By Edward Jaasma
BACKGROUND
We are a married couple, celebrating our 45th anniversary this year, who have traveled to many parts of North America by RV and the world by plane and cruise ship. We strive to see as much as possible in the time available in the places we visit and are more interested in "seeing what is there" than in staying in luxury accommodations or fine dining. Neither of us has any knowledge of the Japanese language. Since I am an insulin dependent diabetic, the availability of overnight refrigeration for insulin was a concern. This did not turn out to be a problem with any of the facilities where we stayed.
Our 10 nights in Japan came about as a result of our plan to take a 25 day Holland American Lines "Historical WWII cruise from Auckland, New Zealand to Kobe, Japan, from March 1 to 26, 2008. Our interest in this cruise was driven by the: ports to be visited: Noumea, New Caledonia; Guadalcanal (Honiara), Solomon Islands; Rabaul, Papua/New Guinea; Yap Island, F. S. M.; Guam; Saipan, Marianas Islands; Naha, Japan (Okinawa); and Nagasaki, Japan. Since there were to be numerous WWII veterans on board, a close up cruise-by of Iwo Jima was allowed by the Japanese Government.
We made all of our own arrangements on the Internet for motels and rental cars for 2 nights in Fiji, on our way to New Zealand, and for 7 nights in New Zealand to travel around the North Island.
With the cruise ending in Kobe, we considered our options for spending some time in Japan after the cruise. We knew very little about Japan beyond perceiving it to be very expensive and crowded. We were very hesitant to make arrangements to travel on our own, as we often do. We looked at a substantial number of packaged tours on the Internet. The problem for us with these was that virtually all originated in Tokyo and did not align with our March 26 arrival in Kobe.
Utilizing Google searches on the Internet, I was attracted to two Internet sites: www.japan-guide.com/ (this web site) & www.insidejapantours.com. Although I also utilized other sources, the first provided virtually all of the information needed to determine the places we wanted to visit and the modes of transportation available to get to each location. Through the second we made all of our hotel and travel arrangements and were provided with tailored information/directions/instructions to meet virtually all of our needs.
Inside Japan Tours Ltd. is headquartered in Bristol England, with a branch in Nagoya, Japan. The company provides a choice of: small-group packaged tours, self-guided tours and tailored packages. Even though we live in the USA we were easily able to express our desires through a small number of e-mails and converge on a tailored plan.
We planned to fly to New Zealand and return from Tokyo utilizing frequent flier miles, and needed to make flight arrangements well in advance of our travel. Back in the summer of 2007 we converged on the following plan for our post cruise stay in Japan:
Nights in each Location
1 - Kobe
3 - Kyoto
1 - Miyajima (Hiroshima)
2 - Hakone (Mt Fuji)
3 - Tokyo
Thanks to the arrangements made by "Inside Japan" and the comprehensive Info-Pack they provided, we were able to achieve all of our objectives and more in 11days (10 nights) without any difficult for approximately $4,100 US for everything. This was considerably less than we had anticipated. The $3,335 package included lodging (with breakfast) for the 10 nights. Our stays in the large cities were in modern business class hotels convenient to the train stations while, at our request, our stays in the Hiroshima and Mt Fuji areas were in Japanese style facilities. The package also included: Seven Day Japan Rail Passes, Three Day Hakone Public Transportation Passes, rail transportation from Tokyo to Narita Airport for our travel home, and private guides for a day in both Kyoto and Tokyo.
Having done some background work on the internet to converge on the 10 night plan shown above, I set up a matrix for each city or area we planned to visit showing the points of interest visited or recommended by approximately 12 different tour companies and Japan Guide. By then reviewing this matrix and material from the Japan Guide, I prioritized as High, Medium or Low the places that we might want to visit in each city or area. This was very helpful in our deciding each evening what we were going to do the next day. It was also very helpful in quickly establishing with our private guides what we would do during our time with them. We ended up visiting all 16 of our High priority sites, 23 out of 28 of our Medium priority sites and 7 out of 20 of our Low priority sites. I discuss below what we did & our experiences, with little or no descriptions of the places visited, to hopefully give an overall impression of how much can be seen in a relatively short time with some organized advanced planning.
OBSERVATIONS
There are a number of observations we can make based on our experiences:
* While we often utilize rental cars, as we did in New Zealand before the cruise and in several cruise ports of call, the Japanese public transportation system is ubiquitous, fast, frequent, and on time, making the need for a rental car un-necessary to visit virtually any place of interest.
* The 7-day JR rail pass was a real bargain for the roughly 15 short and long-distance trains we rode. With the Rail Pass, seat reservations on the Shinkensen trains can be made at no charge and are desirable especially during busy periods.
* The 3-day Hakone pass was also a bargain for the extensive use we made of the system.
* Local public transportation is not expensive, typically about $2. Day passes are also generally available. We found that we could utilize the trains, buses and subways without any knowledge of the Japanese alphabet or language. Even many of the buses have sophisticated computer systems that display the next stop in English, as well as Japanese, and display your continually changing cost based on your bus entry point.
* With the appropriate maps we had no difficulty locating our hotels or any of the points of interest.
* While we had reservations about utilizing private guides, they facilitated rapid travel between sites, and based on our experiences and conversations with others, we would recommend two or more persons utilizing them for a day in places like Kyoto and Tokyo rather than joining larger-group guided tours
* Any time we experience any degree of uncertainty, either someone would come up to us and ask if they could help, or by pointing to a map and utilizing a couple of fingers we could establish what we needed to know even if the other person did not know any English.
* Entrance fees to shrines and temples are modest. Most were $3 to $5, with the highest being about $10.
* Forwarding of luggage is inexpensive and from our perspective very reliable.
* Outlays for food do not have to be large. Our most expensive meals were approximately $25 each, but we often ate for under $10 at McDonalds or take-out. For the 10 days we spent a total of about $320 on food, admittedly we ate to live and did not live to eat. We felt that there were too many things to see to waste much time eating. Our usual day was 12 hours of touring and walking.
WHAT WE DID & OUR EXPERIENCES
When we arrived in the Kobe Port, on Wed March 26, we were able to ship three of our bags, via the Post Office, directly to Narita Airport for a total of $44. To our surprise, when we departed 11 days later, we were able to pick these up on the same floor only a short distance away from the American Airlines Check-In. We were under the impression that the $44 had paid for the shipping and we would have to pay approximately $60 for storage at the airport, but there was no charge for the storage.
After checking into our hotel in Kobe, we easily took a train to Himeji to explore the outstanding Castle and Garden there. Not wishing to start our 7-day rail pass until the next day, we purchased separate Japan Rail Tickets for this trip from electronic machines that were easy to utilize, once a railway worker provided a little help.
The next morning, we began the use of our rail pass to travel to Kyoto. We stopped at the Higash-Honganji Temple as we walked to our hotel. We had no difficulty taking a bus from close to our hotel to spend the afternoon walking the Philosophers Pathway and visiting a number of shrines and temples, including Ginkakuji and Nanzenji Temples, along that route. This was a very pleasant walk along a narrow canal with a mix of private homes and shrines/temples. The Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion) is being renovated. We had read in Eyewitness Travel "... the Silver Pavilion is considered by some to be an unequaled masterpiece of garden design others find it overrated." We would put it in the later category, maybe in part because construction scaffolds and screens currently surrounded the pavilion. From there we walked to the Heian Shrine, through the huge Torii Gate nearby, before returning by subway to our hotel.
Fri. we moved rapidly around the city with our guide, who was with us from 9 to 5, utilizing local one-day bus passes and walking. We found her to be invaluable in getting us from place to place rapidly, in one case via three separate buses. Included in our visits that day were: Nijo Castle, Kinkakuyj Temple (Gold Pavilion), Ryoanji Temple and Rock Garden, Sanjusangendo Hall, and Kiyomizu Temple. That evening we visited the Yasaka Shrine, with its 1001 lighted lanterns and the Gion District where we observed a couple of Geiko on the street.
Saturday morning, starting at about 8:30 AM, we took a train on the Nara line to the Fushimi Inari Shrine, noted for its thousands of torii gates. From there we got a later train to Nara and walked around Nara Park to explore Kofukuji and Todaiji Temples as well as Kasuga Grand Shrine. There was lots of walking involved, but Nara Park is an interesting place to visit with its hundreds of tame deer virtually everywhere. Having a desire to see Osaka Castle, we took a 4:30PM Japan Rail West train from Nara to Tennoji Station on the JR Osaka Loop Line and then another train counter clockwise on the loop line to the Osakajokoen Station. (The rail route diagrams available on the Japan Guide web site were very helpful here, as well as in other places, in facilitating an understanding of the lines and routes we needed to utilize in order to get to various places.) While we did not plan, or arrive in time, to tour the castle we had a wonderful walk through the surrounding park and took some great pictures as the sun set. From there we continued around the loop line to Osaka Umeda Station and returned to Kyoto Station on the rapid train by around 7 PM. Later that evening we arranged to ship one bag directly from our hotel to the hotel where we would be staying in Tokyo. The cost for this was only $14.
Sunday morning we were up early to take the 8:22 AM Shinkansen Train from Kyoto Station to Hiroshima. By 10:25 we were in Hiroshima and had much of the day available to tour. We purchased day passes for the trolley lines and went to the; A-Bomb Dome, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Hall of Remembrance. All of these are impressive memorials. We had a buffet Japanese lunch in the conference center at the opposite end of the complex housing the museum. After spending an hour in the rain trying to hold an umbrella over our camera and luggage, we found a locker in the Memorial Museum in which to deposit our travel bags. Interestingly, when you put the key in to remove the baggage the 100-yen coin is returned and the storage is thus free. We walked to Hiroshima Castle and around the grounds there. We returned to the Peace Memorial Museum via two different trolleys. We also stopped at the hypocenter of the atomic bomb strike, a couple of blocks from the museum. It was interesting to see that it is marked by a simple granite monument and closely surrounded by modern commercial buildings. At around 4:45PM we took a trolley for almost 1hr to the ferry terminal for Miyajima. After the 10 minute ferry ride we arrived at Yamaichi Bekkan for the night. Here we had one of our few complete Japanese dinners, for about $25 each. This is a traditional establishment with Japanese style rooms: sliding walls, mats to sleep on etc. The hostess spoke sufficient English for us to communicate our needs and desires. Because of the rain, we had delayed our travel to the Island of Mijajima and did not get to explore any of it that evening, or to ascend Mt Misen. Fortunately, early Monday morning the sun came out for a period of time so we were able to walk around much of the Island waterfront, from 7:30 to 8:30 to see the Itsukushima Shrine, Gojunoto (Five Storied) Pagoda, Senjokaku Pavilion, and the famous "Floating" Torii Gate.
We took the 8:55 AM JR Ferry to the Miyajima-guchi Station and a half-hour train ride back to Hiroshima Station for the 10:15 Shinkansen Hikari train to Shin-Osaka, where we changed to a Shinkansen train to Odawara. We covered 485 miles in 4 hrs and 20 minutes. From Odaware we utilized the Hakone Pass to take the bus line from the specific location specified by Inside Japan to the Fuji-Hakone Guest House in Sengoku. This guesthouse is a family style traditional Japanese inn located in the Fuji-Hakone National Park. This was the only facility in which we stayed that did not have "in room toilet and bath facilities. We thoroughly enjoyed this facility, however, with its indoor and outdoor private-use hot-spring bath facilities.
Although it had rained both Sunday and Monday it this area, Tuesday, our day to see Mt Fuji, was an unusually sunny-bright and near cloudless one. We took a bus at 9 AM from directly in front of the Guest House to Gora. From there we took the Hakone Tozan Cable Car (Funicular) to Souzan and the Hakone Ropeway (Cable Car) to Owakudani and later to Togendai on the north end of Lake Ashi. From there we took the "Pirate Boat to Hakone-machi at the south west corner of the lake. The view of Mt Fuji from the Ropeway are unobstructed by any other mountains, while those from the south end of the lake are very scenic with foothills and the lake in the foreground. We found the walk from Hakone to Hakone-machi via the Onshi-Hakone-Park to be very enjoyable. The views of Ft Fuji from the Observation Point and site of the former Hakone Palace in the park are outstanding. So that we could ride the Hakone Tozan Mountain train, we took the Hakone Tozan bus from Moto-Hakone via the Old Tokaido Highway, to Hakone Yumoto. From there we took the Mountain Train to complete the loop back to Gora. This train route is a very interesting one with a couple of switchbacks along the way. Finally, we took a bus back to the Guest House, arriving at 4 PM.
Wed. morning we again utilized the Hakone Pass to take the bus and Mountain Train back to Hakone-Yumoto and then the regular Hakone Tozan train back to the Odawara Station, arriving there at 11:30 AM. With three nights for our stay in Tokyo, we decided that we would go to Nikko, approximately 100 miles northwest of Tokyo before returning to Tokyo for the night. We took the 11:41 Shinkansen to Tokyo Station and transferred there to the 12:40 Tohoku Shinkensen which stopped at Utsunomiya 30 minutes later. From there we took the 1:40 JR Nikko Line to Nikko, where we arrived at the JR Rail station that Frank Lloyd Wright had designed. Since this was the 7th and last day for our JR rail pass, we were able to do this extra trip at no extra cost.
Instead of taking a bus to the shrine area we chose to walk. This was not a good idea as we wasted approximately 30 minutes in getting to the Shinkyo Bridge, and did not arrive there until approximately 3:30PM. The supposedly 1 KM walk seemed more like at least 2. While the Rinnoji temple was closed for a special event, we were able to explore; Tosho-gu, Futara-san, and Taiyuin-byo Shrines. We left on a 5:08 train and arrived back at Tokyo Station by 6:50 PM. From there, we took another train across the city to Shinjko Station, which is close to the hotel where we were to stay.
Thursday morning we met our guide in the hotel lobby and commenced a very busy day. Before lunch we visited the many storied Yodobashi Camera Shop in Akibabara and Asakusa Kannon (Senso-ji) Temple, took the Sumida River boat ride to Hamarikyu Gardens and explored the Gardens. We had lunch on the 46th floor of the nearby Dentsu building, which provided great views of the river, gardens, and surrounding areas. After this, we walked through the Imperial Palace Plaza and Palace East Gardens, and a few stores in the Ginza district. These included various interesting areas in the food department of the Mitsukoshi department store, something like Harrods in England, and the exclusive Tasaki jewelry store. Here, as in Kyoto, our guide facilitated our being able to see and do a wide variety of things in a limited amount of time. For example, she suggested that after she was to leave we might like to attend a Kabuki theater performance. There is a special section on the 4th floor of the Kabuki-za Theater for which you can purchase tickets for one of the three parts of a complete show. Ticket went on sale for the "Kanjincho" at 5:30 PM and by getting in line approximately 15 minutes earlier we were able to see a unique 1hr 15-minute performance for about $10 each. Again, we easily made our way back to our hotel by train.
Friday was our last full day in Tokyo. We decided that since we had been able to explore so many locations over a wide area the previous day we would focus on a walking tour from our hotel. Since the two-tower Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices were located only a couple of blocks away, we took advantage of the available free tour of the facilities, in English. We were the only persons on this tour. Both towers have excellent observation platform on the 41st floor with no charge to visit. Much of the city can be viewed from there, so we went up both towers. From there, we walked through Shinjuku Central Park, which is just across the street, and then the Meji Shrine at Yoyogi Park. At this Shrine we were fortunate to observe the wedding processions for several traditional Japanese weddings. The nearby Naien Garden was a disappointment since it was too early for the Iris garden to be in bloom. We concluded our afternoon walking tour by visiting Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. With the cherry blossoms in full bloom, this was an outstanding garden. We later concluded our day with an evening walk through East Shinjuki to observe the nightlife and numerous small bars on the narrow lanes seating only 4 or 5 persons.
Prior to our 10-night stay in Japan, while on the cruise, we also made one-day visits to Naha City, Okinawa and Nagasaki. At Nahi City, we took the Monorail line and a local bus to the large and interesting WWII Imperial Navy Underground HQ near one end of the city, as well as Shuri, Shuri Castle, and the ancient Stone-Paved Road, at the other end.
At Nagasaki, we utilized the street car (trolley) system to visit the Nagasaki Peace Park, the surrounding area, and the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. We first came upon the Yamazato Primary School, located within 500 meters of the hypocenter, which was completely rebuilt in 1958. It has a number of interesting memorials and a small museum, which the caretaker invited us to visit. From there we walked to the Urakami Cathedral nearby, also completely destroyed, and subsequently rebuilt. The Peace Park is focused on a Fountain of Peace on one end and the large Statue of Peace at the other end. One arm is raised heavenward to remind us of the horrors of the bomb, and the other held out in an appeal to peace. Here, while no memorial building remains from prior to the bombing, the Hypocenter Park marks the center of the blast with a large black monolith. The Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims, adjacent to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, has a striking interior, but we could have easily missed it since we did not find the route to its entrance to be well identified. From here we took a trolley to near Nagasaki Station, and then walked to the Shrine to the 26 Christian Martyrs crucified in 1587, the Fukusaji Temple which is in the form of a turtle with the goddess Kannon on its back, and the Spectacles Bridge with two arches which, with the reflection in the water, looks like a pair of spectacles. Finally we visited Glover Hill, the site of housing for Westerners after the reopening of the port in the latter half of the 19th century. There are a number of well-preserved homes here from that era, interesting gardens, and a great view of the harbor area of the city.
