Hi all!
I'm planning my 3rd trip to Japan next October (I already have a return ticket Barcelona, Spain - Tokyo).
I have done some research in Fodors forums and also with Google and Hyperdia timetable. I'm thinking of visiting Tokohu region, going south through Tokyo and Kanazawa and then spend some days in South Korea (it's a short time in Korea, but I prefer spending most of the time in Japan, a country that is fascinating me. I just want to have a little taste of Korea.). Previously (2 trips/20 days each), I have visited Japan' biggest cities and some significant spots.

My itinerary:
Day 1. day of arrival (early morning), trains Narita-Tokyo-Sendai (3h 30min), walk around city center. (hotel Sendai)
2. Matsushima Bay / Zuigan-ji (hotel Sendai)
3. Hiraizuimi. (hotel in Sendai, Tazawako or Kaukunodate)
4. Kakunodate (hotel in Tazawako or Kaukunodate)
5. Nyuto onsen area (hotel in Tazawako or Kaukunodate)
6. Trains to Tokyo (hotel in Tokio)
7. Tokyo-Hakone (it's a gap I want to fill. I've never been close to Mt Fuji --Closer than Shinkansen Tokyo-Kyoto en-route view) (hotel in Tokio)
8. Trains to Kanazawa (4 hours; departing at 7am, arriving in Kanazawa at 11am) (hotel in Kanazawa)
9. Train Kanazawa to Kyoto (2 h). Day in Kyoto. (Hotel in Kyoto)
10. Trains to Fukuoka (3h 20 min)/same day ferry to Busan
11-12. South South Korea (Busan area)
13. Busan shopping? Ferry. (hotel in Fukuoka)
14. Back to Tokyo. Stop at Onomichi (2h from Fukuoka). Leaving 18.30h-->Tokyo 23.30h (possible without taking Nozomis) (hotel in Tokyo)
15. Leave Japan

If I could ask you some heterogeneous questions...
According to some guidebooks, visit to Kakunodate could be done in 2-3 hours. Then, could I spend the rest of the day in a Nyuto area onsen. If possible, I'll merge days 4 and 5, and adding an extra day to visit Kanazawa at a slower pace. Do you recommend that?
Or maybe spend day 5 around the lake? (In any case, on day 9, if needed I could leave Kanazawa after lunch, as I've previously been in Kyoto.)
Where do you recommend to stay in the Tazawa area? Near JR Tazawa-ko station? In Kakunodate? In one of the Nyuto onsens? I have read that Autumn is a busy time in Lake Tazawa, (because of the foliage?)

I want to try the ferry to Korea (flights are more expensive). When coming back to Japan, do you know if there is a 'duty free' limit? I'm not a compulsive buyer, but as Korean Won currency seems to be weak, maybe there is some Samsung electronics bargain (I'm thinking of a ebook)... Also, is it easy to re-entry to Japan?

My plan is to take a JR Pass for the full stay. Last day is out of the JR Pass coverage. Maybe I'll take the Keisei line to Narita (not the 'Skyliner', but 'the other line' as they say in their website). Is that correct? I see the 'other line' only takes 20 min more than the Skyliner to reach Narita airport. (In case I keep my day 14 as scheduled, I haven't found any late night connection from Tokyo to Narita)

Please, feel free to add confusion or comments!

Thank you in advance! (I'm sorry for my English)

Can't help you with Japan, but don't worry about your english, its very very good (i even had to look up heterogeneous.. and i am english!)

You are very brave to do all that traveling so quickly. I would tend to try to do less and spend a bit more time in each place as I find just wandering often brings me the most rewarding trip experiences. But if you are fine with this travel pace, great. IT would seem you could do kukondate and Nyuto if you want to although I believe if you are staying in the old part of Nyuto's inn that you need to arrange transport or walk out there. Not sure on that. You should search on this site under hawaiiantraveler. He is an active fodors poster and has written about kakunodate and nyuto onsen. You could also search under Nyuto or kukunodate to see what he and others have said. He has a detailed trip report of this area as part of his search for the sakura. My gut tells me he would tell you to spend a full day in kukunodate and then a full day at Nyuto to relax and enjoy the onsen...but I do not want to speak for him. Have a wonderful trip.

Paulo of course is right, I would recommend a night in Kakunodate and a night in Tazawa-ko but if I were you, and I am not, I would probably take spend night #3 in Kakunodate after visiting Hiraizumi which I would favor over Matsushima in a heart beat. I cannot believe you have chosen Hiraizumi. An unknown treasure imho. We are visiting this fall in Oct. You can do Kakunodate in 3 hours but you'll miss the magic that way. Do Hiraizumi on the 3rd morning and spend the rest of the day and night in Kakunodate. Wake up early the next morning and take the train to Tazawa-ko and explore the area and spend the night at:

http://japaneseguesthouses.com/db/ak...unoyuonsen.htm

You won't regret it. Take a look at my trip reports about the area if you are interested. Good luck!

Aloha!

Id on't know if you've already seen the kansai area (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe and Nara), but this is EASILY the most interesting part of the country. I will dedicate far more to these areas.

Sounds like a wonderful trip!

Can't help with Japanese sector, but used the JR Beetle to travel to Korea in '07 and had no trouble with re entry. The only issue I recall was getting on and off the ferry as the ramps (probably due to the tides) were steep and yes I'd been shopping!

My memories of Busan are of a large mega-industrial city. If you are at all interested in Korean culture try to take the train/ bus to Gyeongju. A fabulous museum worthy of at least half a day.

Enjoy!

Normally, Korean electronic goods are cheaper abroad than in Korea, and you may have difficulty with language (Korean keyboard, software), warranty etc. Import limit to Japan is 200,000 yen (nearly 1500 euro), so quite generous. But limit back into Spain (EU country) is more limited (around 400 euro).

We once spent several days in Hiraizumi, and LOVED it! Like HT says, an unknown treasure.
I would not care for this itinerary, as you are constantly moving, but you are seeing some nice areas of Japan.

Be careful buying electronics in Asia to see if the warranty will be valid in your home country.

Hi again!
Thank you for your feedback!

Hawaiiantraveler and Paulo59, I'm not sure to understand you. Do you suggest to do in one day the visit to Hiraizumi and Kakunodate? I tought it will take longer.
According to your suggestions, I rearrange my itinerary:
2. Matsushima Bay / Zuigan-ji (hotel Sendai)
3. Morning: Hiraizuimi / afternoon: Kakunodate. (hotel Kaukunodate)
4. Tazawako (hotel-onsen in Tazawako)
5. Tazawako (hotel-onsen in Tazawako)
6. Trains to Tokyo (hotel in Tokio)
As for the arrival to Nyuto onsens, are Tsuruno and the others, as Paulo says, far from public transportation? I can't speak Japanese and I don't know if it's difficult to call to the acommodations to arrange a pick-up. For day 5, what do you suggest to do? A walk? A day trip to some specific area?

By the way, hawaiiantraveler, I have read some of your very useful reports and advice here in the forums (and some comments that are included in the Fodors printed guide, that omits Hiraizumi)

Alec, thank you for your precise numbers. In any case I'll spent more than 400 euros. My question was just in case I see some 'bargain', but I don't have in mind any specific purchase nor I can afford very expensive products.

Sally123, thank you for the tips. I haven't a guide of Korea yet, but I'll consider a visit to Gyeongju.

Vabe, I visited Kansai in previous trips (I used the recommended website japaneseguesthouses.com to reserve a stay in Mount Koya)

Smeagol, thank you!

Thanks!

For Tsurunoyu,if I remember correctly, we took a bus and then hotel transportation which we arranged in advance. We took a train from Hakodate to Tazawako Station via Hachinohe and Morioka.You can also get there from Kakunodate .At Tazawako STation ,we took the Hanego Kotsu Rosen Bus to Arupa Komakkusa Bus stop. The inn picked us up from there. From the inn you can visit Lake Tazawako. It is also very relaxing to stay a at the inn and use the onsens as well as bathe in the heated stream that runs past the inn. Almost no English is spoken , but the staff was kind and patient. At this inn, you will feel like you are in the Japan of centuries ago. Enjoy your trip.

You can make it from Ichinoseki(JR stop for Hiraizumi) to Kakunodate in 2 hours with one change in Morioka if you catch the right trains at the right times. You can spend the afternoon and the next morning in Kakunodate before taking the 14 minute train ride maybe after lunch to Tazawako. Here is an excerpt from my trip report on how to get to Tsurunoyu from the Tazawako train station.



<i>I did get them to sign point to me where the bus stop to Tsuruno-yu Onsen was located. It is the first bus stop of two located on the right hand side of the front exit of the train station. We then took the 1:15 pm bus to the Arupa Komagusa bus stop which is not the Kogen bus stop that the Japanese Guest House( they made all of our reservations for all the Onsen we used this trip).

Just ask the bus driver “Tsuruno-yu Onsen” and he will tell you where to get off. The fare was 640 yen per person. You must take a ticket from the fare box in front next to the driver as you enter the bus. These tickets are marked with a zero (that means you started at the main train station) and before you exit you can look on the screen above the front windshield which will tell you what your fare is for the zero ticket. You then put the ticket in the slot on the fare box and put your coins only in the same slot. If you only have bills you can put it in the bottom slit and change will come out in the change tray. It will only take 1,000 yen bills. You can also make change for 500, 100 and 50 yen coins by putting them into the slot for coins on the top left of the fare box. The change for coins comes out of the same change tray as the bills.

The bus ride took us about 35 minutes from the station. Then the Tsuruno-yu Onsen shuttle bus picked us up at the bus stop and took us to the Onsen in about 20 minutes. Talk about isolated. We went down a narrow winding, twisting and bumpy road till the very end against very edge the mountains </i>

Try renting a bicycle in Kakunodate at the bike rental shop a few doors down from the train station. It will enable you to see more of the town in less time.

The Kakunodate Folkloro hotel will give you a discount with your JR pass so if you stay there, don't forget to show your JR pass and ask for the discount. I would make a reservation at the time of year that you will be there as it should be in the fall color(koyo)season if you are lucky.

Yes, I know the Fodors guide book has nothing on Hiraizumi(hint). Here is some info on the town and sights if you haven't seen this already.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5000.html

Haven't been there yet but you can also rent a bike there to see the sights in a quicker time if you are so inclined.

On day five if you are in Tsurunoyu you can hike around the valley(lots of hiking trails) or just relax and chill out in the rotenburo and enjoy yourself.

&iexcl;Buena suerte!

Hi,
Just wanted to comment on the Korea-part of your itinerary.
Unless you really want to see Fukuoka, I would highly suggest flying Kyoto to either Busan or Seoul.
We included both cities on our trip last year to Korea and Japan. While we loved both, we also had 8 days availble to split between the two.
I also looked into the ferry but the flight costs were only slightly less than air -- and considering that you will be spending several hours in train travel -- I would highly suggest the following:
instead of --
10. Trains to Fukuoka (3h 20 min)/same day ferry to Busan
11-12. South South Korea (Busan area)
13. Busan shopping? Ferry. (hotel in Fukuoka)
14. Back to Tokyo. Stop at Onomichi (2h from Fukuoka). Leaving 18.30h-->Tokyo
=====================
10. flight to either Busan (or even Seoul since you'll be minimizing travel time)
11/12/13 korea
14 back to tokyo.

You could fit both by flying into Seoul and then take a bullet train to Busan for 2 days... and fly back to Tokyo from there.

Unless you have a strong desire to see Fukuoka... then you can completely ignore my post

For Korea, you can order a free tourist guidebook which I found to be very helpful.

http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/index.kto

Not sure about Busan, but Seoul has free tourguides as part of their cultural program. We did a few of these and were extremely pleased.

I also bought my Japan/Korea air tickets through a Busan travel agency. I'm at work now so I don't have their information, but if you're interested, I can find it and either post or email it to you (got it from someone on fodors). Their prices for a flight from Busan to Kyoto (our itin) were much better than anything I could find on the web in the US.

Here is the Busan (sometimes spelled Pusan) tourism site: http://etour.busan.go.kr/

Good luck, sounds like an awesome trip!

Thank you again!

mflickermd and hawaiiantraveler, thank you for your advice and detailed reports. I'll try to follow your suggestions. Hope not to be too pressed on the visit toHiraizumi.
Right now, I'm doing some research about accommodations for the rest of my trip. I think this weekend I'll start to make reservations.

Did you have problems to make you understand (in case you don't speak Japanese) when you called to the onsen?

A silly question about the Tsurunoyu Onsen: are the walls between rooms too thin? I have a physiological problem in my throat and some nights I snore. I don't want to disturb too much the other guests.

Also, I have read on the Japan Guide website that all seats in Tohoku Shinkansen lines are reserved. Is that true? In the past, I only have taken the Tokaido/Sanyo line between Tokyo and Fukuoka and there were some carriages with seats available without reservation.

junkgalore, I did a lot of searches on flights from Japan to Korea, but for my dates, all prices were more than doubling the price of the ferry. I tried everything: flexible dates, departing from Osaka-KIX, from Tokyo on my day 8 and from Kanazawa (it would be the best combination: something like Kanazawa->Korea --Seoul or Busan-- and back to Japan, but this is more expensive than my flight from Spain to Japan!), arriving in Seoul, in Busan... But always with Kayak, Expedia and Travelocity
I'll be grateful if you can post the information about where did you find your tickets. After a search, and I have found this thread:
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...est-option.cfm
Is that the reference?
In the end, if I don't find a flight with a competitive price, I thing I will take the ferry. In order to avoid a long rail journey from Kanazawa to Fukuoka, I will do a stop in the always rewarding Kyoto.
And thank you for the links. I have taken a look at Korea tourism website and I have found the brochures as online ebooks. What a pity they can't be downloaded in pdf format.

We just came back from the Hakone Region in Japan. Its a very very bad time of the year to visit the region and there is a very small chance of seeing Mt Fuji.

We brought a Hakone 3 day pass which included unlimited travel in that area and discounted entry to area's.

A couple of towns in the region were practically Ghost towns as its not Tourist Season.

The cable car and pirate ship is a must though.


Eek

Very good on finding that old post! I also must amend **our Korea/Japan trip in 2007...not last year.

Actually, we ended up using a travel agent named Rebecca at Kangsan travel: [email protected] We had no problems with the booking...eticket via Asiana.

Pity that the ebook can't be downloaded. I live in LA so their tourism office sent me a hardcopy. Perhaps you can check to see if they can do the same for you. We relied on this more than our purchased guidebook copy.

Just to add to Eekthecat, we also did Hakone in October and only on one day we had rain but it wasn't enough to prevent us from doing the loop. We also purchased the pass and thought it a good value. We refer back to our "stinky egg" eating experience often.

Good luck!

The walls are rice paper thin at Tsurunoyu but the babbling brook will probably drown out your snoring anyway.

We did not call Tsurunoyu to make the reservation, we used Japanese Guest Houses to make it for us. As you have used them before I recommend getting in contact with them immediately.

http://japaneseguesthouses.com/db/ak...unoyuonsen.htm

When we checked into Tsurunoyu there was a middle aged women who understood a little English at the front desk and there was a younger man who helped serve dinner and made up our room who spoke and understood English very well.

Yes the Tohoku shinkansen is all reserved seating. You can make your reservations up to 2 months ahead of time online here:

http://jreast-shinkansen-reservation...menu/menu.aspx

The site is self explanatory. In my most recent trip report I explain the process for buying and redeeming your reservation vouchers that you purchase online.....please see the report or the site mentioned above for detailed information.

I haven't taken the Beetle Ferry but wouldn't hesitate for a bit and Fukuoka is such a nice place to visit.....you'll be wishing you had more time. Have you seen this?

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

We are hoping Hakone will be nice this October as we will be there for two nights....ahhhh but that's karma....

Aloha!

Thanks a lot!
I'm finding out very useful information and great advice.

About the onsen and the language, I was thinking about the call for arranging the pick-up from the bus stop. Maybe Japanese Guest Houses can help with this?

I didn't know there was an online reservation system for Shinkansen trains. But I can't use it for my first leg, from Narita to Sendai, as reservation tickets must be picked up as late as the day before travel. I think I'll wait until my arrival to make other seats reservations. (I haven't bought my JR pass yet)

Fukuoka is a vibrant city. I had a very nice time there. But I think this time I won't have too much time to spend in.

junkgalore, I have filled the form in the Korea Tourism website, asking for the map and the country guide. I see they have an office in London, so maybe they send the brochures from there. Thanks for the recommendation. I'll check kangsantravel.com this weekend.

Eekthecat, I think that if there is a little chance to see Mt Fuji and the weather is not too bad, I will try to do the Hakone tour.

hawaiiantraveler, hoping also that karma, buena suerte and other invocations could bring us nice weather and a nice time this Autumn in Japan!

You would call Tsurunoyu after you arrive at the JR Tazawako train station. The person who answers the phone speaks no English but can ask for your name in English. Say your name slowly so she will understand and she will repeat the name of the bus stop you have to get off at a few times. They know what times the buses will be at their designated stop and will have the onsen's bus waiting for you when you get to their bus stop. If all else fails just tell the bus driver you want to get off at <b>"Tsurunoyu Onsen"</b> and he or she will let you know when to get off the bus.

You can make your train ticket reservations when you arrive in Japan but you need to purchase the JR rail pass voucher in your own home country before you get to Japan. You CANNOT buy a JR Rail Pass in Japan.

I predict we will both have good weather when we both visit Japan this fall.

Aloha!

One added suggestion-try to get a room with a private bathroom at Tsurunoyu.WE visited Hiirazumi,but it was only for an afternoon. I am sorry we didn't stay overnight.AGain,enjoy.

Hi!
I've started to make reservations. I have booked two nights at a Comfort Inn in Sendai, near the JR station, and, as recommended, one night at Folkoro Kakunodate through Rakuten Travel website.

I also have done some research for Tokyo and I think I will book a room at one of the Tokyu Stay hotels, and take advantage of the in-room washer-dryer (In a previous trip, I stayed for 7 nights at one Tokyu Stay and had a pleasant stay). It's around 9000 Yen per night.

But there is bad news . Unfortunately, Tsurunoyu Onsen is full, Japanese Guesthouses told me this Monday by email. They have offered me an alternate accommodation, Yupopo Sanso, that doesn't look very special.
http://www.japaneseguesthouses.com/d...popo_sanso.htm

What do you recommend to do in Nyuto? The 'second best' option seems to be Kuroyu Onsen, but I don't know how to ask for a availability. It's not on the Jap. Guesthouses list. Their website http://www.kuroyu.com/ has a limited reservation system (in Japanese; I have translated the pages with Google, but in the end, I can't find a bookable option. Maybe I'll try to send them an email in English.)
If not, what do think about Yupopo? Have you stayed at other onsen in Nyuto?

Many thanks!