santamonica

Dear Advisors,
Based on your advice, here is our plan. July 4th, arrive and stay at Holiday Inn in Narita. July 5th, Hakone at the Flower Palace. July 6 and 7th, Takayama at the Antique Inn in Sumiyoshi. July 8 and 9th, Ogimachi at the Yokichi. July 10, 11, 12, and 13 at the Hirota Guest House cottage in Kyoto. July 14, 15, 16, 17 in Tokyo at the Akasaka Prince Hotel. July 18 Narita and home.

All the hotels have been reserved, except I'm thinking the first night we should take the bus from the airport to the Akasaka Prince in Tokyo rather than staying in Narita.

I don't know how exactly to get from place to place, but we have a 14 day railpass which I think we'll activate when we arrive in Narita on the 4th effective for July 5th. I think there's a bullet train from Tokyo to Hakone and from Hakone to Takayama. And a bus from Takayama to Omigachi. From Omigachi to Kyoto do we go back to Takayama, or to Kanazawa and on to Kyoto? We may go from Kyoto to Nara for a day trip. A bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo, and the Narita express from Tokyo to the airport (by which time we'll know our way around on the subway and train stations).

I'm not sure why we are two nights in Ogimachi but the straw roof at the inn looks cool. People have listed about 4000 things one must do in Kyoto and Tokyo. We'll need to narrow it down a bit.

I like to wander around. Shop. Eat. Watch people. We want to see a baseball game. If we stay the first night in Tokyo maybe we can see the fish market before we head off to Hakone. Ghibli museum. Commerant fishing. Preparation for Gion Matsuri in Kyoto. Shibuya at night. Watch teenagers at Harajuku. No beaches.

I'm not sure how to do all of this. We continue to depend on the kindness of strangers. So please offer route, timing, and sightseeing suggestions. In the meantime I'll try to get a little more familiar with the online train schedules.

Thanks!

angethereader

I posted 3 different trip reports on our trip. We were in Tokyo, Kyoto (at Hirota Guest House) and Hiroshima.
If you put my screen name in the search screen you can read my posts on Kyoto and Tokyo.

We were traveling with our 20 year old son. He has an avid interest in Japan and so might have had more interest in it's history art and temples than your sons, but don't underestimate them, they may surprise you. (is that a record run on sentence??)

I loved just about everything we did. I had an outline of what I wanted to do every day, but I left it open for changes and what the guys wanted to do.

I'm going to look back and give you what I think are the don't miss things in what we did.

angethereader

One of the things I think your boys will probably like is free. It’s the Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts. I will leave Hirota to tell you where to find it – as she did for us. Then it’s just a few steps to the Heian shrine.

Kiyomizo-dera and the streets that you walk up to get there are lined with shops. It’s perfect for puttering, shopping, window shopping and people watching. Buy some of the triangular sweets that you find there. I wish I had. I thought I’d see them somewhere else but I found them only in Kyoto.
That whole area is full of temples and shrines. I’d get a map and then just wander. Decide which (besides Kiyomizo – that you must see) you want to see.

Also, just north of Hirota’s on Nijo Dori, on the east side of the street I noticed a junk shop. I had hardly any time to shop because my husband has about a 15 minute window for stuff like that. Regardless, I stopped in there one day and bought several teacups for 100 yea each. Now I wish I had bought more, one is very beautiful and almost certainly made in Japan rather than China as much of the newer teacups are.

Also I recommend Cocofu – also north of Hirota’s for breakfast. They had great grilled ham & cheese sandwiches with a small salad and coffee for 640yen for breakfast. Real coffee – have the boys order it anyway and drink theirs. There are no free refills and coffee is usually over 500 yen a cup.

santamonica

Angethereader,
Thanks for your suggestions. We were quick to confirm the cottage, we look forward to trying the tappas (my wife's first love is Spain), and we'll be sure to go to the craft museum and kiyomizu. Sounds like lots of great little shops and places to eat near Hirota. Thanks again.

KimJapan

2 nights in Shirakawa-go will be one night longer than the vast majority of overnighters spend there. I think it's great. S-go is at the end of the Hakusan super Rindo (Hakusan mountain forest highway) and there is some very good hiking in the area.

The open air museum offer soba making, but you need to reserve in advance. It's worth the time to make your own soba.

Wandering around S-go after all the tour buses have left is very nice...a different place indeed.

From S-go, take the bus to Kanazawa then the train to Kyoto...it's the fastest way.

santamonica

Thanks for the route information. The kids should be able to do without neon and karaoke for two nights.