suneun

I've been reading through this forum for the last week, and I love it. I've been slowly building up a tentative itinerary and was hoping to get some comments. I'll be flying into Nagoya on April 15th, and leaving on the 25th. I will be attending the HGM 2005 conference from the 18-21 in Kyoto. I'm a girl, mid-20's, and traveling alone.

Friday - 4 pm in, 7 pm arrive in Kyoto. I think I'll be near Kawaramachi in Kyoto, so I'll poke around near there. What kinds of places will be open?

Saturday - All day Kyoto, shopping (what areas are good for trinkets, traditional items, capsule toy store, pachinko, electronics?)

Sunday - Miho Museum and Shigaraki. Will stores in Shigaraki be open?

Monday - Kibune/Kamura hike and onsen. Ohara if I have time. Conference at Kyoto International Conference Hall from 6-8 pm. Will I have enough time to get there?

Tuesday - HGM 2005 until 6 pm. Evening free

Wednesday - HGM 2005 until 6 pm. Evening free

Thursday - Early Toji Market, to HGM by 1 pm till 6 pm. Evening free

Friday - Osaka - Shoryo-e Festival at Shitennoji Temple. shop in Osaka (Kita area?)

Saturday - Iga Ryu and Iga Ueno Castle, what other things are there to see near there? Is this easy to get to from Kyoto? I keep finding directions from Osaka or Nagoya, not Kyoto.

Sunday - Nijo-jo in Kyoto, more kyoto shopping

Monday - To Nagoya in the morning, shop. arrive at airport by 3:30 pm. Will I have enough time to see anything in Nagoya before the airport? I'll probably leave my baggage at Nagoya Station while I wander around. Would it be better to send my luggage straight to the airport the day before?

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I have several evenings in Kyoto after 6 pm free. What do you suggest I do in the evenings?

Thanks so much.

suneun

Hey. Hoping some folks have comments about my suggested itinerary.

mrwunrfl

One evening, you could stroll through Gion to Gion Corner and see the performances there.

albaaust

You must go to Nara from Kyoto- its a half an hour train trip. The temple and pagodas are spectacular!

Florence

Bonjour Suneun,

Some comments:

Kyoto is quite safe, even for a young girl. Given some elementary precautions (remember what your mother certainly taught you about not following strange men and wearing clean underwear ;-)), don't hesitate to go out at night.

Kawaramachi street between Oike and Shijo is quite busy at night, with bookstores and various shops open late at night.

Shijo is great for shopping for what you're looking for, as is all the square area in the middle of Kawaramachi (East), Shijo (South), Karasuma (West) and Oike (North).

Most stores are open on Sunday, especially in touristy areas.

On one of your free evening, try booking a show at Gion corner or Kabuki theater. The desk at the conference hall or at your hotel should be able to help you.

On the 21st, if you buy something at Toji, you can leave them in a locker at the station. The subway takes about 20 min to the conference center. See http://www.kich.or.jp/en/access/index.html

If you can arrange it with your hotel, do send your baggage ahead to the airport. It will leave you with more time to shop, either in Nagoya or in Kyoto.

pxtraveler

suneun:
can i ask which hotel/ryokan you will be staying in kyoto?
thanks.

suneun

Thanks for all the great replies.

I got the confirmation, I will be staying at the Kyoto Central Inn (low quality, but wonderful location, breakfast included). I read a review suggesting I request a room in the back on a top floor to reduce traffic noise. Should I call now or just request when I arrive?

My mother wants me to take a tour. I'm considering doing the Kyoto/Nara all day tour through Sunrise Tours. Anyone done this?

Bob4

I highly recommend a Kabuki performance. Your hotel can probably help get tickets, or you can go to the theater. The performance is 4 hrs long, but the main play is broken up with a comic interlude (short 1-act play)and 1/2 hr intermissions, where everybody eats! Either full dinners or just snacks, in lobby restaurants or your seats. The performance, acting, costumes, were all fascinating, with smoke, giant serpents, actors flying away or dropping into trapdoors, and we loved it, even though we didn't understand a word. The people sitting next to us, despite speaking no English, shared their opera glasses, critical comments and snacks.

emd

Hi suneun. I just got back last night from Kyoto. Yes, you can hike and onsen Kurama/Kibune and go to Ohara in one day if you get an early start. I figured out how to do it transportation-wise and will share the info w/you once I get unpacked and get out my notes. Although I will tell you that I ended up going to Ohara first and staying there all day. I fell in love w/the place.
Personally I would not go to Osaka one day, go back to Kyoto, then go to Iga Ueno the next day. I believe you do have to go through Osaka to get to Iga Ueno. I had planned to go to Nara one morning and then go to Iga Ueno in the afternoon- that can be done as well. But it is alot of moving around and we ended up wanting to spend more time in Kyoto and the areas closer to there and less day trips.
What area of Kyoto do you want to see on your first day (Sat.) there, while you are also doing shopping? You have not listed any temples, other than Toji, which I assume you will include visiting on the 21st. Be sure you see 5 story pagoda on the grounds at Toji; it is the the oldest wooden structure in Kyoto. You can easily combine some fine temples and great shopping in Higashiyama area also.
You could go to Teramichi dori and Shijo dori, covered shopping streets. There are electronics there. These are close to (connected to) the Nishiki market also, so you could stroll through there to see the food market w/all the traditional foods. And you can easily walk to three good department stores from Teramachi/Shijo dori/Nishiki areas. As you are leaving Nishiki you could possibly check out the food basement at Tarishiyma Dept. store- it is truly amazing. That would be a fun day, and there are a few good shrines included in those areas as you are walking around, like the lantern-bedecked Nishiki Temmangu, and temples like Honnoji. I believe my son found a Gamers store on Terammichi dori and got some capule toys there- I'll ask him.
On those free evenings, find out what tepmles will be lit up at night while you are there. The temples take on a whole new feeling when they are lit at night, it is truly lovely. If any in Higashiyma are lit up then you could combine some night walks by the temples and the great little shops on the pedestrian-only streets between Maruyama park and Kiyomizudera temple.

suneun

Ooh what a wonderful reply

Here are my changes so far... I might try for a Sunrise tour of Kyoto and Nara on my first full day (it hits all the classic tourist things, and is probably much more efficient than trying to do it on my own). I'm considering dropping the Iga Ryu visit. It seems like a far distance for what might be a relatively small ninja exhibit.

That gives me three Kyoto days, a Sunday, Saturday, and another Sunday. I'm still planning on Osaka that Friday (den-den town, perhaps?). I'm not sure how many dozens of temples I want to go to it seems that my focus will be on wandering commercial/traditional districts of Kyoto.

I'd love for some more input from your very-recent Kyoto trip . Take some time to unwind first, though!

emd

Interestingly, I had absoloutely no jet lag at all in Japan and seem to be having none now that I am back home either. I took that No Jet Lag homeopathic product and melatonin also and I guess I responded to them.
The routes I sugested do not lead to to dozens of temples. We also did not want to get "over templed" or "templed out". But they are lovely and can be very interesting; some are peaceful and quiet and some are teaming w/people and have great people watching. The Higashiyama walk leads you past 4-5 really nice temples, and we only went inside two of them. The rest of the walk btween them consists of incredible shops, some street vendors that afford you the oppurtunity to try some great foods by the lovely park, and we saw geishas walking about at Kiyomisudera temple.
I thought you were going to Osaka for a festival? I'm not sure I'd go there at all if I didn't have a festival or something specific to do there. We went to a baseball game and sumo (and did some shopping at Namba next to the suno venue) and that made it worth it.
I hope to get the trip report done early this week.

Mara

emd -

I am going to Kyoto in ten days. Looking forward to reading your trip report.

In the meantime, I am particularly interested in how you took the Nojetlag and Melatonin. I will be flying from JFK to LAX and then on to KIX.
Thanks,
Mara

emd

Hi Mara. I took the No Jet Lag per the instructions which are to chew one tab upon take off, and one every two hrs. on the plane. I did not get this exactly right, there were two times I forgot and took it an hour late, then picked up again at two hours later. It says on the instructions that if one is sleeping you can go up to 4 hrs without a dose, but need to take it on awakening and every two hours after that. This product is homeopathic, meaning it has only minute amounts of the ingredients in it. I did some research on it first, as I do pharmaceutical product liability work and I am very careful about what I take, esp. unregulated nutritional supplements, even if they are homeopathic. As for the melatonin, it was harder to get clear instruction on how to take it when one is going to Asia. The clearest info I could get on the web and from people who have done this and in medical papers I reviewed was to take it the first night when one is in Asia, at the bedtime of the timezone there, and the dose suggested is 3 mg. The bottle I got this time was of 1 mg. sublingual tablets (dissolve under the tongue) as opposed to other bottles I have gotten in the past, which were regular tabs to swallow. So I put three under my tongue at 11 p.m. Japan time when I got to the hotel and went to bed. I slept 7 hrs and woke with no jet lag at all. I did the same routine on the way home- No Jet Lag on the plane every two hours and melatonin 3 mg. when I went to bed last night. I did not sleep at all on the way over (and no alcohol or caffeine and stayed very hydrated) and only napped on the way back (and no alcohol, caffeine, etc.)
The papers I read said that only 60% of the population responds to melatonin. If you are not a responder, it just won't work. I got the No Jet Lag at Whole Foods.

Mara

Arigatou gozaimasu, emd!

You did not sleep on the way there, OY!!

Mara

emd

You might be surprised like I was re sleeping. Unless you are one who always sleeps on planes, the adreniline and anticipation of the trip, and last minute things to plan (for me, it was getting all the train times down so I could make the reservations at the JR office at Narita when we touched down) might keep you going on the way over. That and half of the entire last season of "24" on the personal DVD player.

suneun

Hi! I read through your trip report, emd, and altered my plans somewhat. So here it is, second version. There's more detail for the kyoto part at the bottom:

Friday - 4 pm in, 7 pm arrive in Kyoto. Late night nearby hotel sightsee

Saturday - Kyoto/Nara through Sunrise Tours*

Sunday - one of the kyoto choices

Monday - Kibune/Kamura hike and onsen. Ohara if I have time. 6-8 pm HUGO

Tuesday - HGM 2005 until 6 pm. Evening: Kawaramachi btwn Oike and Shijo

Wednesday - HGM 2005 until 6 pm. Evening: Gion corner

Thursday - Early Toji Market, to HGM by 1 pm till 6 pm. Evening: Maruyama park and Kiyomizu-dera temple.

Friday - Osaka - Shoryo-e Festival at Shitennoji Temple. shop in Osaka (Electric Street, Denden Town, Nansan Dori Street to Nihombashi (Namba, Nihon-bashi, Ebisu))

Saturday - one of the kyoto choices

Sunday - one of the kyoto choices

Monday - To Nagoya in the morning, shop. arrive at airport by 3:30 pm.

* Sunrise Tour includes: Nijo, Golden Pavilion, Kyoto Imperial Palace, Kyoto Handicraft Center, Todaiji Temple, Deer Park, Kasuga Shrine. 9 am to 6:30 pm

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Kyoto Choices:

1. Higashiyama - @ Kiyomizu-dera Temple, to Sannen-zaka Ninen-zaka, Nene-no-michi.. then Ishibei-koji

2. Shopping area of Kawaramachi (East), Shijo (South), Karasuma (West) and Oike (North). Nishiki Market in this area?

3. Nishijin town (NW of Old Imperial Palace)? It was mentioned on a kyoto guide, though I don't know about the area. Traditional neighborhood I think.

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I'd love a couple more suggestions for areas (starting and direction) of places in Kyoto to spend a morning or afternoon. I don't know if this itinerary will leave me with not enough time or too much free time.

Thanks again so much.

emd

suneun, i'll take a closer look at this for you over the weekend. But 1st thing that jumps out is that you have the park adn Kiyomisudera temple down for a night after 6 pm. Things were hopping in the park while I was there because there was an specific event and light up but I don't know that that wil be the case while you are there. And the temples will be closed by 6 pm. What you will want to do is findout what temples are lit up at night while you are there and go to those to see them at night. hopefully some in Higashiyama will be lit up, as the shopping there is great at night- however, one caveat is that I was shopping there on a Sat. night during festival, so I hope the shops there btwn the park and Kiyomiso. don't close earlier on weeknights.
I hope Florence chimes in too. She knows Nishijin and other areas well. I believe Nishijin is a textile area, and I loved my textile experience.
Tha Sunrise tour looks great and chock full- I guess they can get to all of those in one day by having private transportation.
I'll dig out the notes on getting to both Kibune/Kurama and Ohara in one day and get those to you also in a day or two.