Takayama: A great day trip from Tokyo or Kyoto

Takayama has the looks of what “old” Japan used to look like.  Located in the mountains in the northern Gifu prefecture,  Takayama has been protected from modernization.  Well…to some degree.  The snowy winters,  fertile land for rice fields and mountain spring water make it a a perfect place for sake brewing. The snow can cut the population off from the rest of Japan but they pass the time by brewing sake from the fall harvest and while it’s brewing they can take relaxing breaks their hot springs.  Life sounds pretty good here.

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5 of the best things to while visiting Takayama are:

1.  Partaking in a  Takayama Sake Brewery Crawl (all give free samples)

2.  Touring Takayama’s Traditional Hida Village and outdoor Museum

3.  Visiting the Morning Market and take a look at what is in season, do a little shopping and enjoy a japanese snack along the river.

4.  After shopping, take to the Hot Springs or treat yourself to a night at a local Ryokan

5.  Take a walk around Takayama and see the temples and historical buildings that are located in and above the town

This town makes for a great day trip outside of Tokyo or detour when going to or coming from Kyoto.

By  JR Rail:

Tokyo -> Takayama

Takayama -> Kyoto

I’m on a budget so I stayed at the J-Hoppers Hostel that’s a 10 minute walk from the JR station and just about the center of town.  There are a number of great Ryokans to choose from if you want to upgrade 🙂

Kampi!!

What to do outside to Tokyo: Kawagoe “Little Edo”

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There are so many reasons to find a Matsuri or Japanese Festival while in Japan.  Amongst those are eating your way through the street food selections, participating and watching the festivities of the  Matsuri  and to see the Japanese taking the time to enjoy life after a long work week.  One particular place which holds a Matsuri in October is the city of Kawagoe outside of Tokyo.

The city of Kawagoe or “little Edo” in the Saitama Perfecture.  The town is famous for it’s kurazukuri which are Edo Period warehouses, Bell Tower, and shops who make and sell an excellent variety of tradition Japanese confections. The city resembles Tokyo looked  before the fires 1823 of the Great Kanto Earthquake.

The symbol of the city is the Bell Tower which has been keeping time for 350 years.  The Bell Tower  has been rebuilt twice.  It not only didn’t survive the Great Kanto Earthquake but also had to be rebuilt in 1993 after the Kawagoe Great Fire.  The current structure has been chiming it’s bell four times a day since.

The two other popular areas of the city to visit are the Kurazukuri Street or Kurazukuri no machinamiis and the Confectionery Row or Kashiya Yokochō.   These are the areas where visitors can shop for traditional sweets, crafts and clothing which are housed in the two-story restored warehouse buildings.

The Kawagoe Festival or Matsuri is held for two days in October each year.  Kawagoe makes for a great day trip even if a matsuri isn’t going on.  Most of the floats seen in the parade are housed in museum buildings located near the Kashiya Yokocho.

How to get there from Tokyo:

From Shinjuku, take the  Seibu Shinjuku train from west Shinjuku station to Hon Kawagoe. It takes 1 hour (for express train)

From Ikebukuro, then take JR Tobu Tojo Line to Kawagoe station. It takes about 32mins, but the main street is a bit further down and there’s a bit more of a walk.

Most Stations have lockers but don’t count on them being free during the matsuri.  I ended up carrying my pack through it all.


City Guide of Kawagoe

What is Okonomiyaki and Taiyaki?

What to see outside of Tokyo: Kamakura..shrines, the Giant Daibutsu and a great bar!

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If there is one place to visit outside of Tokyo Kamakura is it.  The city itself can’t be fully seen in one day so see what you can and try to get back in the future.  Here’s a great online guide to Kamakura Shrines.  The city has many transportation options if needed but it is a very walkable city.

There are many places where visitors can buy a great meal or just pick up a snack.  The city is famous for its Purple Potato Ice cream if you want to try something different.  My favorite is the red bean or custard filled cakes that can be found in most towns throughout Japan.  Here they are shaped as the Giant Buddha.

If you are looking for a cold beer or cocktail after a long day of sightseeing then check out the local bar called the Bank. The place is tiny so get there early.  Don’t stay too long if it’s just a day trip.  The trains going back to Tokyo go a couple of times an hour but after 11pm the trip back to Tokyo gets longer and more arduous.

JR Online Travel Planner

General Guide to Kamakura

Buddist Hokokuji Shrine in Kamakura

Getting from Tokyo to Kamakura by Train from WikiTravel.com:

The fastest way in is by JR Yokosuka Line from Tokyo Station (one hour, ¥890) and Yokohama (25 minutes, ¥330). The JR Kamakura-Enoshima Free Kippu (¥1,110 from Yokohama, ¥1,970 from Tokyo) gets you a round trip from Tokyo to Kamakura (local trains only) plus unlimited use of Enoden and Shonan Monorail lines.

Getting to the Giant Daibutsu Statue in Kamakura:

The Great Buddha is a 5-minute walk from the Enoden Railway (a streetcar-like train) Hase Station, the third station from Kamakura main station.

Get a drink @:

The Bank, 3-1-1 Yuigahama, Kamakura-shi; tel: (0467) 60-6170; Open 5 p.m.-1 a.m. (3 p.m.-1 a.m Saturday & Sunday); closed Monday, and 3rd & 4th Tuesday of the month.

Where to go other than Tokyo or Kyoto: Beppu

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It’s 7:15am on a monday morning (weekend after spring-back daylight savings to boot) and I’m be-gowned and getting conveyed into the  tomb or otherwise known as an MRI machine.  I know, what does a MRI have to do with any trip to the spa to relax?  I guess it was a combination of what I was dressed in a cotton robe and quite ready to fall back asleep.  It’s kind of how I felt when my husband and I got to the sand spa in a town called Beppu in southern Japan this past October.

Getting into a very tight space where I can’t move and try not to think of the fact that it’s like being buried alive is one of those things that I really don’t enjoy.  We all have our cope mechanisms and mine is to use my imagination.  I imagine myself in a relaxing place where I was wearing a robe while being buried alive in the hot sand.  This place was the sand spa found in the village of Beppu, Japan. It was where I had visited months before while traveling around Japan for a month.   It was hard to relax at first.  Getting over the anxiety of being covered with the hot, steamy and heavy sand was difficult at first. After a fair amount of deep breathing and meditating, I was able to get to the point of total relaxation and I ended up enjoying the treatment.  My skin felt great and I would do it again…really. My goal in the MRI was not necessarily enjoy myself but to relax and get through it. I didn’t want to have a do over.  So, I forced myself to go back to Beppu and imagine I was again being buried in the hot salty sand.  It worked and I didn’t have to go in a second time.

The fall visit to the Sand Spa or in Japanese Suna-yu on the Beppu shore in southern Japan is Japans answer to Las Vegas.  It’s famous for its hot springs of various colors and mineral types and of course the sex, gabbling, African Safari Park, Rakutenchi Kid Park, Aquarium, a day of seeing monkeys at Mount Takasaki with all of this in a town that often smells of rotten egg or sulfer.  We decided to spend our days here relaxing and enjoying as many of Beppus Japanese Spas as we could visit.  It wasn’t possible to visit them all in 3 short days but it’s on the list of places to go back to in the future.

What to do outside of Kyoto: Nara

The visitors to the ancient city of Nara crowds mostly have two things that are tops on the bucket list are seeing the giant Daibutsu inside the Todaiji Temple and offering biscuits or shika sembei to the quit pesky and persistant tame deer.

The park is large so there’s plenty of places that offer a quiet spaces away from hungry deer and the tour groups.  There are bright orange temples full of beautiful lanterns, dragon wishing wells and numerous shrines where believers put up small wooden plaques containing written prayers and wishes in exchange for a donation.

Nara is a quick train ride away from Kyoto.  There are numerous options which take any where from 33-58 minutes of travel time from Kyoto.  This link from Japan Guide has very clear directions and a nice map and other useful information can be found on Nara’s Official Tourist Site as well.

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What to see outside of Tokyo: Nara

Nara is famous for the towering wooden structure called the Todai-ji and it’s 1200+ tame deer that look innocent enough until there’s food involved.  The deer roam freely around parks that lie above the city.  Their numbers have increased so much that the Japanese government is trying to figure out how to control these well fed animals.

The deer are greatly protected by Japanese law and are considered holy by some.  A Japanese man and his girlfriend who witnessed him shooting a doe were both sentenced to 6 months in jail March 2010.

There were so many deer when I visited in Oct. 2009 that I really didn’t find a need to feed any of them just for fear of being attacked.  I also witnessed a van hit a baby deer crossing a street behind it’s mom.  I didn’t stick around to see if it lived.  No surprise to me, I witnessed many deer attacking tourist who just couldn’t resist feeding them.  Serves them right.  I guess I feel like wild animals should be left alone for everyone’s sake.  It would have also been a nicer walk through the temple grounds and viewing the amazing Todaiji Temple grounds without having to watch my step.

For more info see the Japan TImes article and the funny take on the deer feeding in this article in the Japanator.com site

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What to see in Tokyo: Gojira..better known as Godzilla

Most of us growing up in the late 70’s early 80’s in Massachusetts were spending lunch in front of the TV watching Godzilla movies on the Creature Double Feature hour on channel 56 on Saturdays.  It was so popular that it ousting the Candlepin bowling out of the mid day spot and up to the 2pm slot..can you believe it?..how great was that?   I mean Candlepin bowling…

The Japanese were even crazier about Godzilla even before it made it’s way to the U.S.  This martial arts trained atomic fire spewing indestructible creature marched into Japanese cinemas in 1954.  The movie was entitled “Gojira” and was directed by the late but not forgotten Ishiro Honda.  The giant monster starred  in 28 films all together and were all proudly produced by Toho Co., Ltd..

The less than life size statue that is attributed to the late Ishiro Honda is located outside of the Toho Hibiya Building in Ginza.  Here are some directions on how to find it.  It’s in what is known as Hibiya Park and here’s two ways to get there by metro:

  • Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line, Chiyoda Line, “Hibiya” Station 2 minute walk from Exit A5
  • Yurakucho Line, Tokyo Metro Ginza Line, “” Ginza Station 5 minute walk from Exit C1

It’s a great sight to see while in Ginza…or maybe just go for the adventure in finding it.

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What to see in Tokyo: Design Festa Gallery Harajuku

Design Festa Gallery as they say it is ‘the space where the dreams of artists connect with visitors, ‘ .    The space allows anyone to exhibit as long as it is original. They have had over 4500 exhibits  since 1998. The space is constantly changing and there’s always something interesting to see.  It’s a great place to buy unique gifts and souvenirs while in Tokyo.

DFG is also host to a biannual International Art Event which is being held Nov 6 (sat) & 7 (sun), 2010 11:00 – 19:00 at the Tokyo Big Sight West hall 1, 2, 3, 4, Atrium & Outdoor.  This huge international art movement has been going on since 1994 and this year has over 8500 artists from over 70 different countries attending  Something to check out if you are passing through town.

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What to see in Tokyo: Weddings @ Meiji Jingu Shinto Shrine

The Meiji Jingu Shinto Shrine in the Harajuku section of Tokyo is a great place to witness Japanese weddings of various traditions on the weekends.  The surrounding tree filled park is a great place to go if you need a break from the clean but crowded streets of Harajuku.

It is Toyko’s Central Park and can’t be missed.  The other reason to go is to see the famous Harujuku teens showing off there latest fashion creations in front of the Tori Gate.  The weddings are usually going on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.  I wonder if many of the brides getting married used to dress up as goth death-like dolls and hang out with their posse at the entrance?

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