Trip to Japan

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PatSharpsMullet
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PostRe: Trip to Japan
by PatSharpsMullet » Sun Apr 01, 2018 7:47 pm

I'm off to Japan tomorrow. :toot:
Don't get there till Tuesday though.

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Parksey
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PostRe: Trip to Japan
by Parksey » Sun Apr 01, 2018 11:51 pm

PatSharpsMullet wrote:I'm off to Japan tomorrow. :toot:
Don't get there till Tuesday though.


If you're lucky there might still be a few places with cherry blossom. Full bloom was the end of last week but there might be leaves on the trees if it doesn't rain or get particularly windy before Tuesday.

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Roonmastor
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PostRe: Trip to Japan
by Roonmastor » Tue Apr 03, 2018 4:17 am

Still lots of blossom about.

Off to Mt. Fuji at the moment. Bit of a ball ache to get to. My Tokyo hotel has a handy so I basically get a free phone. But wifi is free and in lots of public places so I had been coping on my phone in Kyoto and hiroshima. Also O2 is a fiver a day for all data usage so not had any connection issues. I know there were lots of phone queries. (3 is extortionate though)

Best place so far waa miyajima (free train and ferry with JR pass).

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PostRe: Trip to Japan
by NickSCFC » Tue Apr 03, 2018 12:54 pm

Thread needs photos

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Roonmastor
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PostRe: Trip to Japan
by Roonmastor » Tue Apr 03, 2018 1:34 pm

Best way to get pics on here from my phone?

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Skarjo
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PostRe: Trip to Japan
by Skarjo » Tue Apr 03, 2018 2:46 pm

I don't get there til next week, no blossoms for me.

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Roonmastor
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PostRe: Trip to Japan
by Roonmastor » Tue Apr 03, 2018 3:10 pm

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Deer and Dusk at Miyajima (island nr Hiroshima)

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Hiroshima Ground Zero and Hiroshima Castle

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Himeji Castle

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Kiyomizu-dera (Kyoto) at night

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Arashiyama (Kyoto) Monkey Sanctuary

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Inari (Kyoto)

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Tokyo Skytree

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Mt Fuji

Last edited by Roonmastor on Sat Apr 07, 2018 8:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
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still
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PostRe: Trip to Japan
by still » Tue Apr 03, 2018 6:26 pm

^So jealous! (One day....)

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Parksey
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PostRe: Trip to Japan
by Parksey » Wed Apr 04, 2018 1:35 am

It's been really nice weather the past week or so too (I was abroad before then and like when I landed back in Japan the temperature had kicked up a bit). April is a great time to visit, even if I am old and jaded by the sakura now.

Also I was really disappointed with the inside of Himeji Castle (and indeed, any Japanese castle). They look beautiful on the outside but inside they are often just a hollow shell with wooden stairs that can be strawberry floating treacherous when you have to go up in socks.

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karl_fletcher
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PostRe: Trip to Japan
by karl_fletcher » Wed Apr 04, 2018 5:19 am

Great pics, Roonmastor.

A few favourites from my recent trip:
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£33 for a box of strawberries...

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Takoyaki pringles!

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We stumbled upon this view of Shibuya crossing by chance, from a tiny private balcony near the exit of an 11th floor bar.

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A grumpy cat inside a large plastic tree.

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Mario Kart DX. Apparently this guy is called Don Chan.

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Parksey
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PostRe: Trip to Japan
by Parksey » Wed Apr 04, 2018 7:07 am

Are the second and third photos of the Nakasendo between Magome and Tsumago? Looks familiar but it could be any ye old place.

It's a shame I'll never look at Japan through the eyes of a tourist. Only came here for the first time on the day I moved here, and I do sort of view it a little differently because of that.

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Roonmastor
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PostRe: Trip to Japan
by Roonmastor » Wed Apr 04, 2018 7:41 am

Himeji was like one of those rollercoaster queues. Except the end of the queue is when you leave the castle. Guess that is the cost of being a tourist in sakura season. The castles are better from the outside as inside the keep there is little due the minimalist style of Japanese and it all being wooden.

Nijo castle in Kyoto was much better inside because it was actually a palace. We went Ichiran today. Definitely worth a trip. Try and go out of peak eating times to avoid the queues.

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Parksey
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PostRe: Trip to Japan
by Parksey » Wed Apr 04, 2018 8:24 am

I was unimpressed with Ichiran too. Thought the huddles were quite thin and cardboardy. Like the stuff you get in isntant packets. Maybe I'm just old and jaded. Only been the once a few years back, so might go try it again sometime. It's got branches in New York and stuff now, and foreign visitors from America normally rave about it. The only thing that stood out for me was that you could basically make it your own little private ramen booth.

I quite liked Inuyama castle but you might not be heading that way. The vast majority of them are reconstructions but half a dozen of them are the real thing.

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Lotus
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PostRe: Trip to Japan
by Lotus » Wed Apr 04, 2018 11:11 am

karl_fletcher wrote:Great pics, Roonmastor.

A few favourites from my recent trip:
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Nice. Where were those two taken - Nara?

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Parksey
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PostRe: Trip to Japan
by Parksey » Wed Apr 04, 2018 11:31 am

The lower one especially looks like the Nakasendo trail. It was the old road through the middle of the country between Tokyo and Kyoto.

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karl_fletcher
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PostRe: Trip to Japan
by karl_fletcher » Wed Apr 04, 2018 12:33 pm

Parksey wrote:Are the second and third photos of the Nakasendo between Magome and Tsumago? Looks familiar but it could be any ye old place.


Yep. I can imagine it gets pretty horrendous there during peak season, but in winter we practically had the place to ourselves.

I was unimpressed with Ichiran too. Thought the huddles were quite thin and cardboardy. Like the stuff you get in isntant packets. Maybe I'm just old and jaded.


Is this in reference to my noodle pic? That's actually from a small soba shop in Kyoto called Ogawa. It was one of the best meals I had on the trip. Best ramen I had was at Nakiryu in Tokyo.
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Roonmastor
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PostRe: Trip to Japan
by Roonmastor » Wed Apr 04, 2018 4:01 pm

I think it is because I went today:

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I enjoyed the experience and you get a good feed.

Saw Mario Karts in Shibuya today and stumbled upon a Monster Hunter Bar in Shinjuku.

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Denster
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PostRe: Trip to Japan
by Denster » Thu Apr 05, 2018 8:17 am

Thinking about the JR pass. If we're not going to travel outside of Tokyo much is it worth getting? Possibly might do a day trip to Kyoto.

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Parksey
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PostRe: Trip to Japan
by Parksey » Thu Apr 05, 2018 8:21 am

Denster wrote:Thinking about the JR pass. If we're not going to travel outside of Tokyo much is it worth getting? Possibly might do a day trip to Kyoto.


How long are you coming from? Personally I wouldn't spend more than 4 days or so in Tokyo but it depends on the length of your trip.

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Bunni
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PostRe: Trip to Japan
by Bunni » Thu Apr 05, 2018 9:11 am

Denster wrote:Thinking about the JR pass. If we're not going to travel outside of Tokyo much is it worth getting? Possibly might do a day trip to Kyoto.


Not really worth it for one day trip, though you could pop along to Mount Fuji or something on it and make it worthwhile. City travel in Tokyo is pretty cheap so won't cost a fortune compared to a JR pass. How long are you going for now?


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