It’s the land of the rising solar. And in addition the place the place the solar rises in my coronary heart. As a result of the individuals, environment, meals, the tradition and structure have one thing about them that makes you are feeling fully relaxed.
Each step I soak up Japan makes me really feel protected. Each place is clear, the individuals you meet are well mannered and respectful and the structure radiates calm and energy. For me, it’s a particular place within the midst of a wild and more and more careless world.
I used to be there 22 years in the past and now I want to present this place, which I then selected as some of the lovely on the earth, to my household.
From my expertise, listed here are my journey suggestions for Tokyo and Kyoto.
Right here is an summary:
Language in Japan
The Japanese language is difficult and takes a very long time to be taught fully, particularly due to the characters, that are a mix of Japanese and Chinese language characters.
However understanding a number of phrases will enable you to to talk to individuals within the nation in a respectful manner. That is extremely really useful.
These embody:
‘Kon’nichiwa’ – this implies ‘hi there’ and is the Japanese greeting.
It is usually essential to say thanks. The Japanese say thanks time and again. In Japanese, you do that with the phrase ‘Arigato’. ‘Arigatogozaimasu’ is a stronger manner of claiming ‘thanks’.
If you wish to draw consideration to your self within the sense of claiming ‘excuse me’ since you wish to make a request, for instance in a restaurant, you employ ‘sumimasen’.
You also needs to know the phrase for goodbye – ‘sayonara’.
Now you’ve got all of the well mannered types of handle at your disposal that will help you to maneuver round Japan respectfully.
Journey Suggestions for Tokyo
Our journey begins in Tokyo. There are many direct flights to a number of airports round Tokyo.
Haneda Airport is a little bit nearer to the town and Narita a little bit additional away. Each are splendidly related to the centre of Tokyo by public transport.
A really particular tip for anybody travelling to Japan: Purchase a ‘Pasmo’ or ‘Suica’ cross on the airport or at one of many main subway stations. This cross means that you can journey freely on all subway or bus traces by means of most cities in Japan. There are merchandising machines the place you’ll be able to prime up your cross and at each subway exit you’ll be able to see the present steadiness of your credit score while you take a look at. You can too use these passes to pay in some outlets or merchandising machines.
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Whereas we’re with regards to ‘paying’: you’ll be able to pay with a bank card wherever within the vacationer areas. Nevertheless, this isn’t all the time the case in additional unique locations or smaller eating places. Subsequently, remember to journey with some money and examine along with your bank card firm to just be sure you can withdraw cash from ATMs in Japan along with your bank card.
Ueno
Ueno is a really unique, enjoyable and colourful district with loads of life and exercise always of the day and night time, and a spacious park that provides temples, a lotus flower lake and house for festivals and culinary discoveries.
Reverse the Ueno practice station you can find the pedestrian space of Ameyokocho. Right here you’ll be able to instantly immerse your self in Japanese tradition. The colourful sea of night, the scrumptious smells and the number of Japanese specialties within the numerous eating places are an actual El Dorado for all explorers.
The particular spotlight when touring is when you recognize individuals who dwell within the nation and you may see the nation from their perspective.
So we had the chance to rejoice at an actual Mikoshi pageant in one in every of Tokyo’s suburbs. The massive shrine is carried by means of your entire city by many women and men all through the day.
Within the night, the Mikoshi carriers arrive on the pageant’s massive shrine and celebration website. They’re accompanied by conventional Japanese music and the nice pleasure of all contributors.
Shibuya
If you consider Tokyo, you robotically consider the well-known Shibuya Scramble Crossing. Crossing it’s a actual spotlight. So is watching others cross it.
You get a very good view from the Starbucks proper on the intersection. From right here, you’ll be able to movie, {photograph} or simply watch the hustle and bustle on the road beneath.
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Hachiko
Right here additionally, you will discover the well-known statue of Hachiko, most likely probably the most loyal canine on the earth. He accompanied his grasp to the practice station each morning and picked him up once more within the night.
Even when his proprietor all of the sudden died, he continued to attend for him each night – for nearly ten years. He was given this monument in reminiscence of this. It’s a touching story that has even been made right into a film. These days, the monument of Hachiko is a superb assembly place.
Omotesando
The Omotesando within the Harajuku/Jingumae district is an excellent place for purchasing and strolling.
Simply comply with your instincts and discover the small alleys to the left and proper of the principle road. Make sure to plan a cease at Takeshita-dori on this route, with its many outlets full of colourful, loopy garments and equipment.
Asakusa
Asakusa is a sometimes Japanese and genuine district, centered round Senso-ji, one of many oldest temples within the nation.
It extends over a big space and is bordered by quite a few conventional outlets and eating places on the favored Nakamise-dori purchasing road.
Asakusa is positioned on the Sumida River and may be simply explored on foot or by rickshaw, passing fantastic bridges and colourful lanterns. Not removed from there, additionally, you will discover the Tokyo Tree, a lookout tower from which you’ll be able to see your entire metropolis.
Right here in Asakusa, yow will discover conventional arts and crafts, resembling home made knives or Japanese paper, alongside typical sweets or scrumptious snacks such because the tasty rice crackers, the well-known dorayaki, stuffed egg pancakes, fried manju rolls or motchi skewers.
The energetic streets of Denpoin-dori, Kannon-dori and Asakusa Chuo-dori are notably charming and stuffed with the environment of outdated Asakusa.
Sensoji
The Sensoji might be probably the most well-known and most photographed temple in Tokyo. It was inbuilt 628 and is due to this fact additionally one of many oldest Buddhist temples within the capital.
The historical past of the temple can also be very thrilling. Legend has it that two fishermen within the close by Sumida River caught a golden statue of Kannon – the goddess of kindness and mercy – of their nets. They tried a number of occasions to return the determine to the river, nevertheless it saved coming again to them. Lastly, they determined to construct a temple for the statue. This was named Senso-ji.
The trail to the temple is lined with white lanterns bearing Japanese characters.
Would you’ve got thought that? The pink lantern within the heart weighs over 400 kg, the opposite two copper lanterns every weigh about 1000 kg.
Conventional pagodas all the time have an uneven variety of flooring. Do you know that the 5 ranges of Buddhist pagodas symbolize the 5 parts? Earth, water, fireplace, air and vacancy.
Kokeshi Dolls
These Kokeshi dolls are given as a fortunate attraction for the delivery of a lady, a marriage, a enterprise opening or as a memento from Japan. They’re made by hand to a excessive customary and largely from fruitwood.
However in addition they have a tragic historical past. In Japanese custom, kids as much as the age of about 9 years belonged to God; this view got here from the time of excessive toddler mortality. When a baby died, the household took consolation in the truth that God had taken the kid again. These dolls have been thought-about to be reminders of the kid who had been taken again “by God”.
Shintoism
Shintoism is an enchanting and really open faith and, together with Buddhism, crucial faith in Japan. The Japanese don’t study their religion at college, as is the case with many different religions. Typically, the religion is handed down from mother and father to kids.
Shinto means “manner of the gods”. Greater than 100 million individuals, or 80% of the Japanese inhabitants, are Shintoists.
The shrines are devoted to numerous deities. Everyone seems to be allowed to hope at a Shinto shrine, no matter their faith. I really like the openness of this faith, which exhibits nice knowledge and energy.
Ritual cleaning
You may typically see water basins, temizuya with ladles, close to the shrines, that are referred to as hishaku. Right here, earlier than approaching the deity on the shrine, individuals carry out the ritual of misogi, a purification of physique and thoughts.
First, you pour a little bit water over your left hand after which over your proper hand with the ladle. Subsequent, you rinse your mouth with water, however don’t swallow it. Lastly, empty the water from the ladle over your left hand and the deal with.
Praying in Japan
When you’re standing in entrance of the shrine, first throw some cash into the slot. 5-yen cash are very appropriate for this as a result of they sound like “go-en”, which suggests luck. Then pull on the thick rope to ring the bell. The sound of the bell retains evil spirits away.
If you arrive, you greet the god by bowing twice, then clap your fingers twice. After that, you pray in silence, categorical your want and maintain your fingers in entrance of your chest in prayer pose. On the finish, thanks with a deep bow.
The respect that may be felt in all places in Japan can also be evident in its faith.
There are numerous actions devoted to luck on the shrine grounds. Omikuji are small Japanese paper strips that predict the longer term.
The great factor is, if you happen to draw a paper strip that predicts dangerous luck, you’ll be able to tie the strip to a small rope or, as right here, to a tree and thus eliminate the dangerous luck instantly.
For prayers and desires, there are wood plaques referred to as ema that may be held on the shrine. That is how the gods are mentioned to obtain the prayers and fulfill the needs.
When leaving Japanese temples and shrines, the identical guidelines apply as when getting into. This ensures that the go to is a closed circle, which can also be mentioned to deliver good luck.
Colourful and Numerous Neighborhoods in Tokyo
Tokyo is a large metropolis with 9.6 million inhabitants. It consists of many very completely different neighborhoods, so it doesn’t appear that huge.
Above all, it appears relaxed and calm to me as a result of the Japanese mentality could be very elegant and reserved on the skin. To ease the visitors state of affairs, there are sometimes footpaths constructed over the roads or, conversely, massive roads and even railroad traces on stilts one degree increased by means of the town. And in case you are standing at a visitors gentle in Shinjuku, for instance, one of many busiest practice stations on the earth, the twittering of birds or the comfortable music from the loudspeakers is extremely enjoyable.
I counsel anybody who’s afraid of crowds to make a journey to Tokyo, as a result of there isn’t a place the place crowds of individuals are extra enjoyable than there. No one is loud, no person jostles, no person pushes, every little thing is mild, orderly and stuffed with mindfulness, even at rush hour. That is an artwork that I discover admirable.
What I’m describing is just one aspect of the coin, as a result of no tradition has just one dimension. As protected, as well mannered, and as orderly as every little thing seems, I’ve by no means seen a extra vibrant flip aspect wherever on the earth. The alternative pole of this construction is the colourful, the wild, the loopy, which is obvious within the bars and playing halls within the neighborhoods of Tokyo that come to life at night time.
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The outfits of many Japanese girls particularly are something however reserved or boring; they’re a firework of potentialities and an excessive amount of braveness is required to put on many outfits.
The exhibits that you just see while you zap by means of the Japanese TV program in your resort room additionally present the wild range inside this strictly ordered world.
At night time, the Shinjuku district is dazzling. Make sure to go to the well-known Omoide Yokocho alley of bars. If you’re alone or in a pair, you could possibly get a desk within the quaint, tiny bars of this small alley.
In any other case, simply stroll on to Kabukicho Tower. You will see a variety of specialties in a colourful setting, both on the best way in Kabukicho-Ichiban-gai road or within the tower itself.
Culinary Japan
I discover it fascinating that while you consider Japanese meals, you instantly consider sushi, however there are such a lot of completely different delicacies that haven’t but made their option to Europe.
Sukiyaki or Yakiniku, to call only a few.
It’s unimaginable how a lot meat, and never simply fish, dominates the menus. Wagyu beef is on the prime of the recognition scale right here.
I love the Japanese potential to rejoice every little thing that has to do with consuming and having fun with meals. Within the numerous eating places, you’ll be able to put together your personal meal on a small built-in desk grill or you may get a pot of broth on a hob on the desk, much like a Chinese language fondue or sizzling pot, in which you’ll be able to put together every kind of greens and meat specialties that you could get on the buffet.
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Shabu Sai Ueno is one in every of our favourite sizzling pot spots. And Tokori Japanese Yakiniku in Ueno serves up some implausible yakiniku.
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Yakiniku
At a yakiniku meal, there’s a small, superb grill constructed into the tables on which you’ll be able to fry the varied meat specialties which might be served in skinny slices. Rice and numerous sauces are served as aspect dishes. It’s notably cozy while you enter eating places and take off your sneakers and garments on the door.
The Wagyu beef on the Narita Airport restaurant Yakisuki Yanma was an actual deal with. Uncooked meat that is delivered to the desk on sizzling stones, the place it’s poured with a scrumptious sauce accompanied by a wide range of components in small bowls, creating an important hissing sound, is an actual deal with.
Sukiyaki
Sukiyaki was additionally new to me. It’s a one-pot dish through which the meat is cooked slowly on the desk, both earlier than or after the noodles and greens which might be additionally within the stew. Earlier than you benefit from the slowly roasted meat, you dip it in a uncooked egg. Scrumptious!
Onigiri
And to not neglect the favored Onigiri, rice balls with numerous fillings, which schoolchildren and workplace employees pack as a sandwich. So scrumptious and diversified that I actually miss them right here in Germany.
The wax fashions of the dishes at many of the eating places are additionally notably typical.
Lodges in Tokyo and Kyoto
A resort on the Yamanote Spherical Line is price its weight in gold. It’s a fast and straightforward option to get to probably the most well-known, genuine and fascinating locations in Tokyo.
I can extremely suggest the motels of the Nohga group. We stayed on the Nohga Lodge in Ueno, however they’re additionally accessible in different districts resembling Akihabara or different cities resembling Kyoto or Saporro.
This group additionally provides lodging in ryokans, the everyday Japanese inns.
The Mitsui Backyard motels are additionally really useful and a bit extra worldwide than the Nohga motels. We additionally stayed a number of nights on the Mitsui Backyard Jingugajen Tokyo Premier, however there are 12 extra motels on this group even in Tokyo they usually additionally supply nice lodging in Hiroshima, Yokohama, Osaka and numerous different cities.
On the “Practice”
If you’re planning to journey round Japan, I like to recommend the Shinkansen, the quickest practice on the earth. It can take you from Tokyo Station to Kyoto in simply over 2 and a half hours.
There’s an additional journey tip with suggestions only for the Shinkansen. I additionally suggest reserving a JR Move, which works completely and permits limitless practice journey in Japan.
Ensure you don’t miss Mount Fuji in your manner from Tokyo to Kyoto. The Shinkansen passes so near it that you could {photograph} and admire it by means of the practice home windows, surrounded by clouds of mist or, relying on the season, even with its peak coated in snow.
Kyoto Journey Suggestions
I really like Kyoto. I can’t say it another manner.
Kyoto has turn out to be extraordinarily fashionable within the 22 years since I final visited. However the unique corners, the geisha district and the enchanting temples nonetheless inform of the magic of occasions passed by.
The Higashiyama district, with the very conventional lanes of Sannenzaka and Ninnenzaka, which lead off from the Kiyomizu-dera temple, continues to be so unspoilt that you just get the sensation that Kyoto is just not a metropolis however a small, touristy mountain village.
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Kimono
A particular expertise is to borrow a kimono for a day from one of many many kimono outlets. It’s a fantastic feeling to immerse your self within the historical past of this metropolis, the place the geishas have been at residence.
Strolling round in a kimono on a temple tour could appear touristy, however as with all experiences, it relies on your perspective. If you’re curious and have a want to immerse your self in a sure feeling, to grasp higher and expertise extra intensely, then it’s a profound expertise that you shouldn’t miss.
For the Kinomos, I can suggest the rental store proper on the bus cease on Higashioji Dori, throughout from the Seven Eleven. However it’s also possible to discover different rental outlets to the left and proper of it, resembling First or Kyokomachi. We didn’t have a reservation and simply walked in. For 4500 yen and 1600 yen for the coiffure, you’ll be able to rework your self into a beautiful geisha for a day.
Nittai-ji Tempel
The outdated streets across the Kiyumizu-dera Temple are undoubtedly price exploring.
Sadly, over the previous 22 years, every little thing right here has not solely turn out to be extra crowded but in addition extra tourist-oriented, and the outdated originality is not really easy to find.
Don’t miss out on following your nostril, wanting into inviting archways, letting your self drift and following your eye. This fashion, you’ll uncover abandoned temples, small subtleties, deserted courtyards and particular locations past the tourist-lined alleys. Like this lovely Nittai-ji Temple, which is positioned instantly on the best way to the Kiyomizu-dera Temple and is totally ignored by most. It’s lovely and abandoned.
Kiyomizu-dera Tempel
The Kiyumizu-dera Temple is among the actually spectacular temples in Kyoto.
Good to find out about visiting Kyoto
Admission to the temples is often free or, within the case of the well-known temples, prices a number of euros per individual.
Don’t guide a tour prematurely by way of Viator or GetYourGuide simply since you are afraid of not having the ability to get tickets to the temples on the spot. You will get the doorway ticket spontaneously on the spot, which provides you far more freedom and suppleness.
For those who completely wish to take a guided tour and be accompanied by a information, you might be after all welcome to guide such a tour by means of these platforms or domestically.
Fushimi Inari Schrein
The Fushimi Inara Shrine within the Fushimi district is among the most magical locations in Japan for me.
Through the day, the decrease walkway is especially busy, however as quickly as darkness falls, it turns into a little bit quieter. There’s something magical about getting into this highly effective shrine within the moonlight.
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When approaching a shrine, the very first thing you see is the pink torii, or gate. The pink shade is claimed to thrust back evil spirits and hazard.
To indicate respect, it’s best to bow earlier than the gate and solely then enter the shrine.
Fushimi Inari Taisha is a Shintō shrine. It’s thought-about the principle shrine of about one third of all Inari shrines in Japan and is probably the most well-known Shintō shrine in Kyōto.
If in case you have seen the film “The Geisha”, you will note little Chio strolling to this very shrine to hope for her biggest want. It got here true, and guess what? So did the want I expressed there. For me, this shrine is among the strongest locations I’ve ever visited.
An exquisite Japanese lady, whose mom is from Kyoto and really spiritual, explains the facility of this place to me as follows: These shrines are the gateway to the world of the gods, of which there are greater than 800 in Shintoism, every assigned to a subject and due to this fact all needs are in good fingers there.
The avenues of torii, the gates fabricated from wooden or stone and often painted pink, are notably attribute of this shrine. They symbolize the transition between the world of people and the world of the gods.
The Fushima Inari Shrine consists of a large number of those torii, all of that are donations from people, households or firms. She tells me that it is crucial to not stroll close to the posts or within the center, as these are reserved for the gods.
Greater than 1000 of those pink gates may be discovered at this spectacular shrine.
There’s a small half-hour path and a big round route up the greater than 230-meter-high Inari Mountain, which takes 2-3 hours and a number of stamina.
Attribute of all Inari shrines are the fox statues, the messengers of the goddess of fertility Inari, who often put on pink bibs round their necks.
Ginkaku-ji
Ginkaku-ji is one in every of my private favourite temples in Kyoto. For one factor, it isn’t as overcrowded as different temples and since it comprises a wide range of magnificence in a small space.
There’s an space with Zen sand artwork, a lake with a typical Japanese wood pavilion within the background and a wonderful backyard.
Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion Temple) is a Zen temple and likewise a UNESCO World Heritage Website.
Nobody actually is aware of why the pavilion in the midst of the property known as “Silver Pavilion”, regardless that it’s fabricated from wooden. Legend has it that the pavilion’s jet-black wooden shined silver within the moonlight, therefore the identify.
Possibly there’s a much less magical rationalization. The Pavilion by the Lake, the Kannon-den, was constructed within the fifteenth century by the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa as a retirement residence and was purported to seem like a smaller model of the well-known Golden Pavilion, Kinkanku-ji, which his grandfather had constructed on the time. As a substitute of gold, it was purported to be silver, nevertheless it by no means occurred.
Earlier than the shogun’s villa turned a temple, it was the middle of Higashiyama tradition, residence to tea ceremonies, flower arranging, poetry and No theater. These days, Ginkakuji is among the most well-known temples in Kyoto and much much less touristy than its “golden” brother, Kinkaku-ji, particularly simply after opening or simply earlier than closing time.
Ginshadan
Proper in the midst of the advanced is the sand backyard and an roughly 2-meter-high sand sculpture.
The sand backyard known as Ginshadan, which interprets as ‘sea of silver sand’. In Buddhism, taking a look at a sand backyard is a part of meditation. The waves within the sand symbolize water and the sand cone referred to as Kogetsudai symbolizes Mount Fuji.
You may stroll alongside small paths by means of the moss-covered and hilly backyard panorama, previous a splashing waterfall that flows right into a stream, and as much as a lookout level the place you’ll be able to catch a glimpse of Kyoto. The association of the completely different shades of inexperienced, the interaction of sand and stones in opposition to the backdrop of the wood temple is a feast for the eyes.
It is best to plan about an hour on your go to to the temple. From there, you’ll be able to attain many different well-known temples and shrines alongside the Thinker’s Stroll, a small path that runs alongside a stream. These embody the Chion-in Temple and the Nanzen-ji Temple.
Arashiyama
The Arashiyama district is price visiting, as it’s residence to the well-known Arashiyama bamboo forest, the Arashiyama Monkey Park and the Tenru-ji Temple, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Website. Your complete district could be very widespread with guests.
Arashiyama – Bamboo forest
For those who don’t wish to share the bamboo forest with so many individuals, you’ll be able to guide a rickshaw tour in a separate space. It’s greatest to guide properly prematurely, as these are sometimes booked out days prematurely.
The bamboo forest is gorgeous and the environment is spectacular.
Tenryu-ji Temple
The doorway to the Tenryu-ji Temple is true subsequent to the doorway to the bamboo forest. It is among the 5 most well-known Zen temples in Kyoto and has been a World Heritage Website since 1994.
The Sogenji Backyard behind the principle corridor, laid out by Muso Soseki within the 14th century, is especially lovely. Muso was a grasp of backyard design and a Zen grasp who developed the Japanese tea ceremony.
The backyard, with its watercourses, moss and delicate hills, has been preserved on this option to today and frames a lake that may be seen from the steps of the principle home.
Arashiyama – Primate park
The Arashiyama Monkey Park is a specific spotlight for youngsters, the place they will watch child monkeys swing by means of the bushes from the branches or teams of monkeys chilling within the meadow.
In Kyoto, as in Tokyo, it’s simple to get round from place to put by subway or bus. If that you must get someplace quicker, most of the temples shut as early as 5 p.m. within the fall, so taxis or Uber are additionally accessible.
Culinary Kyoto
The place to eat in Kyoto is the well-known Pontocho alley. Right here, one restaurant follows the opposite.
The alley is car-free and only some meters huge. One aspect of the eating places faces the river that flows by means of Kyoto, the Kamo. In summer time, it’s fantastic to sit down and eat on the spacious terraces by the river. In winter, the motion strikes indoors.
If you’re curious, you’ll be able to strive typical Kyoto dishes in one of many eating places, together with eel, snails, radish and fish.
Within the aspect road of Pontocho Alley, which can also be crossed by a small river, there may be one other row of eating places across the bridges and alleys.
In addition to all of the temples and the geisha district with its alleys, Kyoto additionally has different sides. Trendy skyscrapers, purchasing streets and the massive Nikishi Market.
Karaoke
What is unquestionably worthwhile is a go to to a karaoke bar. We went to Manekineko on Karamachi-dori and actually had a number of enjoyable singing in our sales space.
There’s nonetheless a lot to find in fantastic Japan. If in case you have a little bit extra time, you’ll be able to actually go to different cities there or chill out on the attractive Okinawa archipelago.
Okinawa is among the 5 Blue Zones on earth. Individuals right here dwell longer than elsewhere on earth.
My private insider tip!
Right here: Okinawa – Japan’s oasis
For me, it was undoubtedly not the final journey to this glorious nation. “Matane”, which suggests “see you quickly”!
