belated Japan trip report

Old Nov 20th, 2002, 11:23 AM
  #1  
Kathy
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belated Japan trip report

First a thank you and a warning. I want to thank everyone who answered my posts as I was planning this trip. We had a wonderful time and I owe much of this to all of you. Now, the warning: this report is VERY long. I thought about cutting it, but thought that people might be interested in more than just facts. So if you do not want to read a long report, STOP NOW.

Also, please keep in mind that the views expressed in this report are mine and only mine. So please don't post any mean emails about my opinions.

The trip was from September 13-24 and included Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, and Takayama.

TOKYO
Day One
Arrived at Narita around 2pm local time. Exchanged JR vouchers for travel beginning on a later date (three days later). No problems what-so-ever. Bought two tickets (about $17 each) on the Keisei Skyliner for Ueno Station. We chose the Skyliner over the Narita Express since our hotel was much closer to Ueno than Tokyo Station. Once at Ueno, it was tricky finding our way to the Ginza subway line but we suceeded after asking a nice clerk by only say “Ginza?”

After a getting lost on some small streets in Asakusa (the nice guy at the Asakusa tourist office pointed us in the wrong direction), we found ourselves at the quiet Shigetsu Ryokan. They had made some booking mistakes so our traditional Japanese room was not available for the first night. We settled for a small but comfortable western style room for one night with promises that we would move to a japanese room for the rest of our stay. Despite the minor set-back, the Shigetsu was great. We dropped off our bags, freshened up and headed out to explore the streets of Asakusa. Given the jet-lag, our exploration was short-lived and we headed back to the Shigetsu to decide where we should eat. We checked our guide books and decided on a Shabu-Shabu place located nearby. It took a while to find the place (no signs in roman characters) but we finally found it and were treated to some huge portions of beef! Well fed, we returned to the Shigetsu to make plans for tomorrow and to test out the Japanese style baths on the 6th floor.

The water was so hot in the ladies bath that I could not get in—I could barely stand to put my hands or feet in. I discovered the next night (and at other ryokans) that the water is not usually THAT hot. The temperature was much more bearable the following night. My husband also confirmed that the men’s bath was more on the warm side than hot. (A quick word regarding the yukatas provided by most ryokans: they usually come in one size. I discovered that my yukata was way too big for me (I’m usually a size 1 or 0) but didn’t know that I could fold it up under my obi until the 3rd day.

 
Old Nov 20th, 2002, 01:54 PM
  #2  
Myszka
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I enjoyed reading about your experiences in Ueno. I chuckled over your yukatah experience. YOu did remember to tie the robe on the correct side, right fold under left fold being on top? The other way, is tied on a person that has died.
Shabu Shabu on our first night out is such a great way to experience dinner. It sounds like you had a lot of fun. I can't wait to read more of your doings. Thank you for posting. Myszka
 
Old Nov 21st, 2002, 04:58 AM
  #3  
Florence
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Bonjour Kathy,

(chanting and holding placard) We want more, we want more !

Your description reminded me the first time I went into a traditional bath (o-furo). On the first night of my first trip to Japan, I was staying at Kimi Ryokan in Ikebukuro. The bathrooms were in repairs, and they issued tickets for the local bathouse (sento). I knew all about the bath etiquette, but nobody had warned me about the temperature. There were a lot of middle-aged and elderly ladies looking at me in a suspiscious way (I am half-african and they didn't have an occasion to see a naked black lady before), so I made a show of pretending I was confortable and in the know about the bath customs, and after washing and rinsing many times, I stepped into the bath, only to emerge as fast as a missile shot from a submarine. Everybody laughed and then directed me to the corner of the bath where a very large faucet controlled a flow of ice cold water.

I was told later (and discovered it was true) that you adapt to the temperature of the bath, and that it at first feels hotter than it is really, partly because of jetlag.
 
Old Nov 21st, 2002, 05:42 AM
  #4  
kathy
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Okay, I was able to respond to another post. So I am going to try to post Day 2 again!

More of Tokyo...
Day Two
A friend of ours, C, met us at the Shigetsu after breakfast and we headed out to explore more of Tokyo. First we went to Ueno Park to visit the National Museum. The museum was nice with many interesting exhibits of pottery, armor, swords, etc. But the highlight of this visit was the free shiatsu massages that were being offered just outside the museum gates in Ueno Park. Each of us got a free 20 minute massage by a shiatsu student. The scene of 100 shiatsu students giving free massages in Ueno Park was unbelievable. Apparently this only happens twice a year so we were pretty lucky!

After Ueno we walked around Ginza. It seems like the favorite past-time of the Japanese is shopping. Since it was a holiday weekend, it seemed like EVERYONE was shopping in Ginza. Several streets were even closed to allow for the pedestrian overflow. To satisfy the child in my husband, we then went to Akihabara to visit the Mac store. We also saw lots of interesting home appliances at other shops nearby—one shop specialized in toilets. Let’s just say there are some very advance toilets in Japan!

We returned to Asakusa and the Shigetsu. Our japanese style room was finally available and the staff had been kind enough to move our luggage into our new room. We had room 305 and it was small, but really great. After a brief rest in our room with our friend C, we headed to a nearby sushi restaurant for dinner.
 
Old Nov 21st, 2002, 05:43 AM
  #5  
kathy
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Okay, I think the issue here is length and size. I will keep each posting as short as possible

Day Three
We had planned on going to the fish market but it was closed because of the holiday. Instead, we headed for the Imperial Palace and Meiji Shrine. We toured the East Garden (the only part of the palace opened to visitors) and were very pleased with the garden’s layout and foliage. For some reason, the garden was not very crowded and we practically had some parts to ourselves. The traditional japanese garden was gorgeous—I can only imagine how beautiful it must be in the spring when even more flowers are in bloom. At the Meiji Shrine, the walk to the shrine was breathtaking. I think that the rain and mist actually made the place seem more mystical and inspiring. We were also lucky to witness a wedding ceremony going on at the Shrine. The wedding outfits were spectacular with the bride wearing a large white hood over her head.

After lingering at the shrine a bit, we then walked through Harajuku looking for a place to eat lunch. Harajuku itself was such a sight! As in Ginza the day before, Harajuku was crammed full of shoppers—most of whom were young teenagers with wild hair and even more wild clothing. We got a real kick out of visiting the shops and see the outrageous clothing and shoes. Saw a pair of platform shoes that were at least 5 inches high! We got so involved with the people/clothing watching that we forgot about lunch until we were well into Aoyama, which is another big shopping area. Aoyama is the equivalent of Rodeo Drive, with big elegant stores and sidewalk cafes. We even saw a line four blocks long of eager shoppers waiting to get into the new Louis Vuitton shop. Some of those waiting in line had small children and babies! And it was raining and quite windy! I guess they were just very dedicated shoppers. Since the weather was getting pretty ugly we dove for cover at a small noodle shop off the main street. We had simple tempura udon that never fails to replenish me. I love udon soup in Japan! Back on the streets, we decided to walk through Aoyama to the next subway station and took the subway back to Asakusa.

We spent a couple hours relaxing at the ryokan and using the ryokan’s laptop to email friends and family at home. The laptop is another advantage of staying at the Shigetsu. We then went to the lobby to wait for C, who was meeting us for dinner. I really don’t remember the name of the restaurant, but it is right across the street from the Shigetsu and is very popular with the younger crowd. Dinner was interesting but not the best meal of our trip. Diners were seated at low tables outfitted with gas grills and different oils and sauces. Then depending on what one orders, various ingredients (shrimp, cabbage, etc.) are cooked on the grill with various sauces. It was a fun dinner since most of the time we didn’t even know what we were eating or how it should be cooked.
 
Old Nov 21st, 2002, 10:34 AM
  #6  
Sarah
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Kathy how did the Sushi compare with home. You often hear about sushi being superior in Japan was that your experience?

Also did you do any historical reading before you began your trip. Did you find certain books helpful? Just finished "life as a Geisha" and I was hoping to find a readable history of Japan. Don't know where to start for reputable books.
 
Old Nov 21st, 2002, 10:48 AM
  #7  
Kathy
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Thank you for all the wonderful responses. I'll keep posting parts of the report as I finish them...

Sarah- I am an avid sushi fan and found that the sushi in Japan is usually more reliably fresh (in any restaurant) than in the US. In the US, I usually go to just a handful of places for really good sushi. In Japan I was never disappointed--from just a suchi bar to more extravagant places.

And here's the next installment:

Kyoto...
Day Four
After checking out of the Shigetsu we headed to Tokyo station to take the Shinkansen to Kyoto. We had made our seat reservations at Narita when we validated our JR passes. Tokyo station is huge but we eventually found our way onto the right platform. Our train, as is every other train, was right on time. The trains in Japan are amazingly punctual which made us a little nervous if we weren’t on the platforms within 5 minutes of the scheduled departure time. Most of the time the train was already moving away from the platform before we had finished stowing our luggage! On the train we bought small bento box lunches, which were okay in quality and taste but very cute nonetheless.

Well, Kyoto turned out to be a bit disappointing. First, our ryokan, the Sawaya Honten wasn’t what we hoped it would be. While the staff was very pleasant, we found our room to be very small and there was a pervasive musty smell throughout the whole establishment. The décor looked about 30 years old and the bath water smelled heavily of chlorine. We also never saw another guest at while we were there. Since we didn’t think that the price ($230 per night with dinner and breakfast) was worth it, we left after one night.

To get out of the hotel, we decided to walk around Gion before dinner. If I could do it again, I would definitely choose to stay in Gion—it’s really the only part of downtown Kyoto that I found to be truly charming. The rest of Kyoto just seemed to be neither quaint nor urban. More on this later.

Day Five
We decided to move to the Matsubaya, which is a cute, no frills place near the train station. Although the rooms at the Matsubaya are also old, they didn’t smell musty and were well cleaned. And at $90 per night (without meals) it was a better deal. The staff at the Matsubaya were also exceedingly nice.

Major sights that we visited on this day were the Higashi Hoganji Temple and the Ninjo Castle. The Higashi Honganji Temple was very impressive—from the massive main building to the coil of human hair rope on display. I would have to say that it was my favorite temple in Kyoto because it was still be use as a temple! After the sightseeing, we returned to Kyoto Station for some shopping at the Isetan Department store and had dinner at Izusen (above the McDonald’s outside Kyoto Station) for dinner. Dinner consisted of Kyoto specialties and ran about 5500 yen.
 
Old Nov 21st, 2002, 10:52 AM
  #8  
Kathy
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Sarah- To answer your question about books, I didn't really have any time to read any books before I left for Japan. But my husband did read a couple of Haruki Murakami's novels--they're more about modern day Japan. I did read Memoirs of a Geisha and liked it very much--though I hear it's not a very accurate depiction of life as a geisha. Good luck!
 
Old Nov 21st, 2002, 12:00 PM
  #9  
Sarah
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Thanks

Geisha, A life by Mineko Iwasaki is a response to Memoirs. It is the autobiography of the most famous Geisha of the last century. Although she denies ever having read memoirs, it is very clear that much of the story line in Arthor Golden's book comes from her stories . Still Golden does capitalize on falshoods and stereotypes in Memoirs. Makes me think it will be forgotten in a few years.

I heard Iwasaki was suing Golden for acknowledging her in the book. She would not comment about any knowledge of memoirs at a book signing I saw her at.

Interesting though, Speilberg was going to do a movie about Memoirs and it has been postponed. I wonder if the litigations was a factor in this.

I am always looking for interesting books about Japan. Found this interesting website with many links.
Just for some fun surfing if you want to look into more about Japan


http://www.stockton.edu/~birdwhij/japanesehistory.htm
for links around Asia
http://www.stockton.edu/~birdwhij/siteindex.htm#history
 
Old Nov 25th, 2002, 08:08 AM
  #10  
Kathy
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Sarah-Thanks for the links about the books. I'll definitely check them out.

Here's day six's report...
Day Six
This was our big Tourist Day when we made a conscious effort to see Kyoto’s major sights: the Golden Pavilion, Roanji Temple, Silver Pavilion, and the philosophers’ path. After spending several hours fighting the crowds at the various sights, we headed back to the ryokan for some quiet time. Perhaps it was because we visited Kyoto during the school field trip season, but there were an awful lot of students visiting the many cultural sights. I guess my idea of a relaxing vacation is not having to deal with hoards of tourists and students.

As for Kyoto in general, I found it all a bit underwhelming. Perhaps after hearing so many people rave about it, my expectations may have been too high. Except for a few of the temples and shrines, I found the architecture to be pretty boring—nothing to compare to the beautiful skyscrapers of Tokyo or quaint wooden houses in Takayama. There were many mid-rise buildings that were rather nondescript. I didn’t always like the juxtapositioning of old and new: e.g. hearing car horns blaring as I tour the gardens of the Heian Shrine. One thing that really bothered me was that many of the temples and shrines were no longer functioning as places of worship, as is the case with many religious sites throughout the world. The Golden Pavilion was there to gawked at but didn’t serve any every religious purpose; same goes for the Silver Pavilion, etc. That said, I did enjoy being in Kyoto—just not for the reasons that I was expecting. I really liked the Roanji Temple with the serene rock garden (maybe because the kids were finally compelled to be quiet) and the Higashi Hoganji Temple with its massive wooden structures. I also found myself really liking Kyoto station. The whole structure just amazes me with its size and convenience. We ate in the station on more than one occasion and even listened to a middle school band play the theme song to Rocky. And the shopping was really great too. I loved the shops in the station, especially the food stores in the Cube and Isetan department store. We bought a lot of great tea and pastries in those shops. So that was my impression of Kyoto. I know that many people will disagree with my views, but please remember that I am not saying that I didn’t like Kyoto—I did.

 
Old Nov 25th, 2002, 12:10 PM
  #11  
Florence
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Bonjour Kathy,

Don't apologise: you have every rights to your choices and it's nobody's business if you did or didn't like Kyoto ;-)

I've found over the years that a key to enjoying Japanese cities was to develop a kind of selective vision, that allows you to ignore the ugly and noisy while enjoying the beautiful and quiet ...

The golden and silver pavilions have never really been places of worship, more a retreat for noblemen who were somehow guaranteeing the continuation of their lives (and some of their "behind the curtain" political influence) by pretending they had retired from political life and taken religious vows, hence this curious atmosphere.

You also have to consider that worshipping takes a very different meaning in Asia than in the West: nobody sees any problem with a blend of festivity, commerce and religious activities, no messiah has never chased the merchants from the temples ;-)
 
Old Nov 25th, 2002, 12:49 PM
  #12  
Spider
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Great report. It's reminding me of my trip last May. I visited many of the same places you did. I also had a much different expectation of Kyoto. My biggest surprise was how smoggy it was. My throat was burning by the time I left. However, I found the people of Kyoto very friendly, and less 'stiff' than the people of Tokyo. I also was surrounded by swarms of school kids at many of the sites I visited. I was approached by a couple of middle school students, and was interviewed about my home country (USA). It was a school project. They took my picture, and posted it on the internet. It was a lot of fun, and made me less agitated about all the kids.

Can't wait to read your tales from Nara. Did you feed the deer?
 
Old Nov 25th, 2002, 06:53 PM
  #13  
xx
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Hi Kathy!
I noticed you posted your report in small parts. I use travelhall.com you can probably post your full Japan report in the Travel Diaries section.
 
Old Dec 26th, 2002, 06:38 AM
  #14  
C Marone
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Kathy, I found your postings very interesting and helpful. How did you get started on planning your trip? We are trying to determine if we can go to Japan(Tokyo,Kyoto) around Oct. 2003, and needless to say, I am overwhelmed on all the information. Any assistance you can provide will be greatly appreciated.Thanks!
 
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