SandyCoin wrote:I think we will be wanting a mix of stuff really. Whilst I am technically a gamer, I'm nowhere near as bad as I used to be. The Japanese game culture these days doesn't overly interest me, but I will certainly head to any areas in Tokyo to arcades or anything like that. Maybe some art galleries would be interesting as I love Japanese paintings (or any other interesting museums. I hear there is a poo museum
). Basically anything that is very different to Europe is always appealing.
I will be wanting to see some nice peaceful and pretty areas. Also some old samurai towns. Have you been to Kanazawa? It looks like it's on the bullet train line and only a couple of hours from Tokyo, so maybe even a day trip if it's worth it.
Food is important. I've got some ideas, but I know food can be expensive there so will have to be careful as I'll be there 2 weeks or so. My brother said you can get pretty decent ramen at 7-11's so maybe I'll have to grab that a couple of times.
I'm not 100 sure about Hiroshima yet. Have you been? Worth visiting?
I always like to know good etiquette before going to places too. I don't want to get on the locals nerves, like when tourists come to London and block the escalators instead of standing to the right
Cheers
Etiquette you'll be fine, eating on the move tends to be frowned up, keep left on the escalators (except in Osaka where it's the right), no talking on the phone on trains. But generally as long as you're not obnoxious you'll be fine.
I enjoyed Hiroshima and normally I'd suggest it for the side trip to Miyajima, however they are doing renovation works on the famous floating Torii gate. I liked Miyajima but this is something to take into account.
Food is great and can be done on the cheap. Definitely give some of the more expensive places a go if you can afford it but don't worry about eating on the cheap. My last trip in March/April I was very budget conscious (six weeks is a long time to be buying meals) and most of my meals were from Lawsons/7-11/FamilyMart. Eating out I went to Coco Curry Sukiya or Yoshinoya.
I went to Kanazawa last trip. It's worth visiting. I stayed a few days but in all honesty a day trip would be enough to see the sights. Nikko is day trippable and I'd personally pick their over Kanazawa (both are worth the trip but I prefer Nikko).
Tokyo is full of arcades, it'll be pretty easy to find them. I'm not really an arty person but there are plenty of museums. I tend to go to castles and history museums (though now I think about it never really in Tokyo for some reason).
For something a bit different maybe the Robot Restaurant? It's very tourist trappy and the on the door prices are too high but you can find deals online (or at least could when I went a few years ago). It's not for everyone but I loved it.
I also suggest
www.japan-guide.com as a great resource for holiday planning.
I love Kyoto but as tourism increases it's becoming very busy. The difference from when I first went in 2010 then 2012 compared to this year was very noticable. If you are going there I would advise going to the Inari shrine as early as possible, the crowds are horrendous. Same with Arashiyama Bamboo Grove. I went at 8am and it was still pretty busy. The great thing about Kyoto though is there are tons of temples and many of them get overlooked by the tourists.