After reading quite a few but never posting one myself..... here goes the first one.
After getting very lucky in 2012 with making a side trip to Kyoto just in time for the peak cherry blossoms when I was in Korea at the time, and after just missing them by about two weeks in 2013... I knew I was a bit hooked and decided this year I would make another attempt, taking the time to see new parts of the country as well.
Initially the plan was to take a month off work and travel in Japan for the duration, ending my trip with the Easter weekend Japan DO 2014. And I thought it would also be nice to have my mother come along for a part of the trip, since it was my parents that hooked me on Japan when they invited me on their vacation about 15 years ago. But several circumstances forced me to change my initial plans. First there was the Verdi strike in Frankfurt on March 27th forcing me to depart earlier as planned, and second there was an issue at work demanding my return a few days earlier.
So in the end I spent a little over 3 weeks in Japan, and I was lucky to see the blossoms almost anywhere. Primary places I visited this time were Kyoto, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, the Adachi museum/Matsue, Tokyo and Hakone/Lake Kawaguchi. Mount Koya, Nikko and Kamakura will have to wait for another time; they were sacrificed when I changed my schedule.
This is what I eventually ended up with:
Planes:
LH AMS-FRA-KIX in C/F.
LX NRT-ZRH-AMS in C.
Trains:
A one week JR Rail Pass to be used for travel to Kyushu/Matsue/Kanazawa, starting in Kyoto and ending in Tokyo.
What a great deal these passes can be. I travelled about 3.400km using the pass and spent less than 30% of the regular fares. About 24 hours riding the trains and somehow it still was a great experience. Comfortable seats, no pushing and shoving (or at least not much) and trains that ran on time, who would have thought that this is actually possible….
Hotels:- Hyatt Regency Osaka
- Hyatt Regency Kyoto
- Grand Hyatt Fukuoka
- Granvia Okayama
- Nikko Kanazawa
- Hyatt Regency Tokyo
- Hyatt Regency Hakone
- Kozantei Ubaya
- Radisson Narita
Kozantei Ubaya was by far the best; you do get what you pay for… including fabulous views of Mt Fuji when the weather is nice. But the Hyatt’s in Kyoto, Fukuoka, Hakone and even Osaka and Tokyo were great/good too. And the Nikko in Kanazawa was a lot better than what I expected for the price.
I also enjoyed some great food, even when I decided to only really splurge on one occasion…. having to pay for two hotel rooms did have some consequences. But even when spending less on food than I normally do, there still was some great food to be had. Although being a bit budget conscience does seriously limit your drinking power
.
The highlights here were the sashimi/sushi in Kanazawa and the tonkatsu in Gora. But also having some great sashimi at a fish monger in Nagasaki for about $7 and getting to sample a lot of extra’s for free. And don’t even get me started on the great ramen and udon that can be found in the most unexpected places….
Now for some details…..