After a long, COVID-induced wait, we finally took our trip to Japan! It was a real pleasure shepherding my family across Tokyo and Kyoto. I myself would have preferred to visit the Tohoku region this time, but it’s essential to visit Tokyo and Kyoto at least once (this being their first time to Japan). My language (while rough from lack of use) started to come back as we went along. We visited friends and family, meandered through train stations, ate lots of food, and in general soaked up the culture. The dollar to yen exchange rate was very nice, so that also helped.
This time, I had us fly into Haneda, shinkansen (bullet train) over to Kyoto, and fly back from Osaka ITM in order to avoid the airport shuffle and long train rides to/from Narita. It worked out really well. And we didn’t even get JR Rail Passes. We used IC cards for just about all travel except for the single shinkansen ride. They are super convenient and you can reload them in any train station.
My son started his very own go-shuincho (御朱印帳)! Go-shuincho are travel log books that are signed and stamped at Buddhist temples (and sometimes Shinto shrines) throughout Japan (much like a passport is stamped upon foreign entry). You pay a small donation to a monk at the temple and they sign and stamp a page in your book. Typically the entry includes a traditional, almost calligraphed writing of the name of the temple (or shrine), the date you visited, etc. together with a stamp or seal of approval. Sometimes no monk is available to sign your book and instead they provide you with a pre-printed sticker to adhere to a page. It’s a wonderful way to catalog your journey visiting temples and shrines, resulting in a very unique, personal souvenir.
Of course, FOOD FOOD FOOD…
It was our first time visiting Kawagoe’s “little Edo” shopping district, northwest of Tokyo, and I must say that we liked it very much! It’s much less touristy than well known spots in Tokyo and has a unique look and feel to it. It isn’t the cheapest place to shop, simply because it’s a target shopping destination, but at least you’ll find unique Japanese goods made mostly in Japan (as opposed to say Nakamise-dori by Senso-ji which is mostly cheap stuff from China).
In Kyoto, we shied from the bigger named temples as it was spring and therefore quite busy. Sannenzaka street especially has been ruined by tourist saturation :_( An otherwise very scenic street with lots of shops is now packed shoulder to shoulder with nearly 100% tourists and no locals. I don’t know why Kyoto’s local government doesn’t restrict the number of buses and travel tours to this street. Actually, I just saw that they were starting some regulations, but it seems like just limiting busses would cut the number of people visiting at any one time dramatically. We found this “off the beaten path” article to be quite useful.
My shot of Mt. Fuji was an afterthought, doh!
Overall it was a wonderful trip and our only regret was not staying longer…