The best of Kansai and Kanto (Japan) in 14 days

This is probably an overdue article, since the most recent trip to Japan was in October 07, and its already mid March 08. The reason for writing this article is to provide an insight for the people planning a trip for Japan, another reason is to help promote tourism in Japan. "Best" is only "best" to me, destinations outlined in this article may be interesting to some while it may be a complete disappointment to others, so use this and customize it at will. Japan Railways’ site offer a very accurate schedule finders here: http://grace.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperWeb.cgi

If you see a more detail version of this guide containing map and samples, guess what, its from me as well....

Most references mentioned in this guide are simplified extract from Japan-Guide.com, do go there and do more research on your own.

Currency exchange - Your choice to do this locally in your own country or to do it in Japan. Most postal outlet in major cities (Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, etc) will have an international debit machine that let you withdraw money directly from your account using your debit card, the beauty of this is that it will use the current exchange rate with no service fee.

Yen (en - ¥) is the currency that will be used in this article, CDN$1.00 is approximately equivalent to ¥100 at the time (October 07) when I travelled

Plane Tickets - Plane ticket doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg, do your research, in most cases, you can find cheap tickets online, if not, try to see if you can find a travel agent name IACE, they have depot all over the world, and plane tickets are usually very reasonable there.

Local Transportation:
A) Shinkansen - The "Bullet Train", this will be your main source of transportation across cities. I recommend getting a Japan Rail Pass, information is available here: http://www.japanrailpass.net/. You can use this on almost ALL JR services, including Ferries in some cases. If your plan is to stay within the Tokyo Ward area (note, there is no city named Tokyo) or any other area (Osaka ONLY or Kyoto ONLY), then you don't really need the Pass. Alternately, you can take the bus between major cities, but it can take up to 3 times as long to travel by bus
B) Local train - The JR pass mentioned above also let you take trains operated by JR, such as the Yamanote line and the Chuo line in Tokyo ward. Non JR trains are also available at additional cost. Amount varies based on destinations and distance. If you are traveling with a big group, it may cost less to take a Taxi depending on the distance, one example will be from Roppongi to Akihabara on the Tokyo Subway Hibiya Line, it will cost ¥190 (a little under two dollars Canadian), if you have a group of 5, it will cost you ¥950, while it will cost just around ¥700-900 for a taxi ride.
C) Taxi
D) Ferries - SOME of them are JR operated, so the JR Pass IS valid
E) Local bus


Accomodations - Its a general misconception hotel will be very expensive in Japan, actually its not as bad as rumored, you can get decent hotels for less than $40 per person per night, and yes, they charge base on per person/night. I paid as little as ¥1,200 for a night, that’s equivalent to just under $12 Canadian. These are not bad hotels either, you can start with this site http://www.japanhotel.net/ for your reservation, I had good experieince with them and the customer service is great. Look for the "Super Hotel" chain, which has amazing rooms and services, and are extremely clean. Do spend a night or 2 at a traditional Japanese Ryokan (Hotel), which cost a bit more, I paid around ¥7500 a night per person.

Some other sites you can consider:
http://www.toyoko-inn.com/eng/ (largest hotel chain in Japan, decent price, acceptable quality).
http://www.japanhotels.com/
http://www.japan-hotel.com/
http://www.japan-hotels.net/
http://www.j-hotel.or.jp/en/index.html

Food - Its also a misconception that food is expensive in Japan, you just need to know where to eat. In most cases, restaurant operators (including tourist area) don't speak English, but they usually have pictures in the menus. Street food vendor, on the other hand, can communicate with basic English. Tokoyaki (BBQ octopus dumplings) and Yakitori (BBQ skewered chicken), they normally cost about around ¥150 ($1.5) to ¥500 ($5.00). Conveyor belt sushis are very fresh, and you should be able to have a decent meal for about ¥1500 a person. Donkatsu (Katsu Don), Ramen are also a must have, while you can find cheap beef specialty store for ¥350-¥500 for a bowl of white rice with roasted beef

The following is how much we spent (per person) for a 2 weeks stay in Japan in October 07:
- Flight: $1100 (considered to be high season)
- JR Pass: $434.5 (14 days ordinary pass)
- Hotels: $780
- Food: $400 (approximate)
- Non JR Transport $200 (approximate)
- Site entrance fee $100 (approximate)
- Total $3014.5
- Avg Daily Spending $215.32

Shopping: Almost every single city will have an alley way shopping street, these are usually covered either with a full concrete roof or a simple canopy roof. Traditional goods at a bargain can be found in this type of shopping street. There are also giant department stalls like Takeya and other full fledge shopping malls/buildings across all cities

Other Tips and Etiquette:
- It is normal to pay a restaurant or bar bill at the register instead of giving money to the waiter/waitress.
- There is no tipping in Japan. Tipping is considered to be an insult, its an implication that they are only doing their work on the basis of the extra from the tip.
- It's considered rude to count your change after paying the bill in a store or restaurant, but the Japanese themselves do give it a cursory look-over.

Day 1-2 Hiroshima, Kobe
Depending on when your flight arrive, you may or may not be able to do much on your first day. Seeing this as an issue, we decided to take the Shinkansen to Hiroshima on our first day. Our flight arrived at 3:00PM, by the time we are done with the airport essentials, it was already 4:00. The route to Hiroshima as follow: Narita > Tokyo (Narita Express Train), Tokyo > Okayama (Shinkansen), Okayama > Hiroshima (Shinkansen). Some train will take you directly to Hiroshima from Tokyo, so you may be able to save the transfer at Okayama. It takes approximately 6 hours to get to Hiroshima from Tokyo, we checked in to our hotel at almost 11:00 PM. The next morning we took another train from Hiroshima to Miyajima station, the trip takes approximately 30 minutes. From Miyajima, we took a ferry (operates every 30 minutes by JR) to the Miyajima island, where the Itsukushima Shrine is. More about this shrine is can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miyajima and, deer run freely on Miyajima, do not chase them or do anything to them, for one they are considered to be sacred animals to the local, secondly deer gets aggressive when threatened. You can also take a short trip around the dock where you can find some souvenirs unique to the Island. If time permits, do take a trip to Misen Mountain, which has several hiking trail providing ashtonishing view.

We set out early, so we were done at Miyajima by around noon time. We traveled back to Hiroshima and visited the A Bomb Museum (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3400.html) and peace park. I won't recommend the museum to young children or someone with a weak stomach, the content is rather graphical and devastating.

We checked out and left Hiroshima later that afternoon and went to Kobe. In our case, we didn't do much in Kobe, except for a night visit by the Merikan park and Kobe Harborland, which looks great at night the Kobe port tower lit up. We also dropped by Kobe's China Town. Everything is walking distance for us as we live in the Sannomiya area (Central Kobe).

For us, Kobe is nothing more than a brief stop to prep us for our third day (Himeji), though if you have time, there are 2 interesting attractions around the outer rim of Kobe: Earthquake Museum (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3555.html), it is approximately 1KM from the JR Motomachi station. Another attraction will be the Arima Onsen town (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3558.html) , which is approximately 25 minutes away from Sannomiya by train.

Do look for a restaurant for an authentic Kobe beef dinner when you are here it will cost you somewhere between ¥8000 up to ¥20000.

If you decide to stay in Kobe for an extended period of time, you can also visit some of the Sake breweries, which is about 30 minutes from central Kobe.

Day 3-5 Himeji and Osaka (Umeda)
Our first trip in the morning is to travel west again. This time to Himeji. Himeji is a very small town, it really only have one attraction: The Himeji Castle. Himeji is about 30 minutes away from Kobe by train. There are many souvenir stores and an alley shopping street along the way from Himeji station to the castle. It is debatable how long you will need to spend in Himeji Castle. I've seen people reporting a full day, while some reported 2 hours. We spent approximately 4 hours in Himeji town, including the souvenir shopping. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himeji_Castle and http://www.city.himeji.hyogo.jp/english/himeji/index.html)

We left Himeji around 2:00, we took another Shinkansen ride to Osaka, which took about 45 minutes.

After checking in to the hotel, we took a local train (cost us about ¥150) to Umeda. Umeda is consider "Northern Osaka", you can spend a good day shopping around, and find a lot of modern stylish electronics and fashion of Japan. The main attraction will be the Umeda Sky Building (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umeda_Sky_Building and http://www.skybldg.co.jp/), which is within walking distance from the JR Osaka station. The Umeda Sky building is a 173 meter standing structure featuring a Sky Garden that gives you a spectacular view of the city. I would recommend going to the Sky Garden slightly before 5:00, this way, you get to see the city while there is still daylight, and if you have time to spend another hour or so there on top of the building, you get to witness the sunset of Osaka.

Our next destination is the Minami (Namba) area, featuring the Dotonbori entertainment district, Shinsaibashi Shopping Arcade as well as the Nipponbashi DenDen electronic and manga town.

It is not possible to cover all ground in the Minami in just one night, we only did a bit of shopping around Shinsaibashi (the famous Glico man) and around the canal area and had dinner around Dotonbori, though for the night owls, there are many fancy clubs and bars around Namba.

Depending on how much time you have, you may want to consider the following destination while you are in Osaka:
- Osaka Castle - http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4000.html
- Osaka Aquarium (Kaiyukan) - http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4004.html

Alternately, you can spend more time around the Shinsaibashi and Umeda area, which offer plenty of shopping, though I would recommend another night visit to Shinsaibashi since you will probably discover new points of interest. Our itinerary only allowed us to visit the Kaiyukan as well as another night visit to Shnsaibashi.



Day 6-7 Nara, Kyoto
If you are not interested in sight seeing (ie, cultural sight seeing), then you may not want to spend too much time in Nara and Kyoto, instead, you may want to spend another day in Osaka or move to Nagoya.

Nara is a small city between Kyoto and Nara, I won’t recommend staying in Nara, it gets expensive, and there really isn’t that much to see in Nara. What we did was we first traveled to Kyoto to check in to our Hotel first (right by Gion area). We then travel back to Nara, which takes about 1 hour on the Nara line, and cost about ¥600 per person. You will pass by the Fushimi Inari station half way through, this will be a stop we will be making on our way back. Do try to set out early, as you will need the entire afternoon for Fushimi Inari.

Nara is a very small cities that only have several attractions, you can probably get through a good 70% of hot tourist spot in a few hours. Travel towards Nara Park (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4103.html), which is located on the North East side of the Nara station. The main attraction, the Todaiji Temple (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4100.html) is located in Nara Park. And along the way to Nara Park are shops and the Kofukuji Temple (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4101.html). If you want, you can also visit the Kasuga Taisha (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4102.html) which is located towards the far end of Nara park.

Do try to finish at Nara Park by no later than 2:00PM, otherwise there won’t be enough time to visit the Fushimi Inari Taisha (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fushimi_Inari-taisha), which is located approximately 30 minutes from Nara on the Nara line.

I would consider Fushimi Inari one of the must see, though if you are traveling with young children or traveling with someone who has difficulties walking, you best skip this shrine. The complete walk is over 10KM long, consisting both up and down hill walk. The walk with over a thousand Torri Gate is a spectacular view itself. Occasionally you will see garden spiders (Yellow and Black, known as Argiope Aurantia), these are harmless spider and they usually show little interest in human. It will take you anywhere between 2-4 hours to complete the entire walk (there are many short cuts to let you come back down from the mountain), completing the walk is a highly regarded achievement among the Japanese, as now you are blessed by the Gods.

It will probably be fairly late by the time you finished at Fushimi Inari, head back to Kyoto and enjoy a nice dinner, you can probably find some fancy authentic Kaiseki Rori around the back alley ways of Gion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiseki and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gion or http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3902.html). If you happened to make it back to Kyoto before 4:00PM, do drop by the Nishiki Market (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3931.html), the major inner alley street market of Kyoto, here you will find some interesting street food that can probably fill you for the night

Kyoto is a very old tradition town, so there is little to no night life available, there are some bars that open up till late in the evening around Gion. If money is not an issue, go for a traditional restaurant with Geiha shows. There is also the Pontocho where most nighlife is found (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3921.html )

There are many shrines and temples you can visit around Kyoto, the Kyoto station itself is a decent attraction, there are a lot of shopping that you can do around and within the Kyoto station. Kyoto main source of transportation is its bus system, you will be broke sooner than you know it if you are going to pay for every trip. The strategy I would recommend is to purchase something call the Raku Bus pass, which cost about ¥500 per person, the pass is good for a full day: (http://www.pref.kyoto.jp/visitkyoto/en/info_required/transportation/bus&taxis/)




There are all sorts of temples and shrine around Kyoto, you will need a good 2-3 days to visit every single one of them. Though if time is a luxury that you can’t afford, you can decide using my personal pick in the following order and a suggested duration to stay:

- Kiyomizudera - http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3901.html 2 hours (including souvenir viewing and purchasing along the slope)
- Kinkakuji - http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3908.html 1 hour
- Sanjusangendo - http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3900.html 1.5 hour
- Ginkakuji - http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3907.html 1 hour
- Nijo Castle -http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3918.html 3 hours

Day 8 – Nagoya
This stop is optional. Nagoya’s major attraction is the Nagoya Castle, which, same as the Osaka Castle, is a good drive by if you’ve already seen the Himeji. There are also several Toyota related museum in Nagoya, the major one is a history museum, which showcase the history of Toyota and its contribution to the world of machinery and engineering: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3308.html

Nagoya is a not a typical tourist area, you either love it or you would hate it. For more information on attractions in Nagoya, please visit: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2155.html

Day 9 – Hakone
Hakone is a very small town, to get to Hakone, you need to get off from either the Atami or Odawara station (your best bet is Odawara), from there, change to a local train and go to Yumoto station, which is the heart of Hakone.

ONSEN time. Resting along Mount Fuji, the geographical location of Hakone made it a natural hot spring city. You can find many hot spring resort in Hakone, I strongly recommend spending a full day in Hakone, making it your rest stop to relax in the onsen and to view a more relax version of Japan. As a reminder, try not to be too involved with alcoholic beverages if you are to use the hot spring.

If you are to spend the night in Hakone, don’t leave right away the next morning. Take a trip to Lke Ashinoko (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5201.html). A slow and scenic way of approaching Lake Ashi from Odawara or Hakone-Yumoto is taking the Hakone Tozan Railway to Gora, followed by a cablecar and ropeway ride to Togendai at the northern end of of the lake. From Togendai one can continue by sightseeing boat to Moto-Hakone or Hakonemachi. The whole journey is covered by the Hakone Free Pass.

The Hakone Free Pass also cover the cost for a “Round the Lake” pirate ship ride, which give you one of the best view of the famous Mount Fuji

Day 10 – 14 Tokyo Ward
I will try to cover the major cities in Tokyo ward, including Yokohama (not really part of Tokyo, but will be included here anyways), Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harajuku, Odaiba, Akihabara, Ueno, Asakusa, Roppoongi Hill

There are no specific sequence to how and when to visit these. The following is a quick summary of how much time you should spend in each area, and I will explain why in subsequent paragraphs:

Yokohama – 1 Day
Shinjuku – ½ -1 Day
Shibuya – 1 Day
Harajuku – 1 Day
Akihabara – 1 Day
Ueno – ½ Day
Asakusa - ½ Day
Roppongi Hill - ½ Day
O’Daiba – 1 Day

I would recommend living around Shinjuku, Harajuku or Shibuya. The 3 “Cities” form a straight line (North-South) towards the west end of Tokyo ward, you can easily access all other sites using Yamanote train, which is the busiest train along with the Chuo train. It is very likely that your stay in Tokyo ward will be relying heavily on these 2 train lines.

Lets look at a description of each of these cities, from that we will explain why you need the suggested time at each places

Yokohama – (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yokohama) (1 Day)

Yokohama is approximately 30 minutes away from Tokyo ward, situated around the South Western side of Tokyo. With three million people in population, Yokohama is the second largest city of Japan. There are several great sites that you can and should visit while in Yokohama.

If you can afford a day at Yokohama, I would suggest first visit the Ramen Museum (Shinyokohama Ramen Museum), this is one place you will learn the tradition and why Japanese people like Ramen so much. You can walk to the museum from Shinyokohama Station in 10 minutes: http://www.bento.com/phgal3.html

Depending on what time it is when you are done, you can also swing by Yokohama’s China Town, this won’t be much of a tourist attraction if you have already visited Kobe’s China town, if that’s the case, I would just do a quick walk by and save yourself sometime. Food and merchandise here are not authentic “Chinese Stuff”, though its worth a quick tour of the place. More information is available here: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3201.html

You can travel on foot from China Town to the Minato Mirai 21, which is an area filled with stores, offices, and an entertainment complex. You will need a good 3-5 hours in this area. Try to time your stay to be early afternoon till early evening. The Landmark Tower offer a spectacular view of the city from its observatory deck, you can even see Mount Fuji from here. I suggest choosing a time that will let you view the city in both day and night, so anytime from 4-6 will be a great idea, you even get to see the sunset during this time too. For the Miyazaki fans, the shopping complex in the Landmark Tower that sells all kind of Miyazaki good. The store decoration employs the theme from “My Neighbor Totoro”. Landmark Tower and Minato Mirai 21: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3200.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yokohama_Landmark_Tower


Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya (1-3 days)

Shinjuku http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3011.html
Shinjuku is a fairly large city, though when people say “Shinjuku” it is commonly refers to only a complex of large entertainment, business and shopping area around the Shinjuku station. There are many attractions around Shibuya. The Kabukicho is an area of red light district that is filled with adult entertainments. If you are looking for such entertainment, be there after 6:00PM, though if you want to do a walk and see what its like, you can go during the day, which is extremely quiet, but also offer a safe view of the area. There are 10 major shopping mall in Shinjuku: Odakyu, Keio, Lumine, Mylord, Takashimaya, Isetan, Flags, Yodobashi Camera, Bic Camera and Sakuraya. Do pick up a directional map at mall entrance, otherwise you may get lost. There is also a quiet side to Shinjuku, the largest and most pleasant park of Tokyo is the Shinjuku Gyoen. If time permits, do try to spend some time there to relax your soul a little

Harajuku http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3006.html
Situated south of Shinjuku is Harajuku, the center of teenage culture and fashion of Japan. During weekends around the Harajuku station, you see a lot of Otaku (Nerds, Geeks) hanging around Harajuku dressed up like characters from video games and animates. Most of them will be by the entrance to the Meiji Shrine. If you are lucky, you will get to witness a partial wedding ceremony at Meiji Shrine, by the most traditional and sacred Shinto ceremony.

Given this being a teenager hang out, Harajuku is filled with fashionable shopping for a reasonable price. Directly in front of the Harajuku Station is the Takeshita Dori, which is the birthplace of many Japanese fashion and trend. Several store offers cheap overall outfit. For example, you can get a 2 piece outfit (a TShirt and a top) for about ¥3000 at a store name Jeans Mate.

Another option is to shop along the Omotesando, which is a 1KM shopping street filled with stores, Boutiqes and cafe, you can also find several leading fashion brand like Nike and Puma along the avenue.

Other Shopping: Omotesando Hills, Snoopy Town, Daiso Harajuku - 100¥ Shop, LaForet Harajuku, Oriental Bazaar, Kiddy Land, Louis Vuitton.

Yoyogi park by the Meiji shrine is also a great attraction, if you are there between 9:00AM and 4:00PM, you maybe able to catch a glimpse of street performance as well as street vendor selling some really tasty street foods.

Shibuya http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3007.html
Directly south of Harajuku is Shibuya, the most colorful and busiest city of Tokyo. Like Harajuku, Shibuya is also the birthplace to many modern fashion and trends in Asia. Viewing Shibuya at night and during the day offers a completely different view. The Shibuya 109 building is probably the point of interest to many teenage girls. You can also catch a glimpse of the busiest intersection of the world: Shibuya Crossing, wait for the lights to turn red and you will know what I mean.


Ueno, Asakusa, Akihabara, Roppongi(1-2 days)
It is debatable to how many days you will really need to visit these destination, My recommendation will be to spend nothing more than 2 days. Roppongi Hills (in Roppongi) is technically the 5th avenue of Tokyo, if you have disposal income and money to burn, you probably would find it more interesting to spend your day at Roppongi Hills.

The Tokyo Tower is within walking distance from Roppongi, it takes approximately 40 minutes to walk there. Roppongi has been a popular nightlife district among Foreigners for Decades. You can learn more about Roppongi, Roppongi Hills and surrounding attractions here: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3031.html

Ueno has several attraction, it is within walking distance to the famous Tokyo University, do drop by the front gate of Tokyo University to take a few pictures, which most Japanese teenagers dream on doing. My recommendation will be to walk to Akihabara from Ueno station (1km walk). Asakusa is also in the area. Your best option is to start your morning early, head over to the Tokyo University first, then travel over to Asakusa (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3004.html), where Sensoji temple is. Sensoji is consider the icon, the landmark of Asakusa. There are plenty of shopping and sightseeing to last you a good 3 hours. From Asakusa, head back to Ueno, try to time it so that you are in Ueno by mid day (around 2ish 3), Ueno is not a very big place, there are a couple of decent shopping malls, but the goal here is to spend a bit of time around Ueno station and Ueno park. Walk over to Akihabara (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3003.html) when you are done at Ueno. Try to time it just around sunset/early evening. Akihabara used to be an "electric town" which is filled with bargains for the latest greatest gadgets, you can still find a lot of cool electronics for a good low price, but it is also known for its Otaku (geek, nerd) shop, featuring a strong Video Games and Animate theme. Toys/Hobby store are all over Akihabara, for the erotic adventure seeker, you can also find many stores that sell cosplay costume and other adult toys.

Odaiba (1-2 days) http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3008.html
Odaiba (Daiba) is filled with fun and attraction, tones of shopping and tones of sightseeing. You cannot rely on the JR pass to travel to Odaiba, the closest JR stop is the Shimbashi station on the Yamanote line. There are several ways to get to the Daiba the easiest way is by a local train, however, I would recommend to walk across the well known rainbow bridge, which offers a totally different view of the island.

You probably would find yourself spending most of your day either at Palette Town/Venus Fort/The Decks, this is why I recommended 1-3 days, as you will also want to check out the various museums and the Fuji TV observatory, if you are lucky, you may hit a live broadcast while you are in the observatory.

Other points of interest:
Other than the mention cities/attraction, there are many other attractions that you can/should consider, the following is what I’d recommend and yet its not too out of the way from the above destinations:

Iga-Ueno - http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4351.html
Kamakura - http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2166.html
Nikko - http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3800.html,
http://www.nikko-jp.org/english/chuzenji/index.html
Nikko, Edo Mura, Tobu World Square - http://www.ohnoya-ryokan.com/en/theme_parks.html
Mikata Ghibili Museum - http://www.ghibli-museum.jp/