Family Vacation

I am responsible for creating the itinerary for a family trip in Japan from Dec. 21 - Jan. 1st. and could use some advice. I want to stay away from as much temple/sightseeing as possible and have the majority of the trip be "interactive" experiences that helps one appreciate Japan. A more hands on trip. Anything that involves actually doing something versus passively seeing, but they have to involve cultural activities that represent Japan.

My family is all in good shape so anything physical is an option. We start in Tokyo and from there, the skies the limit (except the trip has to end in 10 days).

Any advice is much appreciated!

Scott,

I wonder if you can slightly change your schedule so that you can watch New Year's activities in Japan. Here, New Year is the most important holiday and from non-Japanese perspective, one of the most interesting day to see a grimpse of Japanese culture and custom.

Also, I recommend you to stay in Minsyuku (family-run lodge)instead of western hotels. You may feel language barriers but contact with locals is much deeper.

Other than that, from the end of December to early January is the busiest traveling season. Trains are packed and hotels/ryokans are booked out. It is a good idea to act now to secure your lodging.

well, not exactly Tokyo, but in Kawasaki, the Nihon Minkaen is one of the most beautiful 'museums' around:
http://www.city.kawasaki.jp/88/88minka/home/minka_e.htm

According to their website you can make arrangements for a tour in English, and they have demonstrations of different crafts, and they also offer an indigo-dyeing workshop that is a lot of fun.

I have done the indigo workshop, it takes a bit of time - when I went, I had to kind of rush through the open-air museum to get to my dye appointment. I also didn't make the arrangements myself - I went as part of a group - so I don't know how user-friendly it is. In any case, I strongly recommend the place especially if you can't get out into the country. I think we had a brochure in English but the signage was mostly Japanese, so be prepared for that if you go.

Thanks for the responses! Just as an added bit of info, I've been studying Japanese for three years, lived there for three months, and am going back on Sept. 30th for intensive studying, so I should be semi-fluent/very capable in Dec. So there should be no language barrier problem.

J Lady, unfortunately my dad is a teacher and my younger sister is still in school and vacation time ends on Jan. 1st. But definitely a yes about the minshuku suggestion.

Spendthrift, that place looks great and the indigo workshop seems really interesting.

Hopefully I'll get some great suggestions when I'm in Japan about what to do, but I figured I get a head start on the research. I just feel the traditional Japanese vacation, while all the sights are so beautiful, might become less terrific after seeing the thousandth temple.

Right now the one thing on my list I'm really excited for is a Kodo (taiko group) concert in Tokyo. I need more cool things like that.

Thanks!

Even if you are tired of temples/ shrines, New Year is a great time to visit a shrine as depending on the popularity of the shrine, thousands of Japanese people go for Hatsumode- the New Year shrine visit.

There are stalls selling food and various good luck charms (bigger, more interesting ones than usual) lots of girls in kimono, and generally a nice atmosphere.

Millions visit Meiji Jingu and other larger shrines so it's a long wait to get to the front of the shrine, but I enjoyed the experience there and other shrines I have been to at New Year. It's also worth visiting a smaller neighborhood shrine to see what that's like at New Year too.

If you avoided shrines at New Year just because you have seen shrines before you would be missing an important part of Japanese culture- it is worth going. Everything else will be closed anyway!

Scott, it's great that you speak Japanese. That will greatly help your family to mingle with locals.

I just came up with the idea of attending "Mochitsuki" in one community. It is a rice-pounding ritual held in either local community or in individual houses at the end of year. No many houses do Mochitsuki recently but you can still find a community to do it. Your family members are most likely to pound rice and eat freshly-made mochi!
http://home.att.net/~guyurata/Text/Mochitsuki.html

Great idea J Lady!