Japan for 1 week

[mathewb]

In May I'm flying into Tokyo and a week later flying home from Osaka. Working out what to do inbetween is up in the air. So, I'm turning to PH's trusted travel bods for suggestions.

So far, my must see/do list has on it:
- Trip on the shinkansen
- Visit a ryokan/onsen
- Visit to Kyoto (this and the previous 2 go hand-in-hand I'd imagine)
- See Mount Fuji (what are viewing conditions like in May? I have heard conflicting things - some say you could get some nice photos early in the morning, whereas others say that seeing it free of cloud/smog/mist is rarer than rocking horse dung.)

Provisionally, I've split the trip as 4 days in Tokyo and 3 days in Kyoto (allowing easy access to Osaka or Nara if it takes our fancy).

The wife has already picked out the Park Prince Tower as our hotel in Tokyo - Tripadvisor seems to confirm this is a good choice as it ranks #7 of 611 Tokyo hotels on the site.

Any practical advice to an excited Westerner on how to cope in Japan?

So, over to you...

[Noger]

mathewb said:

So far, my must see/do list has on it:
- Trip on the shinkansen
- Visit a ryokan/onsen
- Visit to Kyoto (this and the previous 2 go hand-in-hand I'd imagine)
- See Mount Fuji (what are viewing conditions like in May? I have heard conflicting things - some say you could get some nice photos early in the morning, whereas others say that seeing it free of cloud/smog/mist is rarer than rocking horse dung.)

Shinkansen to Kyoto/Osaka goes by Mt Fuji. Is that enough ?

Ryokan - absolute yes, but be prepared for the cost, makes the Park Hyatt look cheap !

http://www.japaneseguesthouses.com/index.htm is worth a look.

Onsen - Not overly convinced, even the one we had on a balcony was...a hot bath. Nice. But I kind of wanted more, which I think you have to go up into the mountains for.

Kyoto - Good place to visit, but I actually preferred Osaka. The food there is amazing, Okonomyaki, Tako-yaki, "death through gluttony" Sea life centre also good. Kyoto is pretty spread out, and the "old" bits are small compared to the rest. Not that it wasn't enjoyable, it was maybe a bit rarefied for my tastes. Although wandering the back street and finding a tiny house, with a tiny garage, which housed what I think was a Westfield, was great. The chicken sashimi...was interesting !

Don't worry about surviving, it can be hard work at times, but is entirely enjoyable

Edited by Noger on Sunday 6th February 22:08

[GlenMH]

What dates are you coming over in May? FFS avoid golden week as travel will be bedlam and the prices even more horrific than usual.

Drop me a PM if you have any q's or you fancy meeting for a beer for some detailed - I know some great places to eat in Tokyo and will keep you away from the horse sashimi or raw chicken....

[havoc]

Glen and his missus are great guides to Tokyo (how're you both doing?) - we'd never have found the Thai on the 5th floor of one building (only advertised by a kanji sign) without them.

We found Tokyo though to be big, cramped, busy and not esp. relaxing. Hell of a place, but too big/busy for us. Kyoto by contrast was pretty cool.

Suggestions:-
- Find out if you're there when the temple at Kamakura have their horseback archery display - superb day-trip!
- Find out if any Matsuri (festivals) are on when you're there - traditional and very twee, but also proper Japanese history on display.
- A number of temples a day-trip (or less) from Kyoto/Tokyo - Nikko, Nara, Fushimi (cool - corridor of red Torii gates).
- Himeji castle only a short trip from Kyoto - beautiful place and nice gardens next door.


Definitely do a ryokan, but maybe ditch an onsen - a proper ryokan will have a sort-of-steam bath attached, if it's in the right area. Tea ceremony on arrival was very cool...but might be worth researching the correct custom before you go (particularly to rotate the cup 180 degrees (in a certain way) before you drink from it).

Shinkansen very easy to use - look into a 1-week tourist pass (which you can only buy before you arrive), which will let you use any except the ultra-quick Nozomi for a decent price. Also if you're not on your own look into takkayubin - luggage forwarding - trains don't have very big luggage areas.

[Neil H]

We did the Tokyo-Osaka Shinkansen trip the first time we went to Japan, we went from Tokyo station. The Shinkansen route to Osaka takes in Nagoya and Kyoto so visiting either of these places would be straightforward. Osaka is a cool place, we only got a few days there, I think it has a bit more character than Tokyo.

The Japan railpass would be a good idea if you're planning to use the train a lot, otherwise for one or two Shinkansen trips it would work out expensive. I think a regular ticket is around £70, the railpass is about £200 IIRC.

Onsens are great, my father in law took me to one and I loved it. Ideally you should find a proper onsen (heated geothermally) rather than a sento (just heated baths), there are a few in Tokyo but I think you should go outside Tokyo for the real experience. If you end up in Kyoto it would probably be the best place to try it. Read up on them first as there's etiquette to follow, and cover up any tatoos or they probably won't let you in.

Mt Fuji is a bit of a way from Tokyo, since you only have a week I'd recommend giving that a miss and just seeing it from the train instead. If you fly into Haneda you get a decent view of it from the plane

[tontoro]

GlenMH said:

I know some great places to eat in Tokyo and will keep you away from the horse sashimi or raw chicken....

why would you want to do that?

[GlenMH]

tontoro said:

GlenMH said:

I know some great places to eat in Tokyo and will keep you away from the horse sashimi or raw chicken....

why would you want to do that?

Don't want to scare him on his first visit