Tokyo on the cheap

Posted on 13 May, 2013 by jimbojapanam

Contrary to popular belief, Tokyo is not that expensive. In fact, it is generally a cheaper place to visit than say London or Rome (Think recent press about four ice creams for £54). Food is cheap, but without losing the quality, public transport is cheap and a pleasure to use and some of the main sights in Tokyo are free…completely free. So here are a few reasons to back up why Tokyo is so great and well, cheap.

Mt Fuji from Tokyo

Mt Fuji from Tokyo

Million dollar views for free
You can’t grasp the size of the world’s biggest Metropolis until you look down on it from above. The city’s newest landmark, Tokyo Skytree will give you that extra few metres standing 634metres above Tokyo. The observation deck stands at 450 metres and cost 3000yen (approx £19.50) has been criticised by some as being too expensive (although it is the same price as the London Eye but gets you an extra 300 metres for your money). Alternatively (and still my favourite) the Shinjuku Metropolitan Government Building or Tocho, is one place that you can get a taste for Tokyo  for free, 202 metres up above the city. Take the elevator up to the 48th floor and enjoy views of the city, across the sprawling suburbs out to Mt Fuji. A great place to watch the sun go down and the lights come up.

Free festival fun
Head to Tokyo at the right time of year and there are all sorts of traditional festivals to enjoy. The festival or matsuri, is a big part of Japanese life and culture and the chance to get involved with the locals. Every festival is different, but expect to see men and women of all ages in bright yukata, kimono, jinbe jackets and fundoshi loin cloths, portable Mikoshi shrines, lots of good food stands, fireworks and people enjoying a drop of sake. There are hundreds of festivals throughout the year and all are free. The Kanda Matsuri (closest weekend to 15th May), the Sanja Matsuri (3rd weekend in May), the Sumidagawa Fireworks festival (last weekend in July) and the

Places to people watch
Take a stroll through some of Tokyo’s trendier districts on a Sunday to get a taste of modern culture. After taking a train journey for around a £1 or under $2, you could find yourself in Harajuku, browsing the cool shops. Walking over the bridge, passing the ‘Harajuku kids’, passing Meji Jingu Shrine in its beautifully forested grounds (free entry), you will find yourself in Yoyogi Park.
On a Sunday afternoon, you will find karate groups practicing, taiko drummers, rock and pop wannabes, comedians and more – A great place to people watch and relax.

Senbe rice crackers

Senbe rice crackers

Food for free
Eat for free!….well sort of. Feeling peckish? Head to one of Tokyo’s department stores and straight to the basement. You will find huge amounts of beautifully presented food in the gigantic and food halls of department stores such as Mitsukoshi and Takashimaya. You can stroll around sampling all sorts of Japanese delights. If you are wanting something more substantial, there are all sorts of options for just a few pounds/dollars. 100yen sushi – plates of good sushi costing approximately 65pence and under a dollar. A big bowl of hot ramen will set you back around 500yen (approx. £3.25 / $5). A convenience store bento box consisting of rice, fish, meat vegetables and more will cost around 400yen (less than £3/$5). And the best thing is that although cheap, the food is also good quality too.

Wandering on the cheap
The good thing about Tokyo is that it is the city and the people that are the real experience and not particular sights necessarily. Everywhere you go, you will find something new or stumble across something interesting. Just walking around amongst the lights and noises of Shibuya and Shinjuku, browsing food and clothes markets in Ueno, being wowed by floor upon floor of electronic goods in electronic department stores such as Yodabashi Camera, nipping into atmospheric little temples and shrines such as Sengakuji or exploring lesser known districts such as Kichijoji are all experiences in their own right. One of my favourite places to stroll is the retro Shibamata district. Low rise buildings, old fashioned shops selling traditional snacks and an attractive looking temple. Shibamata gives off a sleepy Tokyo feel, one of days gone by, oozing tradition and culture and is only a short journey from the buzz of the more famous districts.  It is free to stroll and well worth breaking a way from the usual districts. There is something new for the Westerner around every corner in this great city, so there is no need to go and blow loads of cash on expensive tourist attractions.

There are plenty of other tips for discovering a free Tokyo as well as a good value and cheap Tokyo. I hope that this blog piece assists in expelling the myth that Tokyo is an expensive city. It can be, but it certainly doesn’t have to be. More blog pieces to follow… If you want to find out about free/cheap things to do in Kyoto, well that’s a whole different set of blogposts.

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Favourite place in Japan – Richard Pearce

Posted on 26 April, 2013 by jimbojapanam

Coming from the beautiful English Cotswolds, tour leader Richard Pearce has made his home in rural Tottori prefecture on the Japan Sea Coast since 2006. Like many of the InsideJapan Tours team he ended up in Japan on the JET programme teaching English in schools. Richard was shipped out to a little place called Sakaiminato in Tottori which you have probably never heard of….well that’s just how he likes it. Here is what he has to say about Tottori and his favourite place in Japan…..

Tottori-Ken is considered to be the most rural of prefectures in Japan, with the smallest population. Set along the Sea of Japan coast, Tottori-Ken is one of my favourite places in the world -  A beautiful coastline, breathtaking mountain views, delicious seafood, friendly people and brimming with wildlife. Tottori has it all.

However, if I have to narrow it down further, I would have to say that my favourite place in Japan is the Mihonoseki Peninsula, just across the border into Shimane-Ken (sorry, Tottori!).

Stunning Daisen park

Stunning Daisen Oki national park

The whole area is part of the Daisen-Oki National Park, and is considered to be a “power spot” in Japan, spiritually and historically speaking. The Miho-jinja Shrine is particularly special and dates back to the 8th century. It is said to have been a favourite spot of legendary writer  Lafcadio Hearn, who resided in nearby Matsue (his book Kwaidan; Stories and Studies of Strange Things is a fascinating read). I used to visit on a near weekly basis for a spot of spiritual cleansing and found it particularly good at clearing a fuzzy head on a Sunday morning.

Miho Jinja

Miho Jinja

Atop a nearby 150 metre hill is the Gohon-matsu park, which offers spectacular views of Mount Daisen,  rising majestically from the ocean across the bay.  According to literature dating back to the year  733, this mountain was formally called  Ōkami – take , literally meaning ‘ Mountain of the Great God’, as it was  regarded as one of the most important mountains for the Japanese Shugendo. The Gohon-matsu park is definitely my favourite “unofficial” camping spot in Japan.

Miho Coast

Miho Coast

At the end of the peninsula is the Mihonoseki Lighthouse, built from stone in the late 19th Century. Here you can experience stunning panoramic views of the ocean and watch the numberous hawks circling overhead. However, be warned! It is said in local tradition that if you take your girlfriend here, you then have to marry her! I tend to go alone.

Sasago beach

Sasago beach

On the northern side of the peninsula is the  Mihono-kitaura coastline. Here you can enjoy an array of natural beauty, including inlets, precipices, caves and beaches. One particularly impressive beach is Sasago. The water here is crystal clear and the beach is very clean. I honestly believe it to be one of the best in Japan, outside of Okinawa. This stretch of coastline is also a wildlife lover’s paradise. I myself have been lucky enough to dive with two metre jellyfish and observe a variety of rare birds.

I have spent many a day and night hiking, camping, barbequeing, bike riding, swimming, relaxing and generally enjoying the Mihonoseki Peninsula. I hope to spend many more in the years to come.

Looks beautiful and a top tip from Richard there. I need to discover Tottori further….into the Shimane ‘district’ of the prefecture. I am sure that all from Shimane ken will be sending a big ‘Dan dan’ your way for the suggestion.

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Hagino’s Hokkaido Home

Posted on 13 April, 2013 by jimbojapanam

This wouldn’t be the first time that I have gone on about the fact that InsideJapan is luck to have some talented and interested people working for it. We all have a passion for Japan. We all have a passion for particular places and elements of culture. Some of us are from the UK, there are some from the US, some from Canada, Belgium and of course Japan. Hagino san works in our beautiful Boulder office and wanted to tell us a bit about her life and love for Hokkaido. In her own words, here she is -

Everyone’s face lit up when I tell people from the main island of Japan that I’m from Hokkaido – Every time!

Shiretoko countryside

Shiretoko countryside

The name Hokkaido has the effect no other place has in Japan. Perhaps when people hear the name Hokkaido, they picture the big land up north with broad sky and wild nature, and they feel the longing for the unknown country. A few years ago, there was a very popular TV series called “Kita no Kunikara”, which drew a life of a family in a country side of Hokkaido. It was kind of like a Japanese version of the American “Little house on the Prairie.” Hokkaido is not very known by foreign tourists besides the great ski resorts, but it has a lot more to offer.

Blue Lake

Blue Lake

I am from Eniwa, the city unknown even to some people from Hokkaido. The name comes from the native Ainu people’s language “E-en-iwa”, which means “pointy mountain”. The town nestles under Mt. Eniwa, with a pointy peak as the name describes. A lot of the name of places originated from Ainu name, such as “sap-poro” for Sapporo, which means “broad dry area”.

Probably the reason why Hokkaido doesn’t have much of the historic appeal like Kyoto to tourists is that Hokkaido was settled by Japanese people long after the main island of Japan was settled. Up to this point Hokkaido exclusively populated by the native Ainu people. They relied mainly on salmon, which was abundant, and they even made shoes out of salmon skin. If you are interested in learning about Ainu history and culture, a great Ainu Museum in Shiraoi is about two and a half hour train ride from Sapporo.

Mt. Yotei

Mt. Yotei

As I grew up, trips to the mountains were my family’s regular weekend and Holiday activities. The town of Kucchan is located about two hour train or bus ride from Sapporo. Kucchan has a lot to offer all season long. In summer, you can enjoy hiking up the beautiful Mt. Yotei, recognized as one of the Japan’s best hundred mountains (based on the book called “Nihon Hyakumeizan” by Kyuya Fukada). With its shape similar to Mt. Fuji, Mt. Yotei is called “Ezo (means Hokkaido) Fuji”.

In winter, the town is busy entertaining skiers from all over the world coming to enjoy the powder snow at Niseko Ski Resort. Now partly owned by a foreign company, it is easier to find information in English about Niseko. And, of course, where mountains are, onsen (hot spring) is. There is a whole range of onsen to choose from. There is also a great restaurant called “Maccarina” in the village of Makkari nearby, about 40 minute drive from the ski area, offering delicious local produce and fresh seafood.

Sweet shrimp

Sweet shrimp

Hokkaido is famous for food. You are probably thinking, “Anywhere in Japan seems to be famous for food…” Well, it’s true. Hokkaido is famous for a various kind of seafood. You can treat yourself with Kaisen-don, a rice bowl with full of assortment of fresh seafood such as tuna, salmon, scallops, sea urchin, squid, octopus, and shrimp, or try Hokkaido’s favorite Ikura-don, a rice bowl topped full with salmon roe.

Chan-chan-yaki is one of the traditional cuisines of Hokkaido, vegetables grilled with usually a half of salmon, dressed with butter, miso, and mirin. One of my favorite is Ikameshi, a whole squid stuffed with rice and cooked in soy sauce based stock. Hokkaido has its own style of yakiniku (barbeque) called “Jingiskan” (The name comes from the Mongolian Emperor Genghis Khan). Using a special Jingiskan grill pan, thinly sliced lamb and vegetables are cooked together. You also have to try Imomochi (potato mochi) or Ageimo (fried potato cake) as a snack on the road as well.

Biei

Biei

The well-known Daisetsuzan National Park is the backbone of Hokkaido. With about three hours train and bus ride from Sapporo, you can get to the bottom of the aerial lift for Mt.  Asahidake. Enjoy the fifteen minute scenic lift ride up to the top, and it is up to you to hike around the well maintained trails for forty five minutes, or go even farther and backpack along the ridge of the mountains. My husband and I hiked for five days going south from Mt. Asahidake, which is one of the best memories of hiking in Hokkaido. If you have a car, you could take a side trip to the town of Kuriyama on the way to Daisetsuzan National Park and enjoy a tour and sake tasting at Kobayashi Sake Factory. (Be sure to have a designated driver who is willing to just watch other people taste sake, because Japan has zero alcohol driving limit.)

Snow festival

Snow festival

Apart from shopping, enjoying ramen, Sapporo beer and touring through the snow statues at Snow Festival in Sapporo, you can really take time and explore the big land of Hokkaido. There are a lot more places I want to introduce you to, but for now, I will let the wild land lay quietly by letting YOU discover your secret spots in Hokkaido. As my mother put it once, “The best thing about Hokkaido is that there is nothing around.”

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Journey back to Tohoku – Amy Tadehara

Posted on 15 March, 2013 by jimbojapanam

Amy is from our US office. Amy also lived in Sendai for several years and has a special love for Tohoku. Exactly two years on from the tsunami, Amy returned to the region to see how her Tohoku was getting on….

When I was invited to go on a business trip to Japan this March and saw that the planned itinerary would take me back to Tohoku, my home for four years, my gut reaction was twofold: I was excited, of course, but also apprehensive. Suddenly, despite the other destinations we would see, all I could think of was that weekend two years ago when the Great East Japan Earthquake changed everything.

Beauty of Hirosaki in the snow

Beauty of Hirosaki in the snow

Still, I wasn’t going to pass on the opportunity to see Japan again, and so I flew into Tokyo Narita Airport with a group of fellow agents to spend a week exploring an area of Japan that is often neglected by foreign visitors. We spent the night in Tokyo before heading off to what the famous haiku master Basho called “the Deep North.”

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We visited the Nebuta Festival Museum in Aomori (the next best thing to the festival itself); saw the beauty of Hirosaki in snowfall; soaked in the hot springs of Hanamaki; and cooked the regional speciality of Akita, kiritanpo.

Kiritanpo

Kiritanpo

But most poignant of all was seeing the areas near Sendai where the 2011 tsunami swept away almost everything in its path. Our local guide was a man who had, in the days and weeks after the tsunami, secured food and other supplies for the people who had taken shelter at his community center. We met a woman who tried to flee with her family—including her month-old grandson—and had her car taken up and deposited on another house; they had to scramble through an upstairs window to safety. But the landscape was the hardest to bear. In most cases, nothing remained of a building but the foundation, or those that had been built solidly like schools—but the two that we saw are understandably slated for demolition later this year. After all, who would want to return to the site of so much grief, terror, and despair?

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And yet some do. Before we headed to the hotel, our guide pointed out a pole with strings of yellow flags fastened to the ground, one of several around us but something of an afterthought amid the barrenness. Then he told us that they were put up by residents who vowed to return even though the government has forbidden rebuilding until further notice. Much has been said about the resilience and fortitude of the Japanese after the triple disaster of 2011, but nothing has convinced me of their strength so much as what those yellow flags represent: a yearning for home, no matter the danger, and the hope that one day, life will be normal again.

However, life in Tohoku, away from the tsunami affected coast is normal. This region is still the most beautiful in Japan as far as I’m concerned. Although we shouldn’t forget those people that are still affected by an ongoing struggle, I urge people to visit this beautiful part of Japan- the hot springs, the countryside and the rich rural culture of “the Deep North”.

The beauty of Tohoku

The beauty of Tohoku

Perhaps one of the most atractive aspects of Tohoku is the strength of its culture and traditions and the all round warmth of the people but as this footage from the ‘A Northern Soul’ tour from 2012 shows, Tohoku is beautiful. I’m sure that if Bassho were alive today, he would have a few more words to say about the place….well…about 17 syllables worth actually…

Tourism to Japan is virtually back up to pre-tsunami levels, the exchange rate against the yen means that you will get great value for money at the moment and there are a million reasons as to why you should discover Japan for yourself. If you want more reasons as to why you should travel beyond the likes of Tokyo and Kyoto, have a read of a previous post with five excellent reasons as to why you should try a bit of the north.

If you would like to donate to our chosen charity, Its Not Just Mud who are still working hard in Ishinomaki, please follow this link – http://itsnotjustmud.com/donate/

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The Tsunami Coast

Posted on 9 November, 2012 by KyotoKid

Although my time volunteering with It’s Not Just Mud is drawing to a close, we managed to find time between shifts to venture down to Onagawa Port where the tsunami devastation is most evident.

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This photo was taken from the hospital, 16 metres above sea level.

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The hospital. The waves reached up to the first floor, 18 metres in height. The third wave swirled around the building killing 16 people inside on the ground floor. Other people managed to escape by climbing up the mountain to the temple behind the hospital.

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The view inland from the hospital. There used to be hundreds of buildings here. The tsunami waves filled the entire valley and all the buildings were swept first inland, then dragged back out to sea as the water receded.

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This was the ferry port waiting room, the building now turned completely on it’s side. The shell of this building is going to be kept as a reminder of the tsunami, while the area around it has been flattened and new construction work begun. The plan is to raise the level of this area by 5 metres, then build the shops, banks and port buildings as a new commercial centre. Residential areas will be built further away on higher ground.

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Driving through Onagawa. This area was once full of houses and the train station was here.

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Into the next valley, and we could see the clean up in operation. I have never seen so many diggers in action in one place.

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Hundreds of lorries at work.

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Huge mountains of rubble.

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We drove up to Onagawa school where many people who lost their homes are now living in temporary accommodation. Apparently this is the best housing shelter in Tohoku, designed with communal spaces, container shops and a community centre; a lot less depressing than elsewhere.

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Here you can see the temporary houses have been built on the school’s basketball courts.

Two nights ago a couple who run a local cafe and are living in temporary accommodation came to chat to the volunteers. The lady joked about the thin walls and having to creep around her tiny living space. She was full of high spirits, but it was heartbreaking to think she had lost her home.

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A noticeboard showing drawings of people missing since the tsunami.

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I am most grateful to my fellow volunteers Kenji and Stephen who guided me around Onagawa today. Kenji speaks fantastic English and was our translator as well as driver, stopping whenever we wanted to take pictures. Stephen is a freelance journalist and has made five trips to Onagawa since the tsunami happened. He recounted the tsunami stories of the many locals he has befriended in the last 20 months.

At times it felt uncomfortably voyeuristic to be poking around the tsunami damage. But we were not the only ones; coach loads of Japanese come every day to the town. They say seeing is believing, and visiting Onagawa was a powerful experience I won’t forget in a hurry.

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If you want to donate to ItsNotJustMud and help with the incredible work they are doing in Tohoku, please follow this link http://www.justgiving.com/insidejapantours-ishinomaki

 

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Hidden Japan: A few highlights.

Posted on 29 October, 2012 by tomointokyo

The highlights of a group tour always seem to vary.  Everybody has their own favourite thing or place.  These are occasionally predictable but more often surprising.  Drain covers?  Really?

In this post I have selected a few personal highlights from a recent Hidden Japan tour.

I start on day 3  in Himeji, a quiet town famous for its stately castle.  Unfortunately the main keep is still under restoration, but the mazy passageways and chunky earthen walls on the castle slopes remain a treat to trek around.  And even better than the castle was the neatly trimmed white-walled garden next door.  On our visit, we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

With the staff outnumbering visitors, we even got extra special service.  In a wooden one story building overlooking the garden, while sat on tatami mat floor, 3 kimono-clad ladies talked us through the tea ceremony.  We were treated like visiting lords – it was if they had been waiting for us all day.  Now I must admit, not all the group fell in love with the tea (typical problem: wrong colour + no milk), but everybody enjoyed listening to the teacher`s exquisitely polite explanation and demonstration.

 

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The day`s pleasant surprises were not over.  That evening we took a train to see a festival at a local shrine.  At the time, I was worried the event might be too small; I had never even heard of Kashima, the small town we were going to.  What if it was just a couple of old blokes standing around a candle?

As it turned out, the scale of the event did become an issue – the narrow streets were so jam-packed with people we barely had room to wriggle.  The atmosphere was like a rock concert.  The air carried around the smell of sake and the echo of the powerful drumbeat.  Giggling gaggles of young girls leant over the security ropes, closing in on the bare-chested men in loincloths carrying the colourful, towering mikoshis.

We even saw a rare glimpse of confrontation, two testosterone-charged members from rival mikoshi teams squaring up to each other.  The prolonged eyeballing and aggressive posturing was like a scene pulled from a yakuza film.

The next morning was more sobering but equally memorable.  A volunteer guide walked us around Hiroshima`s Peace Park.  Her cheery, relaxed, self-effacing manner concealed a quiet determination to tell us about the immediate and long-term impact of the A-bomb on Hiroshima and beyond.

Then came the whole day spent on the tiny green island of Miyajima.  We began the morning with a group hike to the top of Mount Misen.  Climbing at a gentle pace, we stopped regularly both to take a look into the woods and river alongside the trail, and also to erm…..breathe.   It is a steep climb, trust me.

From the observatory we had spectacular views out to the islands of the inland sea where the ferry would take us the next morning.

That afternoon was free for exploring.  A stay in Miyajima provides so many enticing options: the floating torii gate, the gnome-like statues at Daishoin, the map-eating deer, the chocolate-filled momiji sponge cakes and not forgetting the ryokan`s hot spring baths overlooking oyster farms in the bay.  My particular highlight was a dish in the evening banquet:  burdock root wrapped in conger eel – a magical mix of two of Japan`s finest, most underrated foods.

I have only mentioned 3 days of the tour.  There were so many more highlights, most of them unexpected:  the drunk, solitary salaryman`s haiku on the Matsuyama tram; the guided tour backstage of Japan`s oldest Kabuki theatre; the rainy morning on a forested, hilltop graveyard watching monks serve breakfast to a man 1200 years dead; the bizarre chat with the bubbly Moroccan chef about the BBC series, Birds of a Feather - ”I lovvvvvvve Richard, ” he confessed.

These are only my highlights.  I am sure the group have different ones.

As the great man once said:  “A group tour is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you gonna get.”

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Bond. James Bond – The mysterious Gunkanjima

Posted on 15 October, 2012 by jimbojapanam

There are many recognised mysteries of the world such as Stonehenge, the Mayan civilisation, the Easter Island statues, the Loch Ness Monster, crop circles and more. One of the lesser-known mysteries though is a small island off Nagasaki called Gunkanjima or ‘Battleship Island’. The island also provides the latest James Bond film, “Skyfall” with a stunning location for Daniel Craig to do his best for Britain.


This 480m x 150m island was home to approximately 5000 people up until 1974 which is when the island and the Mitsubishi owned coal mines that brought people there, were suddenly abandoned…by everyone. The island has been out of bounds since 1974 but in 2009 a boat dock was added allowing paying tourists to get near the island for a glance at the heavily built up island. However, a ‘friend of IJT’ (who shall remain nameless) hired a fisherman to travel to the island in the early hours of the morning to see the island for themselves – true James Bond style.


The intrepid traveller (we shall call them Bond), snapped some sneaky pics from the hospital, the pachinko parlour, onsen and school. Bond also visited apartments which still had washing in sinks, kids toys on the floor and even a bottle of sake with cups lined up ready for pouring in one. It was as though people had left the island in a hurry and there is no indication as to why. Since the adventure, Bond has been told that such actions would have warranted deportation if caught. People in Nagasaki are seemingly uninterested about answering questions on the subject or are perhaps a little cagey.

Why did people leave the island in such a rush?
Why have people not been allowed to visit the island?
Why is the island still standing and the buildings not demolished?

These days you can visit the island which is approximately a 50 minute boat ride from Nagasaki. People are allowed to visit the island for about 45 minutes, but exploration of the island is strictly prohibited because of the dangers provided by the typhoon torn buildings….but is that the real reason??……

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My favourite place in Japan – Nathaniel

Posted on 4 September, 2012 by jimbojapanam

One of our latest additions to the IJT crew is Nathaniel (Nate) Saito who is responsible for dealing with our friends from Australia and New Zealand. In the past, we have dealt direct with customers from the southern hemisphere, but we thought we would give them the opportunity to speak to someone more-a-less on their time zone. Nate is that man picking up calls to the Sydney number or dealing with emails to the IJT Australia email address and so I thought we should give him an opportunity to tell us about his favourite place in Japan.

Being asked to name my favorite place in Japan is always difficult. But then the other day it got a little bit easier. I was having dinner with my wife and a good friend of mine from Matsumoto.  Through dinner, we kept talking about all the great things to see/do/eat (and drink) in and around Matsumoto. To be fair my friend mostly talked about the great places to drink and I mainly talked about all the great places to eat. That evening I came to realize how much I missed Matsumoto and how much I can’t wait to take my wife there.

Matsumoto is famous for Matsumoto Castle (one of the finest original castle’s in Japan), for soba (buckwheat noodles), for the Saito Kinen Music Festival, and as a gateway to the Japan Alps.

But for me what makes Matsumoto such a great place is the food, the people and the location. Some of my favorite restaurants in Japan can all be found in Matsumoto. The great thing about these places is that they are all on side streets, small, and the amazing food is cooked and served to you by the owner. My favorite would have to be Agareya.

It is on the first floor of an old, beautiful building and only has two tables and a long counter. Its specialty is fresh vegetables, chicken, nabe and nihonshu which is the perfect combination. They serve more parts of the chicken than I knew existed. The first time I went, the waitress not only drew me a picture of a chicken but also used her only body to explain where each part was located!


Walking around Matsumoto is great, but to really appreciate what makes the area so special you need to get away from the downtown. Even if you don’t have a car you can easily visit a wasabi farm north of town (beautiful and delicious all at once) or get away to Kamikochi.

But if you have access to a car then you are in really in luck. The number of places to go hiking in the area is uncountable with each trail offering amazing views.

If you have the time and you’re looking for a bite to eat you can head into the mountains in Azumino. The drive itself with take your breath away but once in the mountains the variety of restaurants is quite surprising.

But don’t worry about your waistline because Matsumoto is great for hiking and running! For first timers to Japan, Matsumoto is great for a night or two. If you are on your second or third trip and aren’t afraid to drive in the mountains, then Matsumoto is a great place to spend a week or more!

There you have it -Matsumoto. The castle is impressive and the mountains stunning.  It’s good to know that Nate is an outdoor man…and that he loves his food. Although miles away from Tokyo in terms of ambiance, the alpine town is relatively easy to reach from Tokyo. A direct train from the beating heart of Shinjuku will get you to Matsumoto in under 2h30. You have got to love Japanese trains!

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Pleasure of going public

Posted on 22 August, 2012 by jimbojapanam

Amy Tadehara is one of the latest additions to the talented IJT team taking her place in the US office. This Colorado born girl spent four years living in wonderful Sendai and you may guess from her name that she some Japanese ancestry. However, just because Amy is a Japanese American, it doesn’t mean that she would instantly be use to life in Japan – there are some big differences between the US and Japan.  One of those differences is public transport.

My first solo experience with the much-lauded public transportation of Japan didn’t go quite as planned. The first sign something was not quite right was when I didn’t see any of the laboriously-chosen “landmarks”—the Tsutaya video store, the Sunkus konbini, the Big Hill Climb—that I carefully picked out that morning as I took a green city bus from my apartment to downtown Sendai. The second sign was my bus driver telling me with polite concern that we were at the last stop and that I may wish to disembark? – I was in an area where houses gave way to open space and rice fields. This was most definitely not my apartment.

Growing up in Colorado, I had formed the opinion early on, rightly or wrongly, that public transportation was only for poor and/or elderly people who couldn’t afford a car. This was America, after all; having a car is practically a birthright. Not many people look forward to the day when they can ride a bus on their very own. When I was accepted to the JET Program, I was a little uneasy about not having a car for the first time in my life, but was willing to give public transportation a go for the “experience” of it all. I was placed in Sendai, the largest city between the Tokyo metropolis and Hokkaido; how bad could it be?

It wasn’t at all, really, though I’ll admit that those first few weeks were a bit hairy at times, what with all the kanji I didn’t recognize (which is why I ended up in the rice fields in the middle of the night). The biggest hurdle was learning how to decipher Japanese timetables—why had I never learned the kanji for “route”?—followed by simple procedural things like how to get on/off, how to pay the fare, how to balance precariously while the change machine spat out coins so I could pay the fare, etc.


Eventually, it became so second-nature that not only could I tell my fellow JETs which bus or train they should take, but I was also telling Japanese oba-sans how to ride the bus/train; I wasn’t sure if I should be proud or freaked out.

And so I was converted to the merits of public transport in Japan and embraced it wholeheartedly, which as you might suspect made coming back to the US a tragedy of sorts. I was really happy to be home, but public transportation in Colorado is to Japan what a ditch is to the Grand Canyon: namely, a big letdown. Fortunately, I’m old enough to see the irony in wishing for a Japanese-style transport system when I have a car to take me anywhere, anytime (subject to gas prices) even if I can’t appreciate it all that much. What’s funny is that it’s not just the punctuality, the cleanliness, or the safe feeling that I miss, but the prepaid cards. I’m not even joking; breaking a 1000-yen note just to pay a 230-yen fare is really annoying, especially when you only needed 10 yen.

Oh, and since you’re probably curious, I did manage to get home in the end. But only because the bus driver’s pity for the lost foreigner and the bus’s return route to the city happened to coincide.

I think that this is one of the big differences about Japan. Not only does Japan have a vast public transport network that runs on time and gets to its destination when you expect it to, it is actually a pleasure riding these clean vehicles which are usually driven by polite and helpful staff. The rest of the west have yest another thing to learn from Japan.

Filed under: Opinion, Tours, Travel, Travel Advice | Tagged: , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

My favourite place in Japan – Jocelyn

Posted on 16 July, 2012 by jimbojapanam

Jocelyn came to InsideJapan Tours almost four years ago, spreading news of her beloved Shizuoka in which she lived for two years. Joss is always keen to fit the prefecture known for its green tea and Mt. Fuji into her itineraries and insists that Shizuoka is more than a place people pass through on the Bullet Train. Jocelyn travelled extensively during her time in Japan and even managed to get herself to the sub-tropical Okinawan islands on a school trip – nice work if you can get it! We thought we would ask Jocelyn about her tips for travelling in Japan expecting the obvious, but she surprised us all and came out with a gem.

“Where is your favourite place in Japan?”

When asked to name my favourite place in Japan, my first reaction is undoubtedly Shizuoka – with dense green tea fields, sandy beaches and spectacular views of Mount Fuji. However, I understand that for most people, they will simply speed through the area at 300km/h, with sprawling cities to the right, an admittedly uninviting coast on the left, with a number of long dark tunnels on the way.


So for this occasion, I will choose my current favourite place, which inevitably changes each time I go back to Japan and presently is Ikuchijima, a small island scattered along the Shimanamikaido route in the Inland Sea. A destination once only accessible by boat, the recently built bridge has connected the islands, making it accessible to cars and bikes, and also makes it the perfect place to stop along the Inland Sea.

The island itself is small and hilly, decorated with ripening bushes of mikan (tangerine) in autumn and blossoming sakura (cherry blossom) in the spring. To the north of the island you will find the imposing Kosanji Temple, a large and rather obnoxiously kitsch structure built by a rich businessman and dedicated to his mother. The resulting temple and grounds however are brilliantly stunning, with rich colours and complex composition – well worth a couple of hours stroll.


Next door you will find the small but appealing Hirayama Art Museum, and a short bike ride away to the west is Sunset Beach, where you can grab a beer and as the name suggests, enjoy the sun sinking into the Seto Inland Sea – the perfect way to end the day.

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With the Travel Foundation’s ‘Making Holidays Greener’ month running in July, a cycling trip across the Shimanamikaido is a great experience to have in Japan. Thanks for sharing this little gem with us Jocelyn. I shall put in on this list…..really need to do something about that list.

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Sightseeing, Travel Advice | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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