Overseas Adventure Travel
Japan’s Cultural Treasures
April 17 through May 2, 2023

Click on the above link buttons that will take you directly to a particular page or area of the review; or you can just click through to the next page at the bottom of each page.

Page 1 - Tokyo and Hakone Day 1
Page 2 - Hakone Day 2 and Kanazawa Days 1 & 2
Page 3 - Kanazawa Day 3 and Kyoto Day Day 1
Page 4 - Kyoto Days 2 & 3
Page 5 - Kyoto Days 4 & 5

Preface

I had visited Japan on an Oceania cruise in 2015 and just loved the country. The sights, natural beauty, culture and especially the people made it one of my favorite countries of the ninety I have visited. I was so looking forward to another visit there and booked another cruise for May 2020, but that was cancelled due to Covid. Since I have so enjoyed our Overseas Adventure Travel small group land tours, I decided that their Japan’s Cultural Treasures tours would be a great way to have a much more in-depth experience. It would also give Cathy the opportunity to visit this country that I loved so much. We were also traveling with our next-door neighbor, Claudia, who had also not been to Japan.

Tokyo, Japan – Day 1

We booked flights to Tokyo from Ft. Lauderdale, with a connection in Atlanta. I am always stressed when there is a connection when going on a big trip, especially when the layover is less than two hours. Five days before our flight, Fort Lauderdale received 24 inches of rain in a day, and it shut down the airport for two days. When I saw rain in the forecast the night before our flight, I was concerned. With the ground so saturated already, it could be a problem. When we left for the airport at 4:45 AM, there was no rain. Halfway to the airport, we had some heavy rain. I was even more concerned. When we arrived at the airport, we found that our flight to Atlanta was delayed due to the arriving flight leaving late due to weather. If the weather got worse in Fort Lauderdale, the arriving flight could arrive later than expected. The flight finally did arrive, and we only left about 40 minutes late. With it being so easy to get between terminals at the Atlanta airport, we arrived at our gate with plenty of time. Our 7,200-mile flight to Tokyo was only about half full. Quite unusual for flights these days.

After going through immigration and retrieving our luggage, we ordered an Uber to take us to our hotel. Uber is a bit different in Tokyo. They use taxi companies as well as Uber drivers. We ordered an Uber Black Van, since there were three of us with luggage. The cost was $78 plus an $8 booking fee or $86 plus tip. The beauty of using Uber was that there was no need to hassle with communicating where we were going or having to pay out cash. I also didn’t want to worry about the Tokyo traffic making the price go through the roof.

We arrived a day before the official start of the tour, so we would have some extra time in Tokyo and to get adjusted to the thirteen hour later time zone. OAT used the Tokyu Stay Shinjuku Eastside hotel. We arrived at about 6:15 PM.

It was a nice hotel with a very friendly and helpful staff. Like most Tokyo hotels the room was on the smaller size. It was large enough for us to keep our large suitcases out, since there wasn’t a closet in the room, just some hangars on the wall.

The beds were comfortable, but since they were on a slightly elevated platform, we had to crawl to the end of the bed to get out of it. A bit inconvenient, but we adapted.

There was a nice size TV in the room, but with no English channels, we didn’t use it.

We were quite pleased with the washer/dryer appliance in the room. They supplied soap and it worked quite well.

The bathroom was a nice size considering the smaller room size. As with every bathroom we used in Japan, it had a Toto bidet type toilet. The seats were always heated, which we became used to quite quickly.

With the long travel day, including the 14.5-hour flight from Atlanta, we weren’t planning any nighttime activities, other than a quick dinner. The front desk person recommended a restaurant close by in a nice shopping area, the Ootoya restaurant. We had a nice first meal in Japan.

If you are traveling to Japan, be sure to download the Google Translate app for your mobile phone. It is a must have and it will make your visit much easier. One of the features of this app is that you can use the camera to read print. With some restaurants not having any English on their menus, you will be most grateful you have the app. It also was helpful in reading the controls on our AC units and the washer/dryer. We found that most people we met in shops or restaurants didn’t speak English. Being able to talk into the phone and having it speak out the translation was so helpful.

We went to bed early to be ready for our first full day in Tokyo.

Tokyo, Japan – Day 2

After a very nice night’s sleep we were ready to explore Tokyo. The included breakfast buffet at the restaurant had quite a bunch of different items. There were small containers of marinated vegetables, meat and fish. They also had different type of sweets, along with cereal, eggs, fruits, yogurt, etc.

During our trip, every hotel restaurant breakfast had regular salads available. There was, of course, rice too. I was surprised that they had wonderful corn soup and curry for breakfast. We found that they prepare scrambled eggs differently in Japan. They are mushy and almost a blended consistency. The bacon was never crispy, but still tasty.

The previous night we met some of the other 12 people that were on our tour. This morning we met four more during breakfast. We planned on going to the Gyoen National Gardens in the morning, since it wasn’t on the tour itinerary. One of the couples we met, Lorie and Linda, also wanted to go there, so we went together. It was a short walk from the hotel. The 144-acre garden was bequeathed to a lord in 1772. It later became an imperial garden and is now a national park. Our first destination in the park was the large greenhouse area to see orchids and other flora. On our way there, we saw some gorgeous flowers.

The green house was quite nice with a trail that also covered higher elevations in the building.

The park was quite beautiful with azaleas and other flowers in bloom.

We got a kick out of the school kids out on a tour. They were like a family of ducklings following in a line.

I volunteer at the Morikami Museum and Gardens in Delray Beach, Florida. It has a very nice Japanese garden, so I enjoyed seeing so many of them in Japan. They are always so calming and beautiful.
The gardens were surrounded by beautiful buildings that contrasted the peaceful setting.

After leaving the garden, we did some sightseeing and searched for the Hanazono Shrine that we had seen on the Google map app. We found it not too far from the park. It was established in 1603. Like many of the shrines and buildings in Tokyo, they had to be rebuilt after the bombings of WW2.

We finished our touring and went back to the hotel for a quick lunch in the same shopping area where we had dinner the previous night. By the time we got back, others in our group were arriving from the airport. It would also be when we would get to meet our Trip Experience Leader, Katy. We had a Zoom video call with Katy a few weeks before the tour, so we knew each other a little. We ran into her when we came down an elevator. It was great to finally meet her in person. She is such a lovely person and an awesome guide. She couldn’t have been more helpful and desirous of making our trip the experience we could have. She even sent everyone a link to her photo album of pics she took during the tour. I was able to use her group photos in this review, as well as a couple of her photos for things I missed. We really lucked out having Katy as our leader. The OAT leaders we had on our previous three trips have also been great, but Katy is special. We just loved her, as did the rest of our group.

One of the things we found very unusual was that there was no bar in the hotel. We were looking for a pre-dinner drink and there were no bars to be found nearby. We walked to a couple of the nicer hotels, and they didn’t have bars either, so we asked for a recommendation from our hotel’s front desk staff. They gave us a name and location and we headed that way. It wasn’t far from the gardens we visited in the morning. This area had much more nightlife with lots of restaurants and some bars. Perhaps hotel bars in Japan aren’t that popular. We didn’t find one until our last hotel in Kyoto.

We found a place for dinner and went to bed early to totally recover from the time change. Also, since we couldn’t watch anything on TV, there wasn’t much else to do.

Tokyo, Japan – Day 3

For our first official day of the tour, Katy had a 20-minute orientation walk of the area. Since we had arrived early, we were very familiar with the area, so we passed on it. At 9:30 AM we had a welcome meeting. Katy told us about the tour and how she would give us a printout showing the next day’s schedule. It made it easy to keep everyone in synch. I would take a photo of the schedule on my iPhone to have it available whenever I wanted to refer to it. Easier than carrying a piece of paper with me every day. Everyone introduced themselves and told a little about why they were on the trip and some general info. We also met a fellow named Tai Chi. He was a new OAT local employee that was observing our tour for a few days. He was a good guy and was helpful to Katy when she needed assistance.

We entered our small bus that we would be using to get around much of the time while in Tokyo. It was quite spacious for our group, so we could spread out nicely. We also had a great driver who very helpful. He had a great personality and was fun to be with.

Our first stop was to the Ryogoku Kokugikan National Sumo Arena. It is a large facility that is used for sumo and some other activities. The sumo dohyo or ring is cleared of the sand on the top each day and replaced with new sand. It is a small ring for such large people.

After the arena, we headed for our own sumo wrestler experience. Two former sumo wrestlers told us about their life as sumo wrestlers. It was quite interesting. We were surprised that they had to stay together with other sumo wrestlers in training for several years. It is a very dedicated lifestyle.

Although they looked fat, they were very solid. They even let us poke their stomachs to prove it.

We sat around the small room while they showed us what they did before a fight and gave us a demo. We were surprised that they were able to do it in such a small space, especially when they threw each other to the ground.

These guys were real sweethearts. They were funny and so friendly with us. They took photos with everyone, as well as a group photo.

After the demo, they served us a lunch of chanco and rice. Chanco is a soup they make for themselves containing meat and vegetables that is very healthy and full of protein to build them up. It was very tasty.

After lunch we headed to our next stop. On the way we passed by the Central Tokyo Train Station. Just a beautiful building.

Our destination was the Meji Shrine. This large Shinto shrine is one of the most visited sites in Japan and is its most popular Shinto shrine. The tree enclosed paths to the shrine are a pleasure to walk along. Along the walk are barrels of wine and containers of sake that are covered in writing. Katy didn't think that the were still full though.

Near the entrance is a massive torii gate.

As we entered the main shrine area, there was a hand washing fountain.

We then passed through an ornate wood gate. The woodwork under the roof is fascinating to look at.

The main shrine itself is a large building, with many worshippers praying at the entrance. Photos of the shrine interior are not permitted.

The shrines under roof woodwork was also interesting.

When we returned to the hotel after our day’s activities, Katy offered everyone an optional tour to see the Shibuya crossing. It is known as the world’s busiest pedestrian intersection. It is a very popular area and right outside a busy train station. Large crowds hang out there making it like Times Square with its assortment of characters.

All the car traffic stops at one time and all the pedestrians cross. It is an amazing site to see so many people moving at the same time.

Katy took us up to a building nearby to see the crossing from above. I have seen this before from drone footage and it is fascinating to watch. We weren’t as high up as a drone can get, but it was a different perspective. I took a video of it, since a still doesn’t do it justice.

For dinner we were doing what Katy called an Izakaya experience. We walked to the area where Cathy and I had found a bar the previous day to a restaurant named Torikizoku. It was an interesting set up with partitioned sections. The literal translation of Izakaya is “dine-in sake shop”. You order drinks along with small dishes of food. It is about eating, drinking and being merry. And it certainly was.

After dinner we took a walk through a part of Shinjuku that was very popular.

During our stay in Tokyo, we saw many large trucks with illuminated signs on them driving around.

The reason for our walk was to see the large Godzilla statue on top of one of the buildings. It is funny to see. On my first visit to Tokyo, I didn’t know it was there. When I looked up, it was startling, but not this time.

There was so much illumination. I loved it.

On our way back to the hotel, we saw some interesting sights and passed through the old Golden Gai area again. It had been a fun evening.

Tokyo, Japan – Day 4

This morning rather than taking the bus to our touring locations in the Asakusa area, we were using the trains. I’m assuming that trains were faster than using the bus to go across to the other side of Tokyo. The trains were very efficient, and we all got seats.

Our first destination in Asakusa was to a Taiko drumming experience.

A young lady told us about how she got into and loved drumming. Since she didn’t speak English, Katy interpreted for us. She did a nice demonstration of her skills. I always enjoy watching taiko, since they really get into it with such gusto and large motions. It is great exercise too. I had to put in a video to show part of her performance.

She then had each of us get in front of a drum to show us how to play them. She got us into a pretty complicated routine, but the way she had us continue to increase the number of hits, we did amazingly well. It was a lot of fun.

Tai Chi took a group photo for us.

After the demo, we went to their museum/store area. They had some gorgeous things there.

To get to our next destination, the Senso Ji Temple, we took a bus. This Buddhist temple is the most widely visited religious site in the world with 30,000,000 visitors a year. The first temple at that location was founded in 645 AD, making it Tokyo’s oldest temple. Katy had us enter the temple area through a less crowded area, where we passed by one of the smaller buildings.

Close by was the main temple, where there were lots of worshipers praying.

In front of the temple was the popular God of Dragon statue. Rather interesting.

Also on the grounds is a five-story pagoda. They are always such a pleasure to see.

In front of the main temple is a large beautifully decorated gate.

Since the very busy shopping area is in front of the gate, our group moved over to one of the less busy side lanes on the other side of the shops. There was a nice little park with three statues to check out. Just gorgeous.

Katy was taking us to a viewing area in a building where we could look down at the busy area.

We could also see the Tokyo Sky Tree, the tallest tower in the world at 2,080 feet. It is also the third tallest structure in the world. It is a communications and observation tower. The gold building next to it in the photo is the headquarters of Asahi beer. It is supposed to resemble a glass of beer with a head. Pretty cool! We did drink our share of Asahi beer while in Japan.

When we got back to ground level, we walked around the area on our own a bit. We couldn’t really use the main path between all the shops. It was just too crowded.

That evening we had our welcome dinner. I would have thought we would have had this earlier in the trip, rather than our last night in Tokyo. But any day is good for a welcome dinner. It was at the very nice Aen restaurant.

The meal itself had many courses and was very good.

I took the opportunity to take photos of everyone in our group. We were so lucky to have such nice and friendly people who got along so well together.

Nan Jeanne

Goldie Barbara

Claudia Marilyn

Richard & Janice Linda & Lorie

Michael & Norma Chuck

That night we had to pack our large suitcase to put in the lobby by 11:00 PM. It would be taken to the hotel at our third stop, Kanazawa, while we took a smaller bag to Hakone where we would only spend two nights. This kept us from having to hassle with large luggage on the train we would take after our visit in Hakone.

Transfer to Hakone, Japan – Day 1

In the morning we boarded the bus for our drive to our next hotel in the town of Hakone. We would first stop at the village of Minamiashigara. The small town is about 50 miles from downtown Tokyo. It is a much more relaxed place and is probably a pleasant place to live. We walked through a pretty area that also had a nice water wheel and a sand garden. We were going to the community center to have our Day in the Life segment of our tour. This is something that OAT does on all their tours to help travelers get to know the locals and learn about how they live.

We were there to help prepare our lunch. We met a young man from the village who spoke English. He talked to us for a bit and then introduced the three woman who would show us about the cooking.

We also met a fellow with blond hair that helped us in some other areas of the visit. Later, he took off his hat and he was totally bald. The blond hair was part of the hat. He was a character.

We were broken down into two groups. One would make the miso soup and the other would do rice. They showed us the ingredients in the miso soup, and they looked like more than were in previous versions we had eaten.

Our team worked on cutting up the ingredients. After they finished cutting everything up, the cooks took over and turned it into soup.

The other group prepared the rice.

After our group’s work was done, we all went out to search for bamboo shoots. Now this was a new adventure. We walked around in their mini bamboo forest looking for new stalks to dig up. We did find some. Several of us, including Cathy tried to dig them up. It was more difficult than it appeared. Thai Chi and others helped us. It was surprising how big the small plan’t base was when dug up. They were also pretty deep.

As we went back with our bamboo, one of the kitchen assistants waved at us. The Japanese are such sweet people.

After giving the bamboo to the kitchen, they showed us some of their games to play. It was fun, but they were probably more appropriate for kids. In other words, I wasn’t successful with them.

When it was time to eat, we had a nice plate of vegetable appetizers.

We were then given some rice and fried tofu wrappers to make one of our food items.

The end result, along with the best miso soup of the trip was quite tasty.

During the meal they passed around some of the cooked palm shoots we had dug up. They were quite good.

After we finished lunch, the three women talked to us about life in Hakone and their personal lives. Katy interpreted our questions to them, and she interpreted their responses. They were very honest and were a pleasure to talk with. It was a most enriching and enjoyable experience.

Afterwards we walked around and saw a wonan singing at the other end of the community center. She was having a great time and we enjoyed listening to her.

Before we left we took a group photo with the lovely people we spent the morning with.

After we left the community center, we walked around the area checking things out. Katy showed us a cemetery. In Japan, rather than adding new stones, they put the ashes under the family stone and put sticks with the person’s name next to it.

We saw an irrigation system for the rice fields. The water was moving very fast and not being used yet.

As we were walking around looking at the community, one of the residents gave Katy a couple of four-leaf clovers she found for us. One of them was huge.

After our walk, we got back on the bus for the drive to our hotel in Hakone. We were staying at the Hotel Recove Hakone.

The hotel was a very well-maintained older hotel. The rooms were rather plain with nothing on the walls, similar to our Tokyo hotel, but the room was much larger, and the beds weren’t on a pedestal. But once I sat on my bed, I knew immediately that it was way too firm. Cathy’s bed was fine. It was a shame hers wasn’t a king size like we prefer, so it wouldn’t have been an issue. I went back down to the lobby to try to fix the issue. Thank goodness Katy was still there. She was able to explain the problem. They said that it would be fixed while we were at dinner. I certainly hoped so since it was most uncomfortable.

The room also had a closet and drawers, so we were quite happy with the hotel, other than my bed.

The bathroom was like our previous one, which was fine.

A very popular feature of this hotel were the onsens, which are hot spring supplied bathing facilities. Our hotel had very nice facilities for men and women. There were large dressing rooms and a nice sized hot spring supplied pool for each area. I was not allowed to take photos of the facility, but I was impressed with them. We had no desire to use them, but many of our group did. Swimsuits were not permitted in the pools.

Every room had kimonos and a black jacket to partially cover it for the occupants to wear to the onsens. For our first dinner in Hakone, we ate in a private room in the hotel. Everyone was told that they could wear their kimonos to dinner. It made for a fun dinner.

This also called for a group photo of everyone in their kimonos.

When I am putting photos of what we we were served for our meals, there is no way that I can put down what we were having. There were so many different types of food and preparation methods. But the photos do show what was served.

After dinner, Katy showed us how the locals use pieces of material to carry food and other items around. They even use it to carry their babies.

After dinner we returned to our room to find that they had put a topper on my bed to soften it. It worked great.

Overseas Adventure Travel Japan’s Cultural Treasures April 17 through May 2, 2023