What to do in Japan for 2 weeks?

[Raymond Lin]

Day 2 Cont.

At around 11am I went on the Shinkansen, I think I got to Hiroshima in about 90mins, then put my suitcase into a locker in the station and went to get the train to the ferry. 700yen for all day for the large locker which is the standard price.





Miyajima has deer, free roaming, friendly deer, who knew?!

 

[explicit4u]

I know Japan is notoriously crime free, but what's it like travelling around with a big DSLR on your own?

I'm used to big cities, and I went San Francisco by myself a couple years ago and felt relatively comfortable having my camera on my hip at night (despite all the homelessness and dodgy types around).

I'd love to go to Japan in the next few years but I have next to zero experience in a non-english speaking country. Is it similar to European destinations where most shops and services have people that speak passing english?

EDIT: Great photos btw!

 

[Raymond Lin]

Day 2 Cont.

I got back to Hiroshima and checked into my hotel around 8pm. Went to find Okonomiyaki.









I made some friends who were musicians on tour and we walked around the city a bit.

 

[Raymond Lin]

I know Japan is notoriously crime free, but what's it like travelling around with a big DSLR on your own?

I'm used to big cities, and I went San Francisco by myself a couple years ago and felt relatively comfortable having my camera on my hip at night (despite all the homelessness and dodgy types around).

I'd love to go to Japan in the next few years but I have next to zero experience in a non-english speaking country. Is it similar to European destinations where most shops and services have people that speak passing english?

EDIT: Great photos btw!

Very Easy. Very Safe.

Japan is a relatively crime free country mostly because of the culture, it is a culture of trust, honour and respect. You respect other people's space (so no using phone calls on trains, you don't talk loud), you respect your elders and honour is self explanatory. You will see people saving their seats in Starbucks or restaurants by placing their phones or wallets on the table only to walk off to the counter to get food or go to the toilet without taking their phone. It's a done thing, leaving your new iPhone to save a seat, and nobody steals them.

As for language barrier, I did a lot of pointing. or a lot of places you order what you want through a vending machine outside. Although I want to add that I can read a little bit of Kanji characters, so I know the Chinese characters, things like Exit, Entrance, Meat, or the word Bank etc. In a way, I wouldn't mix up the men/ladies toilets so may be someone like you may run into problems like that which I wouldn't.

Like this, you put your money in and pay and outcomes a little ticket with what your order is, you then go inside, hand it over to the chef in the kitchen and he will hand you the food.



The most extreme case is when I was in Kyoto in a place with no such machine and the lady who works there do not speak any English. So I took a photo of the plastic food in the window on my camera, went in, show her the photo on the back of my camera and said "One please" in Japanese.

The only time I had real problem is in Fukuoka when after I sat down they asked me something in Japanese and I had no idea, I had already ordered like the machine above. I was having a Tampura meal of various items, I think it must be something about whether i am allergic to something? I am not allergic to anything so even if that was the question, it wouldn't matter. I got what I ordered by the button press so that's all good.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Day 3

Hiroshima

Morning I went to the War Memorial and Museum for the WW2 bombing and then I went straight to the Shinkansen to Osaka.

Breakfast was a traditional Japanese style.



Then about half a mile walk to the Museum, I was obsessed with these power lines….they are everywhere, for a place that is SO clean, this is quite an eye sore but I kinda like it.









On the train it is tradition to get one of these Bento boxes. I wanted some Unagi.



Meticulous in their detail!





Whilst on the train the tannoy said "next stop, Kobe" and it was about 2pm…..hmmmm Kobe…beef? So I got my stuff, jumped off the train, put it in a locker and went in search for beef. I never planned to go to Kobe.

Kobe











Saw a shrine and I went to check it out.



Osaka

Afterwards I got back on the train to Osaka, checked in first and head out for Okonomiyaki, Osaka style.















Then I went to the Umeda Sky building (I think) for the view at the top, which happens to be close by.



Then I went to Dontoburi and had some Takoyaki.













I wanted to get "the world's 2nd best ice-cream"…that is their actual tag line, but it was sold out! The guy before me had the very last one on the day !!!!



You will see Chinese, English, Japanese and Korean in a lot of tourist friendly places. So you will get all 4 languages in terms of menus.








I'll post Day 4 and onwards tomorrow.

 

[timebomb26]

Great pics, mate!

 

[memyselfandi]

Wish my holiday snaps were as good as Rays

 

[squerble]

Wish my holiday snaps were as good as Rays

Likewise! I have some snaps from my visits to Japan, but nothing like the atmosphere Raymond has managed to capture!

Raymond, these photos are amazing, bringing back many memories of traipsing around Kobe, Osaka, and Kyoto

 

[Housey]

Great thread this, investigating a trip to Japan this year.

 

[Yas786]

Stunning pictures Raymond, would love to go one day to Japan.

 

[exhashdotdot]

Your essentially retreading the steps I took when I last went there. Looks like you had a great time in Hiroshima.

Absolutely incredible photos as well. What do I need to get shots like that? You must be a professional right?

 

[Raymond Lin]

Great pics, mate!

Thanks!

Wish my holiday snaps were as good as Rays

Thanks! They are okay, I feel they could be better, I was rushing around a lot, sometimes with a fulls suitcase in hand.

Likewise! I have some snaps from my visits to Japan, but nothing like the atmosphere Raymond has managed to capture!

Raymond, these photos are amazing, bringing back many memories of traipsing around Kobe, Osaka, and Kyoto

Kyoto photos still to come, my favourite place.

Great thread this, investigating a trip to Japan this year.

I am definitely going back in the next 3 years.

Stunning pictures Raymond, would love to go one day to Japan.

Go !!! now !!!

Your essentially retreading the steps I took when I last went there. Looks like you had a great time in Hiroshima.

Absolutely incredible photos as well. What do I need to get shots like that? You must be a professional right?

Thanks ! I do some work professionally for weddings, yes. So I normally go on the off season around and take pictures and eat. I really do like Hiroshima but I love Miyajima more, charming little island.

Day 4 (morning)

Osaka

In the morning I didn't have long as this hotel I stayed at had a check out time of 10:30am or something silly early. Luckily it is next to the Osaka Castle so I went to visit in the morning before going to Nara for the afternoon. It was a really brief visit and all in all I was in Osaka for less than 18 hours really.




























Day 4 To Be Cont.

 

[shadow_boxer]

Great pics. Really enjoying them!

 

[Raymond Lin]

Day 4 Cont.

Nara

Arrived in Nara via a local trains, no Shinkansen for this trip. It was only about 30 mins from the station near my hotel, much more convenient than trying to go to the main station in Osaka and change.

Nara is famous for a few things, but the deer park is one of them, and the other is allegedly the world's larges wooden building (temple), it's structure has not a single nail.

Japan is not all concrete, there were lots of fields like these.







This picture is actually to show how every vehicle in Japan is spotless. I can zoom in this photo, the bike looks like it just came off the factory 2 mins ago.



I was short of time so instead of lunch I just grabbed these at a "french" bakery. But being Japan, it adds a twist, curry doughnut anyone? It's amazing. Then I had a mochi sweet thing with red bean paste inside.













































Found somewhere that sold Tayaki !





I left Nara around 5pm to Kyoto

Day 4 (evening to be Cont.)

 

[Raymond Lin]

Day 4 Evening

Kyoto

So I picked up these Gyozas and Shui Mai on my way to my hotel, they come hot but they also come gift wrapped…oh Japan !





By this point it was quite late, so after I checked in I went to Gion to check it out and hopefully see a Geisha.







Day 5

I got up at 6:30am today, because I wanted to climb Fushimi Inari without the crowds.

p.s.When you see a photo of Fushimi Inari, if you see writing on the Toril gates, it is facing downwards/going back out. On the way up you don't see the writing.









You get a nice view of the city





When I got back, it was packed



Day 5 to be Cont.

 

[Buffman]

Wow some great pictures!

 

[DomBruv]

I plan to go to Japan this year, have enough holidays for a 2 week trip, BA has a sale on right now for £700 return but flying in and out of Tokyo only, as opposed to out of Osaka or Fukuoka which would make the exploring easier. It means if I were to leave Tokyo I have to go back again to get to flight back.

With that in mind, how should I break it up? I want to see more than Tokyo but also don't want to spend most of the time on the train.

I am thinking Tokyo for 5 days, to Kyoto for 3 days , Osaka for 3 days, then back to Tokyo for 1 day and then fly out.

Is that too rushed? I would be going from Saturday and leave 2 weeks Saturday.

I really really want to go to japan, where is the best place to look for deals there and back for 2? any ideas?

 

[memyselfandi]

The Japan Tourist Boards UK site was quite good at listing current offers, they seem to have redone their site since I was last there but they do have a newsletter with info on offers

Latest offers link

 

[Scam]

@Raymond Lin are these all taken on a 35mm lens (FF)? I love that focal length, must get the 23mm for my Fuji.. Do you have an album up on Flickr too?

 

[Raymond Lin]

I really really want to go to japan, where is the best place to look for deals there and back for 2? any ideas?

Normally I would check BA.com and they often do sales, and you can get Flight + hotel packages for a good deal for 2 people. The problem is that you are in 1 city, 1 hotel for the duration so that doesn’t work for me as I ended up staying in about 6 hotels in the space of 2 weeks.

I wanted maximum flexibility so I didn’t think of any packages, even the internal flight was booked separately and not a connecting flight so I had to collect my bags and check it in again. The whole trip I pretty much went as I see fit, when I see fit, hopped of the train mid journey to Kobe and a last minute to Nara between Osaka and Kyoto. Both Nara and Kobe wasn’t on my itinerary before I set off, I just decided to go in the last minute, with literally next to zero planning.

In Kobe I literally got off the train….first thought…find a locker. Then google maps out and search Trip Advisor and Google reviews for best steaks locally within the mile of walking distance.

With Nara, because I checked out of the hotel early, I knew I have 3 nights in Kyoto and Nara is kind of on the way….so I went. I only know of the Deer Park so googled that and started walking, as I was walking I just deviated left right and centre to all these temples that I see. On the way back I purposely will take a slightly different route so to maximise what I see of the city.

This way is probably not the cheapest way to do it, but there are ways to get best deals. The internal flight I booked through expedia allowed me discounts on hotel bookings through expedia afterwards and got 50% off a couple of places. The room I stayed at in Fukuoka and Hiroshima was half price, I paid more in Premier Inn back at home.

JR Pass can also save you lots of money if you travel like I did. I basically paid no rail cost for the first 7 days.

The hotel in Kyoto, Hakone and Tokyo however I paid full wack, especially in Kyoto and Hakone (on the weekend). I went during fall so it was the best time to see the change of colours so it was quite busy. £450 for 3 nights in Kyoto was pretty much the best deal I could get for the quality that I wanted. Hakone was even more crazy, the place is where the people in Tokyo go away for a weekend break for some Onsen and see the countryside, it is only 30mins from Tokyo by train. So on the weekend the prices literally doubles and as it happens I cornered myself to that town on that day from my itinerary. I could have extended my day in Kyoto for 1 more day but then my JR pass for 7 day would be up and I would have had to pay more for train tickets.

In short, if you go to certain places on the off days, you can get much better deals.

@Raymond Lin are these all taken on a 35mm lens (FF)? I love that focal length, must get the 23mm for my Fuji.. Do you have an album up on Flickr too?

90% of it was with the 35mm, I did have a 50 and 85, so there are a few with them but mostly just the 35mm.

re flickR, I don't anymore, don't even remember what i called it.

I only post on Facebook and Instagram these days, actually only just started to put them on last day or so too.