Things to do in Japan Pt II

Hello friends, we’ve made a snap decision to push off to Japan for a fortnight in October as a special treat and 50th present to me – we’re thinking central, so Tokyo – Nagano – Kanazawa – Shirakawa – Takayami – Matsumoto – Izu, something like that. We’ve been blessed by great suggestions for things to do by you wonderful folk previously (linky to Pt I) and wondered if youse had been round these parts too and had any must-see/do tips? Robot Restaurant is already on the list, not too bothered about shopping but decent sushi and and sumo if we can find it (we just miss the September basho in Tokyo, sadly), all other suggestions, outlandish and otherwise, very very welcome. 🙂

Maybe Kamakura and neighbouring coastal villages via the Enoshima light railway.

You need to go to some mountain areas for the autumn leaves. Absolutely stunning at the right time of year (looks like you’ll be too early for the lower-lying cities unless you head north). Nikko perhaps (temples in the hills N of Tokyo). Weather may be a little iffy at times.

Kamakura got mention in the previous thread but it’s worth another day 🙂 (lived there for a decade, magical place).

From Matsumoto you can easily (ish) get into the big hills. There is a public holiday in Oct which is always v v busy due to leaf-watching. A night in a mountain hut is an experience 🙂

Eat noodles, all of them whenever you can.

If I were there I would just eat and buy kitchen utensils like knife … LOL!

If you happen to visit any of the temples where they have row and row of little cute statues of children with name and hats (red normally) on them, please don’t touch them. They are usually located at the side or back of the temples. Those are meant for spirits of the departed children and the spirits might be there and if you mess with them they follow you, like the movie “Ring”.

Go to Koyasan and stay in the temple. Eat the amazing veggetarian food. It’s 8 years since I went to Japan and this is the memory I like to tell everyone about over all the others. It sounds like it’s a bit out of the way for you but there will be other temples.

Kyoto was also very good and I think more imortant to see than Tokyo.

Also, don’t get too fussed about sushi. The noodles and pork are probably better and much easier to find. Really just be open minded on what food you try as it’s all pretty amazing and sometimes disgusting but way more the former.

As you plan to travel around use the suitcase forwarding service and save carrying your bags on the trains.

We went and I would spend less time in Tokyo and more in Kyoto….just more to see, we stayed four days and did not touch it, hire bikes and ride as much as possible, there are touristy parts with traditional costume to hire but take for what it is and wander out a bit….the temple of a thousand Buddha is immense.

Toyko big city highlight for us watching Japan rugby union team Vs Argentina s stood with the ultra Japanese fans, amazing.Go wander and soak up the vibe, piss alley is not great and we ended up there by wandering but insightful part of the journey.

Kanazawa….ride the Thunderbird train and go to the DT Suzuki museum, brilliant peaceful and thought provoking, ride bikes around and see the samurai Edo era streets, go the the castle in the centre, .
We went end of October and lucked out with the leaves….. unbelievable…..

Nara very busy but worth a day or so.

Brilliant country and fabulous folk.

Don’t overlook Kyushu and Hokkaido.

In Kyushu you’ve got Fukuoka, the home of Hakata-style tonkotsu (pork bone broth) ramen and an airport that’s just a 5 minute metro ride from the town centre; Beppu, home of “the 7 hells” – basically a town built on top of hot springs; Nagasaki, where westerners used to do business in the Edo period, and home to a far better (IMO) A-bomb memorial museum than Hiroshima.

Hokkaido is almost like a different country, well worth exploring and experiencing some Ainu culture and regional foods. We were lucky enough to visit for the Sapporo snow festival back in Feb 2020, *just* before COVID stopped the world. That was absolutely amazing, along with visits to the smaller (but more fun!) snow festival in Asahikawa, and to the ropeway and Goryōkaku castle in Hakodate.

If you’re getting a shinkansen to Hokkaido then it’s worth stopping off at Sendai for a day (you might even bump into Chris Broad like we did) and take the “Loople” bus to explore the city. If you have another day in Sendai then make sure to visit Matsushima bay, one of the “three great scenic views” of Japan.

You know this already, but eat everything! If you can’t get to Fukuoka, then Ichiran is a great chain for Hakata-style noodles.

Spend the next week or two to learn hiragana and katakana, then use Wanikani to learn as many kanji as you can before you go. Even if you don’t speak Japanese beyond some basic phrases, being able to read some kanji adds a huge amount to the experience and opens up restaurants etc. you might not have been able to visit otherwise.

頑張って!

Go to Koyasan and stay in the temple. Eat the amazing veggetarian food. It’s 8 years since I went to Japan and this is the memory I like to tell everyone about over all the others. It sounds like it’s a bit out of the way for you but there will be other temples.

Thanks Andy – it was your recommendation that prompted us to do it on a previous trip, a genuinely fantastic experience! 🙂 We loved Kyoto, and I would love to go back, but it feels like there’s so much to see and do, it might be a bit of a waste to repeat things, the tricky bit is sorting which bits to pick out! 🙂

Hugely useful, thanks all. 🙂

Another thumbs up for Nikko – will be beautiful in October and was really easy to get to from central Tokyo (we had JR Rail Passes, which I appreciate might not be appropriate here).