More Help with Japan!!
 

Guys - I want to thank people for helping me with my other post to about japan (help with japan) before I post another one

I have now figured out my basic itenerary and I wanted advice and ideas

Oct 10th Leave ORD
Oct 11th -Tokyo - Arrive NRT - staying at Mansions of Roppongi for 4 nights
Oct 12th -Tokyo Possibly Fish market in the morning then explore toyko
Oct 13th -Tokyo I am considering an all day tour by JTB or simmilar (any thoughts?)
OCT 14th -Tokyo day trip, Hakone/Fuji, nikko or Kamakura ??? any thoughts ?
OCT 15th - leave Tokyo for Kyoto(could stop at Kamakura on the way?? should I?)
We are staying at the karasuma near the Shijo subway stop
http://www.kyotohotel.co.jp/karasuma/index_e.html
Has anyone been to this hotel? I got a pretty good deal (134USD) - and it was one of few places available
OCT 16th -Kyoto explore city all day
OCT 17th - Train to Himeji castle in the morning, around noon train to NARA
OCT 18th -Kyoto all day
OCT 19th - Kyoto morning, Train to KIX to depart for ORD

Any advice or thoughts? I am not getting a rail pass - I don't think its worth it? Is it easy to buy tickets?
What are peoples favorite sites in Kyoto or Tokyo? has anyone been to an animae museum?

Thanks

you might want to check out jalpak.com.
I would buy the jr pass, it's cost effective if you planning on traveling outside of toyko. what's the all day tour toyko (jtb) includes? Fuji day trip is not bad, we paid $100 for the whole day trip without lunch.

topping

The JR Pass would NOT be cost effective for your trip. You are only traveling one-way between Tokyo and Kyoto; and you only have two daytrips planned, both of which are for relatively short distances. With this itinerary, you would lose money if you buy the JR Pass.

Hi!

You might consider an overnight stop in Hakone on your way to Kyoto. We left Tokyo in the morning and arrived in Hakone around 11am. We spent the whole day exploring and we went to a hot spring resort called Yunnesson (its family style so you where a bathing suit and are not separated by sex). Hakone turned out to possibly be our favorite stop in Japan because it so beautiful and relaxing- especially in between Tokyo and Kyoto which I imagine you, like us, will be very busy running around seeing everything. We stayed the night at a traditional inn and left early the next morning for Kyoto. We wished we had allocated more time there. You can definitely take a day trip to Hakone from Tokyo though without a JR pass. You take the "romance car" from Shinjuku, which will take you right to Hakone Yamoto. There are two train stations near/in Hakone. The other station is the JR station and from there you take a train to Hakone Yamoto where the "circle tour" of Hakone starts. The JR station is also where you would go to Kyoto from.

Transport in Japan is very easy and efficient. Pick up a rail schedule in English from the reservation office in a JR station. We circled the trains we wanted and then made our reservations. There are also ticket machines for JR and the subway lines which all speak English.

In terms of JR pass, I see you are also going to KIX from Kyoto. JR has a website where you can search the fares for individual trips- just go to where you make an online reservation and you can price out each leg of your trip and then compare your total to that of a JR pas. We waited until our 4th day in Tokyo to activate our passes so we could use them to go from Tokyo-Hakone-Kyoto-Hiroshima-Osaka and it was well worth the money when we priced it out. There is also some sort of local commuter train from Kyoto to Osaka that we saw. Not sure how long it takes or price but you could look into it for a cheaper option. It's the same train company that goes Kyoto to Nara.

BTW: before you spend a lot of money on a day tour, consider that in Tokyo and Kyoto you can get a private guide for free for the day from the tourism office. They are students or seniors who will spend the day with you so they can show you around and speak English. WE wanted to go somewhere in Kyoto where we needed a translator and our hotel arranged it for us because we learned from the tourism office you need to arrange it three days in advance (our hotel worked magic for the next day)! Our guide was really great- we mentioned where we were going to head that afternoon and he came along with us! We just payed his transport and bought him lunch! Much more cost effective and private! Check out the Tokyo and Kyoto or Visit Japan websites for info.

Hope this helps a little!

Have fun!

Hi dgruzew. I am also planning my first trip w/a teen son, so will leave the advice to others who have gone before us. But I am interested in your question about the anime museums. My son and I are both anime fans. We are hoping to catch the Tokyo Internatl. Anime Fair as we are going in last half of March and that is when it has happened in past years. There was a good exhibition on Spirited Away in Tokyo at the Open Air Architectural Museum but it has closed. I have not found any museums devoted just to anime, have you? I have found some helpful sites on where to shop for anime goods and some other helpful info, try: http://www2.neweb.ne.jp/wd/anime/tokyo/home2.html (or www.animetokyo.com may get you there)
Please share info if you know of or find an anime museum. There is apparently one anime film studio outside of Tokyo that you can visit if you show up there, but there is no real tour of the place so I didn't even mark the website when I found it.

Aside from the advice on this board, I have found the Fodor's book "Exploring Japan" to be the most helpful in planning day trips and sites to visit in and from Tokyo and Kyoto. Good maps, and great walking maps for your two days in Kyoto on the 16th and 18th. Good coverage of Hakone. Good sections throughout on cultural and sociological issues, history, food, etc. And it's only about 3/4" thick.

Punky, you have made up my mind to do an overnight at Hakone btwn Tokyo and Kyoto instead of day trip. I was just reading about the Romance Car in the above book yesterday and it sounds great. And thanks for the tip on Yunnesson! My teen son will not go sans clothes, period.

Punky - thanks of all the input !!!
emd - thanks also ,I found that there is a museum called the Ghilbli museum.
http://www.ghibli-museum.jp/ (japansese only) - I belvie it is based on the chararters of Hayao Miyazaki. - it is in a place called Mitaka. HAs anyone been there? I don't know how far it is and if it is worth going out to - it looks like it might be more geared to kids. I am surprised it does not talk about this place on the aninmaetokyo.com site?


Also - I am still trying to Decide what do do for my tokyo day trip? I don't want to stop in hakone(punkys suggestion) on the way to kyoto - because it is a little late to change hotel resvations (pre-paid kyoto) but I could do a day trip there.
I would need to choose between Hakone or Nikko for a day trip ? any votes?

Also any "must sees" would still be appreciated

Thanks

Thanks for that museum site, dgruzew. My son is taking Japanese now in school so I will have him look at it. Also, I saw your post askign about doing Nara and Himeji in one day, and I see you have decided to go ahead and do that. Please post after your trip and tell us how that goes, and everything else.

I don't speak japanese either - but I was searching the web and looking at pictures
I found another website
http://anime-tourist.com/article.php?sid=607

If you have an odd hour in Tokyo try popping in to the Nikkei stock exchange - great fun (not much activity when we were there until the lunch bell rang!!).

dgruzew: That site you gave me for the ghilbi museum has English on it once you get past the first page. At the ticket info page(http://www.ghibli-museum.jp/ticketinfo.html) there is a map at the bottom of the page and directions in English on how to get there. It sounds like you must buy tickets for the day and time you want to go from the agency on that site before you go to Japan. The map and directions show that the museum is in Mitaka Inokashira Park, which is in west Tokyo; apparently you take the JR Chuo Line and it is 20 min. from Shinjuku station (although I can't figure out if you walk from Shinjuko train station or take another train or what exactly, the directions are not entirely clear). But it seems doable. I wasn't going to go to Shinjuku area; the Fodors book talks about Shinjuku Imperial Gardens which is on the west side of Shinjuku, but the eastern side of Shinjuku is described as somewhat seedy w/sex shops, etc. I want to be more sure of where the museum is in Shinjuku. Shinjuku is north of Shibuya (where Meiji Shrine and Yoyogo Park are) so we may try to go there on the day we go to Shibuya, if the museum is in an ok area.

dgruzew: That anime tourist site is awesome, and the article has detailed directions on how to get to the Ghibli and getting tickets. Also we found info there on the Tezuka manga museum in Takarazuka, and since we are already going to Osaka for sumo tournament we will likely fit in a short trip to Takarazuka go there also. Thanks!

Also, this is all very much appreciated, as I found out today that the Tokyo Internatl. Anime festival, which was supposed to occur while we are there in March, has changed dates to April instead. This would have been really disappointing news without the news of the Ghibli and Tezuka.

> if the museum is in an ok area.

emd, are you questioning above about Mitaka? If so, Mitaka is far west out of Shinjuku so you don't need to worry about the seedy area, Kabuki-cho, for you kids. FYI, Mitaka is a "shi (city)", separate from Tokyo Metropolitan area.

My French colleague's son from Grenoble goes to a University (Tokyo Univ.) and lives in a student apartment in Mitaka. He got intereted in Japanese because he was an Animé fan when he was younger. The university itself might have its faculty branch in Mitaka,in which case you could call the area partly a unversity town.

Speaking of Shinjuku, it's true, you don't want to walk on some streets of Kabuki-cho essentially with only sex shops and likes, with kids. Still Kabuki-cho is fairly a limited area. You can visit sky scraper area (Shinjuku-West) and shopping area + the Imperial Garden (Shinjuku-East) without stepping into Kabuki-cho, although the shopping area is next to Kabuki-cho.

Thanks for that info kappa. Also good to know that your colleague's son is now studying in Japan after initially getting interested in anime. I would be thrilled if my son wanted to go to school in Japan. Pop culture like anime is enough to get a kid interested, then I can foster it, take him there to experience the country, and hope the interest grows.

Now back to dgruzew's other questions besides the anime- he is still looking for Tokyo day trip input re Nikko, or Hakone/Fuji, and for favorite sites in Tokyo and Kyoto...

spygirl had a trip report on nikko with good info. its been awhile since i've been to both nikko and hakone, but i think nikko has a bit more history to offer. i thought of hakone as a resort area with many onsens.

so, it depends what you are looking for.

dgruzew: spygirl's post on her trip to Nikko is inside another post. I ran across it tonight while pouring over alot of posts I had printed out. To find it, search for this post title: 3 days outside Tokyo

emd; excellent! i forgot her comments were in another post. are you going there? i plan to be there last week in oct. you are leaving soon, right?

Thanks for all the input I will check out spy girls post on nikko

I am pretty torn over the two because My wife wants to check out that Yunnesson onsen that punky144 mentioned. I think I might like nikko a little more. but the outdoor musemum and the volanic walking path near hakone looks cool. But I don't think we will spend the night since I already booked at other places.

also any top favorite todo's in tokyo and kyoto would be apreciated.

Has anyone been to the fish markets - what was you impression ?

Regarding Kabuki-cho: we were curious to see what the Japanese "red light" district was so we walked through it. While it is near Shinjuku, you have to walk back pretty far to get to it. The area outside the station on all four sides is fine- lots of shopping and restaurants on one side and all the high-rises on the other. I wouldn't wprry about running in to it unless you are really looking for it.

Your wife will love Yunnesson as will your kids! There's an outdoor area with a water slide that my boyfried loved and he's an adult! Also, on the circle tour of Hakone is a pirate ship that's great for boys that you take across the lake plus the tram (gondola)which I know my teenage brothers would have loved. If you're going to do a day trip you can purchase a Hakone Free Pass at Shinjuku station that will include the train to Hakone Yamoto plus all the transportation on the circle tour. Just set off early to get it all in. We spent about 3 hours at Yunnesson- we had lunch there- but it will probably be your first stop since it is on the first train you take up the mountain on the circle tour.

:)

Punky, thanks for the further info on Yunnesson. I am trying to figure out if I can get the Hakone free pass in Yokohama, since we are staying there to visit Tokyo area instead of in Tokyo proper. I guess we could pick it up at Shinjuku station on the day we go to visit the Ghibli museum, if we have to do that.
kuranosuke: I am not going til March. But one thing about dgruzew's post is that it has made me realize how much more in the groove I am now than when I started planning (I won't tell you how long ago that was-- it's been a long time since mrwunrfl replied to my very first "help, where do I start?" post!) Back then, "shinjuku" and all the rest of it was Greek to me.
I am skipping Nikko because it makes more sense for us to go to Hakone- we will already be south of Tokyo in Yokohama, so we will go to Hakone instead. Also will try to go to Kamakura on the way to the overnight in Hakone, then on to Kyoto.

p.s. I googled "yunessun" (note the spelling) and found some great pictures. It looks really nice and so does their food. http://www.reggie.net/album.php?albid=628

see also www.yunessun.com, their website, and it has an Emglish version

> Yunessun

I always thought it was Yunessans (Yu = Hot water + Renaissance). Maybe the origin was it, meaning re-vitalize yourself with thermal bath.

Punkyl44

we don't have any kids - will the Yunessun be very kid oreneted?like a water park? - we 30 and 32. will it be too cold in october?

dgruzen: I'm hope Punky will chime in on that, as my son is 14 and we don't want an amusement park atmosphere ( I have nothign against little ones, mine were little once too but he's older now). I've been researching this place today- check out the website, and also Frommer's has a piece about it at http://www.frommers.com/destinations...092010029.html
I had the same concern about cold as I am going in March, but many of the baths (described as Turkish, Roman, salt baths, etc.) here are indoors. Part of it is w/bathing suit (a must for my son) but there is a whole other part of the place called Mori No Yu which has separate bathing for men and women and is traditional, without bathing suits (that part sounds more like an onsen, and it has a separate admission price).

Inside Yunnessun complex, as emd described correctly, there are parts more traditional which is for the older (and for the younger who like the same). But the major part is pretty much family/kid oriented (they call themselves "Hot Spring Theme Park"), which may not be what you are after. I have never been inside Yunnessun but the bus I took a few times between Hakone-Yomoto & Moto-Hakone made a stop there.

Hi! My boyfriend and I are in our late twenties with no kids and we loved Yunessun. The draw for us was that it was not seperated by sex- we wanted to spend the day together. They do have another hot spring resort in the same complex that is traditional- seperated by sex. You can either pay for admission to either one or buy a discounted pass that allows you to use both. We only went into Yunnesson so I can't give you many details on the traditional spot.

As for children, there certainly were a lot of families, but I wouldn't say it was "kid oriented" like a waterpark in the US. They have a huge indoor area and two outdoor areas. Inside is a huge indoor pool that is about room tempature. There are also probably at least 10 (probably more) smaller tubs like jacuzzies, some scented, some not, turkish baths, roman baths, mud room, plus many massage and beauty service treatment room. You could just walk up to a counter and get a massage if you wanted one. Outside there were two areas. In one area there was a waterslide, a pool with a waterfall, and a kids play area. On the other side, it is built into the mountain and as you walk up you find different baths that are mostly hot like a jacuzzi including cofee scented (good for your skin), green tea, rose, etc. Since the pools out hear are hot I imagine that they would be nice in the cooler winter (like using one at a ski resort). There was also a huge shopping area downstairs. There was also several dining choices from a sit down restaurant, to a cafteria, to food stands selling junk food like hot dogs and stuff.

Hi again! I accidentally hit post rather than preview so please forgive my typos!

If you want any more details just let me know! I wish we had taken pictures but we locked our stuff in a locker so we didn't get it wet! I forgot to mention- when you check in you get a card which you just hold up to everything including your locker and anything you want to pay for and when you check out you pay the bill. It can get wet and is very convenient so you don't have to carry your money around with the water. They take credit cards btw!

Hi Punky. I found an interesting article about the smartcard technology used at Yunessun ("How Do You Extract Money From Naked Comsumers Swimming in Coffee?" at www.jir.net/jir7_02.html) The author said it is a great benefit not to have a wallet to deal with, you can just swipe away to open and close your locker and pay for food or whatever services you want all day, and then you pay up before you are leaving the resort. Leave it to the Japanese; I've not been to a US water park or similar resort place here using that technology. He also indicated he spent alot more than he realized by swiping the card and was somewhat shocked at his $80 bill when he went to check out- the downside I guess.
Thanks for the further description. We have decided to go there from Yokohama and then stay in Hakone overnight on Lake Ashi afterwards. Now we will see what dgruzew and his wife decide- will it be Hakone w/a stop at Yunessun or Nikko or even Kamakura for them. I am looking forward to the Open Air sculpture museum in Hakone and the cable cars, scenery, fresh air, etc after Tokyo.

emd: I thought the "smartcards" were a very smart idea too! You can even take them in the water! Very high-tech! You will have to report back on the open-air museum. We actually had planned to go there first and as we were taking the train up the mountain it started pouring rain! We ended up backtracking to Yunnesson (it's one stop before the open air museum on the cog railway) because we saw a picture in the Hakone Free Pass brochure that looked interested. BTW I forgot to mention- you get a discount to Yunnesson with your free pass- pretty good too- I think it was 20% or something similar! We ended up not having time to go to the museum if we wanted to complete the circle. Next time we plan to stay on the lake and spend more time in Hakone to see everything we missed and just relax! You can tell we loved Japan and can't wait to return!

I think we have decided on Hakone for our day trip. We will try to go to the Yunnessun first thing in the morning and spend most the morning there - then head to the open air musuem(lunch?) and on to the volcanic walk -

is there enough time? we don't care about the boat ride - but I would like to ride the ropeways and get some views of fuji

we don't have to be back to tokyo any specific time - so will trains leave later? we will probably buy the weekday hakone free pass from shinjinku - any experiance with this? do I need to book it before I leave?

We are skiping nikkon since we have alot of time in kyoto, and We decided to change our iterary to spend more time in nara. Himji castle will be a different morning - I figure we can do the castle in the morning and then back to kyoto to see some more of the sights there. then spend a longer day in nara.

Please suggest any places to eat in Nara or Hakone if anyone knows.(not to much yen!!)

dgruzew: I have been reading today about Typhoon Ma-On and the havoc it dealt to Tokyo on Saturday. I hope your landing in Tokyo isn't messed up from this! Let us know how it goes when you get back.