Visiting Japan in Winter (consolidated)
Hi all
I'm considering a trip to Japan for a holiday, arriving OKA 23 Dec and Departing out of NRT 7 Jan. Nothing else planned in the middle so my itinerary is wide open.
Looking at the average weather conditions it appears that Japan isn't that cold (in OAK), however, it's still cold enough to bring thick winter gear (in NRT and north).
Primary mission is to see some nice sites and eat great food - seafood and sushi/sashimi, noodles, etc.
A few questions for the FT Japan forum:
1) I'd like to see a sumo match but looking online it's not sumo season - are there any similar alternatives in the off season?
2) I'd like to stay in a Ryokan with great food + onsen. Are there any bang-for-the-buck Ryokans that you recommend as the ones online I've seen so far are quite expensive.
3) I'm considering 3-4 nights in OAK then the rest on mainland. We'll probably get a JR Pass for 7-days so we can take the bullet trains everywhere. With this in mind, what cities do you recommend and in which order? I was thinking Osaka->Kyoto->Tokyo though I think we have more time to see more places.
Thanks in advance