Free travel home page with storage for your pictures and travel reports! login GLOBOsapiens - Travel Community GLOBOsapiens - Travel Community GLOBOsapiens - Travel Community
Login
 Forgot password?
sign up


Top 3 members
wojtekd 60
Member snaps

Asia & Oceania group posting on GLOBOsapiens

main group page      | members      | discussion      |

2 weeks

Postings 1 - 1 of 1 


tokyomike

View profile in a new window


Premium account
Joined: Jan 04
Points: 507
Posts: 2


Posted: 2006-04-15 07:42:00   

Well, I've been in Japan 15 years, and I've seen very little. So I'm not the best guy to ask about sightseeing advice, but here is my 2 cents worth. First, the basics.



Be prepared for very hot and VERY humid weather. And bring plenty of cash. When friends visit me from Canada, their ATM cards don't work, since most banks haven't even heard of PLUS or Cirrus. Make sure you bring a couple of credit cards to use for hotels and so on, and to make cash advances (also difficult or impossible in most ATMs, even in TOkyo). So bring loads of cash -- no worries about getting robbed in Japan.



OK, now for fun stuff. The upside of travelling in August is that there are festivals (matsuri) being held all the time. Just stop in at any tourist office and they'll be able to point you in the direction of the nearest matsuri. If you're anywhere in a countryside area, you'll get the unique "rock star" experience that being a foreigner brings in the midst of a flock of drunken Japanese (and they will be at a matsuri, rest assured). Before you know it, they'll have you and your family up doing the traditional Japanese dances, and you'll all have huge smiles on your faces.



As for specific places, if you only have 2 weeks, don't do Fuji unless you're in super good shape. No, it's not that difficult, but it's not that great either, and you'll be sore as hell for days after. If I had 2 weeks, I'd do most of it in the TOkyo area, and 4 days down in the Kyoto area.



Tokyo: For the computer-saavy Kid, spend an afternoon in the electronics Mecca of Akihabara. I think it's on the Ginza Line. In that part of town, you can also check out the Sensouji temple (be prepared for plenty of kitsch and eyesore souvenir stalls) at Asakuksa, you could do a mini-Kabuki (don't do a ful performance, or your kid and husband will both hate you and try to ditch you for the rest of the trip). Instead, just do the half-hour ones. Again, check the tourist office for details. As for Noh theather, it's abstract and low brow compared to Kabuki, so if you have to choose between the two, "Just say NO to Noh." Finally, in that same area, you can hit the Edo Tokyo Museum. Plenty of cool stuff to see and by far the most youth-friendly museum in Japan. Once you've done that, you can rest assured that any other museum will pale in comparison, or at the very least fall into that "same s%it different shovel" category.



Also, be sure to hit Harajyuku and Omotesando. Go to Harajyuku station, and first do the long walk along the pebble road to the Meiji Jingu shrine. You'll love the atmospheric walk -- feels very "Japanese" -- and the shrine is cool too.



After the temple, just spend time walking around the back streets of Harajyuku. It's one of the youth-"culture" centers in Japan. Walk up Omotesando Doori (street) toward Omotesando station. Get's more high-end shopping as you go, and is an interesting walk. Just a few stations up from either Harajyuku (Japan Rail) or Omotesando (Subway station), you can spend a few hours walking in Shibuya being amazed tourists at all the neon and freaky people. And if you crave Starbucks, it's never more than a 1 minute walk away (there are dozens there).



You might also want to check out Tokyo Disneyland for a different perspective on MIckey.



As for the Kyoto / Kansai Area -- you will quickly becomed "templed out" as one gets when you've done the tour of places like Kyoto or Kamakura. My advice: In one afternoon, hit Kin kaku ji temple first. Then hit the best of the best: Kiyomizu dera. It's like taking a walk back in time. I'm not one to say "wwwwooooooowwww" much in Japan, but that place had me saying it over and over. The atmosphere is fantastic. And if you happen by a Japanese sweet shop by a little brook once inside the temple grounds, take a load off any try some green tea and Japanese "anko" (sweet bean past sweets).



Ok, so having checked Kyoto off the list, spend a day in Nara. I've been there for work only, so I haven't done the tourist thing, but everybody raves about it, so there must be something there worth seeing, right?



Anyway, hope you have a fantastic trip!

Cheers,

Mike


Reply    Reply with quote    Contact tokyomike
 



  Terms and Conditions    Privacy Policy    Press    Contact    Impressum
  © 2002 - 2024 Findix Technologies GmbH Germany    Travel Portal Version: 4.2.8