Japan help please

[gundam]

meta wrote:

Winter driving conditions are not ideal, especially if snowing. I wouldn’t recommend this as the car will slow you down due to speed limitations. I also wouldn’t go as far as Kyoto, although Kinkakuji in winter is beautiful. You need at minimum five days there to get the feel of the city and sights are spread out.

Ah yes. Winter would be a challenging drive.
The image of that famous road where they carve out with massive ice walls comes to mind!

[Annie]

With limited time and the dates you mentioned are holiday time in Japan (it is expected that some of the restaurants/attractions are closed), getting a local guide in Japan might be helpful. They will help you prepare your itineraries and bookings and suggest the best thing to do (since they are knowledgeable in this area). What do you think of this guide https://gowithguide.com/japan?

Thanks that definitely will be useful. Have you used any of these guides?

[Richard Peters]

Was in Japan for 3 weeks during the RWC and must visits would include Kyoto (well chilled) and Hiroshima (strange as it sounds: both humbling and inspiring) but with only 9 days that will mean a lot of travelling on fast trains. Tokyo has plenty to keep you amused for 9 days and throw in the odd day trip. We were based in the Otani which is centrally located and great views of Mt Fuji

[yonasl]

I have done a few trips to Japan and the thing is people tend to like different things. I see three options:
– Do Tokyo only and add day trips to nearby towns (maybe Nagano and similar to see the snow in the mountains)
– Do Tokyo/Kyoto with half of the time on each place. Depending on your flight times you can land and go to Kyoto on the very same day. It is just a few hours train ride away (I would personally do more Kyoto than Tokyo in that case)
– Forget Tokyo and jump to Kyoto/Osaka via train or plane

But again, the thing with Japan is that different people will like different things. I love the concrete jungle Osaka is but others would rather stroll in Kyoto alleys for hours. Some just want to go do photos of temples, etc.

I recommend you check https://www.japan-guide.com/

[meta]

You could also go to Nikko national park. There is a nice Ritz Carlton there and it’s not far from Tokyo.

[Annie]

Richard Peters wrote:

Was in Japan for 3 weeks during the RWC and must visits would include Kyoto (well chilled) and Hiroshima (strange as it sounds: both humbling and inspiring) but with only 9 days that will mean a lot of travelling on fast trains. Tokyo has plenty to keep you amused for 9 days and throw in the odd day trip. We were based in the Otani which is centrally located and great views of Mt Fuji

Which Otani please? I’m seeing 6 of them in Tokyo.

Thanks

[Richard Peters]

Doh!

https://www.newotani.co.jp/tokyo/ This one which is near the Imperial Palace, has a fab tranquil garden.

[Annie]

Richard Peters wrote:

Doh!

https://www.newotani.co.jp/tokyo/ This one which is near the Imperial Palace, has a fab tranquil garden.

Thanks very much. Prices are surprisingly reasonable. I was expecting double that. Perhaps we will be able to eat after all 😁

[Richard Peters]

Perhaps we will be able to eat after all 😁

Hotel has a good selection of restaurants but if you go out the back entrance of the hotel, turn right and head for the metro, cross the road and there are loads of nice restaurants that are not madly expensive: straw flamed tuna springs to mind at one. There’s also a supermarket down there if you want snacks/drinks for the room. The breakfasts are amazing: western for those who want (we didn’t) and plenty of national cuisine and different things to try for breakfast. We used to pig out at breakfast, skip lunch and go local in the evening.

Our first time in the country and it’s truly amazing: you will love it and the Shibuya crossing is a must especially when it’s dark! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od6EeCWytZo

[meta]

There is at least one konbini (convenience store) on every block in Japan – Family Mart, Daily Yamazaki, Lawson, 7/11, etc. They are open 24/7 and have better food than 95% of Japanese restaurants in the UK.

Apart from Michelin star restaurants and those at hotels, the food in Japan is cheap. 800-900 yen in Tokyo (500-700 yen outside) for ramen is not unheard of. That’s about £5 or less. Food is cheap in Japan as ramen, soba, udon, some tempura and kaiten sushi restaurants are considered fast food. Dessert shops and cafés are more expensive though. I never understood why latte for example is almost double the price of normal coffee, but ordering milk on the side is either free or minimal extra.

[yonasl]

meta wrote:

There is at least one konbini (convenience store) on every block in Japan – Family Mart, Daily Yamazaki, Lawson, 7/11, etc. They are open 24/7 and have better food than 95% of Japanese restaurants in the UK.

Apart from Michelin star restaurants and those at hotels, the food in Japan is cheap. 800-900 yen in Tokyo (500-700 yen outside) for ramen is not unheard of. That’s about £5 or less. Food is cheap in Japan as ramen, soba, udon, some tempura and kaiten sushi restaurants are considered fast food. Dessert shops and cafés are more expensive though. I never understood why latte for example is almost double the price of normal coffee, but ordering milk on the side is either free or minimal extra.

Totally agree with this. The big fallacy of Japan is that it is expensive, it is not.

Food in Japan is everywhere and usually quite or very affordable. You can eat well for £25 pp and very, very well for £60pp. You can also pay £300 for tempura or sushi at some Michelin stared places but I very much doubt most of us will see the difference. (I personally think too many people puts too much effort on ticking some restaurants they saw on some blog … the blogger himself cannot have done all restaurants in Japan so don’t trust much when you see a “best tempura in Tokyo” post).

Drinking can be expensive as there is no really concept of “pub”. Drinking bars tend to sell alcohol at much higher prices than restaurants.

Finally, hotel breakfasts can be good value at ¥1,500 as coffee tends to be expensive (a Japanese breakfast costs ¥400-500, a coffee can be ¥800).

[The real Swiss Tony]

@yonasl – am interested in that comment. I ended up in Tokyo unexpectedly a few years back. ANA put us up in a hotel where the restaurants were eye-wateringly expensive. So we took a walk down the road and passed a couple of what looked like casual chain eateries – again, vey expensive. Ultimately we found a food court in a small shopping mall which was excellent as we could try loads of different things and the prices were far more reasonable, but I’m thinking we still managed to pile through about £15-20 each. This was in Shinagawa.

Were we just badly prepared and in the wrong part of town?

(It was a 4 hour battle to get ANA to pay for the hotel and rebook our onward flight, never mind worrying about the duty of care situation. And AMEX acceptance seemed really bad so I couldn’t even invoke the delay cover on that…)

[meta]

This is an image from the 90s and early 2000s when the yen wasn’t so weak. Also the prices haven’t changed much in decades. It’s only last year that they increased slightly.

For example, bottled green tea in vending machines was 100-150 yen in the 1990s (depending on the city) and they maybe increased last year by 10-20 yen. There was a big noise about konbinis increasing the price of bottled drunks from 120 to 140 yen last year.

My go-to restaurant in Sapporo still hasn’t changed the prices in 25 years.

[meta]

The real Swiss Tony wrote:

@yonasl – am interested in that comment. I ended up in Tokyo unexpectedly a few years back. ANA put us up in a hotel where the restaurants were eye-wateringly expensive. So we took a walk down the road and passed a couple of what looked like casual chain eateries – again, vey expensive. Ultimately we found a food court in a small shopping mall which was excellent as we could try loads of different things and the prices were far more reasonable, but I’m thinking we still managed to pile through about £15-20 each. This was in Shinagawa.

Were we just badly prepared and in the wrong part of town?

(It was a 4 hour battle to get ANA to pay for the hotel and rebook our onward flight, never mind worrying about the duty of care situation. And AMEX acceptance seemed really bad so I couldn’t even invoke the delay cover on that…)

Close to Shinagawa there is a narrow street with food stalls where food is cheap (can’t remember the actual name of the street). You have to go to places with no English menu or any visible English signs. They will usually have an English menu on hand to give you (at least in Tokyo). Also the tiniest the better, the ugliest looking the better. You can also ask at the hotel for recommendations, but tell them you want a local experience.

There is also depachika (the basement of any department store or station) with anything your heart fancies with higher prices (think 1500-2000 yen for a meal, which is still like £9-12). This is restaurant-like takeaway.

[yonasl]

Couple of tricks for food in Japan:
– outside large cities it is easier to find a small family run place that serves just a handful of dishes. May not be award winning but the experience for us is priceless. Rural restaurants tend to have a simple menu and many times show plastic versions of their dishes which makes choosing what to eat easy
– in large cities it is harder to find that unless you are very open minded. You walk across hundred of places but many have no menu or prices displayed. It is not always easy and a building with 10 floors may have a restaurant on each!
– all large train stations and department stores have good eateries on the top floors and cheaper options in the basement. Food will be ¥1,500-2,000pp
– as mentioned before, department stores also have on B1 and B2 a sort of takeaway food court and supermarket. These are worth a visit if you love food! (Before covid it was common to be given free samples etc)
– there are plenty of chains in Japan serving good food and also being a fun experience. Many won’t be on the ground floor but maybe 1F or 2F in some buildings. The biggest mistake I see people do is not venture upstairs (or downstairs) when looking for further options. The good thing of chains is that once you find one you like it can come handy in the future if you are in a place you don’t know
– one thing to take into account is that Japanese restaurants tend to specialise on a style of cooking, food or ingredient. If your group wants different things you will always end up in the same places. So try to be flexible and adapt

[Annie]

Thank you all so much! I booked the flights then had a small panic as no clue about Japan at all. I now feel ready to embrace the challenge .
I think we are decided on Tokyo, Kyoto and Hakone. We’ve decided to skip the snow monkeys as we are too short of time and I’m not sure I’d want to spend more than 30 minutes watching them.
I would never have gained this level of advice without HfP.

[Richard Peters]

You’ll be saying Konnichiwa and arigatou like a local, though I used to get away with black forest gateau and a polite bow 🙂

[Annie]

Any suggestions for a hotel in Kyoto please?
Central to the things we are likely to want to see, although still no idea what they are.

As we have no experience of Japan and therefore no definite must sees we will be happy anywhere where tourist spots are reasonably accessible.

[yonasl]

Hello Annie, I recently stayed at Solaria Nishitetsu and it was excellent and very well located to see everything walking.

Rooms were large but some are interior and have some sort of garden wall instead of external view.

If you locate it on a map, anything around (specially a few blocks south or west) will be good too. You have slightly cheaper places if you don’t need an onsen or breakfast.

I recommend comparing prices on booking.com (you will pay in Yens when you get there or now) and hotels.com (you will pay in GBP now). Both allow you to cancel up to a few days before check-in.

[Annie]

Thanks everyone. Planning is coming along nicely.
Now I just need recommendations for a hotel for 2 nights with nice views of Fuji, weather permitting of course. Ideally accessible by train from Kyoto.

[Aston100]

Seeing as this is the nearest thing to a Japan master thread, I’ll ask my questions here.
I want to go to Tokyo and a couple of other cities for 2 weeks total.
Can go between September and November 2024.
Would prefer to avoid the English school half term week (Sat 26th October).
Are there any other dates to avoid?
Is the weather likely to be worse towards November?
What would be the best 2 weeks to pick in that date range?

Thanks.

[yonasl]

Aston100 wrote:

Seeing as this is the nearest thing to a Japan master thread, I’ll ask my questions here.
I want to go to Tokyo and a couple of other cities for 2 weeks total.
Can go between September and November 2024.
Would prefer to avoid the English school half term week (Sat 26th October).
Are there any other dates to avoid?
Is the weather likely to be worse towards November?
What would be the best 2 weeks to pick in that date range?

Thanks.

I based much of my Japan travels on what’s here: https://www.japan-guide.com/

There is a section for dates (what weather will be like, what to avoid, etc.)

Personally, if you plan in advance you are ok when it comes to booking hotels. You cannot avoid places like Kyoto being full (if it is not holidays in UK it may be half term in Russia, China or anywhere else). Some places like Tokyo will always be busy (like London is 24/7 all year round). Start with the dates that work best for you and then try to put places like Kyoto on weekdays and not weekends.

[Mouse]

meta wrote:

Winter driving conditions are not ideal, especially if snowing. I wouldn’t recommend this as the car will slow you down due to speed limitations. I also wouldn’t go as far as Kyoto, although Kinkakuji in winter is beautiful. You need at minimum five days there to get the feel of the city and sights are spread out.

I have driven in Hokkaido in winter – definitely requires a high degree of confidence/foolishness!

[meta]

@Aston100 I’d also avoid most of September. If last two years are anything to go by, it’s still humid and hot as hell.

In November you can enjoy autumn foliage, mid to late Octobet it starts getting colder. If you don’t care about foliage, first two weeks of October are good.

[Aston100]

meta wrote:

@Aston100 I’d also avoid most of September. If last two years are anything to go by, it’s still humid and hot as hell.

In November you can enjoy autumn foliage, mid to late Octobet it starts getting colder. If you don’t care about foliage, first two weeks of October are good.

Thanks Meta.
How are Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto in early May (after Golden week) compared to the first two weeks of October. Both weather wise (rain and humidity that is), and crowds wise.
And which would you choose if you were a first-timer: early October or Mid May?
Thanks.