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suggestions for a 4th trip to Japan?

suggestions for a 4th trip to Japan?

Old Oct 7, 2009, 8:59 pm
  #1  
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Question suggestions for a 4th trip to Japan?

I haven't had a chance to read thru the threads here but I'm looking for suggestions if I decide to go on a 4th trip to Japan which will be late October/early November. If I go, it'll be maybe a week total but I intend to spend 2 or 3 days at Tokyo Motor Show (been to it in 03 and 05). Been to Tokyo Game Show once.

My previous trips to Japan have been in 01, 03 and 05.

From memory, I've already been to these places below so I'm looking for other suggestions.
- Tokyo: Akihabara, Asakusa, Ginza, Tokyo Tower, Imperial Palace [not inside], Tokyo Metropolitan Govt building, Shinjuku area, stayed in Shinagawa and Ikebukuro before, Odaiba including the Toyota Megaweb, Sony showroom
- Kyoto (Golden Pavilion, Kyoto Station, Jishu? and maybe another shrine/temple or two)
- Osaka briefly
- Yokohama (Chinatown, on a cruise on the river?)
- Hiroshima including Peace Memorial Park and the museum
- Nagoya briefly
- Hakone (did the loop including the gondola and boat)
- Kamakura
- Daibutsu
- Taken the Shinkansen to get between some of the above cities
- Mazda (in Hiroshima), Nissan (in Oppama) and Toyota (in/around Toyota City) factory tours

So, I'm looking for other suggestions of places to go. I'm honestly not that much of an outdoorsy person nor much into art. I'm more of a car and technology guy but have interest in Japanese culture.
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Old Oct 7, 2009, 10:12 pm
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So, out of a week you will be in Tokyo at least 2 to 3 days. That means 4 +/- days for elsewhere. Can we assume you will be flying in AND out of Japan via NRT? That makes a difference in our suggestions. In through NRT and out through KIX or NGO would make for different ideas.

I'll be passing through Tokyo a few days after you, on the 8th. My first stop is 2+ hours north on the shinkansen to Sendai for visits to Matsushima and Naruko-onsen. That might make a decent 2 or 3 day stay. Sendai was the center of the Date clan in the Edo period and both Matsushima and Naruko have decent natural beauty. Fall color should be getting going nicely. I'm going for photography. Maybe that doesn't interest you.

Perhaps more to your liking would be a run over to the Japan Sea coast for a visit to Kanazawa and the surrounding area. That would be a 4 +/- hour train journey with one change. Kanazawa is a beautiful old city where the powerful Maeda clan set up a center for learning and the arts in the 1600-1800s. It was never bombed during WWII so is still very well preserved and has a world-class Japanese garden.

Two ideas. I'm sure others will chime in with more.

Last edited by abmj-jr; Oct 9, 2009 at 8:58 pm
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Old Oct 7, 2009, 10:51 pm
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Maybe find out if Honda, Subaru and .... um .... Mitsubishi ... offer factory tours. And don't forget Daihatsu.
Once you've worked your way through the major OEMs, you could start on the tier 1 suppliers. Denso, for example.
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Old Oct 8, 2009, 1:41 am
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Originally Posted by jib71
Maybe find out if Honda, Subaru and .... um .... Mitsubishi ... offer factory tours. And don't forget Daihatsu.
Once you've worked your way through the major OEMs, you could start on the tier 1 suppliers. Denso, for example.
LOL! Uh... I think out of the bunch, I would see Honda and Denso, if I could. The others, I'm not so interested in.

Originally Posted by abmj-jr
So, out of a week you will be in Tokyo at least 2 to 3 days. That means 4 +/- days for elsewhere. Can we assume you will be flying in AND out of Japan via NRT? That makes a difference in our suggestions. In through NRT and out through KIX or NGO would make for different ideas.
Yes to both. I do plan to fly in and out of Narita but could alter plans a bit, if needed (e.g. in NRT and out of KIX). I knew about KIX but never have been there. I didn't even know about NGO and have never taken a domestic flight in Japan, yet.

Oh yeah, I definitely plan to revisit Akihabara, esp. Yodobashi Camera (not so much for cameras as I'm a total amateur but rather for its other electronics) and most likely the Sony showroom. I'll also be seeking out a fancy Nissan showroom I heard about it. IIRC, it's not that far from their tiny showroom/office in Ginza. (I own a Toyota and Nissan, so anything related to those two automakers is a plus. )

Oh yeah, I've also been to the Nikko, Tokyo Stock Exchange, Meiji Shrine and the Daibutsu I went to was in Kamakura, not Nara. I've not visited Nara yet. I liked checking out some of the high end department stores in Ginza and liked Tokyu Hands in Shinjuku.

If I could get a tour of some electronics factory, that'd be great!

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Let me look into them.

Last edited by cwerdna; Oct 9, 2009 at 1:08 am Reason: added Nikko
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Old Oct 8, 2009, 4:51 am
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Wirelessly posted (KDDI-HI38 UP.Browser/6.2.0.11.1.3.110 (GUI) MMP/2.0)

If you like cars, I recommend visiting SUZUKA CIRCUIT.
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Old Oct 9, 2009, 1:10 am
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Originally Posted by icchan4970
If you like cars, I recommend visiting SUZUKA CIRCUIT.
Thanks! I'm not really into watching car racing or keeping up with it at all. Is there much significant to do there for a 34 year old Asian single guy? I notice there was a mention of an amusement park (http://www.mobilityland.co.jp/english/suzuka/index.html) for young children.

I wouldn't mind getting a closer look at some race queens though.

Maybe I should just go to Japan for TMS and stop by a country I'm curious about like South Korea, esp. the DMZ?

Last edited by cwerdna; Oct 9, 2009 at 1:56 am
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Old Oct 9, 2009, 3:51 am
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Originally Posted by cwerdna
Maybe I should just go to Japan for TMS and stop by a country I'm curious about like South Korea, esp. the DMZ?
Yes. You should.
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Old Oct 9, 2009, 4:28 am
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Okinawa -- preferably the smaller islands, not Naha -- is also a worthwhile experience.
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Old Oct 9, 2009, 4:33 pm
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Originally Posted by jpatokal
Okinawa -- preferably the smaller islands, not Naha -- is also a worthwhile experience.
Given that the OP is "honestly not that much of an outdoorsy person nor much into art... more of a car and technology guy", I think the small islands of Okinawa will be a dead loss.
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Old Oct 9, 2009, 10:36 pm
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You are SO READY to visit the tomb of Jesus Christ in Shingo (AKA Herai), in northern Honshu!

Make sure you get the 3 days out of 20 JR East pass for Y10,000, that will take you to Morioka, and rent a car from there.
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Old Oct 10, 2009, 8:00 am
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Pusan?

How about Shiretoko in Hokkaido? Stupendous, breath-taking natural scenery and happily fairly free of tourists. A rugged sea coast and lots of wildlife. You fly from Haneda to Memanbetsu Airport, about 1.3 hours, and it's an hour or so away.

Or Shirakami Sanchi in Aomori - glorious mountain scenery - like a painting - and perfect for autumn. (If you have an international driver's license you can rent a car in Japan.)

I've been to both and they are out of this world.

For something very different, try a few days on Ishigaki, or maybe Ogasawara.

Ishigaki is an island in Okinawa Prefecture and Ogasawara is also a groups of islands. Ishigaki is tropical and Ogasawara semi tropical. You fly from Naha to Ishigaki, and for Ogasawara (which was once American territory but for some reason was given back to Japan) you take an overnight steamer from Tokyo. Very exotic places!

BTW, the Tokyo Tourist Office on the basement floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building in Shinjuku offers FREE walking tours of many parts of Tokyo, including some not often visited by noisy tourists. They provide them for groups of up to 5, and in English, German, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Italian and even French. I have gone on 2 and the guides were fluent in English, gracious and extremely knowledgeable. I highly recommend these tours.

If Japan is getting old (and it can, quickly, I know), how about Pusan and the rural parts of southern South Korea?
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Old Oct 10, 2009, 9:04 am
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Originally Posted by cwerdna
I'm honestly not that much of an outdoorsy person

Last edited by jib71; Oct 10, 2009 at 10:57 am
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Old Oct 10, 2009, 9:11 am
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deleted

Last edited by jib71; Oct 10, 2009 at 10:58 am
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Old Oct 11, 2009, 2:07 am
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Oopa - didn't notice the preferences for indoorsy stuff.

Ghibli Museum?
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Old Oct 11, 2009, 7:35 am
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A few car related suggestions

The "fancy nissan showroom" you're talking about is the Nissan Gallery underneath their HQ, it's about 5 minutes walk from the smaller nissan gallery on harumi dori (they have a map). It's address is Chuo-ku Ginza 6-17-1. I usually pop in for coffee on the way back from breakfast at Tsukiji to see what they have on

I'm assuming you've done tokyo megaweb and the historic garage/museum in odaiba, if you haven't you should. Welcome honda is next to aoyama ichichome station as has a few things there, cars, asimo demonstrations etc.

If you feel like stretching to Nagoya the Toyota museum there is fantastic and the Toyota commemorative museum of industry and technology is one of the best "applied" museums I've ever been to

There are a number of car museums around Mt Fuji covering standard museums to racing museums to museums dedicated to italian exotics. Best done in a hire car as they're in out of the way spots but worth the trip
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