Hi! My boyfriend and I are planning our first trip to Asia this August. Everyone on this board has been very helpful so I want to thank you all for all the good advice.

This is our first pass at our itinerary. I am trying to decide if we should spend 1 more day in Tokyo and one less in Kyoto. Suggestions? We like to sightsee, enjoy history, cultural experiences, good restaurants and shopping. We are both in our mid-20's (well technically I'll turn into my "late" 20's while there) and are pretty active. We aren't really into the "party" scene- we prefer theatre, karaoke, comedy and good dinners.

Ideas for hotels that are centrally located in the $150-200 range? There are so many conflicting ideas on which neighborhood to stay in Tokyo, any advice? Also, I would like to stay 1 night at a traditional Japanese inn. Suggestions for one that won't break the bank? Also, does anyone know how to get Kabuki tickets ahead of time from the United States? We currently live in Los Angeles, but are relocating too NYC soon.

Also, what would be the best use of our time in Beijing? Should we plan on any day trips? We decided to base in Beijing after many posts about everything to do there.

Day 1: Arrive Tokyo 4PM Narita- check-in to hotel, have dinner, and to bed early since we'll probably be exhausted from traveling.

Day 2: Tokyo sightseeing (morning city tour). It's my birthday- any ideas for something special- perhaps a nice, fun restaurant or Kabuki show?

Day 3: Tokyo Sightseeing and shopping

Day 4: Disney Sea

Day 5: Day trip to Nikko

Day 6: Depart early morning for Hakone (Stay overnight Hakone)

Day 7: Depart early morning for Hiroshima (stay overnight Hiroshima)

Day 8: Depart early morning for Kyoto- Kyoto sightseeing.

Day 9: Nara

Day 10: Kyoto

Day 11: Kyoto

Day 12: Depart Osaka in the evening (6:30 pm) Overnight Hong Kong

Day 13: Hong Kong- fly to Beijing at 5:50pm.

Day 14: Beijing

Day 15: Beijing

Day 16 Beijing

Day 17: Beijing

Day 18: Beijing

Day 19: Early morning to Hong Kong- Red eye to Cairns, Australia

Bonjour Punky,

I'd suggest a small change: on day 7, go to Kyoto from Hakone instead of Hiroshima, keep Hiroshima for day 11, spend a night in Miyajima island and go straight to Osaka airport from there.

Are you aware of the Obon festival in Japan in mid-August? Hopefully, you've planned around it.

The Japan itinerary looks good and I would not give up one Kyoto day for another Tokyo day.

I recommend changing one of the Beijing days for an extra Hong Kong day. With some of the best food in the world, the night view, and plenty of culture, it deserves more than a night's passing.

Thanks for the advice! We will switch Hiroshima to the end as advised. I wish we could spend more time in Hong Kong, but we are on a mileage ticket so we can't ad anymore stops (well we could but we don't have enough miles)! So we worked in Hong Kong as a layover.

What is the Obon festival? Any advice on hotels?

Below is a description of Obon from the Japan Nat. Tourist Org. website www.jnto.go.jp Basically, guidebooks recommend not travelling during this period because the Japanese are all travelling. I thought it was mid-August, but the description below says it could be as early as July, depending on the region. Bring an umbrella for Hong Kong and Japan and probably for Beijing. Staying over another night in Hong Kong doesn't add to your mileage usage, now does it.

The two most important holidays during the year are New Years and the Obon Festival, and both are nenchu gyoji. Obon is a Buddhist observance honoring one's dead ancestors. It is held in mid-July or mid-August depending on the region. Obon is one of the two most important holidays in Japan, with the other being New Years. Family members usually return home from wherever they are to be together for Obon. The serious aspect of Obon is that people visit gravesites and clean graves, but at the same time there are also festivals, dancing in the streets, called Bon Odori, and stalls selling food and drinks.

This year, the bulk of travelling during the obon period will fall during the middle of the month...after the 5th and before the 25th of August. There are some regions that have a different time in July, but the majority of companies and all schools have holidays in August.

Obon is when people return to their hometown to visit the graves of famiy members. Nowadays, it is the time of year when families choose to take a family holiday. As such, places such as Tokyo Disneyland/Disneysea, Universal Studios Japan, and onsen are the most crowded. Transport can be difficult.

That said, last year we took a short holiday within Japan during obon in August and got fantastic hotel rates...the obon special. We drove to Nagoya on an almost deserted highway (everyone was going the other way!) and enjoyed a nice few days in the city.

During obon time, there are lots of summer festivals and fireworks displays that are a lot of fun. Our neighborhood has a big summer festival at the elementary school grounds that is really nice.

You'll have a great trip, I think!

Thanks for the info on Obon. It looks like we may hit it, but the only time we can go is over August. So far the hotels look fairly reasonable. I will try and book very soon to make sure we get good rates. Are they any special events anyone knows of that we should try and plan to be there for? Also, it is my understanding we can't reserve train tickets until we arrive?

I tried really hard to add in a Hong Kong flight. The way American Airline calculates miles on a One World ticket is very confusing. The way our tickets are now it is a "lay-over" in Hong Kong (meaning we depart within 24 hours) so they calculate the miles as if there is no stop from the original departure point to the destination. If I stay more than 24 hours they count it has an actual trip- so the miles from point A to B then B to C. When they do it this way it puts us over the miles limit by about 50 miles and they can?t waive it. It would mean we would have to spend an extra 50,000 miles each which we don?t have. Maybe this will help someone else in working out mileage ticket!

Any ideas on hotels? Also, I read about fireworks in Tokyo the first Saturday of August. Someone mentioned reserving seats. Does anyone know about this? It will be our first night of our five week vacation so we thought it might be fun!

You might find the information here interesting about festivals. http://japanvisitor.com/jc/aug_fest.html During late July and early August, there are fireworks displays often. I've never heard of reserving seats...but that doesn't mean it's not possible. I don't live in Tokyo. I do know that in our city (Kanazawa) some of the establishments along the river and in the higher floors of taller buildings have special events, by reservation only, like cocktails and snacks or dinners with fireworks viewing. It could very well be that sort of thing you read about. In Kanazawa, you can reserve for these sorts of events 2-3 weeks beforehand, and prices are usually quite fair. There are fireworks every night at Disney Sea weather permitting that are quite nice...Disney Sea is great by the way (at least I think so!).

Train reservations and/or advanced ticket reservations can't be made more than 30 days ahead. Reserving is always better...but if you can't get a reservation, it doesn't matter in terms of whether or not you can ride the train...just whether or not you get to sit. There are non-reserved cars and passengers line up before the train arrives and take the seats on a first come first served basis. It the origin of the train is also where you are getting on, no problem usually. It's later on stations that you might have trouble...and then, you just pile on in there. Trains filled to 200 % happen...that means there are twice as many people as seats.

Hotels are tough to recommend...everyone has different tastes. We personally like the Hiltons in Japan, exec floor, but dislike Hiltons in the US. I highly recommend y staying in ryokan or minshuku at least once. I would advise against business hotels...the price is usually just abou the same as the mid to high range international hotels, with none of the amenities, smokey smelling small rooms and low quality food service. My husband and I now pay less for executive floor Hilton (which includes unlimited free drinks including alcohol, free breakfast, afternoon tea and snacks, evening snacks, desserts, fitness club and more) than we paid for the two us to stay in business hotels before we knew better. One exception to this rule may be the Tokyu hotel group. As a rule, they are quite nice and affordable.

Try looking at http://japaneseguesthouses.com/db/destinations.htm#M and http://www.jpinn.com/ for ryokan and minshuku ideas.

Oh, now I understand about your oneworld ticket. Similar thing flying on UA HKG-> LAX-> IAD on flight XYZ. Got credit only for the HKG -> IAD point to point distance.

I haven't tried, but have read about, online reservations here:
http://www.world.eki-net.com/

Thanks for the website!

That's exactly what I mean about the flights. We booked our tickets yesterday and were able to maximize our time in Hong Kong. We have an overnight layover of about 24 hours and on the way back through we have full day (we get in at 10 and don't leave again until 11:30pm). While I know it won't do us justice, at least we'll be able to see a few things, eat at some nice restaurants and then think about everythin we want to see the next time we come!

Hi,

I thought I would chime in here since I'm also getting help from board members about our (me + girlfriend) first trip to Asia. I noticed you didn't plan much for party night in your itinerary, but mentioned you had an interest in it. We're in our early to mid - twenties so I'm guessing we might have similar interest in nightlife experiences. With that said, I'm guessing most of your partying in Japan would have to take place in Tokyo. I heard great things about the Roppongi nightlife so you might want to include that to your last night in Tokyo. We've partied in at least 7 European cities in the past 2 years and I have to say there's no way we can leave Asia without experiencing that nightlife.

We looked at centrally located hotels in Tokyo and Kyoto, but I'm having second thoughts about it because of the length of stay. Standard hotel rooms make me home sick, but at least they keep me out most of the day. We have booked centrally located 4-5 star hotels in places like Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, and London because we usually find lower rated hotel classes to be equivalent to 2-1/2 star hotels (at best) in the states. But I think Japanese accomodations may be closer to its rating then what we've seen elsewhere. The cost is high, but it keeps us within walking distance to the big attractions. What was communicated to me on this board was that there really isn't a 'true' central area that one can point to in Tokyo. It's not like crashing at a Ritz/Waldorf that's smack dab in the center of everything in cities like NY, Chicago, or LA (I think). With that said, you might have to look at asia-hotels for good prices/location. Best net prices I've seen so far. Plus they offer tons of personal reviews about individual establishments.

I'm guessing I'll have much to learn about the experience in a couple months as you guys will later this year. Good luck.

That sounds like a great trip. A circle Pacific tour I think? You are from L.A., so it:
LAX-NRT first? on JAL
followed by
KIX-HKG-PEK-HKG-CNS on Cathay Pacific
as described above. Then, is it:
CNS-SYD-LAX on Qantas?

Thanks for the advice BigFeat- especially on the website! I have been searching endlessly on the internet for a good rate. We too have traveled all over Europe and found the same to be true about hotels. We prefer to stay in more mid to upscale hotels in the US like Hyatt's and such but I can't seem to find any on the same scale in Tokyo for under $200 a night. Have you had any luck? Have you seen any that are more mid-range that look nice but less expensive?

As to nightlife, we are planning to spend one night out on the town at least! Our friend that's also in his mid-twenties spent the last two summers lving in Tokyo with his fiance. We are seeing him this weekend and will pick his brain on where to go. I'll let you know if we get any good tips! MY boyfriend is also really into electronic stuff (as is his friend) so I am sure we will get good advice on the high-tech stuff too!

MR: Yes- we planned our trip on the one world alliance following the circle-pacific scheme that you would normally buy. They actually priced it for us in coach as such and I must say we were pleasently surprised at the price. We decided to use miles though so we could go business class. We are actually live in LA now but are moving to NY in May so we will be leaving from there. Our flights are as follows:

American to LA (stay with friends for a visit).

LA-Tokyo (American- they have a non-stop flight)

Okura-HK-Beijing-HK-Cairns on Cathay Pacific.

Cairn-Sydney-Brisbane-LA on Qantas.

Washington hotels in Japan are generally nice enough...not 5 star by any means, but a step above the usual business hotel. In Tokyo, there are a few...check
http://www.wh-rsv.com/english/akihabara/index.html
http://www.wh-rsv.com/english/shinjuku/index.html
http://www.wh-rsv.com/english/shinjuku_annex/index.html
are the most "central."

The Tokyu hotel group is also pretty nice. There is a list of them where you can also make reservations in English at http://www.tokyu-group.co.jp/eng/guide/index_guide.html