Spring trip to Japan

[Mike]

Hi all, just wanted to post some status of my trip to Japan. I was able to meet @kats and we took a drive in his Fairlady Z432. Man what a great car!  It’s in great shape and Kats knows how to take car of his cars.

We met in Kyoto as I arrived, with my family, to our hotel. Kats lives about 30 minutes away from Kyoto and drove the car up just to visit with me. He has 4 Z’s and asked me which one I wanted to see (and drive). Since I’ve never seen a Z432, it was an obvious choice. 

We spent about 20-30 minutes ogling the car before he let me drive it around the block.  I don’t have an international drivers license, so he took the controls and we went for an extended drive around the city. 

I’ll post more about my observations when I am able to sit down at a computer, but I wanted to share a few pics. What a great time, and I wanted to personally thank Kats for taking time out of his busy schedule to meet with me. 

As you can see, it’s springtime in japan and the cherry blossoms are in full effect!  

[Hardway]

Awesome!  Can't wait to hear all about it.

[JSM]

Hey Mike, were going in August. Also heading to Kyoto of many places I’m told.  Curious, how much  you were able to charge versus needing cash?

 

[Mike]

Hey Mike, were going in August. Also heading to Kyoto of many places I’m told.  Curious, how much  you were able to charge versus needing cash?
 

There were a lot of places that require cash. But the larger businesses will take credit card. So, it’s pretty much a blend of 50/50, if I was to summarize. There’s no problem finding ATM machines around the cities. I always went to 7-11 as it’s a huge chain in Japan. The 7-11’s are also a lot nicer and have better food (compared to the US). By the way, make sure you try the egg salad sandwich and strawberry sandwich before you leave. ;)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mike]

Awesome!  Can't wait to hear all about it.

I’ll write up something when I get back. Doing all of this by mobile phone right now and it’s not so easy to write a novel. Haha.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mike]

Well it took me some time to get to it, but, here's a small write up from our visit to Japan this year.

Schedule:

• Tokyo - 4 days
• Hakoke - 3 days
• Kyoto / Nara - 4 days
• Tokyo - 3 days

Tokyo:

We immediately went to the hotel after our long flight.  We took a local train (not the express for some reason) from Narita to the Shinjuku district.  It was a longer train ride because it stopped at many of the local stops.  Next time I'll take the express airport train.  Took a few photos outside the station and checked in.  We stayed at a nice Japanese hotel (not a big chain) located just outside the main tourist areas.  The walk was fun and we got to see a nice park along the way.

The next few days we spent roaming around Tokyo, taking photos, visiting temples, and looking at all the cherry blossoms. 

We also visited a museum where they had the Thinker and Gates of Hell on display outside.  It was interesting because I've also seen these in Paris.  It was a great cultural experience for my 10yo son.

  

Japan was definitely crowded this time of year, I think everyone wants to come and see the blossoms in full bloom.  Many of the Japanese ladies liked to wear Kimono's as they walked around for the day.  I loved it..

We also took a tourist boat down the river and visited a very well manicured park with old trees and gorgeous blooms!

Later on we went shopping, ate a lot of food, and met up with other friends from Seattle.  We were fortunate to run into two other families from our hometown during their visit at the same time we were in the area.  We were able to traverse across multiple towns using the awesome train systems.  Every train we rode on was ON TIME (a far cry from any train system I've used in the US).

 

[Mike]

Hakone:

We then moved via train from Tokyo to Hakone.  Hakone is a great little town located just outside Mt Fuji.  This leg of our trip was definitely challenging because it took us on small trains into the mountain just to the SouthEast of the big mountain.

We stayed at a resort where we were treated like royalty.  The dining room was full of buffet-style Japanese foods and we were required to wear our own Kimonos to each meal.

In order to get around Hakone, you typically take the cable cars.  We visited a natural sulfur spring where they made 'black-eggs' in the hot mountain water.  This water was also piped down to the hotels in the area for bathing.  You can see the views of Mt Fuji were amazing that day.

During this visit, we also took a ride on a rather cheesy pirate ship on Lake Ashi.

A little chilly due to the elevation though.  It ended up snowing the following day...  Our travel day ...   yikes!

[Mike]

Kyoto: (more to come)