By Maggie Edwards
My friend Clare and I have just returned from our first trip to Japan. It's not a country we've thought of visiting before, but we both do Taiko drumming in the UK and wanted to go to a Taiko workshop in Japan. We then decided to pad the trip out with a few days in Kyoto beforehand, and a few days in Tokyo at the end.
Kyoto was amazing and I can't praise the Hotel Ana and the staff enough. I've stayed in 5 star hotels around the world and the Ana compares with any of them. We were also lucky enough to come across a leaflet advertising a walking tour with Johnny Hillwalker. He is an elderly Japanese man with a brilliant wit and an encylopaedic knowledge of the area. He took us off the beaten track and gave us a day to remember. The walk took around 5 hours, and included sushi and tea and a cake for around 10, which we thought was a real bargain.
We found the Japanese people to be very friendly and helpful. One lady we met on a bus invited us to meet her husband, and they then took us out for the afternoon and insisted on paying for eveything! So kind, as were all of the people we met.
I was a bit concerned about finding our way around on the trains, but if we were stuck there was always some kind person who was happy to help. The JR pass was invaluable and we'd recommend it even if it didn't save money.
The Taiko drumming workshop was for 5 days in Fukui. The workshop was hard work but good value and great fun, and we met some lovely people from Australia, Italy, Turkey and Germany. We stayed at the Hotel Riverge Akebono,Fukui and I can't say that we'd recommend it.
After the course we travelled to Tokyo were we stayed at another brilliant hotel, the Shinagawa Prince. I've heard that some of the rooms aren't great, but we were in the Main Tower and the rooms were fautless, and with a great view of Tokyo. I was lucky enough to come across the Volunteer Guides, who take people around Tokyo and just expect their expenses to be paid. We had 3 guides, all of whom were friendly, helpful and fun, and all for the cost of a couple of meals and the entrance fee to a museum.
We took a day trip to Fuji and Hakone through Expedia for around 35 each, and were fortunate to chance across a very clear day with a really good view of Fuji. The day was very good value but be warned that you are asked to phone the travel company at least two days prior to the trip to confirm, and this was a disaster. It took 4 phone calls, during which we got 3 people who had a very shaky knowledge of English, and the calls finally cost us around 10! We also took a half day trip around Tokyo but didn't feel that this was good value, although the guide was very knowledgeable. We also confirmed this trip through the agents and were given the wrong pick-up time, so we had to chase the coach in a taxi, which cost another 10.
I can't speak highly enough of Japan and it's people, and we both felt that this was the holiday of a lifetime. We loved the trains, which were clean, fast and on time, with very helpful and polite staff.
Our final night was spent in the airport hotel at Osaka Kansai airport, which was another great choice. The food was a little pricey compared to the other hotels, but was superb.
The only downside to the holiday was the very grumpy air hostesses on both of our KLM flights! We managed to get a bad tempered hostess on our flights to Japan and back, but this was tempered by other hostesses who were pleasant and helpful.
Some of our friends thought we were very brave, 2 females visiting Japan on our own, but I've never felt so safe anywhere. It's certainly a trip to be recommended and we would both love to go again.
