Tony - Japan 2024 Planning - Take 2

[Tony Galiani]

I am looking to go back to Japan again this year - hopefully in the Fall, around October - where I seem to have a gap in my music schedule.  I think Grant and Alastair have the right idea - spending a month there would be great - hoping I can do something like that in the future but for now I need to do what I can travel wise.  I am sure the airlines appreciate this.

 

I am hoping to follow up my February trip where we did some touristy things - such as the Mount Hakodate night view - with some off the beaten path things - such our trips to Hirosaki and Onuma Quasi National Park.  We have experienced Honshu and Hokkaido (though not as much as we would like) but have yet to visit Kyushu and Shikoku.

 

At the moment, I am thinking we will go to Shikoku this time - possibly flying into Tokushima a day after arriving in Tokyo (rather than trying for a connection after a long flight).  Also considering flying into KIX (Osaka) and going on from there - fares are higher and less flight options but the timing may work out and save us the expense of the flight down from Tokyo.  In any event, after a few days in Shikoku thinking we would head to Osaka and then back to Tokyo.

My other thought is to head to Fukuoka at the start of the trip and then back to Tokyo after a few other stops on the way.

 

We head to Germany to visit family next month and I plan to solidify Japan plans after that.  I can work on travel ideas via the interweb while my wife does the family thing (and I eat lots of Himbeer Kuchen).  As usual, I welcome any suggestions or ideas from the group.  I am currently working through previous posts in this section and making lists of places to go.

 

And while I cannot hope to match @ED75-775 in shopping productivity, I have made a list of places to check out that I have not been to previously.  High on that list, at least right now, is Nakano Broadway.  Also want to ride the Shonan monorail and get back to Maruzen for books and Sakatsu Gallery.

 

Ciao,

Tony

 

[cteno4]

As I’ve gotten older I’ve (and my wife as well) opted to add a couple of days onto the front of far away vacations and then do a little hop to start the actual trip if needed. Too many times I’ve had issues on long flights and connections where if we had tried to add the last hop on we would have missed it. Also we got sick once on the way to India and luckily could get off our flight in the layover in Frankfurt (and be paid for it as the Frankfurt to India leg was way overbooked) and we could recuperate in Frankfurt before moving onto India and not miss our start time there. Even if all goes well I like having the day or two at the beginning to get over jet lag and travel and begin the actual journey in the destination much more refreshed and enjoy things more. A couple of overseas trips I had a very long, hard travel to get there and started my journey there wiped out and really sucked the enjoyment out of the first half of the trip trying to catchup in energy while traveling and trying to do/see things.

 

jeff

[Tony Galiani]

This is sort of what we did - inadvertently - on our last trip to Japan.  I had decided not to try and travel on after we arrived which turned out to be a good choice when our flight to Tokyo was delayed by two hours.  While there were several flights on to Hokkaido, it would have made a super long travel day.  Going into Tokyo from Haneda is quick and easy and safe.  Quick trip into the city, walk to the hotel and a stroll to get some air then a nice relaxed breakfast in the morning.  Unless I can get a flight to Osaka, this will likely be our strategy for our October trip as well.

Ciao,

Tony

[RS18U]

Looking forward to your trip report Tony!

 

Like Jeff, we have started to include at least 1 night in the arrival city.  We did this for our March trip to Japan and it was way less stressful than the other 3 trips we did.  Both our 2017 and 2018 trips we barley made the connection (Sapporo in 2017 and Hiroshima in 2018) and ANA warned us that we might not see the bags.  In 2017 we got a tour in behind the scenes of Haneda as they made sure we got our flight.  Credit to ANA our bags made both flights too.

 

Our March trip took us on the following itinerary, in case you find anything interesting in what we did:

• Tokyo 2 nights, with an amazing dinner with a co-worker at Kyuji, 7-8 blocks east of Tokyo Station
• Hiroshima 3 nights to visit my wife's relatives.  Day trip to Onomichi and Abuto Kannon temple
• Fukuoka 3 nights with a day trip to Mojiko where we went to the railway museum and took the pedestrian tunnel to Honshu
• Kagoshima 3 nights with a day trip to Kaimon and the Hirakiki shrine.  And of course Nishi-Oyama the southern most JR station
• Miyazaki 2 nights with a day trip to Obi to see the castle town and castle ruins
• Oita 2 nights with a day trip to Beppu.  Enough said there 😵
• Kumamoto 3 nights via Aso (but not on the Aso Boy 😞)
• Ferry and train to Nagasaki including a ride on the Shimabara Railway
• Nagasaki 3 nights
• Then back to Tokyo for a couple of nights and a trip around the Yamanote Line

We did a lot of walking, averaging about 12 kms per day for the whole trip, and lots of days in the 16 - 18 kms range.  Still didn't lose any weight though.  We really enjoyed Kyushu, and the smaller places we got to.  Except for the day trip to Onomichi where we got driven, all the rest was by rail; about 3,100 kms on our rail passes by my reckoning.  A nice addition to our 2018 trip to Hokkaido.  Amazingly cheap too, just over $13,000 CDN for the both of us, flying premium economy and Green Car 21 day passes.  23 days total seemed about right.  If we went longer I would plan a longer stay in one place (4-5 days) just to rest up a bit, but I think that we staid at least 2 nights at each stop this trip really helped with making it relaxed.

 

Have fun with the planning!

 

Will

[SL-san]

14 hours ago, Tony Galiani said:

after a few days in Shikoku thinking we would head to Osaka

Takamatsu in Shikoku is a port city with limited appeal BUT the nearby Ritsurin Koen (Garden) is, I think, well worth a visit.  Ferries leave for islands in the Seto Inland Sea and Naoshima (Island) has the Ando Museum near the ferry terminal and a number of modern art galleries such as the Lee Ufan Museum, Chichu Museum  and the Benesse Hotel and Art Museum accessible by local bus.  The premier event in the area is the Setouchi Triennale (next one 2025) which is an Art and Culture event staged over many of the Seto Inland Sea Islands and is a must for art and culture freaks (like me).

 

You can take the Marine Liner (train) from Takamatsu back to Okayama across an amazing rail bridge (try to get a seat in the top deck of a double deck carriage) and visit Okayama Castle and the famous Korakuen (Garden).  An interesting side trip is to take a local train to Kurashiki Bikan Historical Quarter (lots of local tourists) with interesting architecture and shops.

 

Osaka is of corse a huge, busy city (amazing food culture) with a good metro system and too many shopping opportunities (model rail etc). It is possible to do local rail trips to Nara, Kyoto, Wakayama, Hikone (castle) etc.

 

One amazing thing we did was to go night cormorant fishing on the Nagara River near Gifu.  Cormorants, attached to cords restricting their throats, are trained to catch fish which are attracted to a light, in this case a blazing fire in a basket on the front of the boat!  A truly memorable experience!!

 

So many wonderful sites and things to do in Japan...sad that my wife (who has just had a serious stroke) and I may have come to the end of our overseas travel.

 

Enjoy it while you can,

Graeme

 

[kuro68000]

How are the gardens and parks in October? Into autumn I guess you really want places with lots of trees rather than flowers. From past experience it's a decent time to go.

 

If you are headed to Shikoku, there's a few interesting things over in Okayama, including this shop: https://sjcrosspoint.base.shop/

 

Sadly they rarely have gaijin sizes for the uniforms! There is a museum (https://www.okayama-kido.co.jp/okadenmuseum/index.html) and what claims to be one of the biggest dioramas with rental models (https://www.sunflower-net.jp/diorama/).

 

There is a link to my POI map in my signature. I've flown into Kansai International before, it's not as exciting as I thought it would be, landing on that little man made island. I wanted the aircraft carrier experience but it's exactly like every other airport.

 

Looking forward to seeing your report!

[Tony Galiani]

@RS18U - Shimabara Railway - one of my first interests due to the NHK Train Cruise show about it.  We too do a lot of walking - just like wandering around wherever we go.  Definitely need more time though looking like two weeks will be our most likely option.  I have at least one more October booking coming in - hoping it will not mess this up.

 

@SL-san - Sorry to hear about your wife - I hope her health improves.  This is one of the reasons I have gone all in on traveling lately - you just don't know what to expect.  I recently read Joan Didion's book The Year of Magical Thinking and it has really influenced my approach to doing things.

As to Shikoku, I really want to go kayak the Shimanto River but just not sure if we are up to it.  Taking the train to Okayama is sort of my ulterior motive for going to that area.  I have seen videos of the ride across the bridge and that has whet my appetite for taking that ride.

 

@mojo - The gardens at Ristsurin are supposed to be very nice in the Fall.  Not sure if that will be the case but hope so.  I find it is hard to separate the reality from the hype which is one of the reasons I value the information posted by Forum members.  I get the best travel info here.

And no carefully cropped pictures that turn out not to match reality when you arrive at a place!

 

Tony

[Tony Galiani]

Okay - just purchased tickets - and unless I change my mind in the next 24 hours, we are heading to Japan towards the end of October.  After the usual amount of painful searching I found some options I liked - flying into Osaka and out of Tokyo on our return home.  The flight out of Haneda is on ANA (a United partner) so that is a plus for me. And the return schedule is nice in that we get home in the afternoon rather than arriving late in the day.  On the other hand, we have a 7:00 AM departure on our trip to Osaka but I don't mind as we should arrive mid-afternoon so will have some time to wander around on our first day there.

 

Now I have to sort out what we are going to do once there.  My current thinking is a few days in Osaka, then on to Takamatsu so we get to see a bit of Shikoku and then flying back to Tokyo before heading home.  Ideally I would like to get to ride the Yodo Line or do some travel on the various lines around Shikoku but don't think we will have enough time for that.  I am sort of thinking this will be chance to sample Shikoku just as we sampled Hokkaido earlier this year.  My long term plan - health and music permitting - is to take a longer trip - 30 days or so - to wander around Japan but we shall see if that happens - hope springs eternal!

 

Stand by for more posts as I ponder different trip options and places to visit - always appreciate input from forum members!

Ciao,
Tony

 

 

[Kingmeow]

Tony, how long will you be staying?  Just curious, where are you flying from since you say you don't have direct flights?

 

EDIT:

We may be having a dueling trip report thread!  🤣

Edited August 2 by Kingmeow

[Tony Galiani]

@Kingmeow - Hopefully we will have complementary trip report threads!  Maybe even reporting on some of the same places?

 

We will be there for 12 days.  Way shorter than I would like but I need/want to work around my music bookings.  My last October date is the 23rd so we head out on the 25th.  I don't play a huge amount but quite enjoy it and am lucky to be able to do this so I just go with the situation. (Currently I have bookings into March 2025.)

 

We fly out of Raleigh-Durham (RDU).  There a few international direct flights:  Toronto, Montreal, Cancun, London, Paris and Frankfurt.  So, at least for the near future, we are stuck with the added hassle of connections.  It could be worse - we could live in my wife's hometown - Fredericton, Canada - with no international flights and having to fly to Toronto or Montreal to get anywhere.

 

Cheers,

Tony

[Kingmeow]

I can't believe RDU doesn't have direct flights to Japan.  My sister-in-law and her family are from there and my son just graduated from WFU in Winston-Salem so I know NC pretty well.  I've been "commuting" down there from NJ for the past four years for Parents Weekend, Spring Break, Move In, Move Out.  We miss it already.  It's a pretty relaxing drive down I-81.  😃

 

I just picked up my neighbor across the street tonight who came back from Japan after spending 16 days there, their first visit.  They could not stop talking about Japan and how much they love it on the ride back from the airport.  They are already thinking about trip #2 next year and are so jealous that trip #2 for us is around the corner.  One thing they said that shocked me a little is that they were going all over the place that they didn't reserve any time for shopping!  That's blasphemy!  🤣

 

Hearing them talk about their trip just makes me want to go sooner though their description of the heat, 95-99F, makes me think I can wait until October!  🙂

 

We just finished booking our 7th and final hotel for the trip so that's done!  Now just researching and planning what to visit when we get to each town.

[Tony Galiani]

@Kingmeow - RDU continues to expand and we can hope - there have been quite a few Japanese companies locating in NC - though not sure RDU has the capacity to handle any more widebodies with the current gate set up - at least according to the airline blogs I follow.

 

I am about to start booking hotels but will probably wait until we get back from Germany.  Though I do plan to spend time researching for the trip and planning where to actually go in between sessions with Himbeer Kuchen, currywurst, schnitzel and other goodies.

So far arrival in Osaka and three or four days in Tokyo (so I can get in some train shopping and my wife can go to Fabric Town). I also hope to ride the Shonan monorail one of those days.  Glad I loaded up my Suica card!

 

And - have we driven the same I-81?  We take that on our way to Canada and I have never heard the words relaxing and I-81 used in the same sentence!

BTW - working from the other side, Move-In, Move-out, Commencement, Homecoming and so on only meant stress.  One of the few perqs of retiring is not having to deal with that any more.  Though I still do some advising and somehow I know I will be discussing this stuff in the future.

 

Cheers,

Tony

 

[cteno4]

2 hours ago, Kingmeow said:

y sister-in-law and her family are from there and my son just graduated from WFU in Winston-Salem so I know NC pretty well.  I've been "commuting" down there from NJ for the past four years for Parents Weekend, Spring Break, Move In, Move Out.  We miss it already.  It's a pretty relaxing drive down I-81.

Ha, small world I was just talking with dear old grad school friends today that are now the President and First Gentleman of WFU. I loved visiting the campus for Susan’s inaugural. They are enjoying the Winston-Salem area. Sadly I didn’t get to explore it much on the inaugural visit, but WFU treated us like royalty!

 

Next time I want to try 81, 95 always sucks at some point and it can also suck way big time… 66 has gotten better to jump over to 81.

 

jeff

[Kingmeow]

@Tony Galiani The alternative is I-95, which should never be called a highway, let alone an Interstate!  🤣  I cringe each time we have to go down and visit my sister-in-law as that would require traversing I-95.  What a zoo!  In comparison I-81 is smooth and scenic.  Yes, there are plenty of trucks and it's only two lanes but if you go with the flow and not try to be a hot dog, it should be fine.  Back when we had to go down to Wake Forest, I-81 was pretty much the only way as I-95 would be a huge round about.

 

@cteno4 NO WAY!  So you know the Wentes then?  I met her for the first time in May at Commencement.  What a down to earth approachable woman!  None of that high highfalutin (<- I actually had to look up how to spell it! 🙂) I'm The President attitude.  Very well spoken.

 

From up here, I-95 takes me through Baltimore, DC area, Richmond, all unpredictable high traffic areas, not to mention a gaggle of tolls!  I-81 takes me past Shenandoah Valley.  Harrisburg, PA and Harrisonburg, VA (JMU) are the two busy areas for me when we go down.  Easy peasey compared to the I-95 stuff.

[Tony Galiani]

@Kingmeow - I-81 is definitely better than 95 for sure, especially if heading to Winston-Salem.  Don't like driving either one though we use 81 for our trips to Canada.  There is actually a decent - but way slower - alternative to 95 which is 301.  You can pick it up south of Fredricksburg and it runs east of 95, over to the Eastern Shore at Annapolis and up through Delaware so you bypass DC and Baltimore.  Flat and relatively scenic though with a lower speed limit.  And bypassing some of the tolls.  Of course, then you end up on the NJ Turnpike so there's that.

 

I have to add that driving the Autobahn and some parts of Germany as well as on laid back Caribbean islands has ruined me for driving in the states.  I try to just relax and not get caught up in the general craziness but it is hard.

And, if you happen to know of any good donut shops off I-81, please let me know for future reference!

 

Tony

 

 

 

 

Edited August 3 by Tony Galiani
added comments

[Kingmeow]

3 hours ago, Tony Galiani said:

And, if you happen to know of any good donut shops off I-81, please let me know for future reference!

 

Tony

 

LOL!  Sorry, no doughnut shops that I know of on I-81, let alone any good ones.  We usually pack a lunch whenever we go down when my son was still in college.  However, I can tell you where all the cheap gas stations and clean rest stops are.  🤣

[cteno4]

@Kingmeow hey I’m super glad you got to meet her! You are spot on, super approachable and down to earth, but the big benefit to having her as a president is she is just a super good organizer, team leader, and great at getting folks to work together. She does it with ease and grace as well. She is also a very top notch researcher and still had a lab while being provost at Vanderbilt. Wake Forest really got a good deal with her. The scholarship endowment drive she has been doing is really doing great as well. I’ve met a number of college presidents and I completely agree they usually have the I’m the president attitude, Susan doesn’t! Chris was in the same lab as me and my bench mate in grad school, so we were on top of each other 14hrs a day and came out with a great friendship.

 

i’d rather go north on 95 than south from dc as thing can slow down some going north, but over never had it turn into a many hour additional time, but south of here there are just many accidents that end up shutting things down sometimes for hours and many hours for things to clear out. Twice I have fortunately missed, last minute, what turned out to be huge delays between here in Richmond and got off and detoured just in the nick of time. Missed a couple by luckily using the toll lane as well. Yes tolls go up and up!

 

@Tony Galiani always after that ultimate donut! You da man!

 

jeff

[chadbag]

I had to go look at where I-81 is as the use of it here didn’t make sense to me.  But when I saw the map it made sense.  I’d been on I-81 on Pennsylvania when traveling from Utah to New England.  Taking I-80 from SLC to somewhere in PA I’d take I-81 up to Wilkes barre / Scranton area and then head over towards Newburgh NY and into CT on 84 I believe it was.  Been 20 years. 
 

looking at a map it made sense to me. 

[Tony Galiani]

@cteno4 Well, we are not sure where we are going to go on this trip - still scouting possible destinations - but I notice there is a Mister Donut at Takamatsu Station so that's likely a site worth seeing!

Tony

[cteno4]

#1 does it have good donut shop. #2 is it interesting… good process as how can you really enjoy an interesting place without a good donut! 😜

 

i jest of course, just yanking Toni’s chain, but I truthfully do admire his love of good pastries! My friends look at me funny when I seek out donuts, so it’s nice to see someone more serious about them than I am! But I am bummed when I met up Tony in Durham we didn’t get some donuts, but time and situation was limited unfortunately. But the thought of that donut missed…

 

jeff

[Kingmeow]

10 hours ago, Tony Galiani said:

@cteno4 Well, we are not sure where we are going to go on this trip - still scouting possible destinations - but I notice there is a Mister Donut at Takamatsu Station so that's likely a site worth seeing!

Tony

 

I've seen Mister Donut shops on my trip to Japan in September but did not partake.  Are they good?  I like doughnuts but I'm not fanatical about them.  I often get one when I see a good one but my wife then gives me the evil eye and mentions something about cholesterol, even though I don't really have a problem with that.

[chadbag]

50 minutes ago, Kingmeow said:

 

I've seen Mister Donut shops on my trip to Japan in September but did not partake.  Are they good?  I like doughnuts but I'm not fanatical about them.  I often get one when I see a good one but my wife then gives me the evil eye and mentions something about cholesterol, even though I don't really have a problem with that.

 

Yes, they are good.  I don't seek out donuts in the US -- if I am given one, great.  I make an effort to go to Mister Donut in Japan and partake of mochi donuts (and after reading Tony's mention of Mister Donut I looked up "mochi donut" to try and find a pic to post to troll him with I found there is a local shop that sells them here in my area and I will have to seek them out).

 

[Kingmeow]

I've tried mochi doughnuts in the US before as there's a high influx of Japanese folks about 30 mins away.  I am totally sure they are no where as good as the ones in Japan!

[cteno4]

Sad story Dunkin’ bought us mister donuts back in 1990, only one left in Illinois. Well only a 12hr drive… we do have a number of good donut places around here, but I get the glares as well a bit. I do have to yell “Dunkin’ Donuts!” everytime we drive by one to my wife’s eye rolls! She had one doctor for a couple of years I’d drive her to appointments every month and there was a Dunkin’s around the corner so I was a happy camper… I spent 5 years in grad school at Berkeley and about every morning it was a donut and coffee at Nutron cafe (local hole in the wall donut shoe) and read the paper. They were also open 24 hrs so we of course haunted the place in the wee hours of the morning leaving lab late. Was a big battle as there was a ban on 24 hr restaurants in Berkeley but Nutron always survived as it was the local police hang out in the wee hours as only thing open.

 

we have a new mochi donut place in the nearby mall food court. Flavors they had the day I checked it out didn’t appeal much. They said they would be rotating flavors, I’m hoping they do a macha. It’s like $4 a donut, but I’ll give it a shot one of these times.

 

jeff

[chadbag]

12 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Sad story Dunkin’ bought us mister donuts back in 1990, only one left in Illinois. Well only a 12hr drive…

 

Mister Donut was started in the Boston area by the BIL of the Dunkin Donuts founder (or something like that).  The story is interesting:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Donut

 

Besides Japan and went to one in Taiwan.  Always worth it.