journey through japan

Arlene and Kenny Weiss traveled to Japan with Audley seeking history, onsens, small towns, and ryokans

By Audley Travel

May 14^th, 2018

getting aquainted

When I asked my husband where he'd like to go on our next vacation, he said Japan. I started to do some research on my own, and the task was daunting so I turned to one of Audley’s Japan specialists. My husband likes history and we both like visiting small towns, wanting to experience a mix of hotels and ryokans (traditional Japanese Inns) and onsens (hot mineral baths).

Starting our trip with four nights in Tokyo, a full-day guided tour introduced us to both the city and the rail system. I must admit that, when I first saw all the trains we had to take, I wondered how we were ever going to manage as we didn’t speak the language. By the second day, I was comfortably using the train system and we were able to get around easily.

After our guided tour of Tokyo, we spent the next three days exploring different areas of the city and the surrounding areas, including Kamakura, about 45 minutes by train outside the capital. This seaside city has lots of Shinto shrines and a busy shopping plaza. Our specialist had also booked us tickets to a kabuki performance, a classical Japanese dance-drama, in Tokyo.

beyond tokyo

We left Tokyo to spend two nights in Yudanaka, a hot-spring resort in the Japanese Alps, to see the snow monkeys that bathe in the waters. The town is also known for its ryokans, and ours had a private rooftop onsen.

Next, we journeyed to Matsumoto for one night to see Crow Castle (Japan's oldest wooden castle), staying in a beautiful hotel a five-minute walk away. We also chose to visit the Ukiyo-e Museum to see its exhibit of woodblock prints.

You’re able to send your luggage ahead when you travel by bullet train, and we forwarded our suitcases from Tokyo to the next city (Kanazawa). When we arrived at our hotel in Kanazawa, our luggage was waiting for us. The following morning, our private guide met us at our hotel to show us the city’s sights, including the magnificent Kenrokuen Garden, one of Japan’s great horticultural sights.

After three days in Kanazawa, we headed to Miyajima Island to spend two nights in a ryokan. We saw the island’s floating torii gate and Shinto shrine, and the next morning our guide took us by ferry to Hiroshima to tour the Peace Memorial Museum and Park, and the remains of the Genbaku Dome (the sole surviving building in the area where the bomb exploded).

Leaving Miyajima, we headed to Matsuyama by jetfoil for two nights in an onsen town. From here, we hiked part of the 88 Temples Pilgrimage (a 1,200-kilometre loop around the island of Shikoku).

The floating torii gate on Miyajima Island

Arlene making new friends on her travels

kyoto calling

We then headed to Kyoto, where we stayed in a centrally located boutique hotel. That evening, we toured the Geisha district with our private guide, Duncan — he also took us on a full-day tour of the city the next day. We loved Kyoto. The following day, we went to the Fushimi Inari shrine, where thousands of torii gates create tunnels across the landscape, and then to Nara to see its well-preserved temples and shrines.

We left Kyoto for one night to see Mount Fuji in Hakone National Park, where we stayed in a beautiful ryokan. Due to the clouds, we couldn’t see the mountain that evening, but it revealed itself the next morning. We took the Hakone Ropeway up to a lookout in the Hakone hills, and followed this by cruising to view the peak from the lake.

After another night back in Kyoto, we went by train to the town of Bizen to see its pottery and kilns (some of the pottery techniques here are more than 1,000 years old). In Kyoto, we spent half a day with a guide to see the Silver Pavilion Gardens and walk on the Philosopher’s Walk.

The following day, we took the train to Osaka and toured the Umeda Center Building in the morning. Japan has a professional baseball league, and in the afternoon we watched a Hanshin Tigers game (using tickets our specialist had pre-arranged for us).

We had two more days in Tokyo before we flew home, our specialist suggested some new areas to see. We went to the National Palace Museum in Ueno and walked through the small town of Yanaka. We loved our trip and arrived home with great memories and experiences.