GOLDEN AGE BUDGET TRAVELLERS: BACKPACKERS TRAVELLING TO HEART WINNING JAPAN

HEART WINNING JAPAN

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John and Doreen Berg

As fortunate retirees with a compulsive passion to travel we’ve been able to visit large segments of the world by visiting numerous countries for extended periods. Except for an overnight stopover, Japan has not been on our bucket list. In fact it has been a country we’ve purposely avoided. A fair question that might be asked, “Why would we not have included Japan as a place to visit as it is relatively close by, or even consider a few days visitation in Japan before traveling to other Asian countries?” For us, over the years the multi-island nation was one to avoid. Our vision of Japan was crowded urban cities with their much publicized “bullet” trains racing from one packed city to the next.

Shinkansen
Like traveling on the wind

The main tourist attractions focused upon thousands and thousands of temples and shrines which would certainly become redundant and boring after a dozen or so visits.

Crowded Shibuya Crossing.

Finally and probably our biggest fear or concern was that Japan was reported to be expensive. Thus we envisioned the yen flowing from our wallets faster than we could possibly replenish them! For reasons still not fully understood we capitulated and bit the bullet deciding to visit the main island, Honshu, for three weeks, our shortest trip adventure ever! We felt we could manage a brief stay and return home without completely breaking the bank and the next time someone asked if we have visited Japan we could respond with a “yes!”

As our travels in Japan progressed our impressions were soon altered by Japan’s helpful and polite citizens, the clean urban streets and colourful countryside, very well maintained tourist attractions plus a glimpse of their cultural past. We discovered that the costs, much to our amazement, were about the same as travelling in North America. In fact the dinner meals may have been a better monetary value.

A breakfast tray. We often
considered seconds!

Japan won our hearts over and became one of our favourite countries visited. As credible as it may seem, our conversations periodically revolve around a return visit probably during the cherry blossom season!

Following is our itinerary that might assist in planning your trip to Japan. We’ve not including a lot of factual information leaving that to the internet or research books like Lonely Planet. With only three weeks we concentrated our trip to Honshu, Japan’s main island.

Itinerary Outline – featuring hotels and a few highlights that enhanced our trip. All the hotels featured free Wi-Fi, televisions, and ensuites.

Tokyo – four nights – APA Hotel Shinagawa Sengakuji Eki-Mae per night cost $130

We liked the hotel’s location as it was within walking distance of Shinagawa Station which had excellent restaurants nearby plus the Keikyu line was just outside the hotel’s door. The room was well appointed but small compared to North American hotels. The APA Hotel featured an onsen (public bath) which we enjoyed. This was to be our first of many onsens.

Highlights:

The impressive Tsukiji fish market is the largest fish market in the world!

A bright clean sunny morning stroll through the Imperial Palace garden.

A visit to busy Shabuyu crossing where literally hundred of pedestrians upon the green light cross in every direction filling the intersection with a moving human mass. Looked like organized chaos!

With a volunteer guide a day trip to Kamakura discovering major sites which included the largest Buddha made of bronze and displayed outdoors.

Takayama in the Japanese Alps – three nights – Ryokan Murayama per night cost $104

Leaving the Ryokan

While the Ryokan is situated a distance from the center, a morning shuttle was available to the train station. One can walk back or take a taxi for 1200 yen ($15.00 approx.)

Dining at Ryokan Murayama was Japanese style, a new experience, with feet tucked under, or in our case, pushed under the low table. Breakfast choices were continental or Japanese and both choices were excellent. Evening meals were delicately served, decorative and delicious. Spacious rooms and the onsens featuring a “couple’s only” onsen as well as the separate men and women onsens. We were limited to 30 minutes in the couple’s onsen which was very popular with guests hence the time limit. Our stay was a wonderful exposure to Japanese culture.

Hida Village- Worth a visit.

Highlights:

Within walking distance of the Hida Folk Village featuring a variety of historic restored buildings.

A visit to the morning markets and the Festival Floats Museum.

Our stay at the ryokan itself.

- Purchased a round trip Nohi bus ticket to a ropeway (cable car) visit to a mountain vista and bathing in a hotel’s outdoor onsen with a variety of pools with varied temperatures.

On our bus trip from Takayama to Kanazawa we
planned a three hour stopover in Shirakawa-go to
visit Ogimachi, the largest concentration of gassho
zukuri buildings (thatched roofs).

Shirakawa-go

The workers in the tourist office just outside the
Takayama train station are extremely helpful for
obtaining information, maps and will provide a bus
schedule. Reserve your seats from Shirakawa-go to
Kanazawa. Upon your arrival at Shirakawa-go, store
your bags at the bus depot and walk a short
distance to enjoy a visit to Ogimachi. Return to the
bus depot and pick up your bags and with your
reserved ticket in hand onwards to your evening
destination- Kanazawa.

Kanazawa – two nights – Miyako Hotel per night cost $125

Walking distance from the station. Well-appointed room with an excellent breakfast.

Highlights:

A full day with a volunteer guide visiting numerous sites including the historic Higashi Chaya District (Geisha house area).

With our volunteer guide, shared a traditional Japanese meal served water-side in a typical Japanese teahouse. Poor old knees!

One of our many Japanese meals
selected by our volunteer guide.

Kyoto – four nights – APA Villa hotel Kyoto Ekimae per night cost $228 Over priced

Convenient location but the room was advertised as “a small Japanese room” and it lived up to its billing. Fortunately we only had our carry-on luggage to stumble over. Breakfast was served in the coffee shop with limited selections and seating. Department store located in the Kyoto train station had excellent food floors. Try the sushi restaurant located on the top floor. It was worth the hour plus wait.

Highlights:

An all day tour – We usually do not book group tours as costly and crowded but we did visit numerous sites in one day. More than we could have accomplished on our own.

A day trip to Nara, meeting our volunteer guide who escorted us to Nara’s major attractions. Todai-Ji, the largest wooden building in the world and home to a huge Buddha were part of the tour. Sacred deer roaming the park adding to our stroll enjoyment.

Kawayu Onsen - two nights - Fujiya Ryokan per night cost $456 which included four excellent dining experiences

One must experience one or two stays in a Ryokan. Ours was a fabulous stay at the Fujiya Ryokan with a large well-appointed room with shojis (doors or windows with translucent paper), tatami mats, and futons with thick duvets. The meals were a gourmet’s delight with a huge variety of Japanese style foods that kept coming to our table with the menu changing each day. The Japanese dressed server was attentive, prompt and had each dish beautifully presented to our table. Expensive but we felt well worth the money!

Highlights:

Unique soaking river-side in your self-made onsen. Dig a hole in the river gravel and hot water fills the hole.

Digging a swimming hole.

Get into the pool and soak up the heat until you’re too hot then plunge into the cold river water beside the gravel to cool down and start all over again. Proper swimming attire worn unless you wish to be the curiosity of locals! Bathing in a uniqueUNESCO onsen at Tsuboyu was
another memorable experience. This designated
world heritage site is a wooden shack structure and
is found on the river bank in Yunomine.

A fun hot soak.

Inside the rustic onsen!

A short but strenuous hike from Yunomine Onsen to
Hongu. After our hike a visit to Hongu with its
interesting small town look, shrines, and shops.

Viewed the giant torii gate of Oyu no Hara. Would
have liked a longer stay in the Kansai region and
possibly hike more of the Kumano Kodo.

Okayama – three nights – Mitsui Garden Hotel Okayama per night cost $165

Our hotel was a short tram ride from the train station. Once we obtained directions from the tourist office located in the train station the journey was easy. Our hotel was a short walk to the tram line providing a quick way to visit Okayama sites.

Highlights:

Korakuen Gardens considered by guide sources as one of three great gardens of Japanese culture. Upon entering the gardens a volunteer guide approached us and we gladly accepted her offer to guide and explain the garden’s history as we ambled through the garden passing ponds and tea houses.

Okayama Castle is a scenic link to Japan’s past and very different from the many European castles we’ve visited.

Castle just outside the garden gates

A lengthy tram ride and a short train excursion to nearby Kurashiki. We leisurely wandered the
ancient major rice center’s streets. The converted
warehouses have been converted into museums,
boutiques and cafes and we popped into many.

Hiroshima – two nights – Hiroshima Washington Hotel per night cost $125

Highlights:

Atomic Bomb Dome Only structure left after the bombing!

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park tells the story
of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima towards the
end of World War II. And we still continue to create
human suffering worldwide.

Watching is as much fun as eating
A restaurant just across the bridge was an intriguing lunch stop. We sat grill-side to watch the making of Okonomujaki, a type of taco filled with cabbage and choice of meat and covered with an egg and seasonings. When ready they slid it across the grill to us and we heartily ate an absolutely delicious and large okonomujaki.

A visit to beautiful Myajima, a short ferry ride away with its must see “floating” torii gate.

A must take tourist photo. Hiked to the top of Mount Misen to enjoy the panoramic views. Steep trail but the ropeway greatly assisted us on our hike.

Tokyo – one night – Super Hotel Shinjuku Kabukicho $242 Over priced

Compact comfortable room with an average
Western/Japanese breakfast offered. The location in the bright neon-lit entertainment district is the main reason this hotel is so popular. It’s about a 15 minute walk from the JR Station.

Highlights:

An evening strolling the Shinjuku area with its blazing neon signs, pulsating music and human mass wandering the streets searching for…! The throbbing previous evening was contrasted with the sedated morning as we observed near-deserted streets of the Shinjuku district!

FREE VOLUNTEER SITE SEEING GUIDES

The volunteer guides were experts on the culture and the ancient history relating to their perspective locations. We found they showed us the area's highlights recommended by us and with their assistance molded into full day tours including lunch.

In our Kamakura research free volunteer guides was mentioned and after further internet checking we decided to apply. Using the net we filled out the application form and quickly received an email reply stating they were contacting a guide. Within a few days an introductory email arrived from our guide

Gorgeous fall colours!

commenting on our itinerary and making worthwhile suggestions. The process was so flawless and easy that we decided to contact two other centers to arrange for volunteer/goodwill guides. These applications followed a similar pattern and went just as smoothly as our first application.

We were expected to pay the guide’s transportation fees and lunch costs. We assumed a monetary remuneration would be a thank you jester. We googled to determine what was expected as a gratuity and much to our amazement it was suggested only a small gift or a “thank you”. No monetary tipping. We opted to present specialty soaps and thank you notes. From the surprised expressions and body language we sensed that even our small gift was not expected but was graciously accepted with appreciation. We were glad we were able to thank them in a small way. A side bar is that there is no tipping in Japan. This was not only pleasant from a monetary stance but also less stressful not having to come up with appropriate tipping percentages when presented with a bill. This would be a lovely practice to introduce to North America.

All the volunteer guides spoke excellent English and were retired. Their restaurant selections featured different establishments and different meal selections which further enhanced our introduction to Japanese food types. We certainly recommend contacting a volunteer guiding agency as they made our visit easy and pleasant. Just imagine a personalized tour for two! It was a stroke of good fortune to have stumbled upon the free volunteer guide concept. Needless to say we highly recommend booking a guide or two.

Kamakura- Day trip from Tokyo. Our guide met us in our hotel lobby.

She escorted us to Kamakura. Great help as early in our trip as we were not familiar with the transportation system and size of stations. Unfortunately it rained off and on throughout the day, but with umbrellas we enjoyed seeing the Great Buddha huddled in the rain, strolling the bamboo garden, wandering the Enkagokiji and Kenchoji temples.

Rain drops falling
on our heads.

Certainly a full busy day.

Guide Inquiry:

Kamakura Systemized Goodwill Guide KSGG

www.ksgg.org

Nara- Day trip from Kyoto. A short train ride to meet our guide outside the train station in front of the YMCA Office. Brief introductions and we were striding off to visit the large Buddha statue, the oldest wooden building, a Shinto shrine and Nara Park. After a late lunch the three of us hoofed it back to the train station and we said our goodbyes. We’re hoping to continue our friendship through emails. After all the walking we did that day I’m sure our guide’s next day’s golf game was off!

Guide inquiry:

Nara YMCA

Email: eggnaraymca@hotmail.com

Internet search – Nara YMCA

Kanazawa – Day Tour of Kanazawa. We only had one full day in Kanazawa so we’re glad we arranged for a volunteer guide. Saved oodles of time being guided from site to site. We were able to pack a lot into one single day of site seeing. As tourists, our guide

provided a cultural visit to Nishida-Ke Garden, to a gold leaf shop and to the Geisha District. Unfortunately the market was closed so it will have to be on our next time list. On our own and with only one day we would not have been able to see all that we did. Again, another full busy day but well worth the effort and the tired legs.

Guide inquiry:

www.kggn.sakura.ne.jp

As an independent traveler or if you have a free day from a tour, do take this worthwhile free gift to further enhance your understanding of the cultural and historical Japan and spend time with a local person.

JAPANESE CUSINE

One word, fabulous, sums up Japanese cuisine. Certainly the Japanese consume copious amounts of rice as it has been one of their staple foods for hundreds of years plus noodles and soups. But we soon discovered very different and very flavourful dishes exploring only the tip of their food chain. The meals were carefully prepared, meticulously presented- seemingly a dining art form. We enjoyed sushi, sashimi,

Orders placed on an ipad.

tempura and never tiring of their flavours. One of our favourite dishes was tonkatsu made from tender thick pork slices dipped in an egg and flour batter and then rolled in crumbs. Finally fried in oil, the dish was often presented with cabbage, a tempura dish and often small dishes of pickles and other foods that we had no idea as to what we were eating.

Illustrated menu made for
easy selections.

Restaurants focused on one particular food type presented in a variety of ways. An illustrated menu or displayed plastic food models made ordering very easy.

Lunch in a small noddle shop.

Dining in a Japanese restaurant provided exceptional good value, artfully presented dishes with attentive service. And as a final coup, no tipping! Plus being Japan the restaurants were spotlessly clean.

For us our hotel breakfasts, noodle shop lunches and exquisite dinners were fantastic and adventurous dining experiences- a gourmet delight! I’m sure one could research and plan a food tour to solely focus on the variety of tantalizing food dishes available just in Tokyo restaurants!

Soba noddle soup dish.
Slurp loudly when eating,

Variety, flavours and
more variety and flavours

JAPANESE TRAIN TRAVEL (JR)

The Japanese train system is extremely punctual no matter which train class you are taking. The carriages were spotlessly clean and well maintained. We noted that Japanese passengers took their garbage and drink containers with them leaving their seating area garbage free. Another practice North America needs to adopt. We travelled with a carry-on each and one small backpack making it easy to embark and disembark. When we purchased our tickets we used our credit card and selected reserve seating and asked which platform the train would leave from. This information was not on the ticket and knowing which platform was essential and useful to find our way quickly through the large stations as the platforms are well signed. Arriving on the platform we found where our car would stop and simply waited for our train, ignoring all other trains coming and going until our train time was displayed and sure enough, like clockwork, the train rolled in right on time to the minute. Might have been to the second for all we know. Our first time embarking was interesting as two lines formed either side of the door opening and no one boarded until the last passenger had disembarked. Smooth procedure without a lot of bumping and pushing. For longer train rides we purchased bento lunch boxes. The boxes which are available in the stations and often on the platforms, were filled with different food and were of good value.

Inexpensive tasty travel lunch.

When arriving at our destination rail station our first task was to seek out the English speaking tourist information centers to collect maps and to make many inquiries concerning the area. We then had the agents show us our hotel on our map and direct us to the best station exit to use. Selecting the wrong exit results in a lot more walking with the added possibility of going in the wrong direction.

Before our hotel departure using Google Maps on our iPad we checked the next day’s route and recorded the times and train we wished to book next day at the JR ticket office. This made it easier to select the train we wished to take.

Busy and crowded but
orderly movements

When planning your Japanese holiday, research the benefits of a JR rail pass. The pass was certainly highly recommended on the internet and travellers we spoke with felt they were saving money. For us, it did not work to our advantage as we had days when we were not travelling and some places we wished to employ bus transportation. A short one or two week visit travelling to the major cities would probably warrant purchasing the train pass. Do your research.