3 week Japan Trip Report
 

We had a great holiday in Japan mainly due to everyones help here on Fodors so a big thanks to all of you.

1st Day - Milan/Tokyo

Just as we were about to leave for the airport I decided to phone JAL to check if there were any delays with our flight & received the news that due to bad weather conditions in Tokyo our flight would now be arriving in Milan around 3 hours later than expected & therefore our flight to Tokyo would also be delayed & would now be leaving at Midnight. Not the best start to a holiday but at least we knew & wouldn't have to wait the extra time at the airport.

The flight left puctually at Midnight & we were served dinner almost immediately. Because the flight was delayed we were given vouchers for dinner at the airport so we weren't very hungry but decided to eat something anyway as it would be 10 hours before they served breakfast. There was a choice of Western or Japanese so we chose 1 of each. The Western was grilled Halibut with Dill sauce, Parma Ham & Salami with Eggplant, Salad & Peach Melba. Japanese was Braised Minced Chicken in Soy sauce with Rice, Mushroom & Onion Fishcake with Boiled Spinach, Japanese Noodles & Assorted Fruits. We didn't drink very much but drank 2 small bottles of Red Wine & 2 sake's between us. Just before arriving in Tokyo we were served Fruit cocktail, Yogurt, Cottage Cheese & Spinach Crepe with a piece of Grilled Pork Loin & Croissant.

Next - Arrivial in tokyo

We arrived in Tokyo at around 7pm. & by the time we got our laggage & cleared customs it was 8pm. Originally I had planned to go straight to the JR office to activate our Rail passes but as it was quite late we decided to leave it until the next day. We headed straight to the Limousine Bus counter & reserved a seat on the 8.40pm. bus to the Akasaka Prince Hotel.

We arrived at the hotel at around 10.15pm. Check-In was very quick & we were shown to our room by a very nice & talkative Porter. In the room he immediatly switched on the TV & proudly showed us it had CNN. My husband said "We're Italian we don't want to see CNN we want the Italian RAI channel." He looked perplexed & switched the channel to BBC my husband said "No English, we want Italian, No Italian we can't stay here" The poor guy didn't know what to do & made for the phone, I stopped him & said that my husband was only kidding & when he saw us laughing he started laughing & said "Italian people very funny"

We had been told before we left that you don't tip in Japan but that wasn't the case with our porter as we realised he was hovering at the door. I told him to wait a minute & there was a moment of embarassment as my husband couldn't remember where he had put his Yen. I took 5 Euros from my purse & gave it to him & he left after saying Thank You & bowing at least 20 times.

We were very pleased with our room, it was a good size & had great views over Akasaka. We paid 1700y per night through Orbitz & thought it was a very good deal.

We went straight to bed, but were both wide awake at 2am. we tossed & turned until 6am & finally got up to organize our day.

Next Day 2

Day 2 - Tokyo

Breakfast wasn't included in the price for the room which suited us fine as we're used to having only coffee & a brioche in the morning. There was tea & coffee facilities in the room which was ideal.

We set off for the Metro station which was only a couple of minutes walk from the hotel. We bought 2 1000y tickets & as it was a Sunday we were heading for Harajuku to the Meiji-Jingu Shrine & Yoyogi Park. We were relieved to find that the Metro is extremely easy to use & had no problems geting to Harajuku.

Although it was only about 9am. there were quite a few teenagers all dressed up in those funny clothes on & around the bridge. A group of girls asked my husband to take a photo, we thought they wanted him to take their photo but they indicated they wanted a photo with us, we readily obliged & left them oohing & aahing over the photo. The walk to the shrine is lovely with overhanging trees on both sides. We stopped at a coffee shop for a coffee & pastry before walking on to the shrine. There were a lot of families & the little girls were all dressed up in Kimono's & their hair was all done up with little flowers & butterflies, absolutely lovely. We also saw a wedding where everyone was dressed in traditional clothes, it was quite impressive seeing more than 50 ladies all together in their beautiful Kimono's. The bride wa beautiful, her hair was done like a Geisha's & her Kimono was spectacular.

This was our 1st shrine in Japan & we were captivated, but then we hadn't been to Nikko yet. We spent about an hour taking photos then headed off to Meiji-Dori with all it's shops selling the strange clothes that the teenagers wear. We also came across a shop selling Kimono's for dogs & we had a laugh imagining what our 70kg. Newfoundlander dog would look like in one.

We got the Metro to Shinjuku & followed the signs for JR Rail. I wanted to activate our rail passes for Thursday when we planned to visit Nikko & also buy tickets for Kamakura. We were completely overwhelmed by Shinjuku we never imagined a place so enormous & it took us ages to find the JR Rail Pass office. We got our passes & decided to have lunch as it was 2.30pm. We found a tiny place with 4 tables & a few seats at the bar & ordered 2 bowls of soup with noodles & pork along with 2 small beers. 1600y

After lunch we looked for a JR ticket office to reserve our seats. We had planned to go to the Hakone office to buy the round trip pass but because we kept getting lost in the station we decided to just buy a return ticket along with the tickets for Kamakura & Nikko. This proved to be a big mistake which I'll explain later on.

Coming out of the station we saw directions for the Tokyo Met-Govt. Building & as it was a beautiful day we thought it would be the perfect time to go to the top to catch the views. We got the lift to the top & stepped ou to amazing views, it was so clear we could see Mt. Fuji. For people planning a trip to TokyoI would forget the Tokyo Tower the Met-Govt Building is much higher & is also free. After taking loads of photos we got the lift back down & took more photos of the building & the statues.

We got the Metro to Akasaka & before going to the hotel we had a walk along the street adjacent to the Metro Station to check out restaurants for dinner. We were surprised to find loads of Italian Restaurants, we had a coffee & walked to the hotel.

For dinner we walked along the same street, we were really tired because we had only had about 3 hours sleep in 48 hours so that's probably why we ended up in an awful place with awful service. The restaurant was called Brasserie & there was only Curry & Udon on the menu so as we had eaten Noodles at lunch we chose the Curry Rice with Sake. It was at least half an hour before the waitress took our order & when the food arrived we still didn't have our drinks. We asked for them again, she nodded but we finished our Curry & were still waiting. We got up to leave & she remembered the drinks & made a fuss about us sitting down again, she brought the Sake but we were so tired after a few sips we got up & paid the bill was 4500y.

Next Day 3

Clark:

((Y)) ((Y)) ((Y)) ((Y)) ((Y))

and

=D> =D> =D> =D> =D>

Was this your first trip? If so, I like to think we helped prepared you very well for day 1 and 2!!

Comments:
I am SO glad you got to go to Meiji and Harajuku on a Sunday. What a gret way to start the trip - this is exactly what my daughter and I did on our first day in APril.

I can't beleive all you accomplished on day 2! Meiji, Harajuku, Shinjukju and rail pass/ticket issues, Tokyo Govt. Center, and exploring your htoel neighborhood and eating two meals out. Good planning. But of course, even w/best of plans like yours, things can go a bit awry, re the JR ticket issues.

Very funny on the Italian TV station deal. I am so surprised though at the porter and the tip. Have never encountered that. Also got a good chuckle out of the kimonos for dogs.

Geez, so you got to Nikko, Kamakura, and Hakone too? Wow. I can't wait to hear about Nikko. Unfortunately our day trip was rained out there and we scrapped it. I still want to go there.

I hope the great weather held up for you!

I am loving loving loving this report.

Day 3 - Kamakura

We got to Tokyo station at 8am & thankfully had no problem finding the platform for Kamakura. After arriving we changed to the Enoden Line which has little Disney-like trains to Hase. These trains are'nt covered by the Rail Pass so you have to pay an extra 250y each way.

From the station we walked about 10 minutes to visit the Gt. Buddha. It was an incredible site with all the trees in the background. For a small fee you can climb inside the Buddha, which of course we did. We then walked to the Hase Temple, it's situated in a lovely garden & there's a collection of Jizo statues which have clothes on them, this is to keep them warm & they're dressed by women who have lost children through miscarraige or abortion. After the statues you arrive at the temple with the Kannon statue. It's 9mt high & has 11 faces; 1 main face & 10 secondary faces this is to allow Kannon to see in every direction & give assistance to anyone in need. It was pretty impressive

Inside the grounds there was a kind of archery contest taking place, they were all dressed in traditional clothes & it was very colourful, we watched it for about 20 minutes taking lots of photos before heading back to the station to catch the train for Kamakura. We walked to the Tsurugaoka Hachinan-Gu Shrine. To reach the shrine you walk along a tree lined path with 3 massive Torii gates set at intervals, there's all kinds of shops on both sides of the road. At the shrine there's an enormous Ginko tree that's thought to be about 1000 years old & a lotus pond with a lovely little arched bridge.

After about an hour we walked back to the station stopping off for lunch on the way at a restaurant called "The Soba House" We had Noodle soup with boiled pork & Noodle soup with vegetables. We had to ring the bell o the side of the table & when the waitress came I took her outide & pointed to what we wanted. The noodles were great & the portions were huge. With 2 beers we paid 3800y.

We got to Tokyo at about 5pm. We really enjoyed our day in Kamakura.

For dinner we went to a Kushiage restaurant called Kushinobo, it's situated on the 3rd floor of the Tokyo Excel Plazza building across the street from the Metro station. Kushiage is breaded & deep fried mini skewers of meat, fish & vegetables that you dip into a sauce. We chose the all you can eat menu which cost 4800y each & Sake. The skewers just keep coming & they were wonderful, loads of different types; Prawns, Squid, Asparagus, chicken, Pork, Soya beans, Scallops, Fish fillet, Chestnuts, Potato, Baby Corn, Lotus fruit with chicken livers, Beef & other things that I can't think of at the moment. We told the chef to stop because we couldn't move but it didn't finish there as the waitress brought strawberry Jelly with cream. We were so full we could hardly move.
It was one of our favourite dinners in Japan & we decided we'd go back & eat there again on our last night before returning home. The bill with Sake was 12000y.

There's a pub on the 1st floor of the Plaza so we stopped off there for a glass of wine before returning to the hotel.

Next Day 4

Day 4 - Tokyo

This was our day to visit the Fish market. We arrived at 7.45am & I think this is a good time to arrive. I know that some people go there earlier to witness the fish auction but what do you do afterwards? I don't think I could face eating Sushi at that time in the morning. Anyway, the market really is amazing with all those motorized little pick-ups zooming around the place & fish that you can only see here. Definitely not to be missed.

After an hour we walked to the Hama Rikyu Gardens, there's no point in going earlier because the gardens open at 9am, we had a leasurely stroll around & made our way to to the ferry port to catch a ferry on the Sumida river to Asakusa & the Senso-Ji Temple. The 1st ferry leaves at 10.40am so there's no need to rush the visit to the Gardens. On the way to the temple we stopped off for lunch at a small but very busy restaurant. We didn't realise that they had the bell system so we were sitting for at least 20 minutes before nice people at the next table pointed to the bell. We had Noodles with a pork cutlet & 2 small beers. 2750y.

The entrance to the temple is via Kaminarimon (Thunder gate) The gates protector gods are Fujin, the god of wind which is on the right & Raijin, the god of thunder on the left. A nice gentlemen took our photo in front of the gates.The road to the temple is filled with vendors selling fresh rice crackers & there's loads of cheap souvenir shops.

In front of the temple is a large incense cauldron where people catch the smoke & rub it on the parts of there bodies that need healing.
The temple itself has a golden image of Kannon which was said to have been fished out of the Sumida river in AD628 by 2 fishermen.

After the temple we got the metro to Akihabara to check out the Electronic shops. WOW are those shops huge. We went to the one at the JR station & could've spent all day there without seeing everything. It's a shame you can't use Japanese cell phones in Europe as I would've loved to have bought one; every time it rang it would've reminded me of our great holiday. There's restaurants on the 8th floor so we had an ice cream sundae before catching the metro home.

For dinner, I know this sounds strange but we ate at an Indian restaurant called Moti. The reason being that where we live in Italy there's no Indian restaurants & we love Indian food so whenever we're on holiday & we find a restaurant we always have a meal there. Anyway, we had a mixed starter, 2 curry's with Rice & Naan bread & 2 Kingfisher Beers. 6770y.

After dinner we went back to the pub at the Plaza for our usual glass of wine.

Next Day 5

Emd, this was our first trip to Japan & hopefully it won't be our last. I know you've been to Japan twice & am really sorry you didn't manage to see Nikko, you really have to see it even in bad weather, it's just incredible. I have to say we were really lucky though as we only had 1 day of drizzle in 3 weeks
I'm about to write the chapter on our Hakone disaster so you'll see why we never got there, well we did but we didn't.

Day 5 - Hakone

This was the day we should've been going to Hakone & we did go to Hakone, only it was the wrong one. LOL

When I asked for the tickets at Shinjuku instead of asking for tickets to Hakone I should've asked for Odawara or rather we should've gone to the Hakone office for the pass as planned instead of taking the easy way out & just asking for the tickets.

Anyway, when we arrived at the station in the morning I showed the ticket to one of the staff & he directed us to the right platform, we had to change twice but finally arrived in Hakone. The station was very small & we couldn't see any tourist office. We went outside & I said to my husband "There's no sign of any tourists here that's a bit strange & people are looking at us." We immdeiatly realised we must be in the wrong Hakone. We went back to the station & asked the man at the ticket office with hands & feet language how to get to the right Hakone. He printed out the timetable & with dismay we saw it would take us 4 hours. We would have to go back to Tokyo & then start again from there. So that was it No open air museum, No Volcanic hot springs, No boiled eggs, No Ashino-Ko cruise & No view of Fuji-San.

It took us much longer to get back to Tokyo as we had to change trains 3 times so we only arrived at around 1pm. For lunch we bought sandwiches & water on the train.

So that the whole day wouldn't be wasted we went to the Imperial Palace Gardens. There's a nice Koi pond & a lovely waterfall that shouldn't be missed, we also took some photos of the outside of the palace. We then headed off to Ueno to visit the Tokyo National Museum. It was really worth it, I loved the Kimono's & woodblock prints. We stayed there until closing time & went for a coffee before returning to the hotel.

For dinner we found a nice Sukiyaki restaurant in Akasaka. First they served us some tuna sashimi, some small fried fish & tofu, then came the Sukiyaki which we enjoyed very much. Total bill with Sake. 12500y

Day 6 - Nikko

This was probably our favourite day in Japan. We loved Nikko, the shrines are spectacular & shouldn't be missed.

When we arrived in Nikko we bought the Combo for the sites.
Our 1st stop was the Shin-Kyo bridge, it's a lovely bright red bridge over the river Daiya. We then walked on to Rinno-Ji, to see the 3 huge golden buddha's they are very impressive. Our next stop was Tosho-Gu, My Goodness this was really something.

There's a huge Torii stone Entrance & on the left is a 5 storeyed pagoda, then there's another entrance, protected on either side by Deva Kings. Once through this entrance there's a lot of different buildings, including the Nikko sleeping Cat , the hear no, speak no see no monkey carving & the sacred stable with a real white horse which proved to be a great hit with all the school kids or yellow caps as we called them.

Through another Torii & up some stairs to a drum tower & Belfry. To the left is Honji-do, a hall with a huge dragon painted on the ceiling. There's a monk there who bangs 2 wooden sticks together to demonstrate that the echo is the sound like the roar of a dragon. We didn't really think this was the case but then we've never heard a dragon roar.

Our next stop was the Yomei-mon gate. this is very elaborately decorated with gold leaf & red & blue lacquer work & is truly beautiful. It's said that the people that built it were worried that such perfection would arouse envy in the gods so they deliberately placed the final supporting pillar on the left hand side upside down.

We didn't know if there would be restaurants here so we bought Sandwiches at the station. We found a seat & happily ate lunch in the awesome surroundings.

After lunch we headed off to the Futarasan-Jinja Shrine which is dedicated to the mountain Nantai, the mountains cosort,Nyotai & their mountainous progeny, Taro.
We then went to Taiyuin, this is a little replica of Tosho-gu. It also has storehouses, drum tower & Chinese gate. Very beautiful.

We were really sorry to leave Nikko. It was a great day out & hopefully we'll come back again some day.
WE made our way back to the station & stopped again to admire the Shin-Kyo bridge.

For dinner we chose a steakhouse near the Tokyo Plaza. The steaks were very good but the glasses of red wine we ordered were terrible. for some reason in Japan they like to serve red wine chilled which we don't like but the worst part was that it was very cloudy & tasted like vinegar it had clearly been open for some time. We left it & ordered 2 beers. Total bill 12800y.

oh my. That reminds me of the time my husband and I drove from our home in Alexandria, Virginia for hours to a small town in to go antique shopping (I think it was Winchester). Only we got to Winchester and there were no antique shops, and it took us forever to figure out that we had driven to that city in MARYLAND instead of VIRGINIA. Wrong state. Never have gotten to the right town in the right state to go antique shopping.

Sorry you missed Hakone, but I think Kamakura and Nikko were great day trips. Hakone is really a better place for overnight anyway, IMO. There is much to do there besides the circuit route, and it is great for a ryokan night (esp. if you are like me and only want one ryokan night, thank you). Save it for next time.

I hope you saw Fuji-san on the train to Kyoto...

The kushiage place sounds great. I'll have to try that type of cuisine. And you got to see the traditional archery, what a break if you didn't realize it was going on til you got there. Some people plan their entire trips Japan to see that in Kamakura in April. It only happens once or twice a yr.

I really think I'll do an overnight in Nikko after reading your report. A lot to see, and it would be nice to have the next 1/2 day also...

Clark:

Great report and loving all the detail. Bummer about the Hakone fiasco. Thanks for letting us know about it.

Anxious to here about Nikko as we are planning a couple of nights there in April taking in the scenery and the onsens.

Aloha!

well, posted a little late as I now see Nikko!

When we returned home I tried to find out where the other Hakone is situated but I couldn't find it anywhere. I think it must have been North of Tokyo bcoz we would've had to backtrack to Tokyo & go on from there.
One thing I didn't say was that on the way there after our 1st Train change we had to change the platform & were unsure where to go so we asked the ticket man & he said to go to platform 4. We did & as we were waiting for the train a man asked us where we were going & we said Hakone, he was also waiting for the train at platform 4. He started pushing buttons on his phone & told us that it was platform 5 for Hakone. The train then came in & he got on the train & as we were about to go to the other platform the train moved away & we saw him moving his arms around frantically, he had realised that he made a mistake & we should've gotten on his train at platform 4. We then had to wait another hour for the next one but it made us laugh coz we kept seeing him looking completely devastated waving those hands around with all the other passengers looking at him. Anyway, It just wasn't our day was it?

Tomorrow I'll post our Takayama - Kananzawa Segment.

note to self, read this TR

Well, you can't always take the train station man's word for the track numba either. When I was at JR Arishiyama station in April trying to go back to Kyoto, the train man said I had to cross over the track on the little bridge and go on the train on the other side of the tracks. This seemed wrong to me, like I'd be going in the wrong direction. But I figured he knew. Of course it was the wrong way. But as a result we got to cross over two of the most beautiful river gorges on tracks high above the gorge. It was a great "side trip."

I hate to even post anything at all because I feel so guilty for not having posted a trip report yet (sorry, sorry, sorry!!!), but just wanted to add that we got to ride on the Nozomi for free from Osaka to Tokyo because we were directed to it incorrectly by a train station employee. Like emd's experience, sometimes those mistakes turn out to be blessings in disguise.

My first day ever in Japan was a Sunday in November and I too went to Meiji Jingu. The children were dressed up for shichi-go-san which is celebrated on Sundays in November.

I wonder where you went for Hakone. You said you got tickets at Shinjuku station. Was is the JR station or the Odakyu station? When you mentioned getting the tickets instead of the pass were you referring to a JR Pass or the Hakone Free Pass? or one of the ones that includes Kamakura and the Enoden line?

Am enjoying the report, thanks, got as far as Nikko with you.

And I recall that that picture of the splendid little girl at Meiji was your favorite Japan picutre, mrw.

j, don't fret. Is this why you have been maybe lurking but not posting? Don't do that to yourself or to anyone else here. My comment on the other thread was innocent and just a fact, not a guilt trip- I never even thought twice about it as I thought you were gonzo. I am just glad someone is posting on that shrine as I have been waiting to hear about it.

If anyone can figure out the "other Hakone" and where it is, I think it will be mrw. Or maybe it is just some bizarre Twilight Zone type experience...

hakonegasaki?
hakoneitabashi?
hakoneyumoto?

yes you should have asked for tickets to Odawara which is the gateway to Hakone via JR

If you took Odayaku train from Shinjuku again station is odawara or hakone-yumoto sta if I am reading schedule right.

Search using Tokyo/Hakone pulls up the aforementioned 3 towns.

Aloha!

you have a very good memory, e.

Hakone Yumoto would be the right station but JR doesn't go there.

Hakoneitabashi is between Odawara and Hakone-Yumoto.

Probably was Hakonegasaki. You can get there by a L'Ex from Shinjuku to Hachioji and then a local train. So I could believe a JR person at Shinjuku might think of *gasaki first. Maybe something got lost in translation. Gaijin might say "we want a ticket to Hakone". JR-jin says "Hakonegasaki desu ka?" Gaijin figures that "gasaki desu ka" means, roughly, "is where you want to go?" Gaijin nods ...

Anyway, great report, looking forward to days 7 thru 21.

mrw, I wish that you would post all your Japan and Thailand (and Vietnam) pics online again somewhere.

Happy Thanksgiving to the Americans here. The pie ingredients in the kitchen are calling me.

It was definitely Hakonegasaki, although I still don't know where it is.

mrwunrfl, We got the tickets at the JR ticket office & were planning on going to the counter where they sell the Hakone Free pass but stupidly to save time we didn't.

Day 7 Takayama

We got up at 6am & checked out of the hotel. We really liked the Akasaka Prince hotel & were wondering if we would be just as happy with the Capitol Tokyu Hotel that we had booked for our last 2 nights in Japan.
We had sent our suitcase on to Kyoto so we only had 1 bag for the Takayama/Kanazawa trip.

We caught the 7.36am train to Takayama. When we arrived we went straight to the tourist office in front of the station. After getting info & maps we went to the bus station to reserve seats for the next day to Shirakawago & Kananzawa. The lady told us that the only bus from Shirakawago to Kanazawa was full so we wouldn't be able to stop off there. We were really disappointed as we were looking forward to spending the day there but we couldn't do anything about it so we reserved a seat to Kanazawa.

Our hotel the Washington plaza was across the street from the station so we went there to check-in. The receptionist told us that check-in time was from 2pm so we left our bag & coats & went to look for somewhere for lunch. It was a beautiful day so we decided to buy some sandwiches. There was a Lawsons store across the street & we ended up buying the hot snacks they have there; Spicy chicken & pork & deep fried fish balls.

Ten minutes later we made our way to the Jinya Historical Govt. House with it's nice garden & torture chamber, very interesting. We then crossed the river to the Merchant Houses where we visited a couple along with a Sake Brewery. We then headed off to the Float museum. At the door they ask you if you want a tape recorder which explains all about the floats in English & is great.
Next we went to the Lion masks museum where we managed to catch the end of a Karakuri show.

When we left it was 3pm & we decided that because we couldn't visit Shirakawago the next day we would go to the Hida Folk Village even though we knew we wouldn't have much time there. We just managed to catch the 3.40pm bus & after about 10 minutes we arrived. We only had an hour to visit but we managed to complete all the tour route & visit the houses which we enjoyed very much.

WE caught the bus back to the station & went straight to the hotel. We were pleasantly surprised by the Washington Plaza Hotel. You reach the lobby by escalator where there's also a bar & restaurant. The room was quite a good size adequate or 2 people, although the bathroom as very small, but that didn't bother us. We paid 110 US Dollars for the room.

For dinner not far from the hotel we found Murasaki Pub, it was very busy mainly with young people. We had steamed dumplings & mixed skewers, washed down with a couple of beers. Total Bill 4500y

Next Kanazawa

Day 8 & 9 - Kanazawa

We checked out of the hotel & had coffee & toast at a cafe next door then got the 9.45am bus to Kanazawa, it stopped for 10 minutes at Shirakawago. It was a beautiful day so there were loads of people, probably also because it was a Saturday. It was a shame we couldn't stay longer but C'est La Vie so we got back on the bus & carried on to Kanazawa. We enjoyed the bus ride from Takayama very much, the scenery was breathtaking & would definitely recommend the bus rather than the train for this trip.

When we arrived in Kanazawa we had sandwiches at the station then went to the tourist office to get maps & info. The lady told us where to get the bus to the APA Chou Hotel. It stopped practically outside. The receptionist told us that check-in time was from 4pm so we left our bag & jackets & set off to visit Kenrokuen Gardens.

The gardens are lovely & we took loads of photos, I'm not really a garden person but Japanese gardens are really special. We visited the Seison Kaku villa which is situated on the Southeastern edge of the garden. The villa is very elegant & worth the visit. We ended our day with a quick visit to the castle across the street from the gardens.

Back at the hotel we checked-in & went up to our room. When I opened the door my 1st thought was that they had made a mistake & given us a single room, but a closer look revealed a double bed, albeit a small double bed which was aginst the wall with only a 6 inch space at the bottom, so to get out of bed you have to climb over your partner. There was also only enough room between the bed & the television to sidestep to the bathroom. There was no room for a wardrobe so they had put up a couple of hooks on the wall across from the bathroom door. And thank heavens we sent our suitcase on to Kyoto because there was no room for it. The only place we could leave our small bag was in front of the door. We paid 112 US Dollars which is'nt expensive but I would prefer to pay a bit more for a larger room. The location is fantastic though.

Because the room was so small I decided to do some shopping while my husband showered & got ready for dinner. There's a shoe shop not far from the hotel & I fell in love with a pair of shoes. Unfortunately or fortunately (We kept our baggage to a minimum so no way was there place for an extra pair of shoes) they didn't have my size. I headed off to Gucci. There was a lot of young people buying bags & it seems to me that Japanese people are obsessed with Gucci & Vuitton goods, even men.
I went back to the hotel with my Visa Card intact.

For dinner we went to a Sashimi & Sushi place about a 5 minute walk on the other side of the road from the hotel. The restaurant had a glass floor & you could see the fish swimming around. My Husband had Sashimi & I had Tempura with Sake. Total Bill 9800y.

We stopped at a bar called St Louis Jigger for a couple of Negroni's before heading back to the hotel.

The next morning we asked the receptionist if she could ring the Ninja-Dera Temple to make reservations for that day as you can't just turn up. We got booked for the last tour at 3.30pm We then st off for the Geisha District.

We strolled around the winding narrow streets & visited Shima, one of the Geisha houses, we then went across the street to visit another house called Kaikaro, very interesting as it gives you an insight on the Geisha way of life.

Next up was the Sakuda Gold Leaf Company.
There's gold everywhere even on the bathroom walls.
The gold leaf process starts with about 3cm of pure gold, then it's rolled out until it measures roughly 2mt X 2mt. & .0001mm thick, then it's cut into small squares about 10cm which is the ideal size for it's many uses. We were given some tea with specks of gold leaf in it. It's supposed to be good for Rheumitism.

We took the bus to the Omicho market but there was only a few stalls open as it was a Sunday so we went to look for a restaurant for lunch. We had Rice with 2 deep fried prawns & 1 large beer between us. 2600y. We then set off for the Samurai District.

We went straight to the Saihitsu-an Samurai House to watch the Kimono-Dyeing process.
A pattern is drawn on a fabric with blue ink from Spiderwort flowers, then they go over the lines with rice paste using a cone like instrument, this is to keep the dyes from running as they are painted onto the silk. The colours are filled in & covered with more rice paste & then the whole sheet of silk is dyed with the Kimono's background colour. Then the fabric is rinsed clean (This used to be done in the river) & steamed to fix the colour. It takes 3 months to dye a Kimono.
From here we went to visit the old Pharmacy.

It was about 3pm so we walked quickly to the Ninja-Dera for our tour. There were 4 American ladies so we were given a separate tour with them. because one of them spoke Japanese & translated for us so we were very lucky.
The Ninja-Dera is a large house which was designed as a hideout in case of attack. There's hidden staircases, escape routes, secret chambers, concealed tunnels & trick doors.
The tour lasted about an hour & we really enjoyed it.

We caught the bus back to the hotel & had a coffee in the cafe in the lobby.

For dinner we went to a little Okonomiyaki place just around the corner from the hotel. Of course we had no idea what to do with it so the owner got the chef to help us with it. We're not really omelette people but it was different & we enjoyed it.

Takayama & Kanazawa are a bit out the way but we were rally happy with our decision to go there. If you only have 2 weeks & it's your first visit to Japan then there are probably more important things to see, but if you have a few days more then the detour is definitely worth it. The fantastic scenery in itself in my opinion makes the trip worthwhile.

Next up Kyoto.

Did you get any gold leaf at Sakuda? Do they sell it anywhere else in Japan? Enjoying all the details of your report.Thanks again!

Aloha!

It is too bad there is no way to reserve the bus to Shirakawago before you get over there...I have not followed threads about this before very closely but I guess there is no way to go it ahead of time.

You had a full and well-planned day in Kanazawa! Kudos to you, you seem to have planned ahead and fit in what you wanted to see in your day there. It sounds like an interesting day for you.

Re your shoe story. Isn't it funny to try to buy clothing or any sized items in Japan. I had the same expereince (being "oversized" from a Japanese perspectve) w/swim suits at Sports Authority in Japan.

Cant' wait to hear how you planned your time in Kyoto. I love your travel style.

Actualy I think you can reserve a bus seat ahead of time. Take a look at JNTO site and download the Takayama/S Go pdf file. Page 6 of the pdf has the bus schedule and the tel# to call to reserve a seat. Here is the link

http://digbig.com/4nhaj

Aloha!

hawaii, that is good news that I don't recall hearing about. Maybe I have missed that in the many prior discussions of this bus route on this board. I wish Clark55 woudl have known, but hopefully this will help others.

Yes if I had known I would definitely have booked the bus in advance but as emd says at least it'll help others.

I didn't buy any gold leaf but I was tempted to buy the edible stuff because here in Italy a lot of restaurants serve Risotto with a small sheet of gold leaf on top but in the end I didn't bother.

Day 10 - Kyoto

We had coffee in the hotel lobby & left to catch the 9.12am train to Kyoto. When we arrived we had a look around the very futuristic station & took some photos then decided to have lunch. We went into what we thought was a noodle restaurant but discovered it was Italian, we decided to stay anyway & had Spaghetti with 2 small beers. Total bill 2350y.

We went straight to the Aranvert hotel & were expecting to be told we couldn't check-in until later but were pleasantly surprised when the receptionist immediately showed us to our room. The room was quite large & well decorated. I didn't know what to expect as I had a lot of problems trying to book a room in Kyoto as everything was fully booked for our date. I had begun to look for a room in Osaka when this hotel cropped up so I booked it before it was gone too. In the end it turned out to be a very good choice. There aren't very many restaurants or shops around the hotel but it's only one metro stop to the station.

We left the hotel & walked to Nishi Hongan-Ji. Unfortunately the main hall is being refurbished at the moment & won't be finished until 2010 so there's a lot of scaffolding around but we did visit the Daisho-in hall which is full of paintings & carvings & Kara-mon which is full of intricate ornamental carvings. Very nice.

We then walked to Higashi Hongan-ji, this is also under scaffolding but we did see the strange rope made from human hair donated by female believers, which was used to haul the timber for the reconstruction after a fire destroyed the temple in 1895. The gate to the temple is very impressive.

By this time it was 5pm so we walked back to the hotel stopping off 1st at a cafe for coffee.

For dinner there wasn't much choice of restaurants around the hotel so we decided to eat at the hotel restaurant. We had the set meal 3000y which consisted of; Roasted scallops - Carrot & Radish soup - Seabream - Langoustine with vegetables, Salad & Rice - Chocolate cake - Fresh fruit - Tea or Coffee. We thought this was a real steal for the price & it was so good we ate the same menu again on our last night in Kyoto.
We ended the night with a glass of wine at the bar.

Day 11 - Kyoto

We had made reservations to visit the Imperial Palace so we made our way there for the 10am. tour. It was really interesting, you can't go inside the Palace but there are some doors open so you can look inside. The guide was very good but she had a hard job keeping everyone together as people were wandering off to take photos instead of listening to her. It made me happy that we travel individually as group travel certainly wouldn't be for us.

After the tour we headed off to Nijo Castle.
There's different Tatami rooms with beautiful murals & models dressed in traditional clothes. The corridors squeak when you walk along them, this was supposedly done on purpose to alert the lords of a persons presence.

We decided to visit Gion & stopped off on the way to visit the very bright & colourful Yasaka Shrine. Very nice.

At Gion we crossed the bridge & went to explore Pontocho Alley. As we turned a corner a Geisha came out of a door, she was taking her time but when she saw us she hurried to a waiting car. Unfortunately we didn't have time to take a photo. We had coffee near the bridge before getting the metro back to the hotel.

For dinner we went again to the hotel restaurant. My husband had the box with 8 different dishes which he pronounced as great & I had stir-fried noodles with chicken washed down with Sake. We were really getting to like Sake. Total bill 8500y.

Day 12 - Nara

We took the 9am train to Nara, then changed trains & went on to Horyuji. From the station we walked about 15 mintues to Horyuji Temple. The temple area was fantastic. It's made up of ancient wooden temples which are supposedly the oldest wooden structures in the world & Pagodas from 8th Century Japan. There weren't very many people there so it made the visit more enjoyable. There's a museum next door with ancient artifacts & sculptures. We loved this place & would recommend making the extra trip while visiting Nara. It shouldn't be missed.

We got the train back to Nara, about 20 minutes. We walked about 25 minutes to Nara Park & immediately were surrounded by deer. My husband told me that the Japanese see the deer as their ancient ancestors reincarnated & are therefore protected by them.

The path to the Great Buddha is lined with old stone lanterns. We visited a couple of shrines on the way as we made our way up the hill to Kiyomizu. It was a beautiful day & the views of the surrounding mountains was spectacular.

We arrived at the Todoji temple, the Great Buddha's home. The temple is enourmous as is the Great Buddha itself. It's over 16mt. high & consists of 437 tons of bronze & 130kg. of gold. There were loads of school kids visiting & as we walked around the buddha at the back we saw the kids trying to climb through a hole in a wooded column. As we were watching this ritual a lady approached us & explained that if you can squeeze through the hole you are ensured of enlightment. The kids were one thing as they had no problem squeezing through the hole but adults were a different matter. We witnessed one lady with 2 children who were trying to push her through, she couldn't stop laughing, we couldn't either & in the end she gave up. Thank heavens she was wearing trousers.

After the Great Buddha we looked for a restaurant. We walked past a shop selling all kinds of souvenirs, it was run by an old couple & they both had headbands with deer antlers, they looked really sweet. The shop was full of school kids & they were having a hard time trying to serve them all. The old man saw us looking at the menu & came over & hurried us to one of two tables at the back of the shop, he gave us some tea & rushed back to the kids. After about 15 minutes his wife served us excellent Curry Noodles. When we had finished the old man gave us an ice cream cone, the ice cream was a grey colour & we couldn't figure out what flavour it was, maybe poppy seed? he then opened up a Japanese umbrella & gave it to me so that my husband could take my photo. I motioned to him to stand beside me & my husband took our photo. It's one of the best photos from the whole trip.
Another thing made us laugh. When the school kids were feeding the biscuits to the deer they made the deer bow before giving it to them, we thought it was really funny.

We headed back to the station & got the train back to Kyoto.

For dinner we took the metro to Gion & once again walked down Pontocho Alley. In the evening there's a different atmosphere than in the daytime. It's very mysterious, we could hear voices & music coming from some of the ancient wooden houses & it made us wonder what was going on behind the closed doors.

We walked back to the bridge & after a few minutes found a sushi restaurant with the conveyer belt system. It was very busy but the waitress soon found us a couple of seats. The 1st plate I took caused a pile up of the other plates & the chef had to stop the belt & fix the plates. He must have been thinking "Damn tourists" I'm not bad with chopsticks but I couldn't manage to pick up the sushi pieces because they were too big & when I did manage to pick it up it landed in my lap. I thought this is going from bad to worse I ended up eating with my fingers. The people next to me were having a right laugh & it was a really fun dinner. Total bill with Sake 4200y. We walked over the bridge & had a drink in a pub that I think was called The Pig & whistle before getting the metro back to the hotel.

I've never really had much of a desire to go to Nara, but your report is swaying me.

My daughter asked me out of the blue last night when we are going back to Japan.

Those little Mom and Pop resturants are the best, aren't they. I ate at one like that close to Fushini shrine and I still remember the lady who owned it and who served us.

Have never heard of your hotel. Can you tell us a bit more about it, where is it, what was the room like, cost, etc. People on here are always asking abotu rooms in Kyoto and if you were able to find this one when the city was booke dup, someone may want more info on it to try to book it sometime...

Clark55, you inspired my day today. I was shopping a few miles from where I live tonight and stumbled upon a Japanese store (shoji screens, kimono robes and shoes, traditional dishes, food items, etc.). I was psyched.

I asked the woman working there if she could recommend a Japanese restaurant nearby and she directed me a block away to what she called "a not fancy but very good traditional restaurant." She told me to order off of the Japanese menu. So I went over there. OMG. Mrwunrfl, how did we miss this one when you lived in Northern VA? It is called Blue Ocean on Main St. in Fairfax. This was like some of the little traditional Japanese restaurants I've been to in Japan. It was like a little vacation! After I had the best hamachi sashimi I've ever had (very thick and fresh) I asked the American waitress they sent over (she grew up in Japan and speaks fluent Japanese) to help me order off of the Japanese menu. OMG. It was so good. I had age mochi kinoko (a mochi patty that is softly fried so it is hot, topped w/several exotic mushrooms and a cool dark broth). Then I had some kind of vegetable croquete kind of thing w/a special sauce. And I brought home kitsune udon, my daughter and son's favorite. You can even order from 3 different full kaesiki meals but it has to be ordered a week in advance. And you can order any of 6 diff. nabes (shabu shabu, and even chanonabe is on there) if you order it 24 hrs in advance.

I was so psyched to find this place. Hand painted murals of The Wave and Mt. Fuji on the walls. Lots of Japanese lanterns. Lots of Japanese language buzzing around me at the tables, all occupied at 9 pm.

Here is a review of the place if anyone finds themselves in Northern VA, Fairfax area.

http://tinyurl.com/ye8trp


So thanks for getting me inspired today w/your trip report!

Sorry you couldn't make the stop at S-go but sounds like you had a good time in the mountains anyway and had a good amount of time in Kanazawa. Going to the Hida no Sato was a good backup to S-go.

That rate for the APA Chuo sounds very high. I had a semi-double there which was almost too small for just me. You described the close quarters well. A couple would definitely want a twin room there.

ht, way to go, thanks for pointing out the bus res info.

hakonegasaki is west of Tokyo, just north of Hachioji.

I will try Blue Ocean next time I'm in NoVa, thanks emd!

The rooms at APA hotels in general are small, as it is a business hotel chain, but their rates are generally much better than what Clark55 got at APA Chuo. I see double rooms and twin rooms on a variety of dates in the future for the usual ¥5000 - ¥10,000, some rates including breakfast. The room size there ranges from 11 - 16 square meters, about 1/2 the size of the rooms at the Tokyu Excel Kanazawa, at about 1/3 the price. Twin rooms are the most spacious as far as I can tell. This is a hotel where reservations made in English are at rack rate, and reservations made in Japanese are at discounted rates, often very discounted.