Japan

[swvic]

Have 3 weeks leave in October. Considering Japan. Know a few of you have been. Don't care about late season snow or surf at all. Any advice welcome

Would like to hit the ground running with a plan of where I'll be on any given day and of what I'm there to see/do/experience

[steve shearer]

id like to go to Japan too.

but I'd like to bag a quinella of catching a seabass in Tokyo harbour, surfing a Typhoon swell , snowboarding Hokkaido and sniffing some used panties from a vending machine.

[petulance]

I have only been to Tokyo. The food there is good. Rice and noodles for breakfast. And lunch in the business district of Tokyo is cheap as compared to Sydney. Try getting a 2 course lunch for $10 in Sydney. And the Japanese do good Italian and French food, not that you would go all the way for that.

Akihabara, Shinjuku, Shibuya and Harajuku are worth checking out.

[swvic]

id like to go to Japan too.

but I'd like to bag a quinella of catching a seabass in Tokyo harbour, surfing a Typhoon swell , snowboarding Hokkaido and sniffing some used panties from a vending machine.

Thinking of starting a used panties vending machine operation. It's much more deserving than urban myth status. Could not fail in Japan. Any venture capitalists willing to back me?

[ctd]

I'm also thinking of going and this article, while a travel guide article, seems to have a good basic trip between Tokyo and Kyoto and points in between. Of course, you first have to make the usual decision of whether you spend a longer time in one place or zip around trying to see lots of places (eg the trip below doesn't include anywhere other than Honshu, although you can easily add Hiroshima if you want). For me, I reckon at least 5 days in Tokyo (maybe more), so that tends to limit what else I can do in my 3 weeks.

http://www.traveller.com.au/japan-bulle ... sen-10hz7f

So interested on others thoughts, especially anyone with advice on where to stay with kids - paying for 2 hotel rooms could be a bit expensive

[Slobadan Madicubich]

just pop the kids into one of those sleeping drawers used by drunk business men so they don't have to go home

[alakaboo]

Spend some time outside Tokyo.
Get up in the hills and go for a hike.
5 days is about right for the city if you want to see the sights.
Get a train somewhere.

After Tokyo, Kyoto was relaxing but sort of a middle ground. Amazing shrines, though.
I really liked Matsumoto and similar mid size places.
Go to sumo training (no tournaments in October)
Check out the free walking tours of palace gardens etc.
Also paid experiences through Voyagin.

Do an intensive language course at your local uni before you go if you get a chance.
Stay in apartments or ryokans wherever possible.

Can recommend places to stay and a guide for the fish markets, PM me for info.

[swvic]

Konichiwa, 'boo san. Was thinking a few days in Tokyo and then getting on a train. There's a seemingly good value rail pass available to internationals

Your suggestions are exactly the type of thing we're into. Although mrs swvic hasn't yet mentioned anything about sumo wrestling, we do love hiking, temples/shrines and palaces/gardens. Hopefully October would coincide with some great deciduous displays

My local uni is where I work. As far as I know, there's no language courses available, but I suppose we should decide sooner rather than later if Japan is indeed our destination and do something about learning a phrase or two if it is.

Also like the idea of apartments and ryokans

Mrs also loves the fish markets and we couldn't go to Japan and not experience some of them. PM on the way. Cheers

[steve shearer]

what do you do at the fish markets?

did you eat Fugu there Boo?

[alakaboo]

Walk around and look at all the weird shit they eat, talk to fishermen and dealers. If you go at 4am you can see the tuna auction. There are veggie and flower markets later in the day.
Had some great sashimi round the corner.

Never had fugu, everyone told me it tastes like nothing.
Tried to buy some whale (had that once, bit like a cross between horse and buffalo) but the guy thought I was from Greenpeace so wouldn't let me have any

[swvic]

Fcuk, steve, you of all people! Surely you understand the attraction of the fresh food markets? Fish market in Footscray (here in vic) is great, but near on everything else is greater. Apia fish market in Samoa, All things fresh (including dog) market In Sapa, Vietnam. Anything where the real folk ply their trade is fcuken great. It's everything good about things you're not necessarily familiar with condensed and concentrated. Not to be missed. When you really look, you find there's a fcuk of a lot more going on than you first realise. Not all of it good. Check it out

I'd eat some whale. Singer would probably rather that than have it discarded or downgraded into aquacultre feed. I'd also eat horse

[ctd]

I ate whale on a summer holiday camp when I lived in Japan. The just brought around a tray of fat lumps. Was apparently whale. Can't remember how it tasted, wasn't paying attention

[swvic]

What did you pay attention to? How old were you? Where were you? What time of year? What gave the greatest impact? Retracing any of those steps or a whole new path? Fat lumps, you say. Many chefs say fat is flavour. I generally agree

Let's do it together, ctd. Re the decision about zipping around or slowing it down a bit, I reckon the latter is the better approach. Never worked anywhere for me doing it the other way

[ctd]

I was the only non Japanese speaker in a summer camp of few English speakers (Japan has the 10 week or whatever summer holidays like the USA, so summer camps are a thing). But I was very blonde and about a foot taller than everyone else and was looked after (or at least couldn't understand the insults). I think the camp was a YMCA one. Was probably about 10 or 11. My recollection is that they brought the whale around as a special treat, but being a kid it was just food.

I lived in Tokyo in the late 70s early 80s (4 years in total, from ages 7 - 11) so don't remember too much and I cant imagine anything is the same, other than Tokyo tower and Meiji shrine. My school was a 2 story sprawling building and is now apparently a 30 story tower block. No point retracing my steps I suspect; at the time it was just the place where I lived and my life was focused mostly around school (international school, so in English/US curriculum). That said, we certainly travelled around Japan a bit, saw all the major sites, climbed Mt Fuji (not to the top for me though), beach at Shimoda every summer, skiing etc.

I'll be travelling with two kids (10 and 12) so charging around for 10 hours a day following by an overnight train trip is not going to happen. They have already lined up about 5 days worth of stuff in Tokyo - anime museum, pokemon shops, Studio Ghibli museum, Harajuku cos day. The kids are good/excellent travellers, but not up to hours of walking or art galleries. At the moment I have only vague plans - maybe 5 or 6 days in Tokyo and 3 days in/around Kyoto, then that leaves 10 or so days to fill up in between. Hakone, Takayama, Nara, Nakasendo highway, Koyasan (I know some of those are not between Tokyo and Kyoto). Maybe Hiroshima.

[steve shearer]

Just kidding Vic, I love fish markets. Probably seen enough Tuna carcasses for a lifetime though.

[swvic]

Cheers, ctd. Must be weird going to live in such a place as a young kid

Steve, I shoulda known better

[ctd]

Cheers, ctd. Must be weird going to live in such a place as a young kid

You know, it wasn't weird, it was just where I lived. Kids are pretty flexible. That said, all my friends were foreigners or locals who also went to my school and so spoke perfect English - at that age you don't need to deal with bureaucracy or organise travel or anything that required communication skills or understanding of a different culture. What was a bit weird was that my parents let me roam the city almost at will because it was so safe - used to catch the train into town to see movies by myself all the time; ride over to go bowling with my friends at 'the American club' or go to their pool whenever I felt like it; I would be dropped off at the ice skating rink and left there without supervision for a whole morning. I guess that was more common in those days anyway, but in hindsight seems a bit strange given the size of the city.

The only thing that really made a difference was that there was no English television. The only TV I watched was baseball and sumo (and the first space shuttle launch), a few hours a week at most but almost always less. So I grew up reading an awful lot, which in no way to I regret whatsoever. Also I learnt the rules of American football, baseball, sumo and ice hockey and baseball trading cards. And avoided learning any Australian history whatsoever, so everyone who suffered through years at school learning the explorers ...

Hardly spoke any Japanese, even though I was in a prime position to learn.

Not as exciting as touring the world surfing like some have done

[steve shearer]

root any Japanese babes?