I have been back from Japan for some time now and have been meaning to post a message. I am in love with Japan and we will return soon. My husband will hopefully be running in the Tokyo marathon in February and of course, I will have to go to cheer him on.

We began our trip in Fukuoka and that worked well as the city is a similar size to Vancouver - where we live. We had a chance to figure out the transit system. My top picks in Fukuoka would be The Yohira Restaurant in Atago and the Atago Shrine on the hill above the restaurant, which overlooks the entire city. The Museum of Contemporary Asian Art is a must see and my daughter loved the InCube paper store where she purchased the Japanese made Sakura pens/crayons.

From Fukuoka we traveled to Tokyo, Kyoto, and Onomichi. I could easily write a book of top picks for each of those places. One thing I want to mention while it is on my mind is that we rented phones from Justin at Rentafone.com ( It has been mentioned on this message board. ) and that company was absolutely terrific to deal with. Justin was wonderful and went out of his way to be helpful.

I will continue with this post when I have a longer break. A fifteen minute coffee break just won't do. I must tell you about our experience dressing as Geisha in Kyoto and an amazing Buddhist feast with fireworks in Onomichi. I found a building in Tokyo that I had to return to three times because it inspired me so. I will tell all in my next post.

I Love Japan!

Glad to hear you had a good time!

I look forward to more details!!

Me too, annelouise....

I have Onomichi on my itinerary as I plan on staying a couple of nights in nearby Kurashiki...

I emailed rentafone with a couple of questions and Justin replied to me - I am glad you were happy and I will probably use them as well....

Mara,

In Onomichi there is a charming little espresso and waffle shop called "The Common" that has fantastic Japanese coffee and the best home made waffles and home made ice cream I've ever tasted. The waffles were served with Canadian maple syrup so I knew that we were in the right place. Say hello to the owner Mr. Otani, who is an extremely lovely man and he knows absolutely everything about Onomichi ( and the world ). His wife works in the restaurant too. Visit the knife shop which is more like a museum. There is a monk in the temple just up the steps, above the town, who leads daily pottery sessions, and we each made a little Buddha. Visit the Kitty Gallery which is absolutely full of those good luck hand painted cats - a site to see. We liked the older part of town on the water that is only accessible by the local train. We stayed at The Green Hill Hotel and it was very nice. I would suggest that you ask for a room facing the water - if you decide to stay there. Onomichi is small and yet there are over a dozen temples - all within walking distance. Don't forget to say hello to Mr. Otani from his friends in Vancouver. Order some waffles for us.

Arigatou, annelouise....I am not planning to stay in Onomichi, just a day trip from Kurashiki but I will try to find the places you mentioned, particularly the Kitty Gallery The waffle place sounds great too.

I too love Japan and will be back in April for a fourth trip. We will be in Tokyo and Fukuoka along with Kyoto so I am anxious to here all from you. Glad you had a wonderful trip.

Aloha!

HT...Kanazawa. 7 passenger VW.

mahalo kim, I'll email you!