Reflections about our trip to Japan!

We haven’t even put our photo album(s) together or printed a single airplane photograph, but we are already talking about our trip back! It is probably a couple of years away, but here are our thoughts on what we’ll do the same and what we’ll do differently.

Tokoyo-Inns: We will definitely plan to stay in their hotels again. Each one was clean and comfortable, in a good location and a good value. Most days we were up and out before breakfast so we never even tried it. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful. In Miyazaki when we couldn’t figure out how to get the car in the parking elevator (We didn’t realize the side mirrors needed to be folded and I think she didn’t realize they weren’t.), the receptionist came out to help us and even directed Joe over to the parking lot personally. We had a similar issue with parking (how to pay the garage as theirs was full) and the receptionist walked down the street to the garage to assist Joe. I joined their club and then made reservations each night online for the next day. It was a good feeling at the end of each day to know exactly what we would get in terms of a hotel and a room. They are very consistent.

Transportation: We are talking about possibly riding the train to Fukoaka (or flying) to shorten the amount of driving time. Driving in Japan is expensive. The expressways are all toll roads. We did not keep good records, but we figure we spent a lot (around $1000 US). However, we would then need to rent a car there and figure out the expense of either a one-way rental (if they do that in Japan) or then round trip airfares/train fares. And, they you give up the flexibility of stopping and seeing what the area has to offer. I really enjoyed the drive (maybe it will be less interesting the second time around?) and seeing the cultural differences in the prefectures. For instance, the way they dry the rice ( I assume it was rice.) in the south differs from the north. Why? Next time we are also considering going north to Misawa and Chitose. (Sounds like we will be adding a few days to the trip!)

We also didn’t figure out an economical way to take the trains around Tokyo. We never saw any sort of day or week pass.

We came with an entire book of maps for the entire country which was great for general travel. They were more detailed than if we had just had a folding map. However, we really could have used better maps when in the cities since our hotels were always close to the train stations - not the expressways. We did have the GPS in the car but could never figure out how to enter addresses. I think we might have been OK had we taken the iPad down to the lobby each day and brought up the map of the city for the next evening in Google maps. So, next time we either need to print out city maps in advance or make sure we have an iPad and “download” the map each morning before departing. That is always a challenge for us as we are always short on time.

Sightseeing: I will definitely do more research on the specific locations I’d like to visit. For me, I do much better if I have experienced a place. It was really too much for me to get a handle on before we went. We did have the Insight Guide on Japan and I did read through it. But, I didn’t have a good understanding of the scale of the cities and where I really wanted to go. I would like to find the best places for ceramics and art. I would like to visit a national park. I would like to learn more about the Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples we visited. Just to learn more about the culture and history is fascinating! There will again be more than we can do in two weeks. (I would really like to go teach and like there!)

Military plane photography: Japan is a great location for this hobby! We were questioned at each base (except for Atsugi as I don’t think we were there long enough). However, the military police and security personnel were all very friendly and non-threatening. Each time, they had a list of questions, asked to see passports, and took our picture. We had made copies of our passports and sometimes they took those, but some days they just took pictures of them with their digital camera. The access is very good - every base has spots that you can get great pictures. We definitely battled weather more than location.

Shopping for ladders: We struggled the most with this essential task! we thought we would be able to find a ladder fairly easily, but that was not the case. So, if anyone who reads this can help us find a hardware store in Narita (or somewhere close to the airport/Tokyo), please comment! Having a 4 foot + ladder is necessary for the airplane photography!

Language: I want to learn to read and speak some Japanese before our return. I didn’t realize how little English there would be - both in writing and spoken. We managed just fine - thanks to the friendliness of the people we met. From convenience stores to gas stations to restaurants - everywhere we went - the people tried to help us and enjoyed a laugh with us as we attempted to communicate and thank them - arigato gozaimasu! It is a very friendly country!

Tokyo - day 2 and our last...

Not wanting to miss a moment, we were up and going early again. We decided to visit the wildlife refuge south of the city center. We arrived an hour before it opens, so we walked down to the Tsukiji fish market. We were too late to see the tuna auction and the tour (plus you had to sign up in advance I think) but we did walk through the parts we could. It is an amazing and very busy place and after visiting I think it would be really cool to see the auction! We need to remember that for our next trip!






We went back and toured the wildlife refuge. It has some historical significance (We participated in a historical self-paced audio tour.), but there was not a great deal of wildlife. We then made our way back to the train station and headed for Meiji-jingu. The shrine is off of a very vibrant shopping area. Finding the shrine was a bit of a challenge, but we enjoyed walking through the shopping area and lunching in another authentic Japanese restaurant. I ordered pork and thought it would be some sort of pork cutlet, but it was more like boiled bacon. Nice atmosphere there.







Then, it was off the the shrine. We found it on the other side of the train station. It is set in a huge forest - always so deceiving that there are such huge expanses of green in this city! It was getting late so we didn't have a lot of time (We needed to find Internet access to check-in for our return flight and I still had shopping I needed to do.) The shrine was very impressive. again, I didn't hardly get time to look at much of it. It appears that this is the place to get married. We saw three different weddings in different stages taking place with tourists just mixed in and taking pictures along with their photographers. Very beautiful, and I'm sure full of spiritual meaning for them as well. I plan to read up on the significance of a lot that we saw!



After completing a little more shopping and checking-ing for the flight, (and Shrined and templed out for the day), we decided to visit Bayside. However, darkness was falling so we weren't able to get a real strong feeling for the area. We took the monorail train and stopped in what appeared to be the heart of it. We walked around and saw some of the shopping, stopped and had a beer and then headed back to the center of town to start making our way back. For our perspective, it appears that there isn't a lot of activity in the evenings there. We did have a great view back across the water.

We found ourselves back in the center of town right at rush hour so we had to wait for room on a train, but we made our way back to Yoshio sad that our adventure was coming to an end.