JAPAN!!!

[katharos]

I am going to Japan! Me, me and my sister, we are going to be landing in Japan two weeks and two days from now. *wriggles* After years of talking we're doing! Booked the tickets on Monday, had them reserved Tuesday last week - been rushing around getting things organised ever since!

We're going to visit our friend, A, whose been teaching out there for the past seven years. So first few days with him and his girlfriend in Osaka - and they have promised to show us around, take us to Nara and Kyoto. The we're got seven day rail passes booked and a travel plan that at the moment consists of Tokyo! Akhibara! Pokemon Centre! (Mostly Haz, who's wanted to go there since she was nine.) Got lots more ideas that need to be somehow narrowed down. Onsen is top of the list. Hoping A can recommend a good one. (Authentic experience for the riboku round robin should it still be running!)

Any one who has visited/lived in Japan got any must sees/dos to recommend? Any hot tips?

*Wavers wildly between excited and terrified"

Comments

[lycoris.livejournal.com]

I have rushed all your eggs into this emergency room because they were all going to die and I didn't think you'd want that! They should be fine now.

Sadly, I can give very little help regarding Japan, having never been there. But I hope you have a great time and get to go to all the places that you want to. :)

[grey-damaskena.livejournal.com]

JAPAN IS AWESOME AND FULL OF NOMS! You will have a great time.

And starting out in the great triangle of Osaka-Nara-Kyoto, that can't be beat. You'll never run out of things to do here. I haven't, and I've been here for nearly four years now.

So I can give you ten thousand suggestions for stuff to do and see. Osaka is not so much with the tourist sites, but a trip to DenDen Town for geeking is a must-- I imagine your friend knows plenty about it. Ame-mura, tucked back behind Shinsaibashi, is also fun, and the Mandarake there has an adorable Mother Cafe (maid cafes kinda creep me out a bit, but the Mother Cafe is way cute). Umeda also has lots and lots of young folks and is rocking until all odd hours of the night. Nara you can do in a day unless you have a hankering to visit their museums; I'm not fond of the place, but the Daibutsu at Todai-ji, and the lantern shrine who's name I'm forgetting, I find quite worthwhile.

Kyoto . . . ye gods, I can go on and on with suggestions for Kyoto. Depends on what you want to do. I love visiting temples and shrines, and there are tons to see, of every possible description. Kyoto's very much a modern city, but there are several historical districts still in a lovely state of preservation (personal favorites: the area between Kiyomizu-dera and Nanzen-ji in the Higashi area, great for casual wanderings and shopping, and is also a good place to spot maiko and geisha [or geiko, in Kyoto] because there's a bunch of tea houses tucked back there; another good area the little street just north of Shijo in Gion, which makes for a nice and short walk and which is near a lot of antique shops). The surrounding mountains make for lovely hikes if you want to get out of the city (personal favorite: Fushimi-Inari). There are also regular flea markets held at various temples where you can get some amazing deals. A good link to check out is www.kyotoguide.com; it's all in English, has tons of suggestions, and the "Kyoto Annual Events" will tell you about various festivals, concerts, and of course the dates for the monthly markets. If you want to shop, the arcade between Shijo and Sanjo that runs parallel to Kawaramachi is the place. If you want to sample Kyoto delicacies and have a decent head for pickled- and fish-smells, the Nishiki Market branches off of the arcade. If you want to make something, there's a wonderful stencil/traditional dyes place near Nijo Palace.

If you're going to be here on the 17th, I recommend that day to visit Arashiyama, a gorgeous area west of Kyoto proper. They have a mountain full of monkeys, several beautiful temples, some nice shops and soft cream places (with lots of Japan-only flavors, like sakura and black sesame) . . . and that day is the Mifune Matsuri, or the boat festival, down on the river. On the river, they take the local god out of the shrine and put him on a boat, and there are various other boats representing all kinds of Japanese arts, each of which makes a presentation to the god (the sake boat is always a favorite; they give out free sake!). It's possible to rent a rowboat, too, and row around the area. There are even concessions stands . . . on boats! Mmm, Japanese festival foods . . .

If you want to visit a nice hotspring area, well, the Hakone area outside of Tokyo is very nice in a rural and relaxing way. Aside from that my knowledge is somewhat lacking; I love onsen but I don't like going alone, and it's hard to find people to go with me.

Oh, and Uji! Lots of yummy green tea, lots of yummy restaurants, the World Heritage Site Byodo-in (also featured on the 10-yen coin), and an easy excursion if you tire of Kyoto . . .

. . . um, yeah. I know maybe a little too much. Feel free to ask me anything you like, and I'll do my best to answer! You're lucky, it seems like you're managing to hit the ground just before the rainy season starts in June . . .

[katharos-8.livejournal.com]

Oh wow - thank you! This is amazing. Sorry I haven't replied to you sooner - been a slightly chock-a-block weekend. But I've read this over a few times and dreamed *grin.*

The boat festival sounds awesome - unfortunatly we get in late afternoon on the 17th and I doubt we'll be fit for anything but collapsing. Is it possible to rent row boats there at other times? I, uh. Like to think I can row. At least I provide amusement?

Thank you for the link to the Kyoto website! I've been browsing there quite a bit. It's going to be impossible to do justice to Kyoto in a short couple of days, isn't it? Random wondering might be the answer... and the places you've suggested sound like great places to do that. I've never heard of Uji - thank you for the tip! Will investigate...

Feel free to ask me anything you like, and I'll do my best to answer!

I'm afraid I probably will be taking you up on that offer! My sister and I will probably be visiting a Ninja castle-town in Mie the JNTO website recommended to us. (This trip... is a mix of culture and geek-out.) We're also looking at Ise - have you ever been there? Is it worth taking the time to go and visit? OH - any good theme parks in the Osaka area you know of? *sheepish* They seem the thing to do in Japan...

You're lucky, it seems like you're managing to hit the ground just before the rainy season starts in June . . .

Fingers crossed!
*grin*

[grey-damaskena.livejournal.com]

No problem, I've been oot'n'aboot myself, and only just got back. Came home from the night bus and hit the hay for 8 hours; I guess I was tired.

I believe the boats are there all the time; just head upstream from the main bridge across the river to find them. Note: if you want pictures of the bridge, just downstream there are cement blocks set in the river that you can cross as stepping-stones, which is very pleasant on a hot day.

Kyoto has a billion things to see, but you can hit the "mains" in a few days. Some tourist favorites are as follows: Kiyomizu-dera (lovely views, and as you walk up the hill you can think that it's been a tourist destination for hundreds of years, and the many shops catering to tourists are simply the latest in a long lineage of such shops), Kinkaku-ji (aka the Golden Pavilion, famous for being lovely and for being the star of a book written by one of the paragons of Japanese literature, which I did not like and did not manage to finish. The site itself is not one of my favorites, because I generally prefer subtlety to flash, but walking in to the grounds is very much like walking onto a postcard of iconic Japan, and thus it's good to do at least once in one's life), Ginkaku-ji (aka the Silver Pavilion, but they ran out of money before they could cover it in silver. To my mind it's all the more lovely for being plain, and the garden is a lovely poem of silver-pale gravel and deep shades of green), Ryoan-ji (famous for its stunningly simple rock garden; a very nice place to sit still and disappear. Also has extensive wooded grounds), Daitoku-ji (an extensive and very huge complex of temples, if I remember correctly; the main temple also has a rock garden of a different and more ornate style than the one at Ryoan-ji), Nijo-jo (aka Nijo Castle, which is more of a palace and is sometimes referred to as such. A nice break from temples and quite lovely and impressive, though as a Westerner one tends to be struck by the near-total lack of furniture. The gardens and grounds are quite extensive, too, though I don't know if anything will be blooming while you're here. Plus it's fun trying to sneak quietly over the Nightingale Floor. It's also fun to try to make the Nightingale Floor make as much noise as possible. One tends to achieve the opposite in both cases), Sanen-in (has big and ancient trees, so I like it!), Chion-in (huge, but I'm kinda meh about it. This might be because I didn't get to see the gardens, them being closed for restoration the last time I was there), Nanzen-ji (also huge, but I liked it. You can actually go up the Sanmon Gate on the grounds, which is fun if only for the suicidally steep stairs, and there are several sub-temples with nice gardens. And I got to watch a man carving Noh masks in a workshop off of one of them. Japanese tourists are also amusingly thrilled by the Western-style brick aqueduct on the grounds, which is pretty but not nearly as impressive to Westerners), Sanjyusangen-do (they recently repainted the inner walls to vermillion, which is how most temples and shrines used to be. The garden is pretty and more Heian-style, I think. The temple itself isn't much, but the thousand gold Kannon statues are certainly impressive, and I like the sandalwood-scented charms they sell in the gift shop), the Shimogawa Shrine (lovely wooded grounds, but the shrine itself is fairly small. It is lovely, though), Kitano Tenmangu Shrine (popular as a place to pray for academic success/success on exams. Nice grounds, tons of plum trees that alas bloom in early March. Worth going to anyway if you can make the monthly shrine market). et cetera et cetera . . . If you're worried about the prevalence of temples, don't be, because often there are Shinto shrines on temple grounds and vice versa. Fushimi-Inari is definitely the place to go if you want to see a grand-scale Shinto shrine, since it takes up the entire mountain and is home to the famous and picturesque hallways of red torii gates.

[grey-damaskena.livejournal.com]

The best way to do Kyoto is definitely by areas. Choose two sites relatively close to each other and make that your day. There are sure to be restaurants in close proximity, since the Japanese understand that tourists need to eat and shop for tchotches. I like to call them "the original tourist race.@ ;-)

I have indeed been to Ise. It's a bit more off the beaten track for non-Japanese, but it's a wonderful and somewhat humbling experience. No pictures allowed of the shrines, and in fact you can't actually see most of the shrines. No one can, they're too holy. You and most Japanese people just get to crane your necks from the outer walls. Only the highest priests are allowed inside the inner sanctums, and only the Emperor himself is allowed to request to see the holiest object enshrined there . . . and not one single Emperor ever has. It's still well worth going, though. There's a lovely historic shopping street nearby, a block over from the main drag leading up to the shrine (just follow the crowds of Japanese tourists. I like the shop there that sells nothing but lucky cat statues). Also worth seeing in the Ise area is Meteo Iwa, the wedded rocks that are one of the "three famous views" of Japan.

If you have rail passes, I recommend a trip to Himeji (gorgeous "white crane" castle, possibly the biggest in Japan and never taken in battle. Trekking up through the grounds quickly shows you why; only an idiot would try to take that place by force. There are no straight lines, and everywhere you go someone would be sitting behind a wall shooting at you. Whoever designed that castle was having a wonderful laugh on invading armies: "You managed to get over the moat with everyone shooting at you? Here, have a gate to attack! And while you do, everyone will be shooting at you. Oh, you want to go over the wall instead? That's fine, though they'll be shooting at you the whole time. And when you get to the other side? There will be a gate for you to attack, and more people shooting at you!"), Hiroshima (not nearly so much of a guilt trip for non-Americans, but a vastly sobering experience and thus well worth doing), Miyajima (the floating torii is one of the three most beautiful sights of Japan, and the island itself is lovely. I recommend the ryokan there called "Momijii." They'll pick you up at the ferry port, which is good because they're rather hard to find otherwise. But you can stroll out onto the mini-veranda running past your Japanese-style room, and look over the koi pond to see the deer grazing calmly in the forest on the other side), and Nikko (about two hours north of Tokyo, stunning temples and mountains, a stretch of river that was stunningly sky blue).

Theme parks in the Osaka area? Well, there are several, the most famous of which is Universal Studios Japan. I went once, but wasn't very impressed-- not really my thing, but it's quite easy to get to it from Osaka. There are others, though I haven't been to any of them. There's also Spa World in Osaka, where I'd really like to go sometime but haven't been yet. There are two floors worth of themed hot springs. One floor is Japanese style, the other international-themed hot springs. They switch off which floor is for men and which for women every month. And it's possible to stay overnight, for a very reasonable rate!

Feel free to hit me with more questions! Always happy to help out . . .

[katharos-8.livejournal.com]

*Squees* Oh wow thank you! *rolls around in all the lovely, lovely information.* I want to do everything! Ise is going on the list as a 'definite' I think. And - we should be in Kyoto for the 21st, when I think there is a flea market in one of the temples?

You make Kyoto sound amazing -the garden is a lovely poem of silver-pale gravel and deep shades of green. Beautiful. *sighs* Have to find someway to balance the need to cram in as much as possible and the need to just absorb.

I-I- oh hell, I have another question. *sheepish* I'd really, really love to see a show of some kind - Kabuki, Bunraku or the like. Is it at all possible to get budget tickets to see that kind of show? I found some reference to a ticket allowing you to see one play out of a Kabuki show but it was quite unclear.

Thank you for writing so much for me - it feels like a treat just to read through it.

[grey-damaskena.livejournal.com]

::laughs:: There's lots to do, but be careful not to overwhelm yourself trying to cram in "everything." This stuff has been here for hundreds of years, it'll probably hang on for a few more decades. ;-)

Aye, there's a flea market at Toji Temple. :-) Koba-san, I believe it's called. It's always quite big, and wraps all the way around the temple grounds. Lots of festival food to be had, and used kimono for the cheapest you'll ever see them! I'm fond of Toji simply because my sensei lives close to there. It's an easy walk from Toji Station on the Kintetsu line, a longer walk from . . . Kujo Station (or however they romanize it) on the Karasuma subway line, an easy bus ride from Kyoto Station, or a 20 minute walk from Kyoto Station. The temple itself is fairly big, but not too interesting aside from the pagoda that has been rebuilt about a half-dozen times since it keeps getting struck by lightning and burning down. I like the lotus pond, though I don't know if it will have any flowers this early in the year. But the market is always great fun!

Ask me as many questions as you like! Yes, it is possible to get budget tickets to the shows. I was just in Tokyo, and I went to see kabuki while I was there. I went to the theater in Ginza at around 2:30 in the afternoon to get the one-show tickets for the 4:30 performance (I stayed in line until the special tickets went on sale at 4:30, which was a little annoying but what can you do . . .). They were really cheap-- 600 yen, 1000 yen, and 900 yen for each of the different shows. I wanted to see all of them, so I just stayed for the whole time (you can do this provided you don't leave the theater during intermissions. Of course if you don't want to stay for the whole show you can leave whenever). You can also get regular tickets for the next day or a few days in advance from the box office; if you go for the 2nd or 3rd tier they're reasonably priced. You can get an English audio guide regardless of where you sit.

The National Bunraku Theater is in Osaka, but it looks like there's no bunraku performance there this month (according to this schedule). Instead, it seems there will be a performance in Tokyo? Probably the best thing you can do is stop in at a tourism office while you're in Tokyo and ask them about how to get tickets. The one near Tokyo Station helped me out a lot, even though it was a bit of a pain finding it.

Anyway, feel free to ask me anything! I'm more than happy to help out, and of course I want you to have the best possible time while you're in Japan. :-D I've been tour guide for lots of visitors, so this is old hat for me. :-)

[tallulahgs]

That's so cool! I'd love it if you wrote about the trip afterwards ^^ *lives vicariously through others* ;)

[grey-damaskena.livejournal.com]

Hallohallo!

Hope you returned safely from Japan, and that your trip was great. :-D I'm sorry I didn't call last Saturday-- actually I was in Kyoto, and I had your number, and I tried to call, only to find that my cell phone won't make international calls.

FAIL.

But as I recall it poured buckets that night, so hopefully you were safely ensconced in your hotel?

I'm sad to have missed the chance to meet you, but I do hope that Japan lived up to expectations.