janev

We arrived at Narita last Friday from Heathrow via Paris & Air France. As it was an evening flight arrival in Narita we stayed at the Holiday Inn there 1 night. Room was fine (although not as good as our stay there last year when we got upgraded to a suite which was huge!). Had breakfast there in the morning & then took Narita Express to Shinagawa (avoided changing in Tokyo on advice from this forum, as Shinagawa makes an easy change station with luggage, as its smaller then Tokyo station). From here took Shinkansen (we have 14 day Japan Rail pass) to Odawara, where we bought a Hakone Free Pass. From Hakone Yamoto station we took an orange 100 yen shuttle bus to out hotel - Senkei Plaza. This is part of Senkei hotel & is the cheapest of the 3 options this hotel has (13600 yen for 2 per night inc breakfast). I had asked if anyone else had stayed here & it seemed no-one had stayed at the Senkei Plaza part. Just to say it was ok - kind of in a pre-fabricated block, so simple, one of those pre-formed types of bathroom, but fine for one night. You can use the rotemburo & my husband tried it out, as it was the mens night. We used our Free Pass to go all around the area during the day & to buy the black sulphuric eggs cooked on the mountain top. At the end of the day we went to a Japanese restaurant in the village for a tofu & yam meal - interesting! The next day we did in fact miss breakfast as we were up too early & ready to set off to Koyasan. We went back to Odawara & picked up the shinkansen to Osaka, then changed by subway to Namba station & then train to Koya & funicular up the mountain. Through Japanese guesthouses we had bookes a temple stay at http://japaneseguesthouses.com/db/mo...hojoshinin.htm
It was very nice, the room had a garden view & was very warm with its own heater & kotatsu (heated under table), great for cold feet & even a bed warmer, making it all very cosy. There was a little snow/ice in patches on the ground & small flurries of snow whilst we were there. In the day we walked & you can easily see everything on foot - its not necessary to buy the 1 day bus pass if you are staying overnight. In the evening we sat waiting for dinner in out yukatas, but it turned out we were to be served with others in a large downstairs room. When we realised this we quickly changed & went to a room where 9 places were laid out on the floor. Dinner was all vegetarian (as you expect in a temple) & all presented very nicely. In the morning we were woken to attend the temple prayers - this lasted for about 30 minutes & was a good experience & after this we were invited to have breakfast, this was laid out as the night before. After breakfast we put all of our things togther & headed back to the station. You have to pick up a bus to do this as you are not allowed to walk down the approach road to the station. Mount Koya we enjoyed very much, a calm, quiet place with some beautiful temples, old & new (although I have read it can be very crowded at other times of year). We made our way back to Osaka - seeing 2 sumo passing through the train station (the tournament season is on now I think) & then picked up the shinkansen back to Kyoto, where we are now. The transport here is so good, great links of buses & trains that it is very easy to move around generally.We are staying at the Holiday Inn, its functional, clean & quite easy to move around from & tomorrow are looking forward to our tour of Nijo Jinya. We have a goodwill guide booked for this & will let you know how it all goes.
This is the first report I've written here -hope its not too detailed, but I love the detail others write as its so helpful when planning.

Kathie

Thank you for your report. I was especially interested in your temple stay. Please keep the details coming!

angethereader

Thanks for the report. The temple sounds very interesting. Last year at this time we were in Kyoto. *sigh*

mrwunrfl

Thanks for the great report, keep it coming. Yes the sumo tournament is on now in Osaka.

emd

Coo, I am gald you did the Shinagawa thing instead of Tokyo Station, I love that option. Right from Narita Holiday Inn to Hakone, that's a nice aqnd unusual way to do it, bypass the hustle of Tokyo and go right to the nice outdoors of Hakone. ANd then to Koyasan. It must have been cool and a surprise to see the sumo fellas.

This is great, I love your report. We haven't had a Japan trip report for ahile now, and esp. one from someone who is "on the road"...

Enjoy Kyoto! Can't wait to hear about it and am really looking forward to your report on Naoshima and Benesse!!!

emd

opps, that was supposed to be COOL.

rhkkmk

very interesting and the detail is just right...keep it coming for those of us who are dreaming of japan...

janev

We are on our last evening in Kyoto now & tomorrow are of to Okayama.

In Kyoto (& around)we have been to:-

Nijo jinya - for this we arranged a goodwill guide who was charming & we very much enjoyed seeing all about this inn.

Arashiyama - this is a nice area of Kyoto - but we felt the Sagano scenic rail trip would obviously be much nicer when the blossoms are out/in autumn.

Miho Museum - just done this today - truly wonderful!!! The building is amazing! It was also very quiet & one could really feel the space of the galleries and design.

We also walked the Hana Touro (light festival) which made for a lovely evening, with a lovely atmosphere.

Yesterday we went to Kanazawa - the garden here must be beautiful, but it rained very very hard yesterday & we had to take shelter in Kenroku-en in a tea house. This was a lovely experience in itself, but we did not see the garden or samurai area as we would have liked. We managed to see the Higashi Geisha area & the Sakuda gold leaf shop earlier, before the rain & both were lovely.

For general moving around in Kyoto the 500 yen day bus pass is excellent & very easy to use with the clear bus map. All transport times are very precise - hard to imagine how any Japanese person might think about the British transport system!!!

We have seen & done lots - and have very much enjoyed our secong visit to Kyoto.

angethereader

We were in Kyoto during Hana Tauro last year. You're really bringing me back. Thanks!

wintersp

Love the details and love the report. Makes it easier to plan my next trip to Japan.

janev

We arrived in Okayama this morning & unfortunately to rain! We are in the Granvia - for what it costs we are not too impressed. We had to wait till 1pm to get our room - we arrived after 11am. So we left our luggage & went to see Koraku-en, our 2nd of the "big 3" japan gardens in the rain! It was lovely though still. It was easy to get there by taking the tram for 2 stops from the station & well sign posted from there. Coming back from there we ate & then came back to the hotel to go to our room. The carpet in the room was badly stained & horrid so we asked to change - which we did with no problem, but I would have expected better, especially as so many people give such good reviews to Granvia Kyoto. Anyway we then hopped on a train to Kurashiki (still using Japan Rail pass - & obviously Granvia is a perfect location for trains). Kurashiki is lovely! Again we can imagine it may lose some of its charm if lots of tourists are there, but the canal area is wonderful with lots of lovely old buildings. This eveing they also put out lanterns (as for the Hana Touro in Kyoto) & although still raining it had a lovely atmosphere & a small boat all lit up moving gently along the canal.

emd

janev, I know all about Japan in the rain, I did it last April and the March before that with lots of rain. Glad you are making the best of it.

Next, Naoshima? I hope the rain lets up for your time there since I know you'll want to see the outdoor art installations.

mrwunrfl

hope you got the JR Pass discount (or lower) at the Granvia

janev

I have put up a seperate post on Benesse - it was wonderful! Just to continue with the trip report, from Naoshima we went back to Uno by ferry & then Okayama to Hiroshima (stopping off there to visit the Peace Park) & then onto Miyajima. We spent 2 nights at Momijiso, they picked us up from the ferry. We had a nice room there (bathroom was very small - I think some rooms may have better ones), but otherwise it was freshly decorated & very nice. The people were lovely & great food. From there we returned to Hiroshima & picked up the shinkansen for Hakata. In Hakata we had booked a Mazda car through Tocoo & this all worked very smoothly, with the car hire shop just a block from Hakata station. We used the sat nav to help us, my DH drove & although as with any city & a new car it was busy coming out of Fukuoka, we were soon on our way to Kurokawa. There we stayed at Sanga Ryokan and had our own stone bath which was great. The ryokan is very pretty, dark polished wood & very rustic. We had evening meals in our room & breakfast in a communal room. The food was beautifully served and very Japanese, if I can say that, in the sense of no concessions to foreign tastes - wheras at Momijiso one could have western or Japanese breakfast. it was a lovely experience & we took the opportunity to also use one of the family baths too. From here we visited Mount Aso & Takachiho. We then returned to spend a further evening in Fukuoka & visited Canal City. This morning we arrived in Busan from the JR Kyushu Beetle (ferry)which I'd booked by internet. This is our first night in Busan (Lotte Hotel).