Hi all,

I just returned from a two-week stay in Japan, the first ever for me, and it was an absolutely amazing experience. I live in Western Europe and had only visited North America until now - Asia is clearly a different world !

In a nutshell, my wife and I flew to Tokyo and stayed in the Ginza area (for the Tsukiji fish market and the shopping), headed to Kyoto for a week and stayed at a ryokan with a two-day side trip to Koya-San, back to Tokyo for five more days and stayed near the Tokyo Tower then flow back home.

The language is a slight issue, but I found the Japanese to be so nice, friendly with foreigners and willing to help that it always worked out eventually. The food is amazingly good and diverse, and usually very reasonablly priced for the country. The Onsen bath experience is a delight for the senses. The shopping is great and the department stores have the best customer service ever. History is everywhere (much more in Kyoto than Tokyo, obviously) and the permanent contrast of tradition and modernity is fascinating.

Can't wait to go back.

Thank you all who made our trip such a great experience (the waitress at the yakitori place who spoke no English and had no english menu but still spent a good fifteen minutes doing everything she could to help us order - when we were straight off the plane, jet-lagged, tired and clueless - comes to mind... but so do many others). Domo arigato gozaimasu.

End of rave... back to looking for another cheap flight to go back

Cheers,
J-