mrw, you might also like a quick stop at the store I was in- Samurai Japanese Outlet store, in Fair City Mall at 9650 Main St. It is across from Woodson High School and next to the shopping center where Blue Ocean is.

their co. website is here:
http://www.javenue.com/merchant2/

Their prices are great. Better than in Japan on some things. Great shoji lamps.

So I am thinking if there is going to be a GTG in Japan at end of March maybe I will get there...

I was checking to see if Clark55 had posted anymore on the report, but sicne I am here I will make your mouth water and tell you that I took my husband and son back to Blue Ocean tonight. We ordered a katsu appetizer, hamachi sushimi (again), soba, and a sashimi box that had the most amazing white tuna, clams, and other delicacies in it layered on top of sushi rice, and then off the Japanese menu a flounder dish w/a light sweetish BBQ sauce, another exotic mochi dish, and a katsu-don. Oh, and mochi red bean ice cream w/red bean sauce for dessert. Everything excellent.

Hurry back, Clark55.

emd, I'm so glad you've found your Japanese fix at home. It'll help fill the gap until your next trip.

mrwunrfl, I'm pretty sure we were given the Semi-Double room at the APA Chou bcoz the bed was the smallest double bed I've seen it was more like a single & a half. A couple should definitely book a twin there. Maybe we paid more than usual bcoz we only booked the hotel a couple of weeks before we left & it was a weekend.

I'm curious how you booked clark55. Did you book direct through APAhotels? In English or Japanese if so? Or did you use a third party booking agent?

Kim, I booked directly through the APA website in English. The price for the room was 13000y for the double but I'm convinced it was a Semi double. I can't remember but I don't think we got a choice of rooms.

That explains the high rate right there. Booking in English is at rack rates. They list ¥13,000 as the rate for a double. A semi-double bed is slightly wider than a twin but narrower than a double, which sounds like what you got. In Japanese, doubles run about ¥9000 and semi-doubles about ¥7500. It's one thing I don't like about this chain...dual pricing.

Day 13 - Kyoto

We had planned quite a busy day today so we were on our way by 8am. The 1st stop was the Kinkakiji Temple, better known as the Golden Pavillion. We got the bus as the Metro doesn't go there. The bus seemed to take forever, it stopped about 20 times before we got to our destination & it was pretty crowded.

It was a beautiful day & the Pavillion looked spectacular sparkling in the sun & it's refelction in the pond made it even more suggestive. Even though it was quite early there were large groups of schoolkids so we couldn't linger very long so after a stroll around the grounds we left for the Ryoanji Temple.

The main attraction here isn't the temple which isn't anything special but the Zen Rock Garden. It's basically a large sea of sand with around 15 large rocks strategically placed. You're supposed to look at it & let your mind drift until you see something else. I tried to see something poetic but try as I might I could only see rocks in the sand.
We had a look around the lovely garden then left for the Silver Pavillion.

There was a taxi outside the temple so we decided to splurge & go by taxi which cost 2000y.
I was quite disappointed with the Silver Pavillion. First of all it isn't silver but wood because unfortunately the shogun never managed to finish it so it's pretty ordinary.
The garden is nice though.

We left & walked to the Philosophers Pathway. As soon as we got there we had fried noodles with vegetables & pork at a little restaurant. 2400y.
The walk is nice & peaceful & there are several nice temples along the way, the last being Eikan-do Temple. We followed the arrows along the walkway connecting the gardens & halls. In the Amida-do hall there's a Buddha glancing backwards. We had to change into slippers to climb the steps to the Taho Pagoda where there's nice views over Kyoto.
We stopped off for some ice cream before heading back to the hotel.

For dinner we decided to explore the streets near the hotel. We stopped to have a look at a menu & suddenly found ourselves being hurried into the restaurant by 2 smiling Chefs.
It turned out to be a Yakitori restaurant & we enjoyed the various skewers very much. It was also quite cheap Total bill with beer. 2800y.

Day 14 - Himeji

We had originally planned to visit Himeji Castle on the way to Miyajima the next day but decided to do it as a side trip from Kyoto.

We arrived at Himeji at around 9.30 & walked to the castle. It took about 20 minutes. You can see the castle all along the way so there's no chance of getting lost.

The Castle is huge & very well maintained. You have to change into slippers for the visit & I found great difficulty climbing the stairs with these on because they were too big so I took them off.
The visit took about 1hr.30min. really worth the trip. By the time we got back to the station it was lunchtime so we had sandwiches before catching the train back to Kyoto.

We went straight to Sanjusangen-do Shrine, housing 1001 Kannon figures in Japans longest wooden building. It's an awesome site with the largest Kannon flanked on either side by 500 smaller Kannons.
After the Shrine we went back to the hotel to pack our suitcase that we were sending on to Tokyo.

For dinner as I said already we had the same set menu at the hotel restaurant that we had on our 1st night.
Before dinner we decided to check out the Onsen on the top floor of the hotel. There was noone in the female one so I showered & got into the bath. There's windows all around so I spent a relaxing half hour surrounded by Kyoto by night views.
A wonderful end to our Kyoto visit.

Day 15 - Miyajima

We were very happy with our stay at the Aranvert hotel. We paid 15000y per night & thought this was very good value. It's not the Westin but the rooms are a good size & very nicely decorated. They also have an Ice machine & a Washing machine & Dryer on the top floor which is very handy if you run out of clean clothes.
I don't think the hotels been open very long as everything looks new.
It's location is also very good, a 2 minute walk to the Gojo Metro station & 1 stop from the station or a 10 minute walk.
We would definitely stay here again.

We got the train to Hiroshima, then changed to a local train before catching the Ferry to Miyajima. As you approach the dock the captain steers the ferry so you can photograph the floating Torri. Outside you're met by friendly deer just like Nara.
We went straight to our Ryoken Bentonnoyado Itsukushima. The receptionist told us Check-in was after 3pm so we left our bag & went to explore Miyajima.

The tide was out so we decided not to take photos of the famous floating Torii as we had worked out that the tide would be in the next morning.

We went to Senjo-kaku. This is a huge hall with paintings hung on the ceiling. It lookes out on to a very pretty & colourful 5 Storey Pagoda.
We left & went to Daisho-in Temple. We loved this place. It's really quirky. There's bells, statues, pools, Buddhist Monks chanting, you name it it's here.
We reluctantly left & made our way to catch the cable car for Mt Misen.
It was a beautiful day & the views were spectacular over the ocean.
We got the cable car back down again & went to our Ryoken.

The receptionist showed us to our room & told us all the rules & regulations of the house. She told us we should wear our Yukata for our meals & asked when we wanted dinner, we said 8pm & she replied it was too late so we asked if 7.30pm would be OK, she said 7pm would be better so we agreed.
There was tea & little maple cakes filled with red bean paste. My husband wasn't so keen on them but I liked them as they're not too sweet.

We went to dinner punctually at 7pm & we were the only ones there. We noticed that all the other tables had big pots in the centre but ours didn't.
The waitress brought us some Tofu with Wasabi, then came beef with aubergines on a maple leaf which we had to heat over a small grill, it was served with rice & pickles, really very good. Then came the disappointing bit; a breaded shrimp with Mayonnaise & a fork of spaghetti & a tiny salad. Before dessert we were served a clear soup with strange leaves. The dessert was Banana Mousse.

By this time other guests had arrived & we were the only ones wearing our Yukata's which made us feel out of place. We also realised we had a different menu from the other guests, the pot on the table was to cook Shabu Shabu.
The next morning was the same, without asking we were served Orange Juice, Toast with butter & jam & a half cup of coffee, while all the other guests were served a Japanese breakfast, which we would like to have tried even if it meant we didn't eat very much. After all it's all part of why you stay in a Ryoken. I asked for more coffee & was told I would have to pay extra. Considering that we paid
46.500 y for the night we thought that was a bit much.
We booked the Ryoken through Japanese Guest houses & unfortunately this was the only Ryoken that had rooms available for our dates. For a good Ryoken experience in my opinion it has to be a small family run place, this was more like a hotel with Japanese rooms. It has around 50 rooms which I think is too big, but everyone to their own.

Day 16 - Hiroshima - Osaka

Before leaving Miyajima we went to visit the Itsukushima Shrine.
8 & 108 are lucky numbers in Japanese culture. The shrine has 8 floor boards between each support which has 8 turns in it, the distance from the huge lantern at the alter to the floating torii is 108 canes; this is an old Japanese measurement; 1 cane = 1.6mt. From the end of the Torii is 88 canes. This was all explained to us by a very nice Japanese couple who were also visiting the Shrine. We thanked them for this very interesting piece of info because there was nothing in English to explain this & we would have left without knowing this.
We headed back to the dock to catch the ferry to Hiroshima.

We arrived in Hiroshina & went straight to the Peace park by streetcar. Everything's already been said about this tragic event on other trip reports so I won't go into any detail only that the tears started flowing at the A-Bomb Dome & only stopped on the train bound for Osaka.

The Anavert looks nice on the website, esp. the large bath on upper floor w/the view. Thanks for the review. Good location also, btwn. Kyoto Station and Shijo-dori.

I looked at the japaneseguesthouses site to see if there were different tiers of meal options at you rmiyajim ryoak but there are not any described there. I would have also been upset if I had not gotten the quality of meal the other geusts got, unless they somehow arranged to get a higher quality meal ahead of time (calling on the phone in Japanese maybe?), which may be the case I suppose. I do see that the one review on japaneseguesthouses site says that the reviewer got a 12 course meal; I wonder how that happened. I see you have posted a comment on the tripadvisor forum about your experience there (it sounds like your description of the experience here).

I had no idea about the 8 and 108 and the shrine either. Interesting info.
I am glad you had good weather at Miyajima. We had snow and cold and heavy low cloud cover when we went there. Couldn't even see the mountain...

Ok, I thinkyou are on the way to Mt. Koya now. I am dying to know if you stopped at Disney on the way out of the country.

emd, with regards to the Ryoken experience apart from the fact that we were served a different meal as far as I know it's not normal to be served Shabu Shabu either at a Ryoken. As I said before the Ryoken is quite large & it's probably very difficult for them to serve the traditional Kaiseki dinner.

Day 16 - continued

We arrived at Namba station at around 3pm. We didn't have a clue where our hotel was but as the name was "Il Cuore Namba" (The Heart Namba) we assumed it was near the Namba station. There's an info office at the station & I asked a lady there for directions. she didn't speak any English but made signs for me to wait, she left the office & returned with a waiter from a restaurant next door, they made a phone call & handed me the phone saying "English" The voice said: "Exit 4, cross the street, go straight, hotel on left." I don't know if it was someone from the hotel or not anyway we thanked them & made our way to exit 4. We crossed the street & sure enough there was the hotel.

Il Cuore is very nice. It hasn't been open long so everything's very new. there's free coffee & internet in the lobby & the rooms are very light & spacious, although we had a twin room which is probably bigger than a double. The location's great, across the street from Namba station & right in the heart of things, hence the hotels name. We paid 120 US dollars per night.

For dinner we went to look for Dotombori, Osaka's answer to the Las Vegas Strip. There's colourful flashing lights everywhere with an enormous amount of bars & restaurants. If you're in a hurry this isn't the street to be in as there's so many people you have to inch your way along.
To get away from the crowds we slipped down a side street & found a restaurant. My husband had Sashimi & I had Tempura. total bill with Sake. 9000y.

Day 17 - Mt Koya

We asked the hotel if they would keep our bags as we were returning the next day & they said it wouldn't be a problem so we left with a small overnight bag to Mt Koya.

At Namba station we bought the tickets & asked which platform we should go to & were directed to platform 2. There was a train waiting so we got on. After about 10 minutes the guy that told us the platform number rushed on the train looking extremely flustered & practically dragged us off. We ran with him to another platform where he indicated to get on the train, we just got seated when another man rushed on looked at our tickets & hurried us off & took us to the 1st carriage at the front of the train, we just got on when the train started moving. I was thinking hopefully this isn't going to be another Hakone fiasco. At one point I looked behind & saw that the rest of the train was missing, hence the reason the man moved us to the front carriage. The worrying thing was that we were the only people on the train & we didn't have a clue where the hell we were going. The train stopped & when we got off I showed the 1st person we saw our tickets & was relieved when he nodded & directed us to the Koyasan cable car.

The cable car made it's way up the steep mountainside. When we got to the top we then had to get a bus to the Temple; Shojoshinin. We couldn't check in until 3pm so we left our bag & went across the street to the info office for a map. We got the bus to Okonuin Gobyo Mausoleum. As we got off the bus it started to rain. Luckily I had brought an umbrella.

Okonuin is an enormous cemetary with over 200,000 Tombstones so it's an amazing sight. The path to the cemetary is lined with lanterns & Cypress trees. At the centre is Kobo Daishi's tomb the most important Buddhist of all time. He went to China & brought back his learnings to Japan & settled in Koyasan & taught what he had learnt.
The most important Buddhists in Japan have had their remains or just a lock of hair interred in this graveyard to ensure they're there when the future Buddha & Kukai return to the world.
Amongst all the tombs there's a really strange one; it's the White Ant Memorial, built by a pesticide company to relieve it's guilt for the murder of all the little insects.

We left & got a bus to the centre of the village & had lunch at a restaurant. We had noodle soup with vegetable tempura & 1 large beer between us. 2100y.

After lunch we got the bus to Kongobuji temple, then from there walked to Fudodo, Kondo & Konpon Daito before finishing our visit at the Daimon Gate with it's 2 fiercely glaring guardian Deities flanking each side. We got the bus back to the temple.

The Temples don't take credit cards so we paid 1900y in cash for the night with breakfast & dinner. The lady showed us to our room which fortunately had a heater as it was quite cold. Bathrooms are shared but there's a sink in the room although no hot water.

Dinner was at 5.30pm A monk accompanied us to a room with tatami mats. There was another couple but there was a wooden screen between us.
Food of course is vegetarian. There was at least 12 different dishes beautifully prepared & although we didn't like everything we enjoyed the meal very much.
after dinner we went for a walk but everything was closed so we went to bed early after setting the alarm clock for the 6.30am morning service.

Day 18 - Mt Koya - Osaka

Just before 6.30am a big bell is rung which indicates the start of the service. 3 monks performed the ceremony which lasts around 40 minutes after which breakfast is served.

Overnight the skies had cleared & it was another beautiful day. We caught the 8.17am cable car & by 10.30am we were in Namba Station.
We went to the hotel to leave our bag & were told we could check in immediately. We left about an hour later & headed of to the Umeda Sky Building to visit the Floating Garden Observatory. Before the visit we had lunch at the Metro Station. Curry Rice with 2 cokes. 2000y.
It's very easy to find the Sky Building because it stands out because of it's space-age shape. First we took an elevator then we had to take a white knuckled glassed-in escalator ride for the final 5 storeys.
The 360° views of Osaka wre breathtaking & we took loads of photos.
On the way back to the station my husband found an anormous Electronic shop & that was it I couldn't get him out of there for over an hour.

Back at the hotel we discussed our options for the next day. We were undecided if we should try to get to Hakone again or go to Sea Disney. In both cases we wanted to stay overnight. We had booked the Capitol Tokyu Hotel for the last 2 nights but with the cancellation policy we could cancel before 2pm. without a penalty. In the end we decided on Sea Disney as by this time we were all templed out.

For dinner we went to a Sashimi/Sushi restaurant that also had Shabu Shabu. We were shown to seats at the counter next to 3 gentlemen. When they heard us talking they asked us where we were from in Italy. We were surprised when they said they were Chinese & worked for Piaggio the Italian Scooter Company. My husband ordered the the mixed Sashimi/Sushi & I asked for Shabu Shabu. They said I couldn't eat Shabu Shabu at the counter because there wasn't enough room so we had to sit at a table which was a shame because our next big trip will probably be China & we could've asked them for advice. Anyway, we had a nice dinner & I really enjoyed the Shabu Shabu. Total Bill with Sake 8700y.

Day 19 - Tokyo

We got up early because we wanted to catch the 8.19am train from Shinosaka station. We had coffee in the lobby & we were off.

We got on the train & were surprised when the train didn't move. For the 1st time since we arrived in Japan people were using their cell phones on public transport so something was clearly wrong. After about an hour I went to look for someone to ask what was wrong. With sign language 2 of the train staff told me that they had no idea when we would be leaving & pointed to another 3 trains & indicated we would have to wait until they left, in other words all the trains to Tokyo were running late & we were 4th in line to leave.
I decided to buy some sandwiches & coke at the platform kiosk because I had a feeling we wouldn't be going anywhere soon. In fact by the time we left it was nearly 11am & worse was still to come because we had to stop continually to wait for other trains. We realised that the train system in Japan is so precise that when something does happen it sends the whole network in Tilt. The 3 hour journey took 4 1/2 hours this of course meant no Sea Disney. I was glad I hadn't cancelled the hotel in Tokyo for that night.
We never did find out why the trains were late.

We got the metro to the hotel & hoped we wouldn't have trouble finding it, we needn't have worried as when we exited the metro station the Capitol Tokyu Hotel was facing us.
The receptionist informed us we had been upgraded to a Deluxe room so that was a nice surprise, in fact the room was the biggest we had in Japan & was beautifully decorated.
We booked the hotel through Precision reservations & paid 140 US Dollars per night.
We were extremely pleased with both our hotel choices in Tokyo.

For dinner we had Teriyaki beef at a restaurant near the hotel which was very good. Total bill with Sake 10000y.

Day 20 - Tokyo

This was our last day in Japan & we didn't want to take trains & stuff, we just wanted a nice & easy day before our flight home the next day.

We had coffee & croissants at a cafe near the hotel then went to visit our last shrine.
The Hie Jinja is next to the Capitol Tokyu so we really couldn't not go. It's not a must see attraction but the walk to the Shrine through a tunnel of orange Torii's is very nice.

After the shrine we split up as I wanted to go shopping & my husband hates shopping unless it's electronics.
I got the metro to Ginza & spent the rest of the morning browsing the Department stores. I had lunch in one of them & at the next table a couple asked me where I was from, when I said Italy they said they were planning a holiday next April. They asked me all sorts of questions & took notes so I hope I was some help to them.

After lunch I got the Metro to Shibuya & checked out all the shops there. I was secretly looking for a pair of shoes like the ones I saw in Kanazawa. I didn't see any like them but I saw another nice pair in a shop called Diana's but once again they didn't have my size. I was tempted to get the Metro back to Ginza because I had seen a Diana shop there too but by that time I was all shopped out so I got the metro back to the hotel.

For dinner we went back to the Kushiage restaurant at the Excel Plaza building & stuffed ourselves again with the mini skewers. This was definitely one of our favourite Japanese food & hope to eat it again sometime.
Before going back to the hotel we had a glass of wine at a pub a couple of minutes walk from the hotel.

Day 21 - Tokyo - Milan

The limousine bus picked us up at 8.40am. At the airport I bought some last minute souvenirs with our remaining Yen.
The flight left on time & as soon as we left we were served lunch, the menu was:
Western Style - Grilled Chicken with spicy sauce, Marinated cuttle-fish & baby scallops, Ham & Potato Roll & Banana Panna Cotta.

Japanese Style - Beef & Potato in sweet Soy Sauce with rice, sweet simmered Pacific Saury with Potato Mousse & mixed Asparagus with Sesame, Braised vegetables & for dessert Japanese sweet Jelly.

As we did on the way we chose one of each.
2 hours prior to arrival we were served Spaghetti with Clams, Salami 6 baked stuffed Potato, Tomato & Vegetable Salad, Japanese Delicacies, Fresh Fruit & Camambert cheese with a roll & butter.

We had a wonderful holiday in Japan, especially helped by beautiful weather. We were extremely lucky that we only had one day of rain out of the 3 weeks & it wasn't even rain more of a drizzle, This is quite important because most of the sights in Japan are outdoors.

The things that stood out for me other than the fact that Japanese people are extremely nice & helpful were all the School kids. The only place we didn't see the yellow caps was Mt Koya, there was even loads at the Umeda Sky Building.
Another thing was how Japanese people manage to sleep standing up waiting for the train or Metro & everyone sleeps on the Metro.
We also noticed that there's no big Lorry's in the cities. Are they banned?
We've travelled a lot around the world but don't think we've ever seen a country s clean as Japan even Shinjuku station with 2.000.000 commuters per day was spotless.

We are planning a couple of big trips to China & India but hopefully we'll return again to Japan. We loved it.

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

Loved this report.

I LOL about the White Ant. I can't imagine a U.S. corporation doing that.

Re your time at Koyasan- can you tell us what the service was like. And what was your room like? And what were some of the vegetarian dishes like- were they yuba based (the curd from tofu, sort of slimy gelatinous material)? I ask because I have thought of taking my daughter to Koyasan and she is vegetarian, but we really didn't like yuba when we had it at a temple restaurant in Kyoto.

I am so bummed that you missed Disney Sea. When you go back, start there so you make it there, and try to stay on site in one of the non-Disney hotels. There are some inexpensive ones. I've been thinking of going back there and also going to Disneyland there too.

How weird about that train not moving. I have never expereinced that, but you are right, it would be very disconcerting! Esp. if that was departure day and you had to get to Narita. I have done that from Kyoto, gone to Narita on departure day and I woudl have been freaking out if the train was not moving.

Glad you got that last night upgrade.

It sounds like you had a great time. I so appreciate your report. Am bookmarking it to refer to in the future. I am glad you are going back, maybe you'll do another great report!

I'll be sure to read your China report.