Japan: 1st visit trip report (overview)
 

Thank you all, especially Kim Japan, mrwunrfl and emd for your valuable advice which made my trip possible and wonderful as a result.

We just returned from 13 days in Japan. We had a 7-day JR pass and visited Tokyo, Kanazawa, Shirakawa-go, Takayama, Beppu, Miyajima, Matsuyama, Himeji Castle and Kyoto.

I tried to incorporate as many of the "Japanese 3 best" into my trip as possible:

° Gardens-Kanazawa Kenrokuen Garden;
° Most scenic spots-Miyajima;
° Festivals-Takayama Spring Festival; and
° Castles-Himeji Castle
(Do onsens get included in these lists too?)

Most surprising:
° How clean, organised and punctual everone and everything is.
° That we saw cherry blossoms everywhere except where I expected them (predicted in Takayama).
° That I was not crazy about Kyoto but loved Tokyo.

Learnt:
° The Japanese are extremely kind.
° Communication is possible if you don't speak the language if you don't mind making a fool of yourself ;)
° Yukata were provided in all our hotels.
° Hot Sake goes down really easy.
° Spicy soba cures sinus headaches (the resulting dripping nose is another problem...).

Regrets/Mistakes:
Very few thanks to your help =)

° Don't go to a Steak House if you don't eat beef.
° Looking for restaurants after 8.30 pm is not wise.
° Not spending enough time in Miyajima.
° And of course not enough time (I need more vacation days; an extra week would have been nice for 3 more days in both Tokyo and Kyoto).

Advice for others:
- Do not pack pajamas;
- Use the Takkyubin service but check shipping requirements when checking into the hotel.
- Do try to see more than Tokyo and Kyoto.
- Train stations can have more that one track with the same number - be sure to know which line you are taking.

FAVORITES
Attractions:
Japan was wonderful and highlights for us were:
- Kenrokuen Garden, Kanazawa
- Seto Inland Sea,
- The surrounding gardens of Umi Jigoku in Beppu,
- Hot Sand bath at Takegawara Bathhouse in Beppu,
- Nijo Castle (Nijojo) in Kyoto, and
- Toji Flea Market in Kyoto.

Hotel:
Hotel New Otani, Tokyo

Trains:
- Luxury leather seats and parquet in the train from Beppu to Kokura.
- Night train for the funny berths and cold rice for breakfast.

Restaurants/food:
We ate very well (except for me at the steak restaurant).

- Exceptionally good rice at the tempura restarant Ebihachi in Takayama (it comes from owner's family plantation) as well as great tempura.

- Tonkatsu at Katsukura in Kyoto, you can buy the sauce to take home -- ummm how can cabbage taste that good!

Shopping:
- Antique shop off the Philosopher's path, Kyoto,
- Woodcut shop off the Philosopher's path, Kyoto,
- Toji Flea Market, and
- Yukata department at the Department store "Takashimya"

I hope to post a full trip report soon.

"don't pack pj's"?? because they supply them??.....i personally would prefer my own clothing...

They only had pj's at one hotel - in Saijo. There were none in our Tokyo hotel or the guest house in Kyoto.

Nice prelude... Looking forward to the main report.

Sorry for the bad advice regarding pajamas; everywhere we went, even the night train, provided fresh crispy yukatas for us.

Of course the wearing of pajamas or yukatas is a strictly personal matter...

HI moxie. We just got back. I'd love to hear more about your sand bath. I am thinking for doing a solo trip next year to several onsen in scenic places or with unusual baths, like the mud baths or sand baths...was it at all claustrophobic feeling?

my pj's never got out of the bag because both hotels we went (Toyoko Inn & Tokyo Marriot) they provided us with a nice clean pj's & yukatas.

I don't take PJs to Japan either. The hotels/ryokans I stayed always supplied them.

If there is a top three list of onsen then Dogo must be on it.

I am guessing that there were eight tempura shrimp in you meal at Ebihachi.

yukata are (in case it wasn't mentioned above) lightweight bathrobes and are ubiquitous in hotel rooms. The first exception to the rule that I saw was at the Best Western Takayama where they had what I thought of was a housedress.

Where was the train station with two tracks of the same number? Were they both operated by the same company?

I tried the hot sand bath on the beach in Ibusuki. It was HOTTO! Not particularly comfy, to me.

Happy to hear you had a wonderful trip and am looking forward to your full report.

The question is: Did mrw wear the housedress yukata at best Western? Can you please post that pic on your photo website (if you get it up and running again)?

This all makes me laugh so hard remembering a Japanese moment. I am a size 14 American 50 yr old woman. My daughter got excited at the Hotel Mira Costa at Disney Sea because they provided silky pajamas and a silky yukata. She immediately put hers on. I tried to put on the largest size and couldn't get the pants past my knees. So much for Japanese pajamas. The yukatas are more "user friendly" for me.

I couldn't sleep in the yakuta - which is what they had at the Renaissance in Tokyo.

At the Hotel Green Morris they supplied the housedress, although, I thought it was more like a nightshirt.

After a long day of sightseeing - soak in the deep tub and put on your yakuta, send your husband downstairs for a beer out of the beer machine, lay in bed and watch Japanese TV.
I miss Japan already.

My kids and I have enjoyed making up funny things that the Japanese might be saying on those silly looking TV shows, esp. the game shows. And your "beer from the beer machine" reminded me of the half bottles of local wines I tried from Kyoto, Kobe, and Hiroshima on this trip. They were pretty good.

I miss getting up early and sitting on the desk chair in the bathroom (so as not to wake up my daughter) with a cup of coffee, writing in my trip journal, planning the day, getting the daypack ready. And if she slept really late, I'd go out and buy those good Japanese pastries and OJ for breakfast. Although as mrw says "watch out for what is in those pastries." One day on this trip I bought one that was all sugary and looked like it would be jelly filled. It had chicken curry in it and my daughter (the vegetarian) bit into it.

My husband and I discovered a channel where they had travelogues. We would sit there and try to figure out where in the world they were.

Regarding the Japanese pasteries, I was lucky enough to have a translator, so I was never surprised. I did miss good inexpensive coffee though.

Best wine - at the French and Spanish restaurants. I was afraid to try the stuff out of the machine. Maybe next time I'll be more adventurous.

lol, i'll never tell. those garments are Japanese sized and i am not. nightSHIRT is definitely a more appropriate term. The "rules of the house" sheet at the BW advised not wearing the slippers or nightshirt on the street. I laughed at this but it is actually advice worth giving in Japan since it is customary in an onsen town/location to wear your yukata while strolling through town (after your bath I suppose, and wearing street slippers or geta). I've seen this in Noboribetsu Onsen and around Dogo Onsen. And in the public areas of a couple of onsen hotels.

Large coffee (not the American coffee) at Doutor for 280Y is a great coffee option with locations at many rail stations.

When we got to our onsen at Hakone at 6 pm, everyone who was Japanese had their yukata on, so we did the same. Very comfortable. And it does sort of reduce everyone to looking the same and not donning airs of who they are in the outside world, which is part of what the point is with the yukata and getting naked in the onsen. Although I still have not done that part.

I am not Japanese size either. I have another funny story to tell abotu that but will save it for my trip report which I hope to start this weekend before I have to travel all next wk for work.

oh, and actually, to be honest, I am 51. I guess I still think of myself as the ripe age of 50. The 51st birthday just slipped right by.

mrw, I found Doutor's in the Porta Mall below the Kyoto Station and had breakfast there twice - a cappuccino and a grilled cheese sandwich for under 500¥, plus a big non-smoking area.
I used the nightshirt I got at the Kyoto Sun Hotel to sleep in. It was nice and roomy and there was a fresh one every day.

ok, Mara, fess up. Are you smaller than us or was the nightshirt bigger.

I couldn't sleep in the yakuta, but I loved the nightshirt - can we find out the name for that?

Maybe ours were bigger because my husband could wear it too, and considering some of the looks we got he's big for Japan.

The nightshirt or housedress you are talking about, does it look like this?

http://gobukai-igumi-mikoshiren.hp.i....jp/hanten.htm

If it does, this is usually called han-ten (han means Half - half length of kimono) or happi.