I stayed in the Osaka Comfort Inn a few times when I lived in Japan (9 years ago), and it was pretty good. Not a luxury hotel or anything, and not much in the way of local charm, but a perfectly decent hotel with reasonable prices and in a good location.
As for Kyoto, one thing to watch out for is getting “templed out”. There are so many shrines and temples that it can get to be a little much unless you’re a big fan of Japanese architecture or something.
I was in Kyoto once with a friend and we got caught in a HUGE rainstorm while out and about so we went to the Kyoto Handicraft Center to wait for it to clear up. If you need to purchase some classy souvenirs/gifts then they have art prints, pearls, yukata with traditional patterns, etc. You can also pay to have an expert guide you through making your own souvenir, like a painted fan, a little doll, or a woodblock print. I don’t know that I’d go out of my way for this unless you are in the market for the kinds of things they sell, but it was a fun way to spend some time while the weather was bad.
Second the Toyoko Inn idea. Have stayed in a few, and they have all been great. Clean, simple, cheap, well run business hotels. And you get the added benefit of having a copy of the Life of Buddha book in your room! How cool is that?
In Tokyo, just find a neighbourhood, and explore. They had all sorts of neat little shops, restaurants and bars hidden in little alleys. You could spend a week just in a few blocks and still not see them all.
Namba Park Garden is a nice place to sit and read a book in some greenery if you live in South Osaka, but it’s not really worth a special trip. BTW, overlooking Namba Parks is the “PS3” building. See here:
If you’re flying out of Kansai airport and it suits your flight time, I’d stop at Nankai Namba station, put your bags in storage and go have a meal at one of the places along the Dotonbori canal. It’s worth seeing it lit up at night. Express trains go from Nankai Namba to the airport in 40 mins and it’s only a 10 min walk from Dotonbori.
Well no, as it turns out, I’ve visited Chion-in, but the wife has not. We’ll certainly be hitting that.
Wondering too about our timing. We ended up missing the cherry blossoms in Washington this year because we were too late, so we’d like to be sure to see them in Japan. Now a friend of ours from Boston lived for several years in Tokyo, and we had lunch with him yesterday (Saturday) as he was passing through on his way back to Boston after spending a few weeks in Burma. He claimed that late April would be our best bet for Tokyo or Kyoto. But I dunno, we’ve heard from elsewhere that it should maybe be earlier in the month. We’ll probably spend no more than 10 or 11 days in country and want to try to time it right. What would you say?
The cherry blossoms are not at our beck and call. This year it was early April. Sometimes mid April, but late April is going the way of global warming.
I’ll second or third the Himeji trip. It’s south of Kyoto, but is really worth it. The Himeji castle is my personal favorite.
I took both my mother and grandmother there, as well as to Hiroshima to see the Peace Park and museum and then to Miyakojima. My mom said that this segment of the trip was what she liked the best. Make sure you eat okonomiki in Hiroshima. There is a history museum next to Himeji which I really liked. YMMV.
What are you looking to do in Tokyo? Sightseeing? Shopping? People watching?
For sightseeing, skip the Tokyo Tower. There’s a taller tower in town now, the Sky Tree, but I wouldn’t visit it either. Instead, I’d replace it with the Metropolitin building in Shinjuku. There is a look out on the tops floors, and it’s less crowded.
The Meiji shrine in Harajuku is good. Shibuya is interesting to just visit to see the crowds. Omotesando area by Harajuku is also all right. Generally, I take people up to the Tokyo Metropolitan building, catch a taxi up to Meiji shrine. Go through Harajuku to Omotesando and then up to Shibuya.
The Sensoji temple in Akasaka is good. I then take people take by water bus to the Hama Rikyu Detached gardens.
An overnight trip to Hakone is nice. You can get a Romance Car down, on Odakyu line from Shinjuku. Stay at an onsen (hotspring), and visit Ashinoko lake. There is a neat little route you can go on, taking trains, a tram, cable car and a boat across the lake. If the weather is good, you can see Mr. Fuji. Although it’s over two days, if you go there on your way up from Kyoto, then you save the time.
If there are any specific things you like doing, let the teeming masses know, and we can make some more specific recommendations.
Thanks, all. For Tokyo, we do want to hit some of those only-in-Japan ultra-modern shopping malls just to see them – we have giant shopping malls (and too many of them) in Bangkok, but in this case I mean the real flashy, high-tech Tokyo glitz – but we’re not really looking to shop. We’ve no room to put new stuff, and anything we do need is pretty much available in Bangkok anyway. Mainly sightseeing.
We’ll almost certainly go with a Comfort or Toyoka Inn. All we need is a clean place to flop and a private bathroom. We don’t care if it offers local flavor or anything else besides a bed and a bath. Local flavor is what we’ll get while we’re out and about.
But we’re having a hard time choosing a good area to stay in, and both of those chains are well represented around Tokyo. Does anyone have recommendations on particular areas inside the city? We don’t care so much about night life even though we will check that out. We’re more museum and park people and would like proximity to the subway.
Well, dammit, we’ve hit a roadblock with the Toyoko Inn. They allow reservations six (6) months ahead of time, which would be okay except that it’s only for members. Nonmembers like us can make reservations only three (3) months in advance. That would be January, and since we really have to travel during the Thai Songkran period in April, that’s too close to leave to chance. Becoming a member is not expensive but can only be done in person at the hotel, not online. Grrr! A pity, because I think the Toyoko Inn in the Shinjuku area would have been just about perfect for our needs.
I’ve only been to Tokyo once, but the first area that springs to mind is Ueno – home to a large park, several museums, and several temples, and convenient to the subway.
I stayed in nearby Asakusa, which I really liked, although the particular hotel I stayed at does not seem to exist anymore.
Thanks. We have been considering Ueno and Asakusa but can’t get a handle on how convenient that location is. But I suppose Tokyo must be a lot like NYC in that if you’re near a subway, then you can reach just about anyplace easily.
Here’s a post I previous wrote for a different message board. Hope it helps.
Here is a short list of popular tourist attractions categorized by type:
For souvenirs, get them at:
Asakusa - popular temple (also near Tokyo SkyTree)
Harajuku - popular Meiji Shrine / Oriental Bazaar shop
Ginza - any major department store / Sony Plaza
Nightlife:
Roppongi - clubs, bars, restaurants, two huge shopping complex (also near Tokyo Tower)
Shibuya - same as above but for younger crowd
Shinjuku - includes largest red-light district (Kabukicho) in the country
Odaiba - great night views, good restaurants, interesting show rooms, etc.
Marunouchi/Yurakucho - upscale eateries and shops
Historical places:
Kagurazaka - a slice of old Edo, and you may even spot geisha
Kudanshita/Ichigaya - home of Yasukuni Shrine and Imperial War Museum (Cherry blossom location)
Japanese markets:
Akihabara - electronics markets (Near Ryogoku, home of the a sumo arena and Edo/Tokyo Museum)
Ueno - everything else markets
Tsukiji - world famous fish market
Japanese parks:
Ueno - park, zoo, museums (Cherry blossom location)
Shinjuku - Shinjuku Gyoen (Imperial Park)
Korakuen - Koishikawa flower/buddhist garden (Home of Tokyo Dome)
Imperial Palace - eastern areas by Marunouchi
Hamarikyu Gardens - formerly an Imperial park
Shopping districts:
Ginza - top level department stores
Shibuya - younger person’s shopping area
Harajuku - younger person’s shopping area
Omotesando/Aoyama - more peaceful shopping area
Shinjuku - the center of department stores
Outside of central Tokyo:
Mitaka - Home of the Ghibli Museum
Maihama - Tokyo Disney Resort
Yokohama - major port city 25min south of Tokyo
Kamakura - site of various temples and a giant Buddha statue
The second (and, alas, last) time I was there, I left on the first day of spring. There were already a few cherry blossoms out. So I would guess that late April is likely too late. The plum trees seem to blossom all winter (I have seen this in Seattle too).
Go to Tokyo Tower and get whisked into another dimension
Take in a showing of the daily Godzilla attack
Buy some used schoolgirl panties from a vending machine
Have a conversation with a talking toilet, try to beat it in chess
Stand wistfully under a cherry blossom while wearing a kimono and carrying an umbrella
Have your hair spiked up at salon and then dyed into one of many bright colors
Take the subway and ignore the train molestations going around you
Thanks, all (although I don’t quite see myself wearing a kimono or having what’s left of my hair spiked and dyed :D). We’ve settled on early to mid-April for Tokyo, so hopefully we’ll see some cherries. A friend told us a hotel he’s stayed in before in Shinjuku, so I think we’ll book there and see if the Toyoka still has a room come January.
Now we’ve pretty much settled on the old quarter of Asakusa. It sounds like it has more of what we want to see. Museums, parks. The big Senso-Ji. Not too far from the National Museum. The bright lights of central Tokyo and even Shinjuku will be nice, but we don’t need to stay among them.
Suggestions for Asakusa hotels would be appreciated. Preferably no more than, say 12,000 yen a night, although we could go a bit higher. There are two Toyoko Inns there, but again, as non-members we can’t book for April until January.
