Japan

Parent Cafe
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<p>DH and I are traveling to Japan for 12 days this April. We will be in Tokyo for 8 days (where DS is located) and then go off on our own for the remainder of the trip. We want to visit the Kyoto, Nara and Osaka area, and are trying to figure out accommodations. DS has stayed in hotels around the main train station in Osaka since he has found this a convenient jumping off point and has even been able to get non smoking rooms, not an easy feat in Japan. DH and I are more interested in staying in Kyoto, but are running into slim pickings for this time period. I would welcome any suggestions about hotels and this trip in general.</p>

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<p>You should buy a train rail pass before leaving. Its way cheaper to buy over here then there.</p>

<p>Exchange money when you get to the airport (odviously, but its normally cheaper there)</p>

<p>Have you checked this site?</p>

<p>[Kyoto</a> Hotels - Kyoto Accommodations](<a href=“http://www.destination360.com/asia/japan/kyoto-hotels]Kyoto”>http://www.destination360.com/asia/japan/kyoto-hotels)</p>

<p>No smokeing here:</p>

<p>[Kyoto</a> Hotels - Kyoto Accommodations](<a href=“http://www.destination360.com/asia/japan/kyoto-hotels]Kyoto”>http://www.destination360.com/asia/japan/kyoto-hotels)</p>

<p>[Hotel</a> Nikko Princess Kyoto, Kyoto Deals - See Hotel Photos - Attractions Near Hotel Nikko Princess Kyoto](<a href=“http://www.destination360.com/asia/japan/kyoto/hotel-nikko-princess-kyoto/hotel]Hotel”>http://www.destination360.com/asia/japan/kyoto/hotel-nikko-princess-kyoto/hotel)</p>

<p>[Comfort</a> Inn Kyoto Gojo, Kyoto Deals - See Hotel Photos - Attractions Near Comfort Inn Kyoto Gojo](<a href=“http://www.destination360.com/asia/japan/kyoto/comfort-inn-kyoto-gojo/hotel]Comfort”>http://www.destination360.com/asia/japan/kyoto/comfort-inn-kyoto-gojo/hotel)</p>

<p>Do you know japanese? If not it might be a good idea to bring a pocket translator device along.</p>

<p>Have fun :D</p>

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<p>for Tokyo, this is a nice guidebook:
[Amazon.com:</a> Little Adventures in Tokyo: 39 Thrills for the Urban Explorer (9781880656341): Rick Kennedy: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Little-Adventures-Tokyo-Thrills-Explorer/dp/1880656345/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258911111&sr=8-1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Little-Adventures-Tokyo-Thrills-Explorer/dp/1880656345/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258911111&sr=8-1)</p>

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<p>We stayed at the Westin
<a href=“Marriott Bonvoy Hotels | Book Directly & Get Exclusive Rates”>Marriott Bonvoy Hotels | Book Directly & Get Exclusive Rates;

<p>It’s very centrally located. We really enjoyed our Kyoto visit.</p>

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<p>Just a thought. I went to Tokyo on business and my friend and I chose to go to Hakone for a day trip on the back end. Beautiful! Mount Fuji, Hot springs, lakes, a terrific open-air museum, great shops. Easy train ride from Tokyo. Very popular. Check it out on line.<br>
I would have loved to go to Kyoto but didn’t have time.<br>
I had some very different food in Japan…most of is not at all like what they serve here in Japanese restaurants. I did enjoy the tepanyaki…no fuss with throwing up knives and making volcanos…just good food.</p>

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<p>Toneranger: because most japanese food in the states isn’t really japanese if you get what i mean.</p>

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<p>Yes…I do understand. I believe it would take some time to get used to some of the cuisine in Japan though…it’s quite different…and unless you’re with an English speaking native, it’s hard to identify what you’re eating sometimes! One of the crunchy snacks I remember were teeny dried fish…with the heads still on. Sushi is a pretty safe bet though…</p>

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<p>Keep your eyes wide open! A recent article indicates beauty in the smallest places of the largest cities:</p>

<p>[Jared</a> Braiterman: Gardening for Strangers in Tokyo](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>Gardening for Strangers in Tokyo | HuffPost Impact)</p>

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<p>We didn’t have any problem in Kyoto, a lot of their menus had pictures.:slight_smile: We had some most wonderful noodle soups there. It was an easy train ride from Tokyo, and we were able to walk to the hotel. There is a great shopping street (can’t remember the name), we bought a lot of Japanese arts and craft there. D2 really enjoyed hiking through all the temples there.</p>

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<p>We stayed at the Hotel Monterey Kyoto (I think) it was a great deal. It’s a train ride away from the Kyoto station, but close to the Manga museum and other hot spots. Also, with public transit so easy, we were able to check out the gold and silver temples, the rock garden and the palace with no problem. Also, the food in Kyoto was very good.</p>

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<p>We had a wonderful trip to Japan about 6 years ago. We were very lucky and academic colleagues made us reservations all the places we ended up staying. We stayed in a Ryokan in Nara and Tokyo and then went to Osaka and Kyoto on the train. It was easy with our railpasses which we purchased before leaving. The ryokans (Japanese style inns) were great though no one spoke English in either one - which made life interesting. There was a lot of handwaving and taking us by the hand to show us bath and let us know when it was time for meals and baths. But an experience not to be missed. We stayed at a Western Style hotel in Hiroshima - which was fine and had those snazzy washlet toilets. We had lots of good food off the beaten path. In Hiroshima we found a tiny place that cooks omeletlike things with a barbecue like sauce just by walking around and peering in windows. We also discovered that the basements of department stores are giant food halls often with lots of yummy cooked food. You can also get bento boxes lots of places. Loved the noodle shops too. One place we really loved was [Himeji</a> Castle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himeji_Castle]Himeji”>Himeji Castle - Wikipedia). (As I recall it’s a stop on the train line between Osaka and Hiroshima.) If you are there for the first two weeks of April as we were - you should be there for prime cherry blossom time. </p>

<p>I don’t remember the hotel rooms being smoky, but perhaps we had let everyone know we were non-smokers.</p>

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<p>Side note: if you plan to visit anyone in their homes there, it is considered rude not to bring a gift (melon, candy, what have you)…</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone for the excellent suggestions about hotels.
paying3tuitions-what an interesting article!
nngmm-I’ll try to get hold of the book you suggest. Looks like the type of adventures we would enjoy.
toneranger-we hadn’t thought about a day trip, but just looked up Hakone and we really like the idea.<br>
mathmom-can you tell me where you stayed in Nara? Did you take day trips to Osaka and Kyoto while you stayed there?
ice dragon-thanks for the links!<br>
We’re looking forward to eating in Japan. DS often sends us pictures of delicious looking meals he has eaten. ( Have to say he has come home with some interesting snacky type foods such as gingerale KitKats and cucumber Pepsi.)</p>

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<p>Here is a fun site with free Japanese language and culture lessons:
[Learn</a> Japanese - Start to Speak Japanese in Minutes](<a href=“http://www.japanesepod101.com%5DLearn”>http://www.japanesepod101.com)
You can sign up to be a member (it’s very inexpensive), or download the lessons as podcasts for free. I listen to them on my iPod when I am exercising!</p>

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<p>Much to my surprise I actually found the credit card listing for the Nara ryokan in no time at all. It was called the Furuichi Ryokan. It comes up various places on google, but it looks like you can’t book rooms on line. It was less fancy than some ryokans. It wasn’t a big communal hot spring bath, and meals were brought to the room. The room had tatami and futons which got folded away for meals. We took a trip to Osaka to see the Bunraku theater and I know we spent a day in Kyoto. I regret not having more time for Kyoto and not spending more on souvenirs in Kyoto - but that was towards the end of the trip and we were feeling like we’d been spending an awful lot of money!</p>

<p>There was lots of interesting food in Japan. I really liked mochi - [Google</a> Image Result for <a href=“http://cinnybear.files.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2008/03/mochi-with-red-bean.jpg[/url]”>http://cinnybear.files.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2008/03/mochi-with-red-bean.jpg](<a href=“http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cinnybear.files.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2008/03/mochi-with-red-bean.jpg&imgrefurl=http://cinnybear.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2008/03/21/mochi/&h=345&w=460&sz=24&tbnid=L7PK4fV-UtxD8M:&tbnh=96&tbnw=128&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmochi&usg=__nAxlgeQ-WvEJfAfLwHG2vKF4bXs=&ei=REJVS5ygAtiAtwfds8myAg&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=11&ct=image&ved=0CDYQ9QEwCg]Google”>http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cinnybear.files.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2008/03/mochi-with-red-bean.jpg&imgrefurl=http://cinnybear.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2008/03/21/mochi/&h=345&w=460&sz=24&tbnid=L7PK4fV-UtxD8M:&tbnh=96&tbnw=128&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmochi&usg=__nAxlgeQ-WvEJfAfLwHG2vKF4bXs=&ei=REJVS5ygAtiAtwfds8myAg&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=11&ct=image&ved=0CDYQ9QEwCg)</a></p>

<p>By the way thanks for the memories, I went and looked at all our old photos - we’d just gone digital so they are easy to find!</p>

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<p>mathmom-thanks for the info. It’s so hard figuring this trip out. 12 days in Japan is a ridiculously short period of time, I wish we could spend more. I’m trying to not even consider the jet lag factor… I suspect we would be happy to spend the entire time in the Nara/Kyoto/Osaka area, but that will have to wait for another trip.<br>
mousegray-this is very funny. I’ve been taking Chinese classes for a couple of years (though you wouldn’t believe it if you hear me speak). I listen to Chinesepod when I go to the gym-it prevents me from keeling over with boredom. Will have to try the Japanesepod now. I often get excited when I look at info about Japan and can decipher some kanji, but just when I think I’m on a roll-wham everything switches to a different writing system!</p>

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<p>second spring, that was exactly how long we had as well. Arrived on March 31 and left on April 12. Part of itinerary was determined by the fact that the whole reason we were in Japan was that my husband had been invited to a conference in Kochi which is on the island of Shikoku. We spent a couple of days there. Then we spent two nights in Hiroshima. One day spent seeing Atom Bomb related things, the other day was a day trip to an island called Miyajima which has a famous Shinto and Buddist shrines, semi-tame deer, lots of mochi, and monkeys on the top of a little mountain which you can reach by cable car. Then we went to Himeiji for the day and spent several nights in Nara with days trips. Finally we spent a couple of nights in Tokyo. </p>

<p>You can’t possibly see all there is to see. We made our choices based on the fact that we had an 8 year old and a 12 year old. So we didn’t go to very many temples and art museums at all. In fact the things that I remember enjoying most were the things they liked the best too. One of the most amusing was Ninja Nikka - a Renaissance Fair like place with a crooked house, silly theatricals (which we easily understood despite speaking no Japanese), lots of things to shoot and throw and a haunted house. I just try to travel based on the assumption I’ll be back. I also think that one shouldn’t feel too obliged to see the famous things that you wouldn’t see if they were in your own backyard. If you never go to art museums in your own town, maybe that shouldn’t be the focus of trips abroad. I love art museums, but my life improved no end when I realized I could go to Paris and skip the Louvre.</p>

<p>I learned some kanji, and we had a good book with us that a sil in law gave us. I don’t think it was this one, but it was similar: [Amazon.com:</a> Mastering Japanese Kanji: The Innovative Visual Method for Learning Japanese Characters (9784805309926): Glen Nolan Grant: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Japanese-Kanji-Innovative-Characters/dp/480530992X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_a]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Japanese-Kanji-Innovative-Characters/dp/480530992X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_a) Touristy things tended to have English, but sometimes off the beaten path it was nice to recognize the kanji for “exit” and the like.</p>

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<p>Eat a rice ball in Tokyo for me, street vendors sell them and I can still taste it today although it’s been 40 years now! I also suggest you stock up on the delicious smelling erasers at the papsan shops :slight_smile: The Buddha is inspirational for a day trip. Don’t forget Summerland, an indoor theme park that has giant pools everywhere including some with waves! Can you tell I was just a kid when I was there last? Enjoy!!</p>

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<p>Another note: Always bring tissues with you to have on hand you never know when you’ll need them (from my mom).</p>

<p>Also, blowing your nose in public in japan is considered to be really rude, as is talking on a cell phone on a train.</p>