji back to the station before heading to the airport on our last day—at about five times the cost of the bus ride there.

Shipping luggage

After our first ride on the Tokyo subway, we decided it would be worth the $40 or so to have our three bags shipped to Kyoto. While we weren’t traveling with large bags (they’re at or just over airplane carry-on size), we weren’t sure how we’d manage to get ourselves and our luggage on the packed Yamanote line and down to Shinagawa Station.

The Keio Plaza arranged everything for us; we dropped the bags at the bell desk as we checked out, and the Granvia delivered them to our room the next day. Anticipating that we might do this, we packed a small, folding duffel to bring with us as an overnight bag.

Telephone

None of our mobile phones work in Japan (probably a good thing, as DD has been known to run up quite a bill for text messages while traveling). As I did for my first trip, I rented a phone from Rentafone Japan. We received the phone number and email in advance, and the phone was waiting for us when we arrived at the Keio Plaza. We mailed it back from the Granvia Kyoto using the included postage-paid envelope. This was primarily for emergency use, so that those at home could call us if needed. In the end, we never needed the phone. I used Skype for the few calls that we needed to make to the US.

Money

We use ATMs exclusively when traveling and almost never arrive at our destination with any local currency. So it was totally out of character for us to arrive in Japan with ¥113,000 and change. I won't bore you with the details other than to say it was one outcome of an ongoing elderly relative situation. Thanks to said relative's left-over cash from a trip many years ago, we pretty much had enough to meet our needs for this trip and never needed to visit the ATM. I recall from the last trip, though, that I did not have a problem finding a Citibank or a post-office ATM when I needed one.

We did go through some cash on this trip, though. I think we arrived home with a handful of one and ten yen coins after cobbling together the larger coins to purchase two drinks on the flight home from Osaka.

Traveling during sakura season

My last trip to Japan was in late July, and I noticed a definite difference traveling in "high" season. Everything was much more crowded this time. Nevertheless, it is a special time to be traveling here, not only for the beauty of the trees, but to see all of the excitement that surrounds it—the hanami, the legions of photographers, the people intently studying the blossoms, the festivals, etc.

According to reports, the blossoms began early but were stalled by a cold spell the week before we arrived. In Tokyo, we were clearly a bit early. When we arrived in Kyoto (April 1), they were a bit closer. By the end of our trip, it appeared that they were about at peak in Hiroshima and around the Kansai region.

We must have 300-400 photos of just of the cherry trees!

Weather

We feel very fortunate to have had decent weather for most of our trip. It was a bit brisk on some days, but that’s okay—we’re from Chicago and can handle “brisk.” What we hoped to avoid was rain, and for the most part, we did. It only rained twice in our ten days—once during our ride from Tokyo to Kyoto (and it cleared off nicely by the time we got settled in) and one afternoon in the Kyoto area. Otherwise, we had a lot of nice blue skies; we actually got a little sunburned on this trip!

That's it for now. Back to work, but I will finish up over the next few days with some of our favorites and highlights.

Awesome report so far, ms_go!

Great Report, thank you for the the last bit on Tokyo, Kyoto, telephone, money etc. We have never been to Kyoto and will be there in about ten days. I have been having some anxity over the train from Tokyo to Kyoto. Your pictures are wonderful!

Thanks so much for taking us along on your trip. I've loved following you. We had planned a trip with a similar itinerary several years ago but had to cancel due to the illness of a family member. Somehow, we've not managed to reschedule it, but reading your report makes me think it's time to do so.

Kathie, yes its about time.

Thanks again ms_go, loved the report!

Aloha!

I'm in Ueno Tokyo now reading your enjoyable report - we went to a few of the same places - will look at your pix in a few days when I am back home. It's quite warm here in Tokyo now - probably 60 F. at least...thanks for sharing!

Thanks, everyone!

Kathie, yes...you should plan a trip to Japan.

Mara, I hope you're having a great trip. After the beautiful weather at the end of the trip, we came home to some snow on the ground (gone now, fortunately).

Eating

We are not foodies or necessarily big eaters, and for the most part, we don’t prepare a list of restaurants in advance for our trips. Nevertheless, we do like Japanese food (although DD doesn’t like fish—cooked or raw). And, we are just adventurous enough to try places that have limited or no English.

In general, we ended up having a sit-down meal at lunch time and something lighter in the evening. On the second night, I introduced mr_go and DD to the concept of department store basement food halls (depachikas), and this was pretty much our evening go-to option for the rest of the trip. Not only did it help us keep our food expenditures in check; it allowed us to try a variety of things. We’re already missing our evening run for gyoza, sushi and assorted other goodies.

What better to start with than something we see little of at home: okonomi-yaki. I visited Okonomi-mura (the building full of little okonomi-yaki stalls) in Hiroshima during my last trip. I was sure the others would enjoy it as much as I did, and I wasn’t wrong.

From a recommendation here, we sought out Sakura-tei (http://www.sakuratei.co.jp/en/index.html ) in Harajuku for lunch on our first full day in Tokyo, and this turned out to be a lot of fun. This is one of those cook-it-yourself places. We tried three different things: okonomi-yaki (Hiroshima style), monja-yaki (Tokyo-style), and yaki-soba. We needed a little help with the monja, but the restaurant had some cards with drawings to assist us. There are various rooms; we were upstairs. A little of the beaten path, but the website has a great map that guided us right there. Thank you to Mary2Go for the recommendation. It was a big hit with all of us, particularly DD (the place tends to be frequented by the younger set).

At the end of our trip, we had dinner at Okonomi-mura in Hiroshima. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find it, but I did have a brochure (all in Japanese) from my last trip, and it was well marked on the included map. We basically walked in, walked upstairs, and picked one of the stalls with a few open seats. No English here—save for a sign on the wall with a few options written in English: regular, with soba, and with udon. We ordered one of each along with a round of beer, and enjoyed watching them being cooked.
http://www.okonomimura.jp/index.html
http://onelittleworld.zenfolio.com/p514116594/h213c7f41#h213c7f41

Two other restaurants we enjoyed…

Tatsumiya in Asakusa. We were tired and hungry and kind of stumbled in here because, unlike many of the nearby restaurants, there was no wait. We sat in the tatami section and pretty much went nuts with the menu (as I said, we were hungry): spring rolls, unagi, maguro zuke donburi, duck/leek nabe, and so forth. Roughly $70 with drinks; I think this was my favorite meal of the trip.
http://www.fodors.com/world/asia/japan/tokyo/review-38975.html
http://onelittleworld.zenfolio.com/p910256578/h103928d7#h103928d7

Kyoto Gontaro. Again, we stumbled in here; we were having trouble finding a place open for lunch on the walk between Eikan-do and the Heian Shrine. We saw a few people waiting outside and decided to join them. It had both western and tatami seating; we were in the latter. A rough English menu and very little English spoken. We managed to order pretty well and enjoyed tempura, udon, oyako donburi, etc.
http://gontaro.co.jp/

Otherwise, we particularly enjoyed one little noodle shop on Komachi-dori in Kamakura and a small restaurant on Junishomae-dori (near the train station) in Himeji, although we couldn’t begin to tell you the name of either. The latter had no English menu and no English spoken. We pointed at some photos, still not sure what we were getting, and it was all very good. DD did learn here that when one orders yaki-tori, at least one of the skewers may in fact be liver (“…this one has a really odd texture”).
http://onelittleworld.zenfolio.com/p974890480/h5287c52#h5287c52

Just a few other notes on food. The momiji manju, alone, were worth a return trip to Miyajima. I dragged mr_go and DD around the very crowded shopping area until I could find the place I bought them the last time (baked on premises); fortunately, these little cakes filled with various things (bean curd, custard, chocolate, etc.) lived up to the hype. Oh, and even though it was a little chilly, we enjoyed the green tea ice cream; can’t often find that at home.

Considering our lack of language skills, we ate well on this trip—and generally quite reasonably.

ms_go, I can still smell those maple leaf shaped manju from Miyajima, ahhhhhh

I am starving after reading this part of the report. I am thinking of changing our dinner reservations we have tonight with our in laws to a Japanese restaurant, lol

Aloha!

Great photos!

Thanks, speckles.

HT, I was just about ready to head for our favorite local sushi place after writing that. But, we ended up with something we like just as well: Thai.

More to come soon. I had that nagging feeling that there was something I should be doing...and then I looked at the calendar and realized April 15 is Wednesday. So the rest of the trip report may have to wait until the taxes are done.

I haven’t forgotten about this. We’ve been a little busy, plus I decided it would be much more interesting to share what our 16-year-old daughter thought about all of this. So, she has written the next few installments. I’ll add a few comments now and then.


Stepping onto the flight there, I had some notion of what I would be seeing. It would be like the pictures from a manga book, in my mind. The people would be friendly, the cities would be clean, and the cherry blossoms would be beautiful. But, of course, it was so much more than that.

I knew that Japan was one of the technological leaders of the world. I also knew that it was one of the most traditional societies in the world. It walks that fine line with utmost care, never faltering completely to one side. Side by side (almost), I saw bullet trains and rickshaws. Arcades and tea houses. Geishas and cosplayers. It’s a magical place, some fairytale world straight from the imagination. Only, I’m not quite that imaginative.

Gyoza. Okonomi-yaki. Yaki-tori. Donburi.

Before I went to Japan, I had no idea what these were. They could have been obscure bands, for all I knew. But during those days in Tokyo and Kyoto, these became staples, fallbacks when we weren’t sure what the menu was offering.

I knew that eating in Japan would be difficult for me. I am a strict no-seafood eater, which presents a problem in the sushi capital of the world. Could I be adventurous enough to survive? When it came down to it, on the first actual day of eating real Japanese cuisine, I surprised myself. I absolutely, completely, and utterly fell head-over-heels in love with it. Okonomi-yaki was the first item to be tried, during lunch in Harajuku. Even though our clothes ended up smelling like it for days and days to come, it was a huge hit. Lunch the next day was even better, with a duck and leek rice bowl and miso soup combination that was easily the best meal of the trip. In fact, it was only very rarely that we ever encountered bad food. Mostly, the way our meal schedules would work was that we would have lunch around 1-2, then head to the market for lots of nibbles of all varieties. Gyoza was purchased nearly every day, along with yaki-tori. The parentals enjoyed their sushi immensely.

Once the trip was over, once we were state-side again, and I was wandering the hallways of the high school, I found myself trying to describe to friends this incredible food. I mostly made it sound very unappetizing:

Me: Oh, Donburi is a rice bowl, with chicken or duck or something in it, and a raw egg on top…

Friend: Eww, raw egg?? Isn’t that not good for you? Like, full of disease and stuff?

Me: Well, they serve the rice really hot, and it cooks the egg, so you mix it around in the bowl…

Friend: Whatever.

When I tried describing my favorite Japanese soup, miso, as a bean paste soup, with strands of seaweed, cubes of tofu, and green onions in it, everyone around me turned a slight shade of green. I guess it’s something one only understands from experience.

For lack of a better word, the Ghibli Museum, which celebrates all things Miyazaki in the world, is completely and utterly kawaii. If you know what the word “kawaii” means, congratulations. You are a 12-18 year old girl. For those souls who don’t know, it is a word that mostly American fangirls will use when they find something precious beyond words. In other words, it’s cute.

The Ghibli museum embodies the essence of cuteness. Everywhere you look, there are plushies of your favorite Miyazaki characters with bright, happy faces. The walls are painted in sunshiny colors, and birdcage spiral staircases lead to the ivy-covered roof area, which has a life-size statue of the robot from Castle in the Sky. This is very obviously a children's museum, since almost everything is built so that tiny kids can reach them. There are tunnels that lead to nowhere and a giant Cat Bus to climb around on. But what were fascinating were the explanations of how the films are made.

I’m a big fan of Miyazaki, and have watched many of his films, such as the very popular Spirited Away. So, being in a place dedicated to his work is a thrill in itself. But actually witnessing the process of putting together the character sheets, to sketching the story boards, to inking and coloring and animating...that was an unexpected treat. I got to see how Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service evolved in her design, and how they would animate characters over a background. In a dark room on the first floor, there’s even a brief introduction to the history of animation, and how it is done.

Though we got there as early as we did, the museum was still jam-packed. The crowd in the gift shop was actually sort of frightening. I later realized that several field trips of grade-school classes were there, which made walking about slightly dangerous. But we braved these throngs, and made our way to the screening room, to watch a 20-minute short film. I have no idea what it was called. I have no idea what it was about. I have no idea what they were even saying, since it was all in Japanese. But I loved it, just as I loved being able to spend even just a few hours in Miyazaki’s world.

My notes: Ordering tickets before leaving home is essential. I did so a few weeks in advance through the JTB office at Mitsuwa in Arlington Heights and tucked the voucher into my travel file. So, Monday morning found us happily seated on the Chuo line headed out to Mitaka for our morning at the museum. One or two stops into the ride, I had this sudden, sinking feeling: I’d left the voucher in the hotel room. Knowing we’d have no chance of getting in without it, we jumped off the train at the next stop, crossed the platform, and hopped onto a train returning to Shinjuku station. We decided that mr_go and DD would wait inside the JR station while I ran back for the passes. Not thinking, I ran toward the exit, placed my Suica card on the reader...and the red light went off and the gates closed. I never thought about the implications of entering and exiting the same station simultaneously. Not allowed. I made my way to the manned station where, unfortunately, any Japanese I learned in advance was useless for explaining that I left something important in my hotel room and was trying to return to retrieve it. I’m pretty sure the agent understood nothing I said, but eventually he took my card and “reset” it. Fifteen minutes later, I was back in the station (gingerly placing my card on the entrance reader, wondering what would happen) and we were back on the way to Mitaka—only about 35 minutes behind our original schedule.

Potential problem number two happened as we arrived at the museum. Apparently, the JTB agent who issued our voucher made a mistake in entering our visit date and then used whiteout to change it, leaving a fairly obvious correction on the voucher. The first employee we encountered instantly zeroed in on the whiteout, leading to several conferences while we stood in the front yard, not sure we’d be granted entrance after all our efforts to get there (after the train episode, we walked over a mile from the Mitaka station to the museum). Finally, they waved us in, and we proceeded to enjoy the museum for the next couple of hours. And, I might add that it was nice to get out of the city and see a bit of “suburbs.”

Back to DD's report:

I was actually a little disappointed by Harajuku, I’m sorry to say. Don’t get me wrong: it’s a really cool place, very lively and charming. But I was there on a mission to see some cosplayers.

Sure, there were cosplayers about. Some were milling about near the station, strutting around in their homemade costumes. There was even a long line of girls dressed in frilly lolita, stretched as far as the eye could see (apparently for some audition). But there didn’t seem to be a set place where they were all hanging around, as I’d hoped (mom's note: I think we were maybe a little early in the day, as we finished up in Harajuku by about 1:30pm). And the few good cosplays we did see really surprised me. The youngest could have been around 12 or 13, but by far the oldest cosplayer was, indeed, old. Her hair may have been gray and frizzled, but her black Lolita get-up was as good as any of those around her.

You can always tell when someone has put in a lot of effort on their costume. It’s obvious. Some that we saw that day by the train station were so good, they could have stepped right off an anime poster. The few guys who were cosplaying had their hair perfectly spiked, and dyed several varieties of unnatural hues. I even recognized a few characters.

Overall, Harajuku was an enjoyable excursion. The food we had was great, the little shops and alleyways made for good picture taking, and it was great to see that side of Tokyo.

More later...