Many Questions for 1st Japan Trip

Old May 22nd, 2017, 11:38 AM
  #21  
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A big thank you to all of you as well as the many other Fodorites who have posted trip reports and answered other questions about Japan. I used so much of the information I got here to plan our trip and it was even better than we thought it would be. I hope to do a more comprehensive TR, but to address some of the issues that I raised here:

1)Our final itinerary as to where we stayed in # of nights - Tokyo(4), Kobe(2), Miyajima(1), Kyoto(4), Kanazawa(2), Shibu Onsen(1), Tokyo(2)

As others have stated - not nearly enough time in Kyoto and we never even got to Nara. We very much enjoyed our short stays in Kobe & Shibu Onsen and absolutely loved Tokyo - so much to see and do, wonderful food, people, etc.

2)Golden Week was spent mostly in Tokyo so perhaps we didn't feel the crush as badly. We didn't mind sharing tourist sites with the Japanese tourists!

3)Sleeping on the floor (futons) was hard for us - literally. But we are overly partial to soft beds anyway. And it didn't stop us from doing the Ryokan experience a second time!

4)Trains and luggage situation was more than easy. I don't know why I was so nervous about this part. We had no trouble at all stowing our luggage (two small suitcases besides our daypack & purse) on the rack above our seat and used the lockers in Hiroshima to store while in between hotels.

5)Hotels etc. - #1 hotel was, of course, Hotel Mume in Kyoto - just cannot say enough good things about this lovely place. For Tokyo, I had intended to copy Kavey and do two different places for our start & finish, but Park Hotel Tokyo near Shimbashi station gave us everything we wanted and more. We ended up returning to them for the fabulous view of the Tokyo Tower, incredible breakfast buffet, and nice staff. Our favorite ryokan was Senjukaku Kanbayashi near the Snow Monkey Park. Both dinner and the Japanese breakfast were incredible and the lovely walk to the park was topped only by the time we spent seeing the monkeys!

Overall - just loved loved loved Japan. Loved the clean and interesting cities. Loved the food - the beef really is that good. Loved the people - couldn't stop and look at a map without someone asking if they could help us. Appreciated the young man who installed the japanese keyboard on my phone so he could write a "In case you're lost" note for us. Offers of help on deciphering food menus meant we ate well, and our final day was spent with a man who met us at Miyajima and wanted to show us "his city, Tokyo" upon our return.

Now the big question - when can we go back?
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Old May 22nd, 2017, 09:58 PM
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That was our question even as we were still on our first trip! The answer was 12 months later! But we did wait 2.5 years before trip 3!

So pleased you had a wonderful experience and loved Japan!
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Old May 22nd, 2017, 11:03 PM
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Did you feel that you had enough time in Miyajima/Hiroshima? I'm having trouble deciding that one. How much more time would you have wanted for kyoto?

Love that you came back to post- it sounds like a great trip and it's very helpful to me as I've been wondering about the same sort of things. I do hope you post a trip report.
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Old May 23rd, 2017, 05:46 AM
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marvelousmouse-We felt that we had enough time in Miyajima/Hiroshima but note these 2 things- 1)I have a hard time with certain historical sites and Hiroshima was one of them. So the few hours on a grey rainy afternoon was a hard enough time for me - I know others would spend a lot more time there. 2)We treated our stay in Miyajima as just a reset from all the touring. We bathed at our ryokan's onsen, had the nice kaiseki dinner, and briefly walked around the small town the next morning. It was still rainy so hiking further up the mountain did not appeal. I also was not sure about sleeping on the futons so didn't want 2 nights in a row at the ryokan - turns out that was the right call on my part.

With Kyoto-if travel logistics were no issue, then I would have taken our 2 nights in Kanazawa and added them to Kyoto making for 6 nights total. This way we would have had one more full day for some things that we missed and another day to visit Nara. We travel fairly slowly however and often work for a half day every 3 days or so. Our daughter & SIL were also in Kyoto for 4 nights and were able to fit in the day trip to Nara.

So much of the itinerary planning depends on when you arrive/depart a city. I had pretty much planned where we wanted to go and then sat down with the train schedules. If you are doing the trains, I suggest you look at the schedules sooner rather than later - might shed some light on what will make sense for you.
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Old May 23rd, 2017, 12:40 PM
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Thanks! I already know I tend to depart on the late side- it's one of reasons I book extra nights in places. I'm slow, slow turtle some mornings!
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