We had an awesome vacation April 12 to 28, 2024 in the beautiful country of Japan.
we were blown away by the subtle beauty of Japan... one such scene here with the water fall, cherry blossom tree in full bloom, the green moss, the pond with fallen petals floating.. all creating a fairy tale setting.
WISH LIST
Our wish list was to enjoy the cultural delights and also the scenic wonders like Mt Fuji and the Northern Alps. Cherry blossom/ sakura viewing was a priority too.
Fuji viewing is more likely in winter but there are no guarantees, it's a most elusive mountain. We were being quite picky wishing to see the Fuji peak covered in snow but just the right amount of snow, not too much [as in winter] or none [as in summer]. Spring was our top choice for this preference!
There is not much guarantee how/when the cherry blossom season will turn out to be and we have to decide our travel dates months in advance to book flights, get our visa etc.
Same uncertainty regarding visibility/weather conditions in the Alps too. Kamikochi, Kurobe Alpine route etc are open only from mid Apr to mid Nov
With that in mind we chose mid April fingers crossed and picked 3 main bases in what is called the Golden route:
Tokyo[4 nights], [day trips to Nikko and Fuji kawaguchi ko ]
Kyoto [6 nights] [day trips to Nara, Himeji and Miyajima]
The Japanese Alps 4 nights [ Alpine bases split into 2 days each at Takayama and Toyama ] [Day trips to Shirakawago, Kamikochi, Kanazawa, Kurobe Alpine route]
Tokyo Last 2 nights .
Map below shows the Golden route and orientation of our bases
SPOILER ALERT:
All our wish list came true, with Mt Fuji and the Northern Alps range in full glorious view, cherry blossoms every where we visited with the bonus of tulips, peonies, rhododendrons in full bloom as well!
Here are a few highlight pics:
The solitary, often snow-capped, stratovolcano, named Mount Fuji, visible above villages and tree-fringed lakes has long been the object of pilgrimages and inspiration for artists and poets...so we too start with Fujisan
NORTHERN ALPS
CULTURAL DELIGHTS
TOKYO
Nikko
Kyoto
Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion)
Kyoto Botanical Garden... 100th year marked in floral display
NARA DAY TRIP... ISUEIN GARDEN
REST of the highlight pics will continue in part 2 of the intro
WEATHER WEBSITE
https://tenki.jp/forecast/3/16/4410/13104/10days.html
Glitches Galore
Of course there were quite a few missteps from our end and some bad weather causing us to drop some highly anticipated plans.
1. BAD WEATHER
For example, in Northern Alps we had a great first half of the day taking the four kilometre hike in Kamikochi area; later we returned to the hub Hirayu Onsen where the sky had greyed out and there was constant drizzle. Webcam in Shin Hotaka showed total fog and rain, so we had to drop our noon plans to enjoy the rope way and the alpine views there.
2. UNCLEAR TRANSFER FOR TOBU ASAKUSA STATION:
for our Nikko day trip we reached the station Asakusa but could not find how to reach the tobu Asakusa station from where our 7am train to Nikko departed. We had seen this on Google Maps earlier but it was not working out. We asked a local boy he consulted his phone and told us to go to A5 exit which turned out right. Very grateful for his help.
NO LEG ROOM IN OUR RESERVED SEATS:
For the same Nikko day trip, we had booked our Tobu Nikko limited express train tickets online and were assigned seats. Both for the onward and return trip our seats assigned were right at the front near the luggage rack with barely any leg room, it was a horror sitting cramped for two hours, each way. We are planning to send the pictures and reservation details to the Tobu authorities so that they can do something for future travellers
3. NO SEATS FOR 1 HR TRAIN JOURNEY RESERVED ONLINE, HAD TO TRAVEL STANDING:
Another horror was when we boarded the train from Toyama to Tateyama at 5 am on the first leg of the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route. There were only two coaches and half of the second coach had no seats which meant 20 of us had to stand for the whole one hour journey. This was so unexpected, they had taken our money for the whole package online for the trip from Tateyama. This trip from our base Toyama to Tateyama was separately bought by us
at the station they were holding up placards saying there is no restroom on the train. What they should have really done is to ensure normal seats for all ticket holders, never mind the heads up on the toilet situation. At 5.10 AM we were standing for the 1-hr journey on a rickety old local train which swayed and rattled. After 20 minutes I sat on the floor of the coach, a couple of other ladies followed. I made my son also sit on the floor till we reached Tateyama. I'm proposing to send a complaint to the transport authorities so that hopefully future tourists do not have to suffer this. We also missed out on enjoying the scenic panorama through the train windows for that one hour journey.
4. DIRECT LINE KINTETSU KYOTO-NARA :
For our Nara day trip from Kyoto we bought the ticket for the direct line Kintetsu at the ticket kiosk in the station. The staff member gave us a bunch of tickets. We were careful not to buy the JR tickets because the JR Station at Nara is not convenient for walking to the shrine, it is much further away than the Kintetsu Station. The Kintetsu is also a little lower priced and equally fast though it is not an express. We were supposed to get one ticket but the kiosk member gave us two tickets each. When we asked him he said we had to get down at an earlier station Yamatosaidaiji and take the next train from the same platform for two more stops to Nara it will be quite simple.
So we got down at the Yamatosaidaiji station he specified, stood on the same platform and saw on the electronic board the train to Nara was coming in two minutes. A train came up in a minute we got in. We started looking at the stations it was stopping at but Nara was not coming. We realised we were on the wrong train and got out at the next station. By then we had travelled some six stations away. We asked local youngsters standing in line at the station, they consulted their phone and told us to go to platform 5 or 6 and take the next train to Yamatosaidaiji. So we backtracked and reached Yamatosaidaiji.
Now we just had to take the train to Nara hopefully the kintetsu train. And Nara Express came in a minute and we got in, reached Nara the next station. We realised we had made another mistake and taken the Jr Express for which we did not have ticket. They are two different companies and we had taken a free ride. Our kintetsu ticket was not getting recognised at the JR gates and we were unable to get out. We approached the staff, showed us our tickets and explained we had taken the wrong train, the man was kind and buzzed us out, probably because we were dumb tourists, had not tried to cheat the system but made a genuine mistake; it was very kind of him.
This put us in the JR station which we had tried to avoid but we were anyway grateful for reaching Nara. We took the local bus and got down at the Isuien gardens instead of travelling to the shrine, so anyway we were able to handle our mistake and the rest of the day went smooth.
5. IC CARD PASMO PASSPORT GOT INVALIDATED
In Nagoya after getting off Shinkansen from Kyoto, we wanted to board a local train to Gifu and then onward a bus to Takayama. But on the boards we saw a limited express going straight to Takayama in an hour.
With the local train bus combo we could have reached Takayama half an hour earlier but we decided to take the direct limited express. Basically the bus connexion was a bit tight and we didn't want to risk it.
We had read we can use our ic cards for local trades trains so we scanned our Pasmo passport card and went to wait on the platform where the limited express would arrive. Son went down and topped up our PASMO passport card so that it will have adequate balance to pay for the limited express.
Our train came some 12 minutes before the scheduled time and we saw all the coaches were reserved.. We realised our IC card won't work on limited express and we have to buy the tickets, we confirmed this from a staff and son went down to buy the ticket. We boarded the train.
But the IC card had registered an entry into the station though we did not use it for the journey. In the alpine region for the 4 days we did not use the ic card, then took it out only when we reached Tokyo. There was an error message and the gates did not open. We approached the staff and the Lady typed out a message that our card has registered an entry in Nagoya but no exit. We explained we had used the limited express after buying tickets. The Lady reactivated our cards and made it valid again. Little mistakes can lead to issues and we have to be very careful as tourists
Basically there is plenty of staff to help out in train stations but not in the metro stations so in case we are stuck with transfers we have to rely on the locals
6. Shoes and umbrellas:
In general, shoes are not allowed when we enter shrines and temples and some public places like castles in Japan. Umbrellas also have to be left outside. In all the apartments we stayed there were two umbrellas for us to borrow if needed.
Anyway leaving this outside did not seem to be a problem, even leaving umbrella outside the store.
But in Kanazawa Castle there was a notice regarding theft of shoes and they provided lockers. We had not seen that and had just kept our shoes in the normal racks but they were fine. In Tokyo Meiji shrine museum our umbrellas had to be put in a locked rack. One of the umbrellas unfurled and opened out and got stuck. The staff had to come and wiggle it out, the spokes were a little damaged, the umbrella was acting up so they kept it at the desk.
Tokyo National Museum had the same type of locks in racks, we just left our two umbrellas propped up outside; when we came out after three hour visit the umbrellas were missing but when we looked around they had been placed in another corner. All these were minor niggles of course.
When to go?
Spring and fall are very beautiful seasons in Japan. In spring the cherry blossom is specially stunning. Of course it is a very small window and pretty difficult to predict over the expanse of the country. In each place the blossoms last 5 to 10 days in full bloom. We wanted to avoid the Golden Week which started from April 29 this year. So we chose Apr 12 to 28 and decided we'll enjoy whatever nature chooses to offer us. Fortunately there were amazing blooms all over the places we visited, adding to the overall impact. We are so very grateful.
Our itinerary:
our itinerary went like this.
DAY 0, April 11 Thursday, 2024: we both boarded our flights, son from Houston, me from New Delhi
DAY 1, April 12 Friday, 2024: Landed at Narita airport, met up, drew money from ATM, bought sim card, IC card for transport Pasmo Passport, apartment checkin with code, grocery shopping at nearby Seiyu, Japanese Walmart
DAY 2, Apr 13 Saturday, 2024: Sensoji temple, Ueno park, Shinjuku park
DAY 3, Apr 14 Sunday 2024: day trip Nikko
DAY 4, Apr 15 Monday 2024: day trip Fuji
DAY 5, Apr 16 Tuesday, 2024: Kiyomizudera temple, Higashiyama Ninenzaka, Sannenzaka, Ryozen Kannon. Kodai ji, Kyoto apt CHECK IN
DAY 6, Apr 17 Wednesday 2024: Kyoto Kinkakuji, Daitokuji, Shokubutsuen-mae (Botanical Gardens)
DAY 7, Apr 18 Thursday 2024: Nara day trip Isuien Garden, Neiraku museum, Yoshikien garden, Todaiji temple Daibutsuden (Big Buddha Hall)
DAY 8, Apr 19 Friday 2024: Kyoto day trip to Himeji castle, Kokoen Garden
DAY 9, Apr 20 Saturday 2024: Kyoto day trip Miyajima, Miyajima shrine, Treasure Hall, Daisho-in shrine
DAY 10, Apr 21 Sunday 2024: Kyoto Arashiyama, Togetsu-kyo bridge, bamboo grove, Hōgon-in, a subtemple of the Rinzai Zen head temple Tenryū-ji, Kōgen-ji Temple, Sanjūsangen-dō
DAY 11, Apr 22 Monday 2024: Kyoto-Nagoya shinkansen, Nagoya-Takayama limited express, Shirakawa-go
DAY 12, Apr 23 Tuesday 2024: Kamikochi, Takayama old town
DAY 13, Apr 24 Wednesday 2024: Kanazawa Gardens, Castle, Toyama
DAY 14, Apr 25 Thursday 2024: Kurobe alpine route
DAY 15, Apr 26 Friday 2024: Tokyo
DAY 16, Apr 27 Saturday 2024: Tokyo Meiji shrine, Koishikawa Kōrakuen gardens, National museum
DAY 17, Apr 28 Sunday 2024: Flight back home
VIDEOS LINK:
Report continues here:
https://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2024/05/how-to-plan-trip-to-japan-intro-part-2.html
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