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Also continuously since 2005 
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Oct 1, 2017 15:36
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| # ? May 23, 2024 20:48 |
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48 distinct seasons experienced!!!!
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Oct 1, 2017 15:38
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2004, ask me about my rampant oldness.
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Oct 2, 2017 05:13
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I'm planning a 3-ish week trip in May 2018 that I'm about to bite the bullet on flights for. I'd like to hit a decent balance of having time to explore cities and touristy areas and also just covering a chunk of the country. It'll be my first time and I'm wondering if I'm maybe spreading myself too thin? Here's the current rough itinerary. Green = weekend, trying to avoid doing super touristy stuff then.  There's not much set in stone but there are a few constraints around Tokyo dates:
Couple of minor questions:
Just looking for general advice/sanity check, though I get the impression it won't be an issue. Seems hard not to have a good time as long as you're somewhat flexible.
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Oct 4, 2017 11:09
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Those single day trips halfway across the country are going to make you want to die. Get rid of 'em IMO. If you want to go there for some reason, give yourself more time. Some of those are shinkansenable but like Tokyo to Takayama is a solid chunk of a day, there's no train so it's a bus trip. Then you get to wander Takayama for like, an hour before you have to get the two or three hour train to Kanazawa? I'd just do the shinkansen right to Kanazawa and you can take a day trip to Shirakawago or whatever it is you want to see in that area. I'd stay in Kyoto longer, if you get bored you can go to Nara or something from there it's all within local train reach. I like Osaka but five days is a lot as a tourist, I'd do more like three.
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Oct 4, 2017 11:43
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Grand Fromage posted:Those single day trips halfway across the country are going to make you want to die. Get rid of 'em IMO. If you want to go there for some reason, give yourself more time. Yeah that's fair. Shirakawago was on the list as a place I'd like to check out in terms of a rural area but seemed especially untenable from Tokyo in a day, especially if I'm not staying there. I was thinking of doing a morning train to Kyoto but doing Shirakawago and then late afternoon to Kyoto or something certainly sounds less painful.
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Oct 4, 2017 12:06
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Shirakawago isn't really a rural place, it's those old houses as an outdoor museum effectively. If you want to see actual small town Japan somewhere like Matsumoto is better.
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Oct 4, 2017 12:35
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Kyoto nightlife sucks for the most part. Friday Saturday are okay but Osaka is better all around if you want some night time fun. Sucks during the day though
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Oct 4, 2017 13:50
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Yeah, I'd stretch out the time to and/or from Hiroshima. There are many places on the route that are worth a quick stop. Kobe for the view, Okayama for the castle and gardens, Kurashiki for the canal area, etc. And if you're going to Tashirojima, the infamous Rabbit Island is also (more or less) on the route between Kyoto and Hiroshima. And yeah, heading from Sendai/Tashirojima all the way up to Hakodate just to immediately head back to Tokyo the next day probably won't be worth it. I made a similar trip this spring, but over the course of a week with many stops along the way. If you're headed to the Sendai area, perhaps consider Matsushima. DiscoJ fucked around with this message at 00:43 on Oct 5, 2017 |
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Oct 4, 2017 13:51
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prompt posted:Kyoto nightlife sucks for the most part. Friday Saturday are okay but Osaka is better all around if you want some night time fun. Sucks during the day though NB: this applies strictly to the Hubs in both places, if you're willing to venture beyond that you can probably find stuff to do in Kyoto at night.
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Oct 4, 2017 13:55
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Stringent posted:NB: this applies strictly to the Hubs in both places, if you're willing to venture beyond that you can probably find stuff to do in Kyoto at night. Some nice cocktail bars in Kyoto. The kakigori is also better in Kyoto than Osaka.
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Oct 4, 2017 14:15
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I think it's about time we discuss kakigori itt
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Oct 4, 2017 14:17
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I think not because Taiwan is just simply better at their shaved ice.
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Oct 4, 2017 22:18
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kakigori = someone owns a machine and syrup and turns a crank, yay If it weren't for nostalgia it would have been dead decades ago, like nintendo
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Oct 4, 2017 22:35
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on your itinerary: Sendai, Hakodate, Takayama, Kanazawa, Ise, Hiroshima, Nikko all with one or half day each is kind of ridiculous and sort of stretching it. Basically, you are going to have to make a decision. While it's true that a lot of people say you can spend an infinite amount of time in Tokyo, for your first travel experience to Japan, there's sort of initially a limited amount of things you can do. Yes, I agree that there are many small sections of Tokyo that you can end up sinking a bunch of time to, but 8 days for Tokyo alone is way too much in my opinion. 4 days in Osaka is also kind of ridiculous. As caberham will point out, Osaka pales in comparison to Tokyo. It has a better nightlife than Kyoto, which is more quiet in the evenings, so it's probably good to stay in Osaka and then go to Kyoto during the way, do night stuff in Osaka in the evening. Now for the specific details, since being a loving nerd I've been to every one of the places you have mentioned at some point in my life already. Yamadera - if you go to Yamadera, this is way closer to the Yamagata side of things. While Yamagata is small, it does have some good onsen in this area, although a day trip to Yamadera from Sendai is doable. But if you do in fact do Yamadera, you probably will want at least another day in Sendai, given that there's a good chance you will go to Matsushima which is a thing to do in Sendai. What I am basically saying is that the Yamagata/Sendai region has way more to do for the amount of time that you have planned there. Hakodate - if you go to hakodate, flying to Tokyo from the airport probably will be cheaper (excluding JR Pass, then it may make sense). But, if you do Hakodate, spend at least more than one day there, and consider going to the rest of Hokkaido, which is gigantic. For example, Noboribetsu, Niseko, Sapporo, Shakotan are all considerations in the south section of Hokkaido as well. What I'm saying is that there's a lot of stuff to do there. Nikko - stay there at least one night, and possibly two if you decide to go deep into the national park. Also, stop by the strawberry park there if its in season: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g298182-d9707287-Reviews-Nikko_Strawberry_Park-Nikko_Tochigi_Prefecture_Kanto.html holy poo poo they have the sweetest strawberries I've ever had in Japan. Reservation required. Takayama and Kanazawa - you need at least one day in Takayama. But if you do Takayama, consider also going to Matsumoto, Kiso Valley, etc. as well. These can easily take a total of three days as well. Isejima - At least two days. You can spend one day there, but you may miss some of the natural beauty of that area. Hiroshima - This you can do in 1.5 to 2 days, but depending on what you like and what you want to do, doing more around Hiroshima can make sense. For example, you can stop in Onomichi and bike the Shimanami Kaido, as an example. Also, one of my friends has been trying to get me to take him to Kure because he has some nerd military obsession but here is a video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MNJTAcvfMg. Besides that Im not going to give you any advice on Kyoto and Tokyo because lol everybody goes there. ntan1 fucked around with this message at 22:47 on Oct 4, 2017 |
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Oct 4, 2017 22:39
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Just ate at yoroniku. Best meal of my life.
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Oct 7, 2017 16:43
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Nice
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Oct 8, 2017 02:46
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So, I've been back in the US for about a week now, and I just wanted to give a shout-out to the Japan goons for being real welcoming. Stringent and someone whose forum name I forget were dope as hell and gave me a lot of cool insights to poo poo. I don't think my current work will end up bringing me to Tokyo, but if any goons know of an English-speaking sales engineer position over there, I'd be way down. Also, thanks to whole drat thread for sumo ticket advice. I think going to see the tournament one day was possibly the highlight of the trip.
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Oct 9, 2017 16:21
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Trip's happening for real. Parents decided to leave it up to me to put the plan together, and boy am I a little stumped. They said that since travel knocks us out for about a day and a half each way, it'd be something like 8 days actually spent in Japan. I'm thinking maybe April 13~23 in total, or maybe April 16~27? That'd give us a good 7~8 days of stuff to do. Which is a sadly small amount, but hey, this is primarily for my parents, so it's their loss. I'll take my own two-week vacation someday  Do those dates sound good?As for stuff to do, here's my current plan which is basically the shinkansen route: - Fly into Tokyo (April 16~17) - gently caress around in Tokyo for a day or two, do some sightseeing and picture taking (April 18~19) - Dad might want to do Shimanami, but neither I nor mom bike so who knows if he'll agree to it (April 20~21) - I on the other hand would like to go see some castles and gardens, and mom probably does too - there's Himeji, but apparently I should skip it? (April 20~21) - Hiroshima! Museums maybe? What is there to do? (April 22~23) - Go see the cherry blossoms in Fukuoka (April 24) - Travel back to Tokyo (April 25) - Fly out of Tokyo(?) (April 26~27) I have absolutely no idea if my timetable or progression is realistic, cause I am god awful at planning. There's clearly some cleaning up to do - any advice? ---- Also, I want to get at least one goonmeet in. Where are most people situated, and what times are people available? Getting wasted in an izakaya is on my bucket list and by god I will cross it off if it kills me.
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Oct 11, 2017 02:46
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Do not skip Himeji, it's the best real castle that's easily fit into an itinerary like that. It was under renovation from 2009 to 2015 so that's maybe where the "skip it" advice came from. However that's done now.
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Oct 11, 2017 02:55
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I'd go to Kyoto instead of the Hiroshima/Fukuoka leg, unless you have really strong feelings about seeing Hiroshima. Tokyo/Kyoto trip is the cliche but there's good reason why everybody does it. Plus you'll have more time to do stuff and less sitting on trains. Shinkansen to Himeji and back is doable from Kyoto.
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Oct 11, 2017 03:07
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Kyoto is a zoo during cherry blossom season, so be sure to make all reservations early as possible if you want to go there. Also cherry blossoms are really hard to time, even the "official" dates from the Japan Weather Association aren't announced until like a month prior. And those can easily get thrown off by something like an unexpected cold front. So I wouldn't really plan to see them on x city on x day, instead just try and keep up with the news while you're here and plan around it.
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Oct 11, 2017 03:30
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I don't know how mobile your parents are but traveling to another city every 2-3 days will be tiring for older folks/people who normally don't travel. A JR west train pass will do the trick I really hate to admit this but spending you can easily spend 8 days in Kansai. 3 days in Kyoto and Lake Biwa, 1 day in Himeji, spend a day in a Yamazaki Distllery, and 2 days in Osaka (gross). Kyoto is really beautiful and there are more quiet places and shrines for you to visit.
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Oct 11, 2017 03:45
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If they are retirees and like art museums and exhibitions, try going here and island hop. http://setouchi-artfest.jp/en/access/ Really amazing exhibits. You can make your way to Kyoto!
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Oct 11, 2017 03:52
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Even without age I'm a big advocate of not trying to hit too many places in a short trip. With eight full days I'd pick two cities at the most. The big advantage of Kansai other than having cool stuff is Osaka/Kyoto/Nara is basically just one big city you can easily get around and places like Kobe or Himeji are a little further but still daytrip range. Also keep in mind Japan is for olds and everything closes at like 5 PM except food and alcohol, so you really only have like a third of each day for seeing Sights and Things.
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Oct 11, 2017 03:55
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Grand Fromage posted:Also keep in mind Japan is for olds and everything closes at like 5 PM except food and alcohol, so you really only have like a third of each day for seeing Sights and Things. This extends even to the timezone. Expect it to get dark around 5-6 PM.
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Oct 11, 2017 05:22
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Stringent posted:This extends even to the timezone. Expect it to get dark around 5-6 PM. But the sunrise happens at like 3:30am or whatever to balance it out!! I got really confused when I'd wake up, see it's super light outside, check my phone and see it was like 4:10am or some poo poo. I dunno if I've only lived in weird timezones but that really threw me off.
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Oct 11, 2017 06:41
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if you make it to Fukuoka in April, I'll be there, but like most people have said, probably spending time in Kyoto is better than Fukuoka. the cherry blossoms are suuuuuuuper beautiful in Kyushu in April though, I'd share pics but I'm on a new computer and only have like one. anyway holla if you make it to Kyushu in March/April, I'll be there raising me son in the countryside
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Oct 11, 2017 06:55
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robot restaurant was good times. Japan is good times.
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Oct 11, 2017 12:08
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Gross
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Oct 11, 2017 12:12
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Don't sign your posts.
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Oct 11, 2017 13:10
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Stringent posted:This extends even to the timezone. Expect it to get dark around 5-6 PM. Very strong recommendation for tourists: Wake up early, as in like 6AM early. This conveniently is great if you are traveling from the US, because if you sleep at midnight normally, you can just sleep at 9PM JST and most of your jet lag just wont really exist. Tokyo in winter gets darker at like 4PM. Also, aren't Kyushu blossoms usually first two weeks of April maximum? I remember being in Fukuoka on like 4/7 to 4/9 and that was when it was full bloom.
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Oct 11, 2017 18:24
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Hmmm, lots of good advice here. I definitely agree that if we're going to have maybe 8 days of touring available to us, then two cities max would be best. In that case, it'd have to be Tokyo and Kyoto/Osaka/Nara. I'm sure we can figure out four days worth of stuff to do in each city.  That said, I don't want all of my time to be spent looking at castles n poo poo. What's some cool stuff to do that I can do independently of my parents? I heard of some people taking cooking classes via Airbnb, and that sounds pretty neat. What level of Japanese would I need to do something like that? Any other cool poo poo you'd really like to do but haven't gotten the time, yet would recommend to someone looking to burn time in Tokyo?
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Oct 12, 2017 03:02
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Pollyanna posted:Hmmm, lots of good advice here. I definitely agree that if we're going to have maybe 8 days of touring available to us, then two cities max would be best. In that case, it'd have to be Tokyo and Kyoto/Osaka/Nara. I'm sure we can figure out four days worth of stuff to do in each city. For the cooking classes, no Japanese needed. There are classes taught by English speakers. Two I've done and I liked were: http://www.tsukiji-market.jp/tsukiji-sushi-insider-workshop/ This one is more food tour and a small amount of sushi processing. https://www.asakusa-tokyokitchen.com/ For more cooking with a nice selection of standard Japanese fare. Beyond that, it really depends on where your interests lie. .Z. fucked around with this message at 04:22 on Oct 12, 2017 |
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Oct 12, 2017 04:16
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goonmeet x shibuya frogger
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Oct 12, 2017 04:53
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Is there a Japanese Autumn color leaves report online that's not the one on Japan-Guide that was updated a week ago? I'm thinking about going to either Toyama or Nikko next week and want to know if it's worth it or not. Thanks!
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Oct 12, 2017 12:24
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It seems a little early. Nikko is always amazing so just go there anyway!
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Oct 12, 2017 13:09
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I'm doing my JET application, and there's a part where i need to list 3 places I'd like to teach. I was thinking of just listing Tokyo, Osaka, and Sapporo. Talking to people about Tokyo I tend to find very polarised opinions though. Suppose I'm just curious whether anyone thinks there's a better city for me to list, though I'm not convinced my preferences matter. I don't drive so I don't think they'd be cruel enough to stick me somewhere rural haha
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Oct 12, 2017 14:16
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My knowledge of JET is from years ago so keep that in mind but Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto are the ones everybody asks for and are the hardest to get. Tokyo has a lot more positions than it used to so it's probably not a horrible idea to list it, but don't hold your breath. It's also a mixture of cool and bad. The whole country's centered on it and there's tons to do, but the people there are kind of unpleasant relative to other parts of Japan. When I applied I asked for Sapporo, Osaka, and Fukuoka. From my other experiences in Asia I strongly suspect they don't even read your preferences though, it's just there to make you feel better.
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Oct 12, 2017 14:29
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| # ? May 23, 2024 20:48 |
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Any reason for Fukuoka? Not a city I've read much about comparatively. I'm going to an info session at the consulate next week maybe I'll be cheeky and ask whether they read the preferences haha
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Oct 12, 2017 14:43
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