A couple friends of mine have a brother in the Navy stationed in Japan and wanted to go visit him in March of 2010, and since I had never been there, I thought I would join them for a quick jaunt around central Honshu island. We were able to get direct flights on Delta from DTW-NRT. We also got Japan Railpasses, which ended up being a good value for our trips to Kyoto and northern Japan. The pass gives you totally free rein to all of Japan! And the bullet trains are great!
We arrived at Narita airport late in the day on Sunday, where we were able to get the Navy shuttle to Yokosuka (a bit south of Tokyo), where John lives. It was interesting to see all the signs and such in such a totally foreign language (at least with Spanish and French, I had a clue). But most of the people we encountered could at least speak some basic English so it was easy enough to get around (and most things are also signed in English). Yokosuka was a strange city — it had a very American vibe to it, probably because it was a base town. Overall, it seemed like Japan did have a fair amount of western influence, but yet was so very different as well.
On Monday, John had to work, so we played around a bit in Yokosuka, getting a bit used to the new country and getting over jetlag (even though I didn’t really have any). I did wake up super early the entire time I was there, however. We headed across the street to the train station/mall, where we hit up Mister Donut for some ramen and donuts! Seemed a strange concept to me, but I guess it’s normal for them (and really yummy). Afterwards, we walked down towards the port where there was a pleasant little park with a Japanese warship. There was also a nice choreographed fountain. Quite a relaxing day overall.
On Tuesday, we went to Tokyo to check out the big city. The guys were specifically interested in an area called Akihabra — or Electric Town. This is a huge district of nothing but electronics stores as far as the eye can see. Basically, this is where Japanese geeks come to hang out! I guess we fit right in!! We spent forever there, but it was fun to see the culture of Japan in that sense. We also made a brief stop in Shinjuku, which is a really busy area with lots of huge skyscrapers.
On Wednesday, John was off and available to tour us around his area. We slept in a bit, and then headed off to check out “Big Buddha” in Kamakura. This is a nice little tourist area not far at all from Tokyo (and even closer to Yokokusa). It was probably about 30 mins or so by train. There are many shrines located here, which always come with ice cream shops! I still don’t know about the green tea ice cream, however… Anyway, the Giant Buddha was indeed giant, and I took tons of pictures. We then walked over to the shrine in Hase, which was within walking distance. This is a beautiful spot with nice views over the bay, etc.
Afterwards, we went to Yokohama, which is a huge city just south of Tokyo. There were many electronics stores here including one of the largest one I have ever seen — something like 12 floors of nothing but electronics! We were there for what seemed like forever, as my friends are major geeks (but I mean that in the best possible way). Then we visited the waterfront, where there is a large tourist complex with malls, ferris wheels, and other attractions. The tallest building in Japan is located here as well but we had no time to go up. We had dinner at a place called “Cajun Joe’s” — in Japan! NOT a good idea!!!
On Thursday, John had to go to the base again, so I decided to head off on my own. I wanted to get my money’s worth from our railpasses! I had read about a nice place in the mountains called Nikko. This is where the founder of the shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu is buried. There is a huge shrine in his honor, along with many other shrines as well. It is a nice day out. Unfortunately, it seems that all the shops were closed on Wednesday!! I think it would be a great place in the summer, as it’s in the hills, and there are supposedly monkeys somewhere around there. We did meet a very nice man at the tourist office when we asked for directions. He gave us free chopsticks as a souvenir. The town itself is quite beautiful, nessled in the foothills of the mountains with huge cedar trees all around. The shrine itself costs about $10 to visit all the shrines, so not really too bad. It’s interesting that you have to take off your shoes to enter the shrines and temples. It was extremely cold there, so maybe that explained the lack of popularity!
Friday was to be our only overnight trip, when we would venture down to Kyoto. This is the historic capital of Japan, and it is a beautiful spot, with still more shrines and temples (something like 800 of them or something like that). After taking the bullet train (only about 2 hours from Yokohama), we head for our hotel. We passed a huge temple (Honganji) near the train staion, which is one of the largest wooden buildings in the world. Very impressive! They were actually having some sort of service inside but they didn’t mind people popping in for a visit. Our hotel was a tiny place, but it had mats for all four of us for a fairly reasonable price, so it was well worth the effort. The ladies at check-in were quite beautiful dressed in kimonos!
We then head for Higashiyama area in eastern Kyoto, where many of the most popular shrines were located as it is hilly and wooded. One of the first sites we passed here was a huge cemetery. These don’t look anything like western cemeteries however — the tombstones are vertical! We then visited Kiyomizudera, which is an impressive shrine located right at the very top of the hill. The views over Kyoto from here were excellent, and I would say it is highly recommended. From here, there is a street called “teapot lane”, which is pretty much what it sounds like — a street lined with gift shops! I bought many a souvenir to take back home. By this time, it was getting time for dinner, so we found a nice little spot where they served some good [teppanyaki], although I didn’t actually try it. We then walked through Gion (geisha district) on the way back to our guesthouse.
On the second day in Kyoto, the weather was not nearly as cooperative. It rained pretty much the entire day. Since I figured it wasn’t exactly like I’d be in Kyoto everyday, I thought we should push on (not everyone agreed). We visited several more shrines, where I took a ton more pictures. There does seem to be a bit of a difference between the Buddhist and Shinto shrines, but it was sometimes difficult to learn about the differences when you don’t speak the language, unfortunately. What I could say is that they are also extremely gorgeous to see. After lunch, the weather did clear up a bit, and we took another walk through Gion during the day. There are many traditional Japanese places here, so if we had more of a budget, we may have dropped by! The final shrine of the day Kenninji had rather extensive grounds, and was apparently of the Zen order. It was unique in that you were allowed to take pictures inside!!
Sunday was another day of rest for the guys (which I don’t really do), so I decided to head for Nagano. By this time I was pretty much an expert on Japanese trains. Honestly, this isn’t saying much – they must have the simplest and easiest train system in the world! Even if few people speak your language, all the signs are in English and it is organized extremely well with signs and arrows everywhere. This was another rather poor day weather-wise, so I didn’t really get to see much of the Japanese Alps. This disappointed me a bit, but I did see a lot of snow from the bullet train. This was the first snow we saw in Japan! It was lovely in Nagano, and there was yet another shrine to visit so the trip was worthwhile.
I also stopped off in Tokyo on the way back. I first visited a youth/trendy area called Harajuku. This is a cool area, with a quaint little train station next to a big park. Unfortunately, it was raining even harder at this point. This is where all the beautiful people hang out. It is VERY westernized, which is a bit amusing for me, but it was fun to see all the English words, even if they didn’t know what they meant (although I did hear they can read English better than speak it). It actually reminded me a bit of some places I’ve been in Europe. And the umbrellas made it quite colorful. I also dropped by Shinjuku for one more look around, and had dinner at a Burger joint, although they taste a bit different. It was pretty exciting to be in a such a bustling city!
Our final day we spent on the Shinkansen going into northern Japan. It turns out, however, that there isn’t much at the end of the line at all!! It reminded me a bit of Houghton or some town way up in the UP. Like a town that time forgot. Perhaps they are busier in the summer. It was quite cool there as well, but it was interesting to see a less traveled part of Japan.
Anyway, Japan was such a different culture that it was really enthralling to see. I was actually surprised how easy it actually was to get around, and how nice the people were. They would also bow and say nice things (in Japanese of course). I don’t think of Japan as a popular tourist place to go, but maybe that was part of its charm??
There are lots more pictures in the Japan Photo Album
Wow, what a great summary of your trip. The pics are great.