MarisaInChicago

Hi there,

Husband and I are traveling for the first time to Japan for ten days. Booked today to leave in three days! Assuming money is no object (except for the Amans, can't justify that), please help with the following:

1. Hotel in Tokyo -- prefer something more like Soho than Midtown and not where the masses are. We're not shoppers, so don't want to be only around all the fancy chain stores, but care more about food and culture. Available rooms are at Pen, Mandarin, Palace, Ritz (club floor), or Park Hyatt
2. Hotel and/or Ryokan in Kyoto (Ritz and Shiraume?)
3. How long in each location?
5. Restaurant recs? We have enough fancy food in Chicago. Would love simply authentic and delish. Street food recs welcome and encouraged!
6. Any other recs so appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

TravelerMSY

I'd start by asking this in our dedicated Japan sub forum. Lots of experienced travelers to Japan there. Most of your questions have already been discussed there.

MarisaInChicago

Thanks. I've spent the last six hours scouring through all the threads, but they each give such different recs!

milepig

Because there are so many choices!!

I vote for the Pen in Tokyo. Great location and great property. Lots of simple places for food right behind the property by the tracks.

Kyoto? You might still check AirBnB for properties in Gion. Kyoto you need to absorb. For food look at the Michelin list and make reservations for lunch. Amazing bargains.

MSPeconomist

Is the Imperial available for your dates in Tokyo?

angra

For food, get some practice with http://tabelog.com/en/

MarisaInChicago

milepig, thank you! If you had ten days, how would you break it up between Tokyo and Kyoto, and ryokan and Ritz? Also, what restaurants in Kyoto are not to be missed?

obscure2k, yep, hard to believe. But husband had a few surgeries at work get cancelled, so he said let's just go!

tmdaniels9

I would recommend spending 3-4 days in Kyoto and the rest in Tokyo. Would definitely recommend stopping in Arashiyama; Tenryu-ji, bamboo grove, nison-in, and gio-ji are worth a half day. Check out Nara or Kurama as well if you have the time! Wherever you stay, make sure it has an onsen which is the best feature of staying in Japan.

ksandness

I like booking.com for finding last-minute hotels in all price ranges.

Once you have your hotels booked, buy a guidebook for Japan, or at least one each for Tokyo and Kyoto, and read it on the plane. Unless you are flying from somewhere else in Asia, you will have 8-14 hours to read it.

Since you are traveling as a couple, perhaps one of you can study the Tokyo guidebook, and the other can study the Kyoto guidebook.

And since you are traveling without preparation, let me end with my favorite warning: If you are flying into NRT, do NOT, I repeat, do NOT take a cab from the airport. It's not that the drivers are dishonest; far from it. It's the fact that NRT is 40 miles outside Tokyo. Hence the notorious $200 cab ride that "gee whiz" articles about Japan have been mentioning since the 1980s.

Take a bus to your hotel, if your hotel is on the Limousine Bus circuit, or take the Narita Express or Keisei Skyliner, whichever will take you closer to your hotel. All of these options are US$30 or less.

And for heaven's sake, read up on your destinations. If you don't want to carry books, most of the major guidebooks are available as eBooks.

chgoeditor

Check out Ryokan Collection. I used them for my last trip and couldn't have been more pleased with the selection.

milepig

How much time in each place depends on what you like to do. Tokyo is a huge and energetic city. Kyoto is all about sitting back and savoring the place, visiting the Imperial Palace, temples etc.


So many food choices for Kyoto, so just two favorites:

http://kyotonanba.com/

On the reservation form it says (or did say) 'when you arrive we speak no English but you will be very welcome" which we were. Indeed, when we entered the small alley they were standing outside the door waiting for us. We sat upstairs and the person serving us indeed spoke no English but had a Japanese/English food dictionary that she brought out with each course to let us know what we were eating. We let her pick the sake, and I was pleased that we were served a very reasonably-priced bottle.

Very different but also wonderful is this Tempura spot:

http://www.gion-endo.com/english/menu_dinner.html

We reserved in the Tempura Bar Ozashiki and got to watch everything being made in front of us.

If you reserve in either of these places go for the full menu, courses are small enough that you'll make it through.


Also note that you can easily do the train from Kyoto to NRT the day of your return light. Transfer to the NEX at Shinagawa.

abmj-jr

And I would recommend just the opposite. Five or six days in Kyoto or Osaka, with day trips to Hiroshima, Himeji, Nara and Osaka/Kyoto.

It is probably too late for the OP to purchase a Japan Rail Pass unless he/she is in a city where it could be picked up in person. It would certainly be worth it if possible.

angra

Looks like Chicago has a few pickup locations:

http://www.japanrailpass.net/area_04.html

freecia

Buy a prepaid data sim or rent a wifi hotspot so you can keep on researching while there. It's nice to soak things in and wander in analog but a bit of data for Google maps and translate helps if you're trying to get somewhere on a timeline or are lost in circles. A spare usb battery pack might also come in handy.

Buy a prepaid data sim card
http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Japan

Reserve & rent a hotspot
https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel...ne_vs_nothing/

You can definitely visit Tokyo and Kyoto with paper maps and guidebooks. I find researching ahead of time and starring POI on Google Maps so I can visualize what is close by & get real time directions to be very helpful. Google Translate OCR (take picture, highlight recognize text, translate) has been really useful, too.

You'll want to get some cash for small purchases and some restaurants don't take cards (Tabelog usually lists this). Street food vendors operate on cash. 7-11 or Japan Post ATM's are a good bet for Americans. ATMs are not open 24 x 7. http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2208.html http://www.jp-bank.japanpost.jp/en/i...ias_index.html

shuigao

It depends what "part" of Japan you are most interested in. To a younger person who likes the pop culture, bright neon lights, anime / manga part of Japan, I'd say the entire 10 days in the Tokyo & Greater Tokyo area (and put off Kyoto/Osaka to a separate trip entirely).

But if you have no interest in waitresses in maid costumes, or playing with owls in an owl cafe, etc -- then 3 (full) days in Tokyo, and the rest in Kyoto/Osaka/Nara should be quite nice.