do you know if I (and my bags)go thru security at Itami, do I (and bags) have to go thru again at Narita??

emd:
not totally sure but if it's on the same airlines(ANA) I can't imagine why they wouldn't check the bags all the way through to IAD. Call them and ask.
Aloha!

This is so great! A night in Kyoto vs a night in Narita. Now that's a no-brainer.

Your luggage IS going to be quite a problem because of too much too-ing and fro-ing in/around Tokyo. There are NOT elevators or even escalators in many stations in Japan, and you will have to haul your bags, which you will soon come to hate, up and down stairs amidst the crowds. I would reconsider all the hotel changes.

I nixed the hotel changes after this thread. Am staying at the Westin for 5 nights (and sending luggage to Kyoto from there on last day), then hotel at Disney Sea 2 nights and ryokan at Hakone one night w/just duffel bags, and then to Kyoto, where our bags will already be at the hotel.

emd:
Which ryokan did you decide for Hakone? Do they have a website? We are thinking of one nite there or in Nara on our upcoming trip.
Aloha!

Hi hawaii. Ichinoyu Honkan. Very reasonable prices for such a ryokan. There have some rooms w/private hot spring outdoor bath or private indoor hot spring bath. We got the "Take" room #3 which has the private outdoor bath (you'll see a picture on the website; I paid 12400 yen per person; a lower rate would be charged for under age 13). Another good thing is that it is a 5 min. shuttle from Hakone Yumoto train stop. Some ryokan in Hakone can be over an hour bus ride from the main train stops, and I want to get out to Kyoto the next day and did not want all that extra bus travel.
The person I corresponded with on email at Ichinoyu (Shinichi Saito) understands and writes English very well. And the clincher for me is that Hiroshige, one of my favorite Japanese woodblock artists, did a woodblcok of this ryokan. It is the woodblock you will see on their website. How cool is that. Oh, and we got breakfast - dinner can be included and looks great, but they can't accomodate my veggie daughter for dinner, so we will get something to eat before we arrive there (or use the peanut butter and jelly packets I ordered online to make sandwiches and get some fruit in Hakone Yumoto - I am so ready for this vegetarian trip to Japan!)

http://english.ichinoyu.co.jp/

Bonjour emd,

In Kyoto, your daughter should love the tofu restaurant in the shopping gallery of the Museum of Kyoto (Kyoto Bunka Hakubutsukan - http://www.keikyo.com/museums/museum...seum_of_kyoto/ - scroll down to shopping "Roji Tempo" Mercantile Street). Every dish is tofu based, even desserts. It's excellent and very reasonably priced.

The rest of the shopping is good too, especially the paper shop.

Bonjour Florence! Happy holidays and a very happy new year to you. I have added this recommendation to our Kyoto dining list. Getting more excited now and I am taking my files to Sedona, AZ over between Christmas and New Years to start getting it all more organized. I hope 2006 is a great travel year and healthy year for you!
emd

Emd,

I'll be in Chino Valley AZ for 3 weeks at the end of January (visiting friends again) ...

Oh, we will miss each other. But if you make it to Sedona, ask me anything you want. I will be there Dec. 26th through Jan.2, in a rental house, hiking and biking my rear end off w/my family (and the behind needs some year-end trimming!)

Hey emd,

this is rhinomonkey!!! i blew my japan trip report because i lost my password, etc, etc. The trip to Japan was AMAZING. My hubby was SO surprised. We went to Nakano the first day and bought a zillion toys. Ghibli still makes me speechless. Baseball, great. We ended up going to the capsule toy store with hubby's teammates from Japan. They though I was CRAZY for walking out with three bags full. I can't thank you enough for all your tips as well as everyone else who helped. I am SO glad to see your next trip shaping up so well.

Couple things. We took classes in Kyoto with WAK (women's association of Kyoto). Hands down one of the coolest things ever. We got to go to someone's home and cook bento box contents and then we did origami. They offer many classes. The people were great and the experience was priceless. They pick you up at your hotel and take you home when you are through. Also, we stayed at a traditional inn called seikoro. again, GREAT. it's a hidden gem. you don't have to partake in keiseiki either. the baths are awesome there. nice location and amazing staff.

Prior to my trip, I got only so-so feedback on hakone. told to stay only one night. if you like modern sculpture, the hakone open air museum is one of the most incredible places ever. There is everything from Miro to Henry Moore and a Picasso pavilion with a bunch of his ceramics. I ended up missing some other things because I spent so much time there. there is also a "hot bath theme park" Yunessun which you can actually wear bathing suits (nice for a 13 yr old girl) and experience every kind of bath possible. Only in Japan.

In Kyoto, we went to an amazing traditional noodle place. It's in a little alley in Gion. No one speaks english, but you can just point to what you want from a picture menu. The best part...We saw REAL Japanese mobsters. Hubby didn't believe me until one of them came out of the bathroom and his cell phone started ringing...the theme to the Godfather!!!! There was another solo US traveller in the restaurant at the time. She nearly fell out of her seat. I can get you the cross streets and the name. once we got there, we pointed to it in our book and a nice man showed us exactly where to go.

I will also get you the name of where we ate at Tsukiji. It was 4:30AM sushi. Literally a line waiting to get into the place. Excellent. Also, on the 13th floor of Takashimya in Tokyo, is an awesome sushi place. All hand rolls $2. You can't miss it, there's a bunch of chairs outside for people waiting in line. the line moves quick and it is worth the wait.

Again, you helped make my trip to Japan so great. I hope so of my experience will help you, too!

i just read your itinerary more closely. you itinerary is probably pretty set, but i would HIGHLY recommend NOT going to hakone on a weekend. we did that and it took hours to get on the the cable car. there is only one track and you have to wait for one to come before you can leave again. it took so long because there were SOOOOO many people that the cars got too stuffed. also, people had no qualms about cutting in front of you and squeezing on. i wish i could show you the photos...it was INSANE. on future trips, i will only go on a weekday. did you consider staying at the fujiya in hakone? the rooms are a little older (except in flower palace), but it is beautiful. they give a foreigners rate of 1 dollar for each year they've been open so it would be $127/night. it is really pretty and the grounds are so nice. they also have this funny gallery of the hakone international moustache club (it's not supposed to be funny). the photos are indescribable. right around the corner from the hotel is a tempura restaurant that was also GREAT. a little old man makes all the tempura right in front of you. delicious. be sure to take that whole ropeway, boat thing. and try to get a black egg (they are normal hard boiled on the inside, just black from being cooked on the hot springs). i was so disappointed i didn't get one.

Wow, thanks very much for the response, as I was not expecting to get any more replies to this post.

I really appreciate your response about the weekend crowd in Hakone. We will be going to Hakone on Saturday for one night after being at Disney Sea for two nights. We really are not planning on doing the whole ropeway /train course thing. I know, I know - it is a famous part of going to Hakone. But the only part we really want to see is the Open Air sculpture museum, and then go to Yunessen for the afternoon, then head to Ichinoyu for the evening (we have a room booked w/an attached private bath area just outside our room- this will be our one ryokan experience). My daughter does not like boats and I am not that fond of them either, and neither of us are crazy about heights and ropeways either. We need that extra night before heading to Kyoto because we won't be activating our 7 day JR passes til Sunday. I don't want to stay back in Tokyo that night, and we do want to go to Yunessen. We won't have to get caught up in the crowds regarding the ropeway when we go to Yunessen. But now after your post, I am concerned about crowds getting to and from the Open Air Museum. Was that part of the course, getting to where the Open Air Museum is, really crowded?

Oh, I didn't realize you were rhinomonkey til I went back and read your first post of today!

I have frequently wondered where you have been and how your trip was. I am so glad you posted back. I have been thinking recently that the Asia board seems so active for Thailand and very little activity for Japan.

Sounds like you had a GREAT time. What baseball game did you all see?

rhinomonkey (sorry, I can't call you anything but that!), was the Hakone Tozan railway part at the start of the course crowded? Is that the cable car that you are talking about? That is the only section we would be taking to get to the Open Air museum.

yes...unfortunately, that was the very crowded part. it ended up pushing back our day so we couldn't go to yunessun. if you can leave very early (I think we left around 9-ish) If you can muster getting out of bed super early, it would be better. and, i didn't expect the museum to be SO good. We spent several hours and could have spent more. It gets downplayed. It is actually pretty big and you'll want to take the time to mill around. The museum itself was not overly crowded (spaciousness helps). Go to the cafe and get ice cream. It is also sponsored by Cliquot, so you can have champagne if you need it. As for the ropeway etc...I am height fearful, etc but it was very cool. The boat thing...it's just funny. You go on this big, fake pirate ship. It is so big and the lake so calm, you may as well be in a giant SUV on nicely paved road.

Baseball..Giants vs. Carps. Gabe Kapler already was back in Boston by then. It was fun. I especially liked the beer girls (can't imagine how they hiked those stairs with mini-kegs on their backs and still smiled). I was very dumb and got a hotdog (while everyone else ate bento...do as the locals do). No Fenway Frank, for sure. The opponent's team had amazing team spirit. flags, rehearsed songs, etc.

Another cool thing about the capsule toy store that I learned...The call it the Gatcha Gatcha store. It is the sound the machine makes as you turn the handle to get the toy...Gatcha, Gatcha. Pretty funny.

Let me know if you know anything about Osaka. I am trying to convince Mr. Rhino that we need to go back. I think it needs to be more economical compared to the big bday splurge. Any thoughts about that regarding Kyoto? Let me know. It's great to talk to you again.

OK. I will revise our itinerary like this: Sat.: go from hotel at Disney Sea to Tokyo Station to Hakone-Yumoto, store our small overnight bags at hotel (suitcases will be sent to Kyoto from Disney hotel) and go to Yunesson for the afternoon. Sunday a.m., go to Open Air Museum early (be at train to go to museum in time to be there before they open), then head to Kyoto.

Haha about the franks. I did the same thing. Yuk. The food at Osaka Dome was much better than at Tokyo Dome. Next time, try to see the Hanshin Tigers play. The fan section is mind-blowing.

And I guess you did get to see Tuffy Rhodes play for the Giants. He slugged a triple run homer in the game we saw.

Well, I convinced the hubby and we officially have tix to Osaka for Feb 13th arriving on Valentines Day!!! Twice in one year. I am SO lucky. I know nothing about Osaka so I am going to have to research fasy (Unlike the 180 pg book I created for our last trip. I think we will spend a nice portion in Kyoto and maybe take a trip to Nara. Only 8 days this time. I am going to create an Osaka post.

Your plan for Hakone sounds good. I think it will be more leisurely for the both of you. We took the same route...Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto. I am so excited to hear your thoughts on the museum. Be sure to go in the big, stained glass building. Therre are ALOT of stairs, but it's really pretty. Especially if it's sunny.