The 2007 World Science Fiction Convention will be held in Yokohama, Japan this year, and Kate and I are going. It's a bit of a delayed celebration for my tenure-- I'll be on sabbatical in the Fall, so I won't need to worry about prepping a class for September, and we can make it a nice vacation.
We're planning to spend about three weeks there, and have most of the itinerary sketched out (details below the fold), but there's a little time left unaccounted for. I'm pretty sure there are people reading this from Japan, and I know there are lots of people who have more knowledge of the country than I do (having spent three months there back in 1998), so let me throw this out to the Internet:
If you were going to be in Yokohama on a Tuesday morning in early Spetember, and needed to be in Osaka that Friday night (to get a Saturday flight back to the US), how would you spend your time?
More details of the Plan, such as it is, and various random thoughts are below the fold.
The (Highly Preliminary) Plan:
The con runs from Aug. 30-Sept. 3, which is Thursday to Monday. Our plan is to fly to Japan the previous week (probably arriving on the 19th), and go to Kyoto for about a week to do touristy things in that area. I've been told that Kyoto is pretty spectacular, but I didn't make it there in 1998 (I stayed in the area of Tokyo).
The Sunday before the con (probably), we plan to relocate to Yokohama, and stay there through the end of the con. Yokohama is about half an hour by train from Tokyo, and we plan to spend a few days seeing stuff in Tokyo and Kamakura (which is half an hour in the other direction, and was really cool when I was there). Then there's the convention, which will keep us pretty busy, depending on the programming.
And then there's the post-con period. We currently plan to stay through the end of the week, and fly out on Saturday. As we'd like to keep the number of long-distance train rides to a minimum, we'll probably fly in and out of Kansai International Airport, which is closer to Osaka and Kyoto, and it would probably be prudent to stay Friday night in Osaka, to be sure of catching the flight out.
Which supplies the constraints in the question above: Tuesday morning in Yokohama, post-Worldcon, and Friday night in Osaka. And in between...? Well, what would you recommend?
(I am aware that late August and early September are not the best time to be in Japan, climate-wise. There's nothing we can do about that-- the Worldcon dates were fixed by someone else.)
Thoughts on possible destinations (in no particular order):
Anything really far afield is probably out-- Hokkaido may be lovely in September, but I don't really relish the idea of spending two whole days on trains back and forth. Ditto the southern reaches of Kyushu. If we've only got four days, I'd rather not spend too much of that time in transit.
The longest day trip I took when I was there was to Nikko, which was pretty impressive, even in mid-December. (The picture on my work web page was taken there, and you can see the snow.) I managed to see most of the major sights in one (very full) day, though it might benefit from taking a more leisurely approach. Still, I'm not sure it would fill three days.
There are a couple of vaguely interesting-sounding spots on the coast between Tokyo and Osaka, in Izu and Ise. I don't know any more about these than I've read in guidebooks. Not far past Osaka is Himeji, which has a castle that's supposed to be really impressive, and I definitely think it would be cool to see a castle. Again, though, none of these really seem like three-day visits, and changing lodgings every day might be a bit rough toward the end of a long trip.
There are also "something completely different" options like shifting across to the west side of the island. Places like Nagano and Matsumoto (another castle) come to mind from leafing through guidebooks, but again, I know almost nothing.
One thing I've heard recommended is to check out some onsen (hot springs), which could be interesting, but I know absolutely nothing about the best places to go. I know there are onsen resorts scattered around most of the other areas that sound interesting, so checking into someplace like that, and making trips out to other sights might be a good way to go. I have no idea what to look for, though, and Kate's a little dubious about the communal bathing thing.
That's a sketch of the current state of our planning. We're very much open to suggestions at this point, so if you have opinions or advice about sights that shouldn't be missed, leave a comment.
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If you're curious, I took a ton of pictures when I was in Kyoto. You can take a look here. I only made it to Kyoto and Tokyo during my trip, so I don't have any other recommendations, but Kyoto was, as you say, spectacular, and I didn't come close to seeing all the sights over a week. There was a conference I was ostensibly supposed to be attending, of course, but still.
Congratulations, hoping to see you at Worldcon. The Tokyo-Yokohama area could keep you busy for weeks. Do you like theme parks? Yokohama has a great ferris wheel, and Tokyo Disney Sea is a wonder.
Ditto on Kyoto. My personal favorite was the Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine with its 30,000 Torii gates. Kyoto is like the Rome of Japan, so you can definitely fill three days but you can't finish it by any means. You are also arriving at the tail end of Mt Fuji climbing season. And there are plenty of hot spring options in the Fuji five lakes area.
Warning: Traveling to Japan in August can be difficult/expensive because of the Obon holiday. I am not sure if it ends on the 15th or starts on the 15th.
I am planning a similar trip starting sometime on or after August 20th. We are planning on seeing the Ibaraki Daibutsu which is near Tokyo and can probably be visited in a half day trip from Yokohama.
Almost forgot, there is a castle in Nagoya as well.
Warning: Traveling to Japan in August can be difficult/expensive because of the Obon holiday. I am not sure if it ends on the 15th or starts on the 15th.
It ends on the 15th or 16th. We're planning to fly in after that, and the prices I've seen on travel sites don't seem outlandishly excessive, by the standards of things in Japan.
We are planning on seeing the Ibaraki Daibutsu which is near Tokyo and can probably be visited in a half day trip from Yokohama.
I hadn't heard of that one.
That's one big Buddha, all right.
Dr. A goes to Japan, and he only visits anagrams.
What a geek.
Consider visiting Karuizawa, a resort town in the mountains in Nagano Prefecture, which is now apparently only one hour by bullet train from Tokyo. I went there in the winter over 20 years ago (we had to drive then), and it's a true antidote to the endless expanses of cheek-by-jowl buildings of the Tokyo megalopolis. Lots of trees, mountain views, looks like some hot springs and hiking are there. It's popular in the summer because of its cooler temps, so book ahead.
Good thing you're in Osaka for a night, by the way--there are plenty of interesting accommodations there which you just wouldn't find anywhere else....
I assume having spent time in Tokyo you have been to Akihabura for the electronics. Make sure you also go to Asakusa and eat Monja.
Outside of Tokyo I say two things. One pick one of the rural resort villages that is fed by natural spring water and spend a day there. I can look up some of the ones I went to if you are interested, just drop me a note.
Also cross the bridge into Shikoku, and visit Matsuyama. It has a much different feel than anything on Honshu.
If you go to Himeji, you don't need to go to Matsumoto. The castles are similar and there's not much to do in the towns otherwise (so I would not stay for more than a day). I would vote for Himeji, personally.
I wouldn't spend more than one day at Nikko, but that's just me. You could easily spend a day happily exploring Kita-Kamakura (one stop north of Kamakura) which is full of beautiful temples and gardens.
I wouldn't spend more than one day at Nikko, but that's just me. You could easily spend a day happily exploring Kita-Kamakura (one stop north of Kamakura) which is full of beautiful temples and gardens.
When I was there in '98, I did all of Kamakura in one day (I never got around to writing it up for the Web page, though I do have a whole bunch of pictures)-- I got off at Kita-Kamakura, and worked my way down to the center of tow, then hopped a train out to the Great Buddha area before heading back to Komae. Long day, but a fun trip.
It was late fall when I went (early December, actually), and the temples at Kita-Kamakura were, indeed, spectacularly beautiful. Even in the miserable drizzly rain that fell the whole day...
I probably ought to see about getting those pictures converted to digital format.
I had only planned on visiting Kyoto, actually, but I decided to make a quick trip up to Tokyo for what I called my insane sushi adventure. According to the grad students there, the was no "good" sushi in Kyoto, you see -- it's not on the coast, after all -- and, well, you do what you have to do.
According to the grad students there, the was no "good" sushi in Kyoto, you see -- it's not on the coast, after all -- and, well, you do what you have to do.
Not on the coast? Is there anywhere in Japan more than two hours drive from a coast?
And I still don't believe you. You know you loved the very idea of visiting anagrams.
If you are going to Kyoto, why don't you go to Nara as well? (Or was it included when you mentioned "touristy things in that area"?) They have some of the oldest temples and the Nara Daibutsu of the Todai-ji temple is older and bigger than the one in Kamakura. (BTW the one in Ibaraki was constructed only very recently and I wouldn't bother to visit it.)
How about Takayama (also known as Hida-Takayama). You can get a taste of what Japan looked like in the old days. It seems there are also hot springs in that area.
Nara is definitely on the list of things to do near Kyoto-- the guidebooks I've looked at make it sound really cool.
Takayama, I hadn't heard of. I'll take a look at it. Thanks for the suggestion.