Hello everybody,

My wife and I are headed to Japan for our delayed honeymoon in June. We've been jam packed busy and haven't had the time to properly research everything...and now it's almost June.

Here are the trip details so far:

June 11-13 Tokyo at the Parc Hotel
June 14-17 Sapporo at a Ryokan
June ? - ? BIG BLANK
June 26 Depart from Tokyo

My wife and I are very interested in arts, culture, fashion, technology, and food (I know, broad list sorry!). We have been told that Okinawa is beautiful and the food is very interesting...but I haven't been able to find out too much about the area except that they have a humongous aquarium =).

We are also considering staying up on Hokkaido for a few more days (the ryokan was only available during the week, but we would probably just book a hotel in Sapporo or another city in Hokkaido).

Another place that seems to be popular in this forum is Kyoto - is it really a don't miss spot?

We are pretty open to anything and would love suggestions. At first we were going to get the japan rail pass, but since we are going far north and far south, we will probably do the JAL pass instead.

Thanks in advance for your input!

Cheers,
David

PS - I may have posted here once before, but I cant' find the post. If I did and I'm repeating myself, I sincerely apologize!

I'm thinking possibly adding 18-22 Kyoto, and 23-26 Okinawa.

Not sure if we're going to want more time in Tokyo though. We should be decently well rested because we'll be flying in from Shanghai after about 5 days there.

Thoughts?

Kyoto for a week; maybe six nights if you go back to Tokyo for the express purpose of seeing Nikko or Mt Fuji.

Back to Tokyo.

Kyoto is the culture. And arts. And the best castle (Nijo-jo) you'll be able to see based upon your current schedule.

I don't understand what interested in food means -- when hungry, go eat. If you want food prep lessons, google cooking schools in Japan -- G*d knows the Japanese love them some cooking (two words: Iron Chef) and work so hard at perfecting other cultures' culinary arts that some of the best ___ (Italian, French, etc.) food in the world can be had in Japan.

But Japanese cuisine has plenty of regional specialties and varieties. On the 9th (I think?) floor of Kyoto Station alone there are plenty of specialties and varieties. Go to one of the department stores in and around Shinjuku Station and you can get a culinary education because the stores have TONS of restaurants.

Osaka Station in Osaka (yeah, you figured that out on your own, I know) is 20-25 minutes away (15 on the shinkansen, 3-5 to transfer, 2-5 by local train) and it is near tech geek heaven, I think (Hawaiian Traveler will correct me if I'm wrong). We bypassed all that and visited the castle and Umeda building, but supposedly the wireless world is on display in Osaka.

Hi BigRuss,

Thanks for the input. I just spoke with my wife, we're thinking maybe we'll skip Okinawa and spend more time in Kyoto, Sapporo, and Tokyo.

Do you have any experience with Okinawa? If so, do you skipping it is a good idea? If so, the schedule may look more like this:

June 11-13 Tokyo
June 14-17 Sapporo
June 18-24 Kyoto (with a stop in Osaka)
June 24-26 Tokyo

As for the food - I meant that we are very passionate about eating, especially eating japanese food =). If there were certain areas that are known to have exceptional cuisine, we may try to make it there.

Cheers,
David

I wouldn't go to Okinawa in late June...It will be very, very humid and hot.

Thanks Icuy for the input. We'd heard that, but were still tempted.

I'm wondering now if we should spend more time in Hokkaido since it's supposed to be beautiful there in June. Perhaps do something more like this:

June 11-13 Tokyo
June 14-17 Sapporo
June 18-20 Another city in Hokkaido, or just stay in Sapporo
June 21-26 Kyoto, then take flight back to Tokyo to catch flight home.

-David

Hokkaido is a good idea especially later in June. You can avoid the tsuyu that way. The other city you might pick on Hokkaido is Furano at that time of year
http://www.furanotourism.com/english/home.htm
Daisetzusan National Park is also close by and a wonder any time of the year http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6775.html

Maybe a schedule like this

June 11-13 Tokyo
June 14 - 19 Kyoto
June 20 - 26 Hokkaido, rent a car in Sapporo and drive around to your Hokkaido destinations, then fly back from Sapporo. You would need another segment anyway to qualify for the cheap domestic air fares for tourists only so makes sense to me http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2364.html

just another suggestion

Aloha!

Hi Hawaiiantraveler,

Thanks for the tips! Furano looks interesting - the huge fields of lavender are appealing to me, especially for landscape photography. However, my wife can't stand the smell of lavender =).

I'm a little hesitant to change my reservation at the ryokan in Sapporo - they didnt' speak any english, so changing the date could be...tricky ;-). I think we've decided we're going to do the following:

June 11-13 Tokyo.
Fly to Sapporo on JAL
June 14-18 Hokkaido
Fly to Kyoto on JAL
June 19-24 - Kyoto
Take Nozomi back to Tokyo for the flight home
June 25 Tokyo - leave for home

(turns out we leave the 25th =(, not the 26th =(). We may cut 1 day from Kyoto to spend another day in Tokyo...not sure yet. Would you spend more time in Tokyo or Kyoto?

-David

Me Tokyo, most others here I bet will say Kyoto.

Aloha!

Yeah, it doesn't look like you have enough time in Tokyo.