OK, well, my blog has crashed and while I’m waiting for them to get it back up , I’d like to add somethings you definitely should do:
-in Tokyo, obviously don’t miss Tsukiji Market, of course. But while there, stop in at this stall for some amazing Oyakodonburi (scrambled eggs and chicken on a bed of warm rice, outstanding and the chef speaks French). It’s near a corner in one of the alleys, about 2 alleys in from the main drag, closer to the main fish market and port (sorry, that’s the best I can do).
-in Kyoto, DO NOT MISS Okariba restaurant, where the chef only serves what he kills. It’s tiny, but he’s warm and welcoming, and the food is outstanding. We had boar, venison, goose, trout, bear, crickets and LOTS of sake and beer. Since there’s apparently a 3-attachment limit, I’ll post pics of this place in the next post.
Cheers!
Here are the pics from Kyoto’s Okariba restaurant. It’s somewhat off the main areas, but so worth it that you should just ask your hotel for directions and get them to call a cab to take you there.
We also went to a fantastic yakitori place in Guion, as well as a steakhouse where they had a pedigree sheet for the cow you were eating (going back 3 generations and including a nose print from the actual cow!).
Don’t forget to visit Nara, home of the world’s largest wooden structure housing one of the largest Buddhas, as well as the tame deer (who aren’t shy about nuzzling your pockets for treats, be forwarned). They are cute though. When I die, I want to come back as one of those deer: sheltered, fed, taken care of, walking around nude and having sex where/whenever. How can that be bad?
Train goes straight to Kamakura and it’s massive. I’ve walked over the trail, nice views, interesting sites, it can be an all day trip just treking around.
I think this is the temple cut into the hill you’re referring too
If you go to Hiroshima, visit Kumano, the bus will get you there, and then Kumano-Fude, the brush factory.
Best Calligraphy & Makeup brushes in the world. (And NOBODY Speaks English)
Do the Pimsleur CD’s learn enough to get out of town.
Reviving this thread as Arnold and I will be visiting Japan in October. I’ve been reviewing this thread and the Kyoto threads but have a few questions.
Is there any particular section of Tokyo or Kyoto that would be better for hotels? Or does public transport make it irrelevant?
Shift another day from Tokyo to Kyoto?
Our current planned itinerary (feel free to critique - it’s not set in stone yet) is:
10/1-10/4 Tokyo
10/5-10/9 Kyoto - I just submitted a reservation request to spend the last night at Hiiragaya
10/10 - Miyajima
10/11 - back to Tokyo
10/12 - home again, home again, jiggedy jig
If you are planning to use the train a lot, look into the Japan rail pass. Get a 7 day pass and use it on any JR lines and you can use it on the bullet train.
When we were there last year, I had two men in their late 60’s standing next to me on the subway (I’m 6’3"), taking furtive glances at me and laughing. This went on for 5 minutes or so - finally, one pointing up to the ceiling and said “tall”. I laughed, pointed to my waist and said “and fat”.
Japan is awesome. Tokyo and Kyoto were our bases (we rented a house in Tokyo (we had our kids) and stayed at the Granvia Hotel which is right above the train station, which made day trips very easy.
We day tripped from Kyoto to Nara and Hiroshima (no need to stay at the latter, in my view, if you start out early enough) and to Hakone and Kamakura from Tokyo.
GET A JAPAN RAIL PASS when you are here. Travelling the Shinkansen makes touring easy. It’s expensive, but a lot cheaper than buying one off tickets if you plan on using the bullet train significantly for travelling. Note that if you fly into Tokyo and plan on staying there at the beginning of the trip, you can pay for the train into the city and start the rail pass (which you can buy for a week) on your way out of the city.
Tokyo is fascinating and can be quite overwhelming. It took me several days to get into the rhythm of the city, but we explored a lot of the neighborhoods and had a terrific time.
Kyoto is a magical place. It has enough temples and shrines to keep you busy for a year (among our favorites were Sanjusangendo’s 1,00o Buddhas and the Fushimi Inari Shrine, and the Kiyomizudera Temple) but we probably visited a dozen over two days. We hired an English speaking guide for these visits and would be happy to give you a contact if you’d like.
I also highly recommend an early morning walk through the Gion (the principal “Geisha” district in Kyoto) when everything is buttoned up (or you can go when the shops are open like my wife did) and dinner somewhere along Pontocho Alley, a warren of alleys along the west bank of Kyoto’s river. We have a couple of recommendations there, but restaurants are almost impossible to find. Finally, Nishiki market (several blocks of arcades) is very fun during the earlier part of the day, particularly if you are into local foods.
I started this thread. My trip ended up being perhaps the most enjoyable vacation I’ve ever had. I’m jealous you’re going, as I’m extremely eager to return.
I’ll put together a post with more detailed recommendations – I have a ton – but first things first for Kyoto you must get Diane Durston’s Old Kyoto. It’s a wonderful book and an invaluable resource.
Unfortunately I was too late for a reservation at the Studio Ghibli Museum . They’re all booked up through mid-November. Here is our tentative itinerary for critiquing. I’m still waiting to hear back from JBT about the day tours and I’m wondering about another less structured day in Tokyo (as opposed to Kyoto) since other than the 2 day trips we’ll only have 2 evenings and a morning.
One of the days in Kyoto will probably include a trip to Nara.
10/1 - arrive in Tokyo at 3:55pm, have dinner, decompress (Arnold will get us into the Cathay Pacific lounge during our layover in Hong Kong so we’ll have had a chance to shower)
10/2 - day tour of Tokyo
10/3 - day trip to Mt. Fuji
10/4 - take train to Kyoto, arrive, settle in, have dinner
10/5 - Kyoto sightseeing
10/6 - Kyoto sightseeing
10/7 - Kyoto sightseeing
10/8 - Kyoto sightseeing
10/9 - Kyoto, staying at Hiiragaya Ryokan
10/10 - train to Miyajima, staying at Kurahado Iroha (breakfast only), sunset cruise to view water shrine
10/11 - train back to Tokyo (this will be a longish trip I assume?), night in Tokyo
10/12 - 10:50am flight back to the US
I thought Nara was very nice. What is it, maybe ~3 hours round trip from Kyoto to Nara by train??? If it were me, I’d spend a night in the smaller city. We ate here - it was good and a relative bargain - MICHELIN GUIDE digital. There’s a small izakaya right by the nearby train stop that was fun for some pre-dinner sake.
Anyone know the Amour restaurant in Tokyo, or have any recs for Sapporo?
I would spend more time in Tokyo, but I love that city and have barely touched the surface exploring. The John Rain novels are a good pre-read to seed a fresh way of thinking about the city.
In Kyoto, do NOT miss Restaurant Okariba. He only serves things that are either fresh kill or things he has hunted himself. And, BTW, since firearms are tough in Japan, he hunts with a crossbow. Seriously.
We had one of the best meals of our trip there in terms of sheer fun (food was delicious too - venison, boar, bear pastrami, the works). The Chef grills everything to order, so the place gets smoky and loud fast, but he’s very down-to-earth and easy going. The old man took a shine to my Japanese mother-in-law and plied us with magnums of beer, sake and home-made umeshiso (next morning was brutal).
Email me if you want more recs, I’ll ask my MIL who is in NY right now for more places. Nara was amazing, the temple is gorgeous, and the deer a lot of fun if a bit pushy (you can feed them but if they see you have food they will all run to you). Even though we live in NYC, Tokyo was almost overwhelming, it’s HUGE. Get a map of the subway system to try to get a slight idea of where you’re going because there were very few signs in non-Kanji when I was there (in 2012).
I LOVED Japan and can’t wait to go back. It’s very expensive, but who cares, you only live once. People were lovely, the food was some of the best I’ve eaten on any trip (no bad meals at all, and I mean at all). The Shinkansen (bullet trains) are fantastic and make Amtrak look like a bad joke. Even the TGV pales in comparison, and I like the TGV. Also, before you go, find some apps to teach you a few basic words, that helped a ton, especially with the pronunciation, which is markedly different from what you’re used to in English. Like you, we went in October, so the weather was perfect (and slightly cool in the mountains). We did Tokyo - Ise Peninsula (stayed in a ryokan on cliffs over the Pacific where they served kaiseki meals every night - OMG) - Kyoto/Nara - Takayama - Tokyo in 3 weeks.
On the flip side of Okariba, you also need to go to Okutan in Kyoto for lunch (great place while touring temples). Traditional temple restaurant serving multiple course of pristine tofu in several different presentations/cooking methods. It’s in the “Old Kyoto” book and these pictures give you a flavor: http://www.sugarednspiced.com/kyoto-okutan/.
Some other unsolicited advice: Do a high-end kaiseki meal in Kyoto, as it’s one of the world’s unique and spellbinding dining experiences. We did Nakamura (three Michelin stars) and were blown away, but I’ve heard just as good if not better things about Mizai, Kitcho, and other high-end places. The other Kyoto recs are fairly standard: all of the major temples (Ginkaku-ji and Ryoan-ji were my favorites), walking around the area surrounding Kiyomizu-dera, walking the philosopher’s path, perusing the Nishiki market, walking the grounds of the Nijo castle, exploring Gion, trip to Nara, exploring Arashiyama etc etc. In terms of lodging, we stayed at the Grand Hyatt, which was reasonably priced, superbly located, and excellent overall. We did stay one night at Hiiragi-ya, which was a singular experience (we stayed in the room where Yasunari Kawabata, a Japanese Nobel laureate in literature, would stay and compose his works). I actually thought the food at Hiiragi-ya was not up to the level of the top Michelin places, but the whole experience was so peaceful, comfortable, and unique.
After Kyoto, we did Hiroshima and Miyajima – both of which were highly interesting and enjoyable, especially Miyajima. Killer oysters in the area, and you have to try okonomiyaki in Hiroshima.
My only significant suggestion on the itinerary would be to spend more time in Tokyo. We did five nights in Kyoto, one in Hiroshima, and four in Tokyo, and that was about right. And although Kyoto was the highlight of the trip, I’m much more eager to return to Tokyo, which is the most dynamic, interesting, layered, impenetrable city I’ve ever been to. The food in Tokyo is the best I’ve had, anywhere, and you could spend years finding all the great coffee shops and bars and specialty stores, etc. Exploring the neighborhoods was something I could do for weeks.
![[soap.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/a/a7ea1fffd3ef237e8f19d17a83270ad8452218ca.gif "soap"){kind=small}
, I’d like to add somethings you definitely should do:![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
. They’re all booked up through mid-November. Here is our tentative itinerary for critiquing. I’m still waiting to hear back from JBT about the day tours and I’m wondering about another less structured day in Tokyo (as opposed to Kyoto) since other than the 2 day trips we’ll only have 2 evenings and a morning.