5 weeks in Japan--advice please, esp. transportation
 

Our Autumn dates are listed below for our first trip ever to Japan. We are a fit 50-something couple, experienced travelers who hope for daily averages of $65/person for lodging, $35/person for food, and $50/person for travel & attractions. We'll stay in some totally traditional lodgings (such as in Tsugamo and Koya-san), but other times try for quiet but unexciting lodgings with private bath. This itinerary is flexible and we may cut it back, especially given we don't know Japanese and may get tired of getting lost.

Our biggest question now is about TRAVEL VIA TRAIN AND BUS. The jr pass would only cover 3 weeks, and not all of the places we want to go, or it won't cover the buses we'd need. We know that some of this can be done with other types of passes, such as Kansai Thru Passes.

What we'd so appreciate is specifics on what type of ticket or pass to use on which day. Our aim is to be reasonably economical, but not to the point of excessive transfers or tedious or much more uncomfortable trips. ....THANKS!

Day# Day of week/Date
1 Tue 10/18/11 arr Tokyo /stay in Tokyo
2 Wed10/19/11 Tokyo /stay in Tokyo
3 Thu 10/20/11 Nikko/stay in Nikko
4 Fri 10/21/11 Nikko - close to Tsugamo/stay in Matsumoto?
5 Sat 10/22/11 ~Matsumoto -Tsumago(+Magome)/stay in Tsumago
6 Sun 10/23/11 Tsugamo - Narai-juku/stay in Narai-joku?
7 Mon 10/24/11 to Oku-Hida Onsengo/stay in Oku-Hida-Onsengo
8 Tue 10/25/11 to Kamikochi + Takayama/stay in Takayama
9 Wed10/26/11 Takayama/stay in Takayama
10 Thu 10/27/11 Takayama - Gokayama/stay in Gokayama
11 Fri 10/28/11 Gokayama+Shirakawago+Kanazawa/stay in Kanazawa
12 Sat 10/29/11 Kanazawa /stay in Kanazawa
13 Sun 10/30/11 Kanazawa to Okayama/stay in Okayama
14 Mon 10/31/11 Okayama/ stay in Okayama
15 Tue 11/1/11 Okayama - Kumamoto/stay in Kumamoto
16 Wed11/2/11 Kumamoto+Kirishima-Yaku NP+Beppu/stay in Beppu
17 Thu 11/3/11 Beppu - Hiroshima/stay in Hiroshima
18 Fri 11/4/11 Hiroshima/stay in Hiroshima
19 Sat 11/5/11 Miyajima Island/stay in Hiroshima
20 Sun 11/6/11 Hiroshima - Kurashiki/stay in Kurashiki
21 Mon 11/7/11 Takamatsu/stay in Takamatsu
22 Tue 11/8/11 Naoshima/stay in Naoshima
23 Wed11/9/11 Naoshima - Kyoto/stay Kyoto
24 Thu 11/10/11 Kyoto
25 Fri 11/11/11 Kyoto
26 Sat 11/12/11 Kyoto
27 Sun 11/13/11 Kyoto to Nara to Uji/stay in Uji
28 Mon 11/14/11 Uji - Tanabe/stay in Tanabe
29 Tue 11/15/11 Koya-san/stay in Koya-san
30 Wed11/16/11 Koya-san - Hakone/stay in Hakone
31 Thu 11/17/11 Hakone - Kamakura/stay in Kamakura
32 Fri 11/18/11 Kamakura - Tokyo/ stay in Tokyo
33 Sat 11/19/11 Tokyo
34 Sun 11/20/11 Tokyo
35 Mon 11/21/11 lv Tokyo

NOTE: Please don't refer us to hyperdia; it's hard to use for choosing one type of transportation or railpass over another. And, even japan-guide.com doesn't provide enough info for us to make such decisions.

Your overall plan appears to be well thought out, just more busy than I like, but everyone has their pace.

Your first stops you wouldn't use a JR Pass. For Nikko, there is a pass, something like a World Heritage Nikko pass - if you google that it'll come up. That might be a choice.

Matsumoto is the gateway to the Kiso valley. Without doing the math, I have no idea if one of the JR East passes would save you anything, but I'll leave that exercise to you.

From the Kiso valley to Kanazawa, you'll need to take the bus with your intended destinations. Gokayama is painful without your own car, as it's a series of tiny villages spread much too far apart to walk, with buses so infrequent I've actually never seen or passed one during many visits there from Kanazawa. You'd be better off sticking to S-go for its transport links and skipping the Gokayama villages unless you rent a car.

Unfortuately, the only way I know of to determine the value of passes is to cost out the prices of individual tickets and compare those to the cost of passes. You just need to be careful that you are comparing like to like, and checking scheduling and travel time to compare JR to private lines - like Kansai Thru Pass does not cover JR as the varieties of JR Passes don't cover private lines.

The websites for JR passes, Kansai Thru Pass, Hakone Free Pass, Nikko World Heritage, etc. all do a pretty good job of detailing what's covered. It's just a matter of doing the math.

My trips to Japan are not as long as yours so I concentrate more in one area - to me your trip seems much too busy - you are staying in 23 places in 35 nights.....my last trip was 8 in 12 nights but I was in the same area so the travel from one place to another was not too long. Of course, this is your trip so if you think it's doable that's your choice...

As far as the necessary passes, etc., even for a short trip I always do a spreadsheet and look up all the fares - bus, train, whatever - there's really no easier way to do it.

For me, japan-guide is extremely useful to find out how to travel between the areas and then I look online for more detailed schedules - it does help if you can read a little Japanese. Also japan-guide is good for answering specific questions although I don't think anyone could do a specific cost guide for you....

Good luck with your plan - I see you're going next month - do you have hotel reservations yet? Kyoto is a bit difficult in the fall foliage season....

Sounds like a great trip!

I haven't been to all of the places you plan to visit, but I have been to many. Although I recognize that we all travel for different reasons and at different paces, I offer a few thoughts for your consideration:

- I spent a few hours in Okayama's Korakuen. I was a bit disappointed, particularly in comparison to Kanazawa's Kenrukuen (which I'm glad I saw later). I was there in May, though, and I'm sure it will be different in the fall. Also, I found it easy to visit Okayama from Kurashiki. Combining them might be worth considering.

- I see that you plan to visit Miyajima as a day trip from Hiroshima. One of many highlights of my time in Japan was an overnight stay on Miyajima, in part because I loved the island and was glad to see it after day trippers left and in part because I stayed at a ryokan there. I don't know if it is still true, but when I planned my trip, the ryokan called Momiji-so was one of the most affordable (by far) ryokans in the country. I wanted to experience staying in a ryokan, but couldn't afford the vast majority of them. Momoji-so still gets good reviews, so you might want to check it out.

- Time in Kyoto and Nara. If I'm reading correctly, you are planning about 3 days in Kyoto and only part of a day in Nara. Although I also typically move around A LOT when I travel, I found 4 full days in Kyoto and 2 days in Nara barely enough to suit my interests. Again, it depends on what you want to see and experience, but you might want to re-evaluate your allocation of time to these 2 destinations.

Finally, let me echo Mara's observation that many hotels are fully booked well in advance of the fall foliage season, so if you haven't booked yet, you night want to do so soon.

Another couple of comments - Uji is quite close to Kyoto - couldn't you do it as a day trip - it does take time to pack up and register at a new hotel/inn, etc. Also Tanabe which I never heard of before and which does sound interesting might have been affected by the recent typhoon according to this webpage: http://www.tb-kumano.jp/en/q-and-a/typhoon-12.html

I agree with kja about spending a night in Miyajima - I stayed at Morinoyado. And another agreement about combining Okayama and Kurashiki - when I was in that area I used Kurashiki as my base for visiting Hiroshima, Okayama and Onomichi....

Also Kamakura is quite close to Tokyo - also could be a day trip.

It seems your transfer from Nikko to Matsumoto and the Kiso Valley area will be the most hassle as there doesn't seem to be a real direct route but japan-guide shows the main idea:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6079.html

You have been given very good advise above by our Japan experts KimJapan, Mara and kja.

A few random thoughts......

If you would leave a week to ten days later and finish a week to ten days later you would be giving yourself a better chance to see the fall colors almost everywhere you are going.

As Kim mentions renting a car in the Kiso Valley area would enhance your journey but you can do it by bus but heed Kim's warning about Goko

http://www.nouhibus.co.jp/english/

http://www.japan-guide.com/bus/shirakawago.html

If you would like to rent a car look here:

http://www2.tocoo.jp/?file=rentcar_i...in&asp_id=0001

You can calculate your train fares here;

www.hyperdia.com

You can see the list of train passes and explanations here:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357.html

passes to get to and from and around Nikko:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_002.html

I would add a night to Matsumoto to see the castle and take one away from Kamakura. In fact you can do a day trip to Kamakura from Tokyo or spend one night there and add nights to other places of interest.

Two nights in Hiroshima and one night on Miyajima would be ideal as mentioned above.

Add one night to Kumamoto if you can, lots to see there.

Instead of Beppu have you seen Kurokawa Onsen?

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4575.html

Highway bus and bus pass info????

http://willerexpress.com/x/bus/dynam...a.html?aid=184

Aloha!

Oh my, hawaiiantraveler, you have generously overstated my credentials! I appreciate your compliment, but I want to be clear that my comments are based primarily on my research for a single (fabulous) 3-week trip to Japan that I took in 2006. You, KimJapan, and Mara are Japan experts, NOT me!

camilwhitney - other posters have noted some instances when you might be able to see what you hope to see by day trip rather than overnight stay. Given that I am willing to relocate every night or two, when I planned my trip more than 5 years ago, I initially planned to stay in small cities that I planned to visit that were outside of major destinations - for example, I considered staying In Uji rather than Kyoto or Nara or staying in Kamakura rather than Tokyo. When I planned my trip, I was not able to identify more affordable accommodations in Uji than in Kyoto or Nara, or in Kamakura than in Tokyo. So, if cost is drivign your decisions, you might want to do some research.

And I forgot to mention something about Kamakura: When I visited in 2006, the only restaurant I found that was open after sunset was a seriously overpriced "French" sandwich shop. It was OK. But my experience of finding a restaurant in Kamakura was frustrating: Although I had a list of restaurants that had been recommended by various guidebooks, either they no longer existed or they were closed when I was ready to eat. I spent about an hour trying to find a suitable restaurant. I had visited as a day trip from Tokyo; I wished I had returned to Tokyo as soon as I finished sightseeing instead of roaming around for more than an hour and ending up in a mediocre non-local restaurant. But things could be different now.

You could use a JR Pass between Oct 30 thru Nov 9. That is a 11-day period. You wouldn't need all of a 14-day pass because you wouldn't use it in the three days before or three days after that period.

I think that getting a 21-day pass might work, starting on the 30th. It would get you back to Tokyo. It would be 12,000 yen more than the 14-day pass. But it would cover the shinkansen and other trains getting you from Kansai to Tokyo.

I'm just guessing but think that you would not need another JR pass for the beginning of your trip (Tokyo-Nikko-Kiso Valley). That would require using hyperdia to compare train fares.

I know that you can get a bus from Shinjuku that goes to Kamikochi at least and then another bus to Takayama. Maybe a rental car or just individual tickets is what you need for the Kiso Valley.

I don't know what your difficulty is with hyperdia.

If Narai-joku is in/near the town of Narai in the Kiso Valley then you can take JR from day 1 to there. Oku Hida sounds like it is in the mountains west of Matsumoto, i.e. you get there by buss. Then you could take JR from Narai to wherever you can get that bus.

So, tell me where Oku Hida is an how you will get there. You could use hyperdia. You could also use the Practical Travel Guides at jnto.go.jp
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/rtg/index.html

Those guides have good info on transportation options in each region.

Getting to Kamikochi will be by bus, but I am not sure where you would start your bus travel (Tsumago, Narai, Matsumoto, ...). You'll be taking buses from Kamikochi (and before that) all the way thru to Kanazawa (I think you have figured this out already).

Ok, I want a do-over.

First thing: I recommend that you take the train when you can and not go for a cheaper bus option. Rail service in Japan is not cheap but it is excellent and considering all of the moving around you will be doing that it will be worth it in time savings.

What you need to do is look at your travel options for the first 7-days. How much can you do by train. Day 1 are you coming from Narita? Then you could start a 7-day JR Pass. Find out the total train fare that you would pay during that period. I know you can travel by train for the first 6 days and probably part of the 7th day. Sum up those fares and compare with the cost of the pass (either JR or JR East, if JR East is applicable in Kiso Vally (which I think is JR Central)).

Then bus across Chubu to Kanazawa followed by a 21-day JR Pass (starting in Kanazawa) and additional cost for travel in/near Koya-san and Hakone. Then pay as you go in Tokyo and to the airport in the last 3 days of the trip.

Sounds like a fantastic trip! I've been to most of the places on your itinerary and am sure you will find them all worthwhile. You are moving around a lot but I think that actually works in Japan. You won't get lost! I've found the JR Pass to be worth the price--even if it ends up not saving you any money--for the great convenience and excellent service in route planning that the JR agents offer in Japan. Japan is one of the easiest countries in the world to travel in, thanks to JR. We worried a little about making connections to far-flung places but it all worked well when we actually got to Japan and worked our itinerary out with the JR staff there.

A few comments on your itinerary:

-Tsumago and Magome are charming. Definitely do the walk on the Nakasendo "highway" between the two towns.

-I echo the comments from others about staying in Miyajima. A daytrip there is nice if you can't afford any more time, but being on the island after all the tourists are gone is priceless. We stayed at Iwaso Ryokan, very expensive but a highlight of our trip. If I were you I would take one of the nights from Hiroshima and spend it on Miyajima.

-We stayed in Shirakawa-go (Ogimachi) two nights and didn't regret it. This is another place that's just magical after the tourist throngs leave it. We took the local bus from Shirakawa-go to Ainokura, a village in Gokoyama, for the day, returning to S-go that evening. I would recommend that approach.

-You seem to be shortchanging Nara--consider adding a night or two there. We found Uji very worthwhile (fantastic tea and a great temple) for a day visit but enjoyed staying overnight in Nara.

-You might think about staying in Enoshima rather than Kamakura. Enoshima is a small island close to Kamakura, joined to the mainland by a causeway. We stayed there 2 nights and from there explored Kamakura and Hase in addition
to Enoshima itself. Nice.

Have a great trip!

Thank you all so much for your extremely helpful suggestions. Here is an overview of the improvements to our itinerary prompted by your input:

The most popular recommendation (kja, Mara, hawaiiantraveler, aprillilacs): a stay-over in Miyajima. We're going to do it--thanks, all. I don't know now why we didn't plan that in the first place.

• --We have reduced the number of separate stay-over locations. For example, we have moved Kamakura to a day-trip from Tokyo, as suggested by Mara. The schedule is still packed, but we typically stay on the go when we travel. And we are a lot more flexible when we are on the road than our itinerary might seem to imply.

• --hawaiiantraveler's suggestion for a later start fits with our own "perfect world" preference as well, but we ended up opting to return to the US in time for Thanksgiving. We hope that our timing for Nikko, the Japanese Alps, and Kyoto might let us catch at least some fall-color displays.

• --So far, booking places has been working out. What has been helpful is moving some "must-stay" destinations, such as Miajima and Koya-san to non-weekend days.

• --We second Mara's endorsement of Japan-guide. Thanks to hawaiiantraveler for the several helpful links you provided. Thanks also to mrwunrfl -- the Practical Travel Guides that you linked us to look terrific, and we have downloaded every one that covers anywhere we plan to visit. BTW, for any of you planning to visit Central Japan, Paul's blog <http://paulstravelpics.blogspot.com/2008/03/japan-15-day-slow-trip-thru-west.html> is a terrific source of suggestions.

• --We definitely plan to use the train a lot, along the lines suggested by mrwunrfl. Only buses run the Kiso-valley stretch from Matsumoto to Takayama. (Yes, Oku-Hida Onsengo is located along the route, not far from Kamikochi.) We are leaning toward renting a car for Gokayama as KimJapan and hawaiiantraveler suggested and may do so again for our loop through the Kumamoto/Beppu area).

• --We have decided to stay at Matsumoto as our entry-point to the Kiso valley and to take in the castle, especially since Himeji is undergoing renovations.

• --If we rent a car to sight see near Takayama, we'll stay in Gokayama, but if we go bus, we will stay in Shirakawa-go as aprillilacs suggested. In either case, we've now decided to stay in a farmhouse in the area for two nights instead of one.

• --Based on advice from kja and Mara, we have decided to stay in Kurashiki rather than Okayama. We may skip Korakuen, but it has a good reputation for fall colors, so we may still check it out if our timing is right (we also plan to go to Kenrukuen and have added an extra day in Kanazawa).

• --Several of you chimed in on the Kyoto area, prompting us to add an extra day in Kyoto plus separate nights in Nara and Uji--thanks again, kja and aprillilacs. We agree with Mara that moving around has its inconveniences, but we would like to experience both Nara and Uji in the early mornings before the excursion tourists arrive.

REVISED ITINERARY:
10/18/2011/ arr Tokyo/Stay in Tokyo
10/19/2011/ Tokyo/Stay in Tokyo
10/20/2011/ Tokyo - Nikko/Stay in Nikko
10/21/2011/ Nikko - Matsumoto/Stay in Matsumoto
10/22/2011/ Matsumoto -Tsumago/Stay in Tsumago
10/23/2011/ Tsugamo to Narai-juku to Matsumoto to Oku-Hida Onsengo/Stay in Oku-Hida-Onsengo/
10/24/2011/ Oku-Hida-Onsengo to Kamikochi to Takayama/Stay in Takayama
10/25/2011/ Takayama/Stay in Takayama
10/26/2011/ Takayama/Stay in Takayama
10/27/2011/ Takayama - Gokayama/Stay in Gokayama or S-go
10/28/2011/ Gokayama/Stay in Gokayama or S-go
10/29/2011/ Gok&S-go to Taka to Kanazawa/Stay in Kanazawa
10/30/2011/ Kanazawa/Stay in Kanazawa
10/31/2011/ Kanazawa/Stay in Kanazawa
11/1/2011/ Kanazawa to Hiroshima/Stay in Hiroshima
11/2/2011/ Hiroshima/Stay in Hiroshima
11/3/2011/ Hiroshima to Miyajima Island/Stay in Miyajima Island
11/4/2011/ Miyajima Island - Kumamoto/Stay in Kumamoto
11/5/2011/ Kumamoto to Kirishima-Yaku National Park to Beppu/Stay in Beppu or Kurokawa Onsen
11/6/2011/ Beppu/Kurokawa to Kurashiki/Stay in Kurashiki
11/7/2011/ Kurashiki/Stay in Kurashiki
11/8/2011/ Kurashiki - Takamatsu/Stay in Takamatsu
11/9/2011/ Naoshima/Stay in Naoshima
11/10/2011/ Naoshima - Kyoto/Stay in Kyoto
11/11/2011/ Kyoto /Stay in Kyoto
11/12/2011/ Kyoto /Stay in Kyoto
11/13/2011/ Kyoto /Stay in Kyoto
11/14/2011/ Kyoto /Stay in Kyoto
11/15/2011/ Kyoto to Uji/Stay in Uji
11/16/2011/ Uji to Nara/Stay in Nara
11/17/2011/ Nara - Koya-san/Stay in Koya-san
11/18/2011/ Koya-san - Tokyo/Stay in Tokyo
11/19/2011/ Tokyo/Kamakura/Stay in Tokyo
11/20/2011/ Tokyo/Stay in Tokyo
11/21/2011/ lv Tokyo

Of course, the itinerary is still open to changes, especially based on suggestions. After we finish the trip, we'll do a trip report listing the itinerary actually traveled.

Your new itinerary looks almost leisurely....well, the first part up thru 11/3 ;-)

My only suggestion for that part is to do the hike between Magome and Tsumago - you can do that on 10/22 - since it's the weekend your suitcase can be transported from Magome to Tsumago. You can take the train from Matsumoto to Nakatsugawa and then the bus to Magome. That was one of the high points of my last trip. And you can spend the night in Tsumago as you planned.

My other comment is about your trip to Kyushu. I was planning a week in Kyushu until I cancelled this spring after the earthquake but I had done a lot of research and was basically ready to go. You are covering more ground in one day that I was planning in a week. I can't see how you can do 11/5 even if you rent a car. I was only planning the northern half so I don't know anything really about Kirishima - it seems to be a volcanic area. What I was planning was to go from Kumamoto to Yufuin via Asosan, another volcanic area - that can be done by bus and is definitely much more doable imo.....

I understand what you say about staying in Nara but is Uji such a big tourist area that you need to stay over there - it seems quite close to Nara - maybe you can do two nights there...

We are definitely committed to the hike. We have reservations in Tsumago on the Saturday. On Sunday morning (10/23), we were hoping to leave our luggage in Tsumago, take a bus to Magome, and then hike back to Tsugamo, pick up the luggage and then be in Oku-Hida-Onsengo by Sunday evening. Does that seem doable, or do you really think the Saturday is better? In that case, we'd need to leave Matsumoto as early as possible Saturday morning because I think that luggage transport service ends at 10am.

Thanks for the info on Kyushu. We'll consider cutting down between Nara and Uji or otherwise re-think that part of the itinerary.

Well, I'm not familiar with Okuhida as the first time I heard of it was from your post - but from what I read on japan-guide it seems it takes quite some time to get there from Matsumoto so I don't know if it is doable as I haven't looked at the bus schedule.

However as far as doing the Magome->Tsumago hike on Saturday, there is a train leaving Matsumoto at 9:04 and arriving at Nakatsugawa at 10:23 - I haven't checked any bus schedule except what's on japan-guide but there should be a bus quite soon that gets you to Magome by 11.
According to the Tsumago site luggage transport ends at 11:30
http://www.tumago.jp/hiking/index.html

Here's the site for the bus schedule to Magome:
http://www.kitaena.co.jp/ I don't have time to try to figure it out now - do you read Japanese or have a translator?
I use Mozilla as my browser and the translation tool Rikaichan - it really helps a lot!

This looks like the bus schedule from Nakatsugawa to Magome...
http://www.rosenzu.com/kitaena/eki/eki3_1104.pdf

Station diagram:
http://www.rosenzu.com/kitaena/eki/nakatsueki.html

I like this version of the plan much better. A few rough spots as Mara mentions. I have not been to S-Go or GoKo yet.

IIRC the drive from Kumamoto to Beppu in a rent a car would take about 3 1/2 to 4 hours passing Kurokawa along the way. Kumamoto to Kurokawa about half that time.

Kirishima would involve turning right instead of left at Kumamoto and driving another couple of hours east into the Miyazaki area for Kirishima. If you go there you should also consider visiting Takachiho.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e8050.html
I am driving this area also in November about a week after you and allowing two days to drive but not all the way to Beppu. Just stopping in Yufuin, Kurokawa and Takachiho with Mt Aso thrown in just for gp.

Uji is just south of Kyoto maybe a twenty minute train ride so a half day trip from Kyoto would give you more time in Kyoto which you will want. You should consider visiting Arashiyama from Kyoto too. Very picturesque especially at the time you will be in Kyoto. Only ten minutes north of Kyoto on the local JR line train

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3912.html

Aloha!

Should have read:

"Kirishima would involve turning right instead of left at <b>Kurokawa"</b> from Kumamoto

Hey ht - I'll be in Japan also around that time...but not in Kyushu - but I am looking forward to your report as I am hoping to go to Kyushu next spring....

mara,I was planning to do a tr if time allows ;)

We'll also be in Kyoto and Tokyo later in the month any chance of a gtg? email me if you would like to....

camilwhitney, Have you seen this for transporting your luggage around Japan?
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2278.html
or if you travel light you can book a business type hotel every few days like Toyoko Inn or Sunroute which would have a laundry room

http://www.toyoko-inn.com/eng/

http://www.sunroute.jp/SunrouteTopHLE.html

http://www.wh-rsv.com/english/index.html

Aloha!

If you are landing in Narita Airport/Tokyo, go to the basement level, and get a one way or round trip tickets of N'ex express +Suica pacakge from the JR station office. Suica card will cover all your travel in Tokyo (can be used both for JR and Metro now).

Make sure you will the counter you are traveling for 5 weeks and your returning date and ask if you should get one way or round trip(because there is an expiration date on the N'ex returning ticket). People at JR station in Narita Airport knows English, so don't worry.

If you are landing in Haneda airport, just get the Suica card and deposit money in it. That card will cover you in Tokyo (plus you can use it on vending machines in the station).

Btw, if you are taking trains in between cities, make sure you get a bento/lunch box from the station or on the train, they are a real delight while traveling. (to give you an idea of what bentos are like, you can read: http://foottrackerluvya.wordpress.co...you-bento-yet/ )