Trip End Survey: Best and Worst Japan 2012

On our trip to Europe, Greg and I decided that we should rank various things best and worst. We saw some really great sites, stayed in some great hotels, and ate at a couple of great restaurants. But we also saw the worst of all of those things. We decided to do the same for our trip to Japan. The list below is a revised version of the one we used for our Europe trip 3 years ago. So here it is, the Best and Worst List 2012:

Illustrated Best and Worst of Japan 2012

Best historical thing: Hikone Castle

Hikone Castle

Best View: from vista point overlooking old village Shirakawa-go

Shirakawa-go

Best Hotel View: Grand Arc Hanzoman Hotel, Tokyo

Worst Hotel View:  Business Inn Tsuchiya, Nagoya

Best Hotel: Grand Arc Hanzoman Hotel, Tokyo
Worst Hotel: Business Inn Tsuchiya
*Note that since this was a much shorter trip, we only stayed in 5 different hotels.

Best Toilet: Villa Fontaine Roppongi, Tokyo. I liked the warm seats.
Worst Toilet: Business Inn Tsuchiya, Nagoya (only Eastern hole-in-the-ground style toilets available). Note that the men's bathroom in particular was both unbearably disgusting and smelly.

Best Animal Encounter: feeding the deer in Nara

Greg feeding the deer

Best French-Inspired Pastry: pastry with fruit and cream (yums)
Worst French-Inspired Pastry: Mayonnaise and corn pastry

Most Brilliant Food Invention: Pancake sandwich (with margarine and jellied syrup filling)
Best Dessert: E - cheesecake from 7-11

Best Food Item: G - sushi and miso ramen / E - triangular rice thingies with spinach

Best Drink: C.C. Lemon Soda
Best Local Liquor: G - warm sake / E - shochu

Best Castle: Hikone Castle, Hikone
Worst Castle: Himeji Caslte, Himeji (but only because it is currently under construction and covered with a tarp)

Best Temple: Nishihonganji Temple, Kyoto

Best City: Tokyo
Worst City: Yokohama (not a bad city, just lowest ranked)

Best Restaurant: the izakaya we visited in Nagoya

Best Nightlife: Karaoke

Best Subterranean Experience: crazy huge underground cities in Tokyo attached to subway and train stations

Best-Preserved Old City: Shirakawa-go
Best Backdoor Destination: Shirakawa-go

Best Weather: Tokyo
Worst Weather: Kanazawa (freezing cold rain all day)

Most Interestingly Dressed Locals: Harajuku, Tokyo

Clothing shop in Harajuku

Most Relaxing Place: Grand Arc Hanzoman Hotel, Tokyo
Least Relaxing Place: E - Business Inn Tsuchiya, Nagoya / Kyoto Imperial Palace park trying to eat food on a bench in freezing cold wind.

Scariest Moment: E - at Business Inn Tsuchiya when I realized there were no western toilets / G - none
Biggest Culture Shock: G - at Bunraku performance the women in the audience were dressed in fancy kimonos.
Cheesiest Tourist Trap: G - the cup of noodles museum in Yokohama / E - Guy wearing a castle suit, Osaka.

Guy wearing a castle suit in Osaka

Longest Distance Walked: New Year's Eve in Tokyo
Longest Travel Day: G - Traveling from San Francisco to Tokyo (21 hours) / E - Traveling from Austin to Tokyo (26 hours)

Best Inside Joke: "5 seconds"

Worst Hawker Experience: Chinatown, Yokohama (people kept trying to get us to come inside their restaurants and hand us fliers)
Biggest Revelation: E - the musical note button on the toilets makes a fake flushing sound meant to cover up other "toilet sounds" / G - "there are a lot of people in Japan"

The 10 Second Game

While in Tokyo and Kyoto, Greg and I played this game I dubbed the "10 Second Game" which turns into the "5 Second Game" while riding a train.  My theory was that wherever you were in Tokyo or Kyoto, you were never more than about 10 seconds from a vending machine.  On a moving train, no more than 5 seconds would pass between vending machine sightings.  The object of the game was to see how long the 5 or 10 second rule lasted.  The record was probably something like a minute for the train version which is insane when you think about it.  At minimum, we would have to see 12 vending machines within a minute from our seats on the train. And we often saw many more than that.

Vending machines on a street corner near our hotel in Tokyo.

Kyoto and onto Kanazawa

Greg was ready to continue on to Kanazawa this morning, but I didn't feel like we were finished seeing Kyoto.  Because of the poor weather on our Kyoto day yesterday and the early closing of the Nijo castle, we weren't able to see as much as I had wanted to.

Entering Nijo Castle complex.

The weather was much better today.  The sun was out, and it it wasn't raining. We took advantage of the weather and spent the morning and early afternoon sightseeing in Kyoto before we got on the Thunderbird Limited Express to Kanazawa.

So today, we bought another day pass for the bus and hopped on the bus that said "Nijo-jo." The castle was open during normal hours today for the first time since the New Year.  Unlike the Imperial Palace, we were actually allowed to go inside one of the palaces, Ninomaru.

Ninomaru Palace.

As we entered, the shoe/slipper attendant directed us to remove our shoes. She asked if we wanted slippers.  We did and she brought us each a pair of blue slippers.  Apparently, the palace provides two sizes of slippers: normal (brown) and big (blue).  Almost everyone (men included) wore brown slippers.  I felt very self-conscious wearing the big slippers.

Anyway, after we took off our shoes and put on the provided slippers, we began the self-guided tour of the palace.  Mannequins in traditional dress were set up in several of the chambers, so we were able to better envision how the rooms would have been used.  We were especially impressed with the paintings on the screen walls and doors.

Ninomaru Palace was an elaborately decorated structure intended to impress visitors with the power and riches of the shoguns.  There were even two or three visitor waiting rooms, all with exquisitely painted wall and door panels.

We finished our tour of Ninomaru Palace, put on our shoes, and left to explore the Castle grounds and to find Honmaru Palace.

Greg and I on castle grounds.

Honmaru Palace. We were unable to enter this building.

Unfortunately, we were unable to enter Honmaru Palace.  Originally, Honmaru was similar to Ninomaru.  The building used to be a part of a palace called Katsura Palace before it was relocated to its current location.

We decided that the sign probably meant, "No climbing."

While exploring castle grounds, we twice ran into this "No scribbling" sign.  We could only guess that the sign referred to climbing, "No climbing here," or possibly trespassing, "No trespassing."  Graffiti doesn't seem to be an issue here in Japan; we've only seen graffiti once on this trip.

We exited castle grounds and took the bus to our final Kyoto destination: the golden Kinkaku-ji Temple.

Kinkaku-ji Temple

Kinkaku-ji Temple, or Temple of the Golden Pavilion is a zen Buddhist temple  in northwestern Kyoto. The Golden Palace's history began in 1397 when a shogun purchased a villa and transformed it into Kinkaku Palace.  The palace is "golden" because the structure is coated with gold-leaf.  The golden building was converted into a Zen Buddhist temple after the shogun died as he wished.

Like much of Japan's early period architecture, Kikaku-ju was destroyed and rebuilt.  The Golden Palace survived several centuries and World War II, but was burned down in 1950 by a novice monk.  Five years later, the pavilion was rebuilt as close as possible to original specifications.

Kinkaku-ji Temple

Garden at Kinkaku-ji Temple

Kinkaku-ji Temple

Good luck coin toss at Kinkaku-ji Temple

Greg spent some time and yen trying to throw a coin into the bowl for good luck. He didn't make it, but another girl did a couple minutes after Greg ran out of small change.

After visiting Kinkaku-ji Temple, we decided it was time to travel to Kanazawa.  The sun sets so early in Japan!  We left Kyoto in the early afternoon, but by the time we arrived at the ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) in Kanazawa, it was already dark.  Although it was still early, we weren't able to visit anything.

Our ryokan room in Kanazawa.

We had decided to stay at a traditional Japanese inn, or ryokan, at least once during our trip.   So for our two nights in Kanazawa, we booked a six tatami mat room.  Greg was really excited to arrive and get settled in.  As excited as we were to be staying at a traditional inn, the room was freezing, and therefore miserable.  There were controls on the wall for the machine we suspected was the heater (but could have been an air conditioner), so Greg went down to reception to ask how the heater (if it was one) worked.


The ryokan owners did not speak English, but somehow Greg was able to communicate that we were freezing and needed heat.  Greg had a strange experience.  He followed the husband downstairs to the basement and into a storage area.  After some time and creepiness, Greg was finally provided with a small, old  space heater.  Greg brought the heater upstairs to our room.  I had been waiting in the room, freezing.  We plugged in the space heater and I sat in front of it while Greg recounted the story of acquiring the heater and played with the controls on the wall.

After mashing some buttons with kanji symbols on them, Greg finally figured out how to turn on the heater in the room.  The owner must not have understood Greg when he was asking about the heater controls.  He must have thought we were asking for an additional heater.  If only there had been directions in English in the first place!

 

Our ryokan room in Kanazawa.

Finally warm enough to move, we unfolded our beds and got ready to go to sleep.  

Day in Kyoto

Today was actually kind of lazy.  We got a day pass for the local buses and hopped on the first bus we saw without a line.  We actually didn't do much today.  We had intentions of seeing great things, but for some reason, that didn't happen.  We saw one shrine, visited the Kyoto Handicraft Center (where I bought 2 wood block prints), and did NOT see the Imperial Palace in Kyoto (but no one else can see it either).  Until we arrived at the Imperial Palace, I wasn't aware that we wouldn't even be able to see it.  A guard at the gate and a high fence protected the palace and other buildings.  While we didn't see many sights today, I must note that the weather was less than ideal.  It actually started to snow while we were at the Heian Jingu Shrine.

Heian Jingu Shrine

The circumstances of the snow were unusual in that the sun was shining.  It seemed odd that snow was floating down while the sun was out.

Heian Jingu Shrine

 After we left the shrine, we popped into the Kyoto handicraft center to warm up and possibly find some souvenirs.  We walked out with only my two wood block prints.  The day was so cold that all I wanted to do was get on a bus going towards our next location, the Imperial Palace.

We arrived at the palace a couple of bus stops later.  The snow and clouds had picked up a bit, and the wind was strong and chilling.  The park area surrounding the Imperial Palace was windier than other areas in Kyoto, perhaps because this space was more open.

Realizing there wasn't much to see at the Imperial Palace, we traveled to the castle, Nijo-jo.  Unfortunately, because of the New Year holiday, the hours had been reduced for today, and we were about 30 minutes too late.

Near Nijo Castle the snow became much heavier.

Maybe everything worked out for the best, because the snow became heavier and I'm not sure how enjoyable the experience would have been in the cold, wet snow.

The time was still early, but we were tired and cold.  We took a bus heading to Kyoto Station, but hopped off when we saw one of the temples on the UNESCO World Heritage list.  A service was going on when we arrived.  Monks were chanting and locals were seated watching.  We sat down and watched for the last few minutes.

Nishihonganji Temple

As the temple was closing, we left and boarded another bus headed toward the train station.  Underneath the Kyoto station and occupying some of the space underground surrounding the station were shops and passageways, an subterranean city of sorts.  Tokyo had some of these underground "cities" too.  It's actually insane how far you can walk underground in Tokyo.  We probably walked around a mile underground in Tokyo once.  

In the "city" under the train station in Kyoto, we found hot chocolate at a Starbucks.  Having read that an amazing view of the city (the above-ground part) exists on the top floor of the station, we took a dozen escalators to reach the vista point.   

View of the station from the top floor.  This part of the station was open air.  

View of the city from the top floor of the train station.

Since the temperature was so low, we didn't stay very long, but long enough to take a few pictures and soak up the city at night.

Quick Stop in Uji

After a full day in Nara, we were completely exhausted.  Despite our exhaustion and the setting sun, we hopped off the train at Uji.  From the train station we walked a few blocks over and across the bridge.  

Largest stone pagoda in Japan, Uji.

Uji , just a few train stops from Kyoto, is known for having the largest stone pagoda in Japan.   

Ujigami-jinja shrine, Uji.

Across the river, we found Ujigami-jinja Shrine. The walkway, lined with lanterns, interested us.  We walked up the lit pathway to find that we were alone at the shrine except for a couple of people in the tent where you could buy good luck charms.  I believe the tent and lanterns are set up only during the New Year holiday.

Ujigami-jinja shrine, Uji.

Ujigami-jinja shrine, Uji.

After visiting the shrine, we wandered around some residential side streets before heading back towards the train station.  Deciding we were starving, we stopped at a Saizeriya, a chain restaurant serving fast food Italian.  We were the only non-Japanese people in the restaurant! Since the food here was cheaper than we had seen elsewhere and since we were so hungry, we ordered about 8 things and chowed down.  Being a vegetarian in Japan is difficult.  This was actually the first hot meal I had in this country, soup followed by cheese pizza and dessert.

Stomachs full, we walked back to the train station and returned to Kyoto and our hotel near the Kyoto Tower.

First Hours in Kyoto

We took our first shinkansen (bullet train) today.  We left Villa Fontaine Roppongi about 11am, bought lunch and the train station (to eat on the train), and boarded the 1.03pm shinkansen.  The train was amazingly fast and smooth. We were in Kyoto in about 2 1/2 hours.

We didn't arrive in Kyoto until around 4pm (and since it gets dark here around 5, we didn't have much time to explore or sight see).  In fact, we only managed to take in one temple before it was too dark to see much.

Higashihonganji Temple with Kyoto Tower in the Background

Many places are closed for the New Year holiday until January 3rd or 4th, including the Higashihonganji Temple, so we were unable to go inside.  

Higashihonganji Temple with Kyoto Tower in the Background 

The sun set and it was soon dark.  We spent some time wandering around small streets near our hotel (which was very near both the train station and the Kyoto Tower). We got hungry and headed back toward the hotel to find some food near the train station.

Nighttime view of the Kyoto Tower.  Our  hotel
was just around the block from the tower.

Greg checking out a wall of toy vending machines.

We spent the rest of the evening hanging out at the hotel watching Japanese television.  Although today wasn't very productive, we needed a rest after such an active New Year's Eve.  

We are using Kyoto as a base from which we will travel to Nara and Osaka.  Tomorrow, we will visit Nara.