emd

monkey: My husband went to Tufts; long Boston history there, great grandfather was fire chief. We were pretty excited around my house when the Dropkicks did their remake of the famous Bo Sox song, "Tessie" and caught the attn. of the Sox. Two of the Sox recorded songs w/them on their last CD. We thought the Drops might actually play at the Series, the Sox did fly them out to one of their playoff games. My son is a good pitcher and dreams of the Major Leagues like so many boys. I just would like for him to play in hi school and then we'll see. His dreams have recently been stoked by having a MLB pitcher join my sister's family through a marriage.
So you can see we are more than big baseball fans and why those games at Tokyo and Osaka Domes just totally blew us away.
Re the Westin Miyako, I pretty much covered it in the report, but make SURE you get the remodeled rooms- there apparently is a part of the hotel that has not been renovated and peole complain online that it is less than great. If you can swing the club level then do that, it is worth it for the breakfast, evening appetizers and drinks 5:30 til 7:30 pm (pretty full bar if you imbibe, mix/pour it yourself, all included) and internet access in that library. They do have a weird lighting set up in the rooms, you have to put your room key card in a slot by the door in order for the rm lights to go on, and the rm lights are then controlled by buttons by the bedside. Make sure they show you the lighting doodads before the bellman says goodbye when you arrive at your room. And good luck w/the coffee press- have them show you that too if you are "press challenged" like I was. They give you nice robes and also yukatas on the club level, not sure about other levels.

rhkkmk

congrats---you have reached the magic 100 responses which is a good number...

by the way i too am a boston guy, still here unlike you...

emd

Me? No, not me, not one new england clam chowdah bone in this body. I'm a transplanted Texan without an accent.

100 is good, almost the current exchange rate. If we keep going, maybe the rate will get better.

cwn

emd, I am working on the latest and last, I hope, itinerary list. Thought of another question. Do they sell the boxed meals on the trains all the time or are they available just around the meal time? All meal times? I'm thinking about the times we will be on the tain to/from Hiroshima. It might be less hectic if we know we can get something on the trains since we will be traveling around meal times.

How is the foot? hope it is back to normal.

Thanks.

Vilmis

Nice report, emd. I am going to Japan this Friday, but unlike you had only couple weeks to prepare for trip.
So your story is very helpfull. Just want to ask about Miyajima - is it enought couple hours to walk around
an island ? Thanks.

emd1

We only had a few hours and the weather was so bad that we really didn't want any more, and things were clsoing up. But I plan to go back and stay overnight- I want to hike some up the mountain and stoll and see some more. It is a peaceful, lovely island, and there are nice places and onsen to stay and relax. Others on here have done that and it sounds great. But if you have time for only the ferry and a few hrs., I also think it is worth it and doable, just need to choose what you are going to do.

emd

cwn: I only know that they were serving bentos and other snacks off the push cart on all the shinkansen's we were on, Tokyo to Kyoto and back, and Kyoto to Hiroshima and back. You can see the times of those in my report (basically breakfast, lunch and dinner- we covered all of those times). And after the cart went by, you could go and catch up w/her in another car or find her in the area btwn the cars.

Vilmis

My plans also depends on weather. I am thinking to go in the morning to Hiroshima from Kyoto, then Miyajima and take night train to Tokyo. Will see how I'll manage to do this.

emd

topping for shuki1

moxie

What a wonderful trip report! Well worth the time it took searching

emd

topping for "peggionthego" and her teen son

emd3

Toppingso that my son, Casey, who is now 21, can find and read this trip report about our trip when he was so much younger...

Sue_xx_yy

And emd3, I am glad you topped it, as I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Did you ever get back to Japan in the last 7 years?

emd3

Glad you enjoyed it, Sue. Oh yes, the next year I took my daughter, who was like 13 at the time, back to Japan.

I think I will top that trip report for the current poster on this board who is getting ready to go to Tokyo in April.
I am considering a third trip, this time w/the husband, now that we are empty nesters.

Sue_xx_yy

I meant to ask, how did you commute from Ebisu to Tokyo station?

I noticed you were smart enough to send most luggage on ahead, but what if one has some luggage - say a 21 inch and a backpack - will this be doable, both on the commute and on the shinkansen? And is it necessary to 'check in' at a certain time prior to departure of a shinkansen? I noticed you arrived about an hour to go for your 10:36 a.m Hikari to Kyoto....

(You're gonna regret topping this, I'm now full of questions.... )

Mara

Wow, doesn't time fly....I actually don't remember reading this report, emd(3) - maybe it was because at that time I had just canceled my second trip to Japan due to having come down with a nasty case of shingles - anyway, great read! Glad to know you are planning another trip - I'm going in about 3 1/2 weeks - this time to Kyushu mainly.....