Originally Posted by
tkeppers
A little about us: We are both in our mid-thirties. We are both interested in Japanese culture, and can speak the language a bit on a very beginner level (think Japanese toddler), so we *might* be able to communicate some, but it certainly won't be eloquent. I'm interested in hiking (will probably post another thread about that) and my husband is interested in video games - particularly one called Final Fantasy.
My best recommendation regarding communication: assume your japanese will be complete garbage, assume that nobody can speak english, and you'll be quite happy when you invariably manage to communicate better than the folks who don't know any japanese at all. =D
You'll find out pretty quickly (or... not?) how to use your limited japanese most efficiently. Some is certainly better than none, even if you have to be a bit creative about getting around communication problems. =D
So... your husband will be visiting Akihabara in Tokyo. You'll see him again just before you leave for Kyoto. =D Even if he's only interested in the FF series, you can kill hours there looking at everything. The squenix store will be good, but there are also tons of other anime/gaming related stores that are good to check out -- Animate being a pretty big one. There are Animate stores in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka.
I haven't gone hiking in Japan yet (maybe someday), other than when I went bouldering (south of Kyoto), so unfortunately I can't help much there. I did see your other thread, so hopefully you'll get some good replies.
* Do some hiking, visit a shrine or two. If I can get past my hang-up about being naked in public, possibly visit on onsen. Try as many Kit-Kat flavors as possible.
Just FYI, you'll be hard-pressed to find too many kit-kat flavours. Many are regional flavours, and many just aren't stocked in most stores. But the sakura matcha flavour is delicious.
*On October 11th, there is something called an Ostu-Matsuri festival in a neighboring town. There's a free guide group called Sakura Volunteer Guides that's offering to take international tourists to this festival. Sounds like it might be fun. Is this worth doing?
I just took a quick glance at the otsu-matsuri website -- looks cool. If you can go with an international tour guide, that'd be convenient. If you aren't itching to do other things, I'd probably take a look at it.
* October 12th is Health-Sports day. I love physical activity and the outdoors, and wondered if Kyoto had some activities on this day that foreigners could participate in? My internet searches haven't turned up anything, though
My guess is that if anything like that is going on, it's all geared toward natives. Probably will have a hard time finding anything unless you read/speak japanese (ie: searching Yahoo Japan in jp).
* Is it common to have aikido demonstrations in Japan (I'm guessing no). One of my hobbies here in the U.S. is aikido, and I would love to watch a demonstration in Japan and compare it to what I learn at my dojo here.
I'm guessing no, also, but it's not something I've ever tried to search for.
I would gladly welcome any other suggestions or advice so we can get the most out of our trip.
I'm actually going to be arriving in Japan (Kansai area) again on 10 Oct. I'm much more familiar with Kansai than with Tokyo, since that's where I spend most of my time. If you haven't quite figured out what all you want to do while you're there, feel free to ping me before your trip starts.