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Yes, closed might have meant full or no availability, but it is not uncommon for a ryokan to be closed one day every week (like Monday). Twenty-plus years ago it might have meant "Japanese only" during peak fall colors on Miyajima. They knew they would sell out to their preferred - Japanese - customers. I think that foreigners are willing to pay higher prices these days than Japanese.
Kinsuikan looks nice. They do have a shuttle from the ferry. |
Originally Posted by shelemm
(Post 17692765)
I imagine there is a story behind the 'Cyrano' statue with the long nose....
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Originally Posted by magritten
(Post 17692989)
We took the Ropeway up around 10 am, which was a bit later than we had planned. There were about 20 people in line ahead of us. When we came down the Ropeway in the afternoon (we didn't hike down), there must have been 400-500 people in line. For all I know, those people are still waiting in line to head up.
Watanabe sounds nice! We tried to book it, but they said they were closed. (I wonder if that was a mis-communication of saying they were full.) We ended up at Kinsuikan, which we did like a lot. We had a nice view of the torii from our room and a terrific sunset one night, but didn't sound as personal as Watanabe. (No one took us to and from the ferry!) It was a nice ferry ride to get there and Miyajima is lovely once you get away from the throngs around the streets near the pier. When our host drove us to the ferry about 11am on departure he went the back way and I thought how frustrating it must be for him with so many people walking everywhere and wandering into the road. Your hotel sounds great and seeing a sunset was a lucky bonus! |
Originally Posted by memejs
(Post 17692922)
Wonderful Hotel Mume! There are lots of things I'd still like to see in Kyoto, but if (when) I do return, the primary reason will be to stay at Mume! I was always out and about all day, so I never got to participate in a happy hour, but I did enjoy the offer of tea in my room when I returned each night. I'm curious as to whether they have many Japanese guests or if they've cultivated a mostly international clientele. I don't recall there being Japanese guests while I was there, but I could very well have missed them.
How was the Kurama onsen? I had originally planned the route you took, but the onsen was still closed while I was there, so I did it the other way, hoping to see the walkway to the Kifune Shrine lit up at night. We met a family at Mume who come every year; Grandfather who married a Japanese woman, they live in Hawaii, their daughter whose first language is japanese and who lives in Tokyo, and her son. Also magritten , and we just missed adlmllr . We chatted with a couple from Liverpool as well. But there was also a group of Japanese ladies we saw at breakfast. So from our limited experience it's hard to say but I think word of mouth recommendations from international guests is strong. The onsen in Kurama was good, inexpensive, outdoors but with a roof overhead. It was our reward for the 72 floors climbed (according to my phone) on the walk from Kibune. I knew the drill from the onsen at Yarimikan so felt comfortable with the process going in and refreshed afterwards. There were about 5 Japanese ladies my age happily chatting away in the onsen, and a couple of tourists like myself. |
Originally Posted by mrwunrfl
(Post 17693026)
Yes, closed might have meant full or no availability, but it is not uncommon for a ryokan to be closed one day every week (like Monday). Twenty-plus years ago it might have meant "Japanese only" during peak fall colors on Miyajima. They knew they would sell out to their preferred - Japanese - customers. I think that foreigners are willing to pay higher prices these days than Japanese.
Kinsuikan looks nice. They do have a shuttle from the ferry. I checked and right now hotel prices in downtown Vancouver during the World Cup period next June are upwards of CAD$1,000. For the average Canadian, unaffordable. |
Miyajima at night looks magical. And thank you for sharing about the Mt. Misen ropeway; we could go when we were there as it was too windy that day.
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Originally Posted by tripplanner001
(Post 17693073)
Miyajima at night looks magical. And thank you for sharing about the Mt. Misen ropeway; we could go when we were there as it was too windy that day.
We were very lucky with our Mt. Misen morning. It was a nice crisp day with beautiful views from the top. |
Glad that my reports are useful to you. New Zealand has been amazing, and you will hopefully experience better weather in February.
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Kurashiki
We arrived in Kurashiki in the late afternoon despite the Shinkansen kerfuffle: Ferry from Miyajima, train to Hiroshima, Shinkansen to Okayama, train to Kurashiki (all covered by the JR Hiroshima/Kansai Pass), whew! The Tourist Information office, close to the station, gave us walking directions to the Royal Art Hotel, an easy stroll from the historical Bikan area of Kurashiki. This was not my favourite hotel with its sort of Best Western vibe - stuffy with windows that did not open and a 80’s decor. I think they might cater to groups as we saw a few of those arrive. My husband on the other hand thought it was great - a large room, and our reasonable rate included a buffet breakfast. We went looking for a quick meal and happened upon Masaya Kurashiki Ramen. Quick, good gyoza and ramen, for sure an eat-and-get-out kind of place. That was fine with us! Since we only had that one afternoon/evening and the following morning in Kurashiki I had a couple of things I wanted to see beyond enjoying the atmosphere around the lovely canal with its traditional wooden houses and black and white warehouses in the Bikan district. I wanted to go to the Ohara Art Gallery and I wanted to go to Atiburanti to pick up a few souvenirs. https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...690e3b0759.jpg Kurashiki manhole covers https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...3ea3bd23a.jpeg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...0f2499a2f.jpeg Girls on their phones, the same the world over https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...e7d103ca0.jpeg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...348c3a2ae.jpeg Since we were up and out early we decided to first go for a walk up the hill towards what looked like a park. There was a peaceful trail that led to the Achi-Jinja Shrine where a bride and groom were posing for their photos. The rest of the wedding party was just arriving as we continued on our way. The shimnava (woven rope) made for an impressive entrance. At the same shrine we saw a small group with a boy in kimono, I assume for Shi Chi Go San. We felt so lucky to see both. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...74e1814ea.jpeg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...a21c7d152.jpeg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...0642ae37f.jpeg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...f94db0a70.jpeg The Ohara Museum of Art was a pleasure to visit. Aside from a couple of extremely well behaved school groups and visitors like us it was not very busy at all. The building itself has a striking interior and inside are three galleries; Main Gallery, Craft Arts and Asian Art Gallery. Ohara Magosaburo supported the arts and was a patron to Kojima Torajiro, an artist who specialized in western-style paintings. Torajiro, on behalf of Ohara, traveled to Europe and built an impressive collection of art, some of it purchased directly from the artists, which was brought back to Japan. It was quite something to be in this small gallery that displayed works by Gauguin, Monet, Matisse, Picasso, Modigliani, not to mention Kandinsky and Pollock, as well as art from Ancient Egypt and the Near East. Having not picked up a single souvenir on our travels I wanted to go to Atiburanti, a shop mentioned on this forum. There I found some perfect gifts and a couple of things for myself too. I think everything was made in Japan, was of good quality, and the prices were reasonable. |
>> boy in kimono, I assume for Shi Chi Go San.
Definitely. (Shinto shrine in Nov with 5 year old boy and 3 y,o. girl in kimono.) Love the kimono on the mothers. |
Fb, what a great TR. You folks really got around the country. My fave fotos include the 'pinch me' outdoor onsen, the later garden pond plus the mountain top.
We are mourning the loss of our Toronto neighborhood's outstanding sushi shop. After 20 years, the owners have closed the business. Sigh... I am done. the shiatsu fiend |
Originally Posted by mrwunrfl
(Post 17693241)
>> boy in kimono, I assume for Shi Chi Go San.
Definitely. (Shinto shrine in Nov with 5 year old boy and 3 y,o. girl in kimono.) Love the kimono on the mothers. |
Originally Posted by zebec
(Post 17693259)
Fb, what a great TR. You folks really got around the country. My fave fotos include the 'pinch me' outdoor onsen, the later garden pond plus the mountain top.
We are mourning the loss of our Toronto neighborhood's outstanding sushi shop. After 20 years, the owners have closed the business. Sigh... I am done. the shiatsu fiend |
Kawasaki
Why Kawasaki you ask? After 1 night in Miyajima and 1 night in Kurashiki I thought we’d be best having 2 nights in Tokyo before we left for home. Then I started looking at hotels where we could arrange a late check-out on our travel day so as to relax and rest before going to Haneda for our 10pm flight home. I started to look outside the Tokyo box and investigated options for somewhere not far from Tokyo by train and not far from Yokohama either, in case we wanted to spend some time in that city. Kawasaki is close to Haneda, 20 minutes by train from Tokyo and about the same from Yokohama. The hotel rates were quite a bit cheaper than Tokyo (it was a holiday weekend) and we could stay until 6pm if we paid 22 Yen/hour after 12 noon. I forgot to mention that we had forwarded suitcases onward from Hiroshima to Kawasaki so only had one small suitcase and a backpack for our travels to Miyajima, Kurashiki and until we arrived at Kawasaki. It was a very good thing to travel light on ferries and trains. Each of the 3 times we did luggage forwarding the hotel took care of the paperwork and the system worked perfectly for us. We left Kurashiki for Okayama where we connected to the Shinkansen to Shinagawa station (thank you for this advice mrwunrfl ) in Tokyo and this time we made no mistakes. We somehow managed to sit on the right side of the train and look out the window at the right time to see Mt. Fuji. https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...41c8203d6.jpeg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...d42475c3b.jpeg Fuji-San! We made it to Kawasaki Station without too much difficulty. It was only when we got there that things went awry. Google maps told us that our hotel was 2 minutes away but it took us an hour to find it! We found the signage was unclear and we ended up going all around, up and down, in and around the adjoining mall, always coming back to the station scratching our heads in frustration. Finally we realized where it was, simple once you know. Yes, 2 minutes walk. Kawasaki was interesting in that we really felt off the tourist track, but we kind of liked that. Very little English was spoken aside from the front desk staff at the hotel which is only to be expected in a city that does not make it into many of the guidebooks. At a cafe when I ordered pastries and coffee in very basic Japanese, “sumimasen, koreto, kore, coffee 2 des, kudasai” a mom pointed me out to her daughter and they nodded and smiled at us which made me feel great. But mostly I would ask a question in very basic Japanese and I would have no clue what the answer was, would just nod and try not to look like an idiot. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...d03293771.jpeg Hotel Metropolitan Kawasaki, at Kawasaki Station Saturday we took the train into Tokyo having promised our daughter we would go to the “Fluffy Pancake Place” in Shibuya, shop in Loft and Hands, and go to Takeshita Street. We found Happy Pancake but the wait was 1 hour at least, in a crowded hallway and who needs that on a lovely sunny day. Then we did the obligatory Shibuya crossing walk, shopped in the 5 story Loft and Hands stores and made our way to Takeshita Street. Finally we escaped to the relative peace of Meiji Jingu park and shrine before returning to our hotel in Kawasaki. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...24b21855e.jpeg Shibuya Crossing https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...398c78e6c.jpeg Shibuya Crossing https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...055fbe67d.jpeg Takeshita Street https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...0c3487827.jpeg Did not buy https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...766715c71.jpeg Meiji Jingu Shrine, Tokyo. Near Harajuku Station but in a forested area seemingly miles away. https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...577c8bfc0.jpeg Meiji Jingu Shrine holds an annual Harvest Festival called Niiname-sai on November 23rd and these offers of newly harvested vegetables and grains are gifts to the gods to give thanks for the year's harvest. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...5e8834899.jpeg A wall of empty sake casks decorates the walk into Meiji Jingu. They are donated by producers as an offering. On our last night we had a great dinner at a restaurant next to the hotel, La Cocorico Nature, specializing in french style rotisserie chicken, excellent fries and salad. It was bustling with people enjoying themselves. Maybe we should have gone for a Japanese meal but it was close by and it was delicious. Our final day was spent walking to the Don Quijote since we hadn’t yet had that experience, then roaming around the Kawasaki mall trying not to get lost again, buying some gifts and clothes, resting, relaxing and packing. Deciding we did not want to take transit to Haneda we asked the hotel to arrange a taxi for us and away we went to the airport for our ANA flight home. Thanks for reading my trip report. I hope you enjoyed following along and if you have any questions I can answer do not hesitate to ask. Happy Travels! |
>> “sumimasen, koreto, kore, coffee 2 des, kudasai”
Am nodding and smiling. |
This was a wonderful trip report! I'm impressed at your detail, your photography and how quickly you finished it! And, of course we enjoyed reading the Kyoto-Hiroshima-Miyajima part since we visited the same places after leaving Mume. (Although in our case we did the opposite of you with two nights in Miyajima and one in Hiroshima.) We diverged after that as we headed down to Shikoku, specifically spending the rest of our time in Kochi.
While our own talents are not well-suited to writing trip reports, we're quite appreciative of those that do write them as they're very helpful from a planning perspective. Kudos to you for putting yours together so quickly and we're so glad you had a great visit to Japan! PS re your last meal of French-influenced rotisserie chicken...while we love Japanese food and we ate so very wonderfully on our trip, we had a pizza at our hotel in Tokyo on our last day. (And it was fantastic.) |
Am not one for posting trip reports...but I certainly loved reading yours - thanks for sharing!!
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You're report makes for excellent reading! Thank you for posting, it was fun to follow along.
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I'm glad you had a rewarding time in Japan. It's a country we think about going back again and again.
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