LogFAQs > #981659129

neonreaper posted...

Nagoya - Tokugawa Art Museum, it's located within a nice garden and it has the Genji scrolls. Honestly Nagoya is a good central location because it's easy to day trip to Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo.

Good call. I just checked a map. Seems like the halfway spot between Tokyo and Kyoto/Osaka

neonreaper posted...

Tokyo - it's huge and there's a lot to do. You could spend most of your time there and not get bored!

There are two ways I used to spend there. One is to pick two big things near each other (like the Imperial palace and the Akhabara district) and spend my day in that area. Or pick a subway line (for instance the ginza line) and visit Asakusa shrine (it's huge and touristy but not insultingly so) and then take the subway to the other side (Shibuya) and take some stops along the way.

Other people might have better ways to make an itinerary than I do, but I like an anchor (location, subway line).

The anchor idea makes total sense. I plan on starting and ending my trip in Tokyo (2-3 days each), so I'll have to figure out which spots I want to hit when. Any advice for what to hit on my first couple "jet lag" days?

Shattered posted...

For hotels I stayed in a lot over the ~4 weeks. The ones that my wife and I both liked the most in Tokyo was 'Ginza Capital Hotel Moegi' and 'Nippon Seinenkan Hotel Tokyo, Shinjuku'. The first one was a business hotel so pretty no frills but it was cheap, clean and in a convenient location (station directly outside the hotel). The second one was a high end hotel that I got on a great deal (about $100 a night), it's where the Olympians stayed and was an amazing hotel. Again had a station within 5 minutes walk.

This is super helpful. Gonna look those up.

With the JR Pass, we found it really wasn't worth it. It has changed just before we got there. We used Suica and Passmo (Pasmo?) for Tokyo travel and then just got bullet trains as needed for other locations. Make sure this will work with your phone before traveling, it would work with my wife's iPhone fine but would not work with my OnePlus without me messing around with the regional settings.

@Shattered What's the "this" you're referring to? Passmo? (I have an iPhone 12 btw)

I would say make sure you plan on your trip extensively and factor in the jet lag is going to fuck you up for your first few days.

Any jet lag tips? Like what are the best Tokyo attractions to hit while I'm acclimating to the 13-hour time difference?

squexa posted...

I feel like there are two types of hotels: places only to pass a night and places that are an experience in itself. For the former, we'd just book a hotel next to a major train station or a subway stop just for the efficiency. For the latter, I'd definitely recommend trying out some Japanese-specific accommodations. I've never been to a love hotel or booked one by accident and at least on booking.com, I thought it's pretty clear what each accommodation is.

Good to know. Thanks!

Finally, I think the best experience we had was going to a completely random Japanese fishing village and renting an Airbnb there for a couple nights. All the places you've listed are going to be swarmed with tourists especially Kyoto and it's a totally different experience going to a quiet, rural place. Japan's super safe in general outside some seedy areas like in Roppongi and Kabukicho though so definitely don't be afraid to be bold. Just make sure you have a phone with a translation app to make all the fly translation.

Interesting. I'll have to check if there are any villages near good hiking areas. How did you get to the village btw? Bus?