 3 Week Adventure in Japan |
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| 3 weeks in Japan, starting and finishing in Tokyo...Help! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 EmmaLouLou Emma Louise Jones Post Count: 13 Msg: #1 95 weeks ago, February 9th 2008 | I'm in Japan for 3 weeks in May, flying in and out of Tokyo. I want to spend a while there, but would also like to see Mt Fiji, Kyoto and possibly the Hakuba alps. | Are these places well connected by trains and buses? How much does transport cost? Where are the best places to stay and what are the must-see sights? Any advice would be much appreciated! Emma xxx  Jo Trouble Jo McCarthy Post Count: 3079 Msg: #2 95 weeks ago, February 9th 2008 | Hi Emma, | Welcome to TravelBlog. For transport it's worth checking out the Japan Rail Pass. These have to be purchased outside of Japan, can be bought as regional passes rather than country-wide, and generally work out to be the most cost effective option for people trying to cover long distances in a short time. As a comparison, jorudan.co.jp is a site I often use here. Are you planning on climbing Mt Fuji, and if so, overnight? (recommended). Overnight climbers usually get a bus from Shinjuku to the 5th station on Mt Fuji, and start from there. Bus returns to Shinjuku from the 5th station also. Regarding 'must sees'/'most populars'; Kyoto Kinkakuji Temple , Ginkakuji Temple , Nanzenji Temple Yumekoubou - dress up as a maiko (apprentice geisha) and get the photos to prove it. Tokyo Sensoji temple in Asakusa Night life in Shinjuku Tokyo Tower - only if the weather's clear There's actually sooo much to do, are you thinking of staying central in Tokyo, and spending more time at the other places you mentioned? Btw, if you haven't already booked I would avoid the first half of May (especially the first week) because it's Golden Week and everything will be more expensive and harder to book. Hope that helps.  Casey Lary Casey Lary Post Count: 28 Msg: #3 95 weeks ago, February 10th 2008 | I JUST spent 2 years living in Japan and absolutely loved it! | i would definitely get a railpass for at least 1 week, maybe 2, depending on how fast you want to travel. If you want to see a lot and move quickly, the railpass really saves you money. You have to buy the railpass before you leave for Japan. Train schedules can be found at www.hyperdia.com. If going in May, I am not sure you can climb to the summit. It may be too cold and out of season. You can take a bus to the 5th station and just hike around there, or a lot of people go to Hakone to see the mountain. Tokyo: The morning fish market for sure, Harajuku on a sunday afternoon, the temple there is really pretty, and if you want for a day trip i would go to Kamakura. I really liked the buddhas and temples there. A lot of people go to Nikko, but I never made it there. Kyoto: the temples listed above were great, I also really enjoyed Heian Shrine, and the monkey mountain (I forget what its called, but a really really good break from all the temples), gion around 6 pm, and I loved dressing up as a maiko. I would definitely go to Nara. Osaka and kobe are great Japanese Cities, but don't have too much to in them. Osaka is a great place to go out. the best castle in Japan is in Himeji. I lived in Hiroshima and loved it. Also go to miyajima when down there. oooh for a really fun experience, go to Koya-san and stay in a temple. That was one of my favorite trips in Japan! Staying in a ryoukan and a capsule hotel are great experiences. Have the best time ever! TsukinoDeynatsu TsukinoDeynatsu Post Count: 19 Msg: #4 95 weeks ago, February 10th 2008 | Being from Nagasaki, I say go there :P Though there's only mountains, food, more mountains, and nuclear things.... (a trippy cathedral and a big park on the hill, which is worth visiting for the view are around too). | Being that you're only going to be there for 3 weeks, I'm guessing you're only doing Honshuu (the big Island that Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto are on?) Osaka is REALLY close to Kyoto and a great party town, if you do Kyoto you have to do Osaka. (I remember a place where you paid $20 to get in and it was all you could drink for about 2 hours in Osaka.) Kobe and Hiroshima (and Miyajima) are both quite close to Osaka, just along the train line - and if you have a rail pass you can take the Shinkansen, so really they're just bunny-hops away. I hear staring at the monkeys on Miyajima is a bad idea. Don't do it (my friend did, they attacked!). The Inland Sea along the coast between Hiroshima and Shimonoseki (the little town at the very end of Honshuu, really there's not much between them but country-cities and towns I think) is absolutely GORGEOUS - 5 Australians on a train passing by wanted to strip off and jump in, and I'm sure you've heard about the beaches in Aus. See if you can find a place called Inuyama - I'm not sure exactly where it is, but I know it's on Honshuu (I think possibly between Tokyo and Osaka/Kyoto). It's a little village where all of the houses are built in the traditional style and it's very 'old Japanese' - it looks gorgeous, and I'm sure it would be a real experience of the traditional for you (as you won't get much of that in the cities, not even in Kyoto! There's a bit more in the country cities - Himeji, Nagasaki, Sendai etc. - but not much). I'd also say make a pitstop at Lake Biwa (borders about 5 different prefectures, I think the closest one to Tokyo is Mie Prefecture?) which is the largest lake in Japan and supposedly rather nice. Biwa (the fruit) are rather nice too :P If you've got the time, pop down to Kumamoto in Kyuushuu for Mt. Aso (active volcano that you can look into, kind of smelly but very cool) and then Kagoshima just for the view. (Apparently there's a penguin down there that goes out and gets the paper for its owners too. Can't remember the town name but.) Get a guide (I had the Eyewitness one which was fantastic, but I think Lonely Planet's probably more detailed) and figure out roughly where you want to go, then when you get to Japan head to the nearest 100-yen shop (hyakkin-ten!) and pick up a rail map of Japan. You might need to memorise a few characters to find where you want but they have EVERY SINGLE route in the WHOLE of Japan - from very far north Hokkaidou to the south of Kyuushuu, plus bus & ferry for Okinawa (tropical islands south of Kyuushuu). I'd imagine they'd be rather useful if you had a rail pass. You can also get books with the timetable for every train in Japan for the year .... not sure if they provide an English translation of that one, if they don't Thomas Cook publishes an overland timetable for (apparently) every bus & train in the world O.o; EmmaLouLou Emma Louise Jones Post Count: 13 Msg: #5 95 weeks ago, February 11th 2008 | Thanks for this guys, really helpful. I'm going to get the Japan Rail Pass, now I just need to figure out the timetables...I can't wait! xxx | Number of Users: 4 | Number of Posts: 5 | |||||||||||||
