Japan over winter break?

[Anonymous]

I'm planning at the last minute, as usual. What do you think?

[Anonymous]

How many days? The jet leg can be intense.

[Anonymous]

That's part of what I'm deciding. It would be either 11 or 13. The drawback to 13 is that it only gives the kids one day at home to recover before going back to school.

Please tell me all about your Japan experiences - places to go, weather, etc.!

[Anonymous]

It will be cold
Kyoto for the temples
Mt. Fuji
Hiroshima Peace Memorial
Akihabara for the latest electronics

[Anonymous]

We used a service in 2006 that provides a free English speaking guide in Tokyo for a day, you pay all the expenses. I can't recall the website we found her through, but we found it through a Washington Post article in 2006. We are still friends with her and she has shown other friends of ours around Tokyo over the years. You get people who want to practice their English. Our guide had lived in NYC and her English was perfect. She took us places we would never have thought of ourselves, including a boat ride of tokyo harbor.

Don't be a afraid of the Tokyo subway. It's fascinating.

Go to Kyoto, and don't be afraid of the public bus system there. Also, there is a town about an hour away by train that has a beautiful palace, but the name escapes me.

Look into the Japan Rail Pass. You have to buy the voucher before you leave the US, and then you turn it in at the Tokyo airport. It covered our trip into Tokyo from the airport and the roundtrip to Kyoto and that little town whose name escapes me.

[Anonymous]

Nara is town I am thinking of. It's very cool, and back then, we thought the deer roaming through the public park were cool. Not so much now that we have white tails eating our lillies every summer.

[Anonymous]

Go 4 it. Sounds awesome to me.

[Anonymous]

Advice: Skip Tokyo and go to "Western" Japan.

Kyoto and Nara are both beautiful and full of history. Hiroshima is very worthwhile and only a couple hours south by bullet train.

[Anonymous]

Great recommendations, everyone! Thank you!

We're going for general tourism, not skiing. I'm thinking Tokyo, Kyoto, and Hiroshima. Fly in/out Tokyo.

Can anyone recommend books for the kids (3d & 8th grades) to get them interested (this is very last-minute) and knowing what they'll be seeing?

Also, need a travel agent to plan an itinerary, and book trains and hotels for us. Normally I'd do that on my own, but not sure I can do that in a week. Do you know anyone experienced in Japan?

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

I would personally skip Hiroshima if you are flying in/out of Tokyo- even with the bullet train, it's a long way down there. There's more than enough in the Kyoto area (Osaka, Nara) and Tokyo areas (Kamakura, Shimoda) that you would have plenty to do. In fact, you could easily spend 2 weeks just in the Tokyo area. You might also want to stop near Mt. Fuji, which is in between Kyoto and Tokyo. Other places in between include Hamamatsu, Shizuoka and Nagoya. Nagoya is very industrial, but it still has some great sights like a fish market- much less touristed then Tsukuji.

Katharine Paterson's The Master Puppeteer and The Sign of the Chrysanthemum are both good children's books.

[Anonymous]

20:15, please tell me more about Hiroshima. I see that it is quite far, but DH and I feel that it is so historically and morally significant, that we have an obligation to visit (and to take our children) if we are in Japan.

If it's worth visiting and just a question of logistics, perhaps we could fly back to Tokyo before our return flight?

[Anonymous]

Not 20:15 but definitely make the effort to go to the Peace Memorial in Hiroshima. See the pictures of the complete devastation of those bombs and the thousands of origami cranes. Memorable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:20:15, please tell me more about Hiroshima. I see that it is quite far, but DH and I feel that it is so historically and morally significant, that we have an obligation to visit (and to take our children) if we are in Japan.

If it's worth visiting and just a question of logistics, perhaps we could fly back to Tokyo before our return flight?

Hiroshima is much more significant and worthwhile than Tokyo, so if you have to cut back somewhere, cut back on days in Tokyo over time in Hiroshima.

Consider going to Himeji Castle. It is the most beautiful castle in Japan.

Kyoto is where you want to spend most time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:20:15, please tell me more about Hiroshima. I see that it is quite far, but DH and I feel that it is so historically and morally significant, that we have an obligation to visit (and to take our children) if we are in Japan.

If it's worth visiting and just a question of logistics, perhaps we could fly back to Tokyo before our return flight?

Stop by Pearl Harbor too.

[Anonymous]

Pearl Harbor is not in Japan. You knew that, right?