A week or so in Japan! What to do.....?

[dealmaker]

So we are looking at starting our next Far East holiday with a week to 10 days in Japan (wife and kids have always wanted to go - I've been there on business a few times but only to major cities)....we will be landing in Tokyo. We can leave japan from pretty much anywhere as I havent booked the next location yet!

Wife and kids want to experience a bit of urban/city Japan....but also see some old traditional Japan (I think they have all watched "The Last Samurai" too many times! - they all want to try staying in a traditional Japanese house!)

Dealmaker junior also want to see a live Drift race (watching Fast and The Furious too much!) - so we want to try and catch one if possible!

So any recommendations/suggestions for a possible "TOUR" of "must see" sights and experiences??

Cheers!

[dtmpower]

This is a good start:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2400_tokyo_16.html

Visitors rail pass is good value and the trains are amazing compared to here.

[GlenMH]

I am currently living in Tokyo so here goes:

Suggest you do a couple of days in Tokyo to do the big sights: Shinjuku, Akihabara, Asakasa etc

Then use www.japanican.com to book a hotel and shinkansen tickets to Kyoto (for traditional japan) and Hiroshima/Myajima. If you have a spare overnight, go to Hakone to do the traditional ryokan and onsen experience. A rail pass is useful if you are planning to do lots of travel but be aware that it is not valid for lots of the Tokyo Metro or on the fastest of shinkansens. Japanican is part of JTB which has close links to Japan Rail and get very good deals on the nozomi tickets with good hotels too.

Unfortunately, the locals like to go "traditional" when they travel which makes staying in a fantastically beautiful building fantastically expensive! A cheap one will set you back Y12,000 per head per night and if you want one with a private set of onsen baths you are looking at Y25,000 pppn upwards

Be aware that at Y131/GBP, this place is hideously expensive for some things: 7 GBP/pint of beer and don't even think about buying electronics! But eating out is cheap - you can get a great meal for Y3000/head.

I also suggest you look at the map about where you want your second half to be: it is 7 hours flight to Singapore, 4 hours to Hong Kong or 3 hours to Beijing. Central it isn't....