AbD Japan April 2019 Inaugural Trip
- Thread starter Mathmagicland
- Start date
Mathmagicland
Disneyland - the original since 1955
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2014
Not stupid at all, I am the same way. Hang a bit farther back in the group & it will be easy to get. I think they are fun pictures.
I forgot to add to the post I just did about the Osaka Dotonbori district - as we are making our initial walk up through the area, one of the food vendors sees our sign and calls out “Adventures by Disney is here!” It was such a fun moment and I think shows how globally Disney is, not just Mickey Mouse.
Mathmagicland
Disneyland - the original since 1955
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2014
Beautiful pics! We got to experience a bit of hanafubuki at the temple with the taiko drums demonstrations, it was special.
We have arrived in Takayama, that will be my next post, and thankfully there is no snow. According to the cherry blossom reports the blossoms are now opening in Takayama with full bloom expected in a day or two so I am hoping we will see some of the trees here when we are out and about.
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2010
I am sure you won't be able to miss them!
Just read your report from yesterday - its so nice your DS is more adventurous with food! Japan has so many different things and they are all so good (imo). If he liked the beef in Osaka I'm sure he will love the Hida beef in Takayama - it was the best we had on our whole trip. Can't wait to read more - thank you for sharing!
Mathmagicland
Disneyland - the original since 1955
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2014
Thursday April 18
We have an early start today with a 7:30 departure as we leave Kyoto, travel to Nara for most of the day, and then head up to Takayama. Our agenda for the day -
—Fushimi Imari shrine: Torii Trail in Kyoto
—Todaiji Temple & Park in Nara
—Nara main shopping district
—Mochi-making demonstration and tasting
—Lunch on own in Nara
—Kehaya-za Sumo experience and museum
—travel to Takayama
—dinner at one of the hotel restaurants- voucher provided
—Onsen experience- hotel offers many choices
The Fushimi Imari shrine and Torii Trail is the #1 visited location in Kyoto, so we are on the road early this morning to beat the crowds. It is a short drive from the hotel. Our local Kyoto expert is with us again to share history and insights of the shrine and give a short tour. This is a beautiful shrine and I can see why it is so popular. We were fortunate to see a couple of the morning rituals with Shinto priests.
We were on our own to explore the grounds and Torii trail for a bit. We could definitely see the benefits of our early arrival, as both both busloads of visitors plus locals and walk-in visitors started streaming into the shrine. It was almost a constant stream of people coming in as we were heading out. We had great timing to be able to capture this empty view of the gates as crowds of people were heading in one side and up into the shrine while not many were leaving yet on the other side.
After this shrine, we are on the first leg of our road trip today, about a 75 minute drive to Nara. Todaji Temple and Park is also a busy place, as it is home to the largest Buddha in the world. Our local expert travels with us to Nara. To help manage the visitors, Nara has just opened (two days prior to our visit) a new bus parking and drop off center. It is a 20-minute walk to the temple.
Nara is also home to the famous bowing deer. There are approx 1400 deer in the area; they come down from the hills to the city for the day & then wander back to the hills for the evening. There are a lot of deer in town, and they seem to know where the tourists are as there are a few at the start of our walk from the bus drop off and many more as we get closer to the temple. Vendors will sell crackers to feed the deer. Word of warning - the deer will try to eat any exposed paper, and seem to get a bit assertive with anyone who has the crackers to feed them. We saw a few of them put noses in bags And pockets. Good news re our AbD name tags as those seem to be deer proof! They nibbled at my DS tag but could not bite through. You will want to be watchful with bags, pockets and name tags when walking by the larger groupings of deer. And while you will see people touching and trying to pet the deer, it isn’t not a petting zoo & I would not recommend it. Those with kids may want to be especially watchful.
The Todajii Buddha is vey impressive. We have some time here to explore on our own before heading to the main shopping district and Michu-making demonstration. Again it is a 20 minute walk...are you seeing the pattern? Smile! Aside from our walking tours, we have 15-20 minute walks when we need to walk from one place to another. Our local expert is sharing more history and insights during our walk.
We split into two groups at the mochi shop. The Mochi-making demonstration is short, and we are given fresh, warm samples to try. Note that these are not the same as the mochi ice cream versions you may have seen in your local supermarket. After this, we have about an hour for lunch and to visit the shops. While it is fun to try Japanese food, it is also fun to see how local chains from home adopt their menus for international cultures. A few of us decided to check out the Nara McDonald’s. By comparison to US, it has a limited menu. There are some unique to Japan items on their menu (the teriyaki burger, for example) along with the Big Macs; the fries taste the same.
Our local guide stays behind as we leave Nara. Next stop on our road trip is Katsuragi City and the Kehaya-za Sumo experience and museum, about 45 minutes from Nara. This was extremely interesting! It was also fun. Several of the people were waiting out front to greet us as we walked up from the bus drop off area. We learned a lot about sumo, the rituals and preparation as well as how they practice, during the demonstration. The wrestlers are so flexible, and it is much more strenuous than at may appear on TV. We had a photo op after the demonstration. We are here about an hour.
I also found another painted manhole cover, right in front of the sumo place.
Time to hop back on the bus for our drive to Takayama. This is the longest leg of today’s road trip, as it will be a four-hour drive. No worries, we will have a rest stop break about half way through the trip. Our guides also have some fun activities for us, along with Disney cartoons on the overhead video monitors. It is a drive through mostly the countryside, and some of the longest tunnels I’ve ever experienced.
We arrive at our hotel shortly after 8:00pm. The hotel is aware of our late arrival and has extended their dinner hours in the buffet restaurant for our group and we head straight to the dining room. Our luggage was sent ahead via truck, and we have already been checked in with the luggage delivered to our rooms. What service! Our guides distribute our room keys and breakfast coupons during dinner. This hotel has actual keys for the room keys; I can’t remember the last time I had a physical key rather than a key card. I
The onsen is available for those who wish to experience it tonight; we will have another opportunity to do so tomorrow night. There are robes and towels for this in our rooms.
It has been a long day again today but fun and we continue to learn & see so much about Japan. We have a late report time tomorrow morning, 9:30 a.m. - the group is happy about that after today’s early start. I may finally get caught up with my trip report here; I’ve been able to type up comments each day but did not have time to get the photos pulled together, so I’m a bit behind with my daily posts.
Tomorrow we will explore Takayama.
We have an early start today with a 7:30 departure as we leave Kyoto, travel to Nara for most of the day, and then head up to Takayama. Our agenda for the day -
—Fushimi Imari shrine: Torii Trail in Kyoto
—Todaiji Temple & Park in Nara
—Nara main shopping district
—Mochi-making demonstration and tasting
—Lunch on own in Nara
—Kehaya-za Sumo experience and museum
—travel to Takayama
—dinner at one of the hotel restaurants- voucher provided
—Onsen experience- hotel offers many choices
The Fushimi Imari shrine and Torii Trail is the #1 visited location in Kyoto, so we are on the road early this morning to beat the crowds. It is a short drive from the hotel. Our local Kyoto expert is with us again to share history and insights of the shrine and give a short tour. This is a beautiful shrine and I can see why it is so popular. We were fortunate to see a couple of the morning rituals with Shinto priests.
We were on our own to explore the grounds and Torii trail for a bit. We could definitely see the benefits of our early arrival, as both both busloads of visitors plus locals and walk-in visitors started streaming into the shrine. It was almost a constant stream of people coming in as we were heading out. We had great timing to be able to capture this empty view of the gates as crowds of people were heading in one side and up into the shrine while not many were leaving yet on the other side.
After this shrine, we are on the first leg of our road trip today, about a 75 minute drive to Nara. Todaji Temple and Park is also a busy place, as it is home to the largest Buddha in the world. Our local expert travels with us to Nara. To help manage the visitors, Nara has just opened (two days prior to our visit) a new bus parking and drop off center. It is a 20-minute walk to the temple.
Nara is also home to the famous bowing deer. There are approx 1400 deer in the area; they come down from the hills to the city for the day & then wander back to the hills for the evening. There are a lot of deer in town, and they seem to know where the tourists are as there are a few at the start of our walk from the bus drop off and many more as we get closer to the temple. Vendors will sell crackers to feed the deer. Word of warning - the deer will try to eat any exposed paper, and seem to get a bit assertive with anyone who has the crackers to feed them. We saw a few of them put noses in bags And pockets. Good news re our AbD name tags as those seem to be deer proof! They nibbled at my DS tag but could not bite through. You will want to be watchful with bags, pockets and name tags when walking by the larger groupings of deer. And while you will see people touching and trying to pet the deer, it isn’t not a petting zoo & I would not recommend it. Those with kids may want to be especially watchful.
The Todajii Buddha is vey impressive. We have some time here to explore on our own before heading to the main shopping district and Michu-making demonstration. Again it is a 20 minute walk...are you seeing the pattern? Smile! Aside from our walking tours, we have 15-20 minute walks when we need to walk from one place to another. Our local expert is sharing more history and insights during our walk.
We split into two groups at the mochi shop. The Mochi-making demonstration is short, and we are given fresh, warm samples to try. Note that these are not the same as the mochi ice cream versions you may have seen in your local supermarket. After this, we have about an hour for lunch and to visit the shops. While it is fun to try Japanese food, it is also fun to see how local chains from home adopt their menus for international cultures. A few of us decided to check out the Nara McDonald’s. By comparison to US, it has a limited menu. There are some unique to Japan items on their menu (the teriyaki burger, for example) along with the Big Macs; the fries taste the same.
Our local guide stays behind as we leave Nara. Next stop on our road trip is Katsuragi City and the Kehaya-za Sumo experience and museum, about 45 minutes from Nara. This was extremely interesting! It was also fun. Several of the people were waiting out front to greet us as we walked up from the bus drop off area. We learned a lot about sumo, the rituals and preparation as well as how they practice, during the demonstration. The wrestlers are so flexible, and it is much more strenuous than at may appear on TV. We had a photo op after the demonstration. We are here about an hour.
I also found another painted manhole cover, right in front of the sumo place.
Time to hop back on the bus for our drive to Takayama. This is the longest leg of today’s road trip, as it will be a four-hour drive. No worries, we will have a rest stop break about half way through the trip. Our guides also have some fun activities for us, along with Disney cartoons on the overhead video monitors. It is a drive through mostly the countryside, and some of the longest tunnels I’ve ever experienced.
We arrive at our hotel shortly after 8:00pm. The hotel is aware of our late arrival and has extended their dinner hours in the buffet restaurant for our group and we head straight to the dining room. Our luggage was sent ahead via truck, and we have already been checked in with the luggage delivered to our rooms. What service! Our guides distribute our room keys and breakfast coupons during dinner. This hotel has actual keys for the room keys; I can’t remember the last time I had a physical key rather than a key card. I
The onsen is available for those who wish to experience it tonight; we will have another opportunity to do so tomorrow night. There are robes and towels for this in our rooms.
It has been a long day again today but fun and we continue to learn & see so much about Japan. We have a late report time tomorrow morning, 9:30 a.m. - the group is happy about that after today’s early start. I may finally get caught up with my trip report here; I’ve been able to type up comments each day but did not have time to get the photos pulled together, so I’m a bit behind with my daily posts.
Tomorrow we will explore Takayama.
Mathmagicland
Disneyland - the original since 1955
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2014
We had the Hida beef at the hotel dinner last night and you are spot on, it was the best and so tender a knife was not needed. It was not part of the buffet - the hotel had prepared special hot plates for us with the beef and a few vegetables.
calypso726
Escaping reality one Disney vacation at a time
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2006
Loving your trip report! I feel I am even more excited about this ABD now if that is even possible.
sayhello
Have Camera, Will Travel
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2006
Last edited:
ImprovGal
<font color=green>No animals were harmed in the ma
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2004
Exactly!!! This trip is so jampacked with fascinating activities!
Mathmagicland
Disneyland - the original since 1955
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2014
Same here!30 days!!
Sayhello
Thanks! We are definitely busy and on the go, there is so much to see and we are scratching the surface of what Japan has to share. But i are not really feeling rushed. Yes, there has been a time or two where I wished we had maybe 15 more minutes, which is typical with this sort of trip, but it is OK as there are new and exciting things awaiting.
Cousin Orville
Inventor of Air Cooling
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2000
Was the Hida beef apart of the Takayama ABD dinner or something you had to request on your own? I definitely don’t want to miss it!
Mathmagicland
Disneyland - the original since 1955
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2014
For our arrival dinner at the hotel, they pulled it our for us as a hot dish to supplement the hotel buffet, I don’t know if that will be for everyone on future adventures. But no worries as we get a Hida beef dinner as our group dinner activity the next day...I’m getting ready to post that day’s comments.
Mathmagicland
Disneyland - the original since 1955
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2014
Friday April 19
I am finally caught back up again! After breakfast at the hotel, we are off to see Takayama, our agenda for today -
—historic village of Shirakawa-go
—traditional Japanese lunch at Irori
—countryside bike ride or walk and food exploring
—dinner at Suzuka
—Onsen experience
First, a view of the sunrise from our hotel room, it is very cloudy with some rain is predicted for this morning but we should miss most of it. The clouds make for a pretty morning sky. We have a beautiful view of the mountains from our hotel room. There is a binder with hotel info in front of the TV; in the binder are some post cards with pictures of the mountain range and some elevations noted...all in Japanese but we picked one up to try to translate when we get home.
Slight pause for a side comment - I am liking this hotel....it has fresh grapefruit! We had pink at dinner last night and white at the breakfast buffet. Now, back to the adventure.
Today we traveled about 50 minutes to the historic village of Shirakawa-go through the mountains known as the Japanese Alps. There is still some snow on the tops of the mountains.we went thru a few more tunnels to get there.
Shirakawa-go is an amazing place, so many original old buildings in a little community that was discovered in the early 20th century and preserved to show how life was in Japan in the mountains. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We have about an hour to stroll and visit the largest grouping of structures. It includes shops and food places, along with homes and other businesses, for there are approx 1600 people living there. We are also fortunate in that the cherry trees here have recently started bloom, so there are many beautiful blossoms.
We get to have lunch in the town, at a traditional Japanese lunch named Irori. The owner harvests fresh vegetables grown in the town to serve with the meals. It was delicious! After lunch, we are going to an observation platform that overlooks the community - the options are to take the bus or do a short 10-15 minute hike. If you can make the hike, I’d recommend that option as you can get a few different vantage points along the way before you get to the top & the platform. We have time for photo ops on the platform before heading out.
We will be split into two groups for the afternoon activity. Half of us will start with the countryside bike ride and the other half will have the guided food and culture walk of the historic Takayama market district. We will not miss out on anything, as tomorrow morning we will switch activities with the bike group doing the walking tour and the other group doing the bike ride. We are in the group that will start with the bike ride.
The bikes were waiting for us when we arrived. The guides had confirmed our heights when we checked in on day 1 in Kyoto and the bikes were assigned by height and tagged with our names. After a quick check for seat height, and some instructions on how to ride on Japanese streets, we are off. The bike ride was a lot of fun, and the countryside in Japan is beautiful. We rode past some cattle farms where our guide explained what is required for beef to be able to be labeled as Hida beef. We continued to a small shrine area at the base of a mountain with clear spring water where we could get a drink. We were also provided bottles of water, and we made a couple of stops along the way both our to the shrine and back again, for rest and water.
As we are riding along at one point, we are passed by three boys on bikes, I’d guess they are 12-14. They see us and call out Hello, in English, as we call out Konnichiwa in return to them. Then, as we get back to town, riding along the streets there are several residents standing outdid their homes. They wave to us and say Konnichiwa and we return the greetings. It was special to feel so welcomed to their town. One thing we have found throughout our visit is the Japanese people are so friendly and welcoming.
We are picked up for the ride back to the hotel around 4:30pm. We will have about 3 hours before we need to report for dinner, to relax and explore the hotel, or go to the onsen. We also get information re our hotels and luggage for the next couple of days, and this requires a change of plans for us.
I had researched each of our hotels & found that the Hilton in Odawara was the only hotel with coin laundry machines, so had planned to do a load of laundry there in the evening since from the schedule it appears we would have time & it about the half way point for those also doing the Tokyo Disney extension. However, we will only be In Odawara for approx 13 hours - it is basically an overnight rest stop as we can’t get to Tokyo from Takayama in half a day on the bus. We are making stops along the way to Odawara and then on to Tokyo, but not seeing anything in the Odawara area itself.
The plan with the luggage is they will pick up our luggage here in Takayama and take them to the Peninsula in Tokyo. We are asked to pack a day bag, the AbD duffles we received at tour check-in are perfect for this, with what we will need for the one night on Odawara - clothes, toiletries, medications, chargers. Those who may need a carryon or larger size bag will be able to be accommodated, ie for a Family or medications or etc; the bus has limited storage underneath.
Thus most of our free time was spent sorting through our planned laundry, washing a few things out in the tub, hanging them to dry overnight, and repacking a bit for better organization for the rest of the trip. Tide Pods work great in a bathtub! So we appreciated the three hours to get this done. Thankfully this hotel has dehumidifiers in the rooms, likely because it is close to the mountains and popular with skiers who would need to dry out their wet ski things, so our clothes dry in a few hours with the dehumidifier in the bathroom and our things on hangers, the clothesline, and the shower rod. We learned that items need to be above the dehumidifier to get the full benefit and dry quicker, so moved things around a bit after dinner to help the drying process.
As the hotel is not close to town (there is a free shuttle to the JR line station in Takayama, looks from the schedule in the room it is maybe 7-8 minute ride and runs once per hour), and our free shopping time in Takayama is tomorrow, we also browsed a bit in the hotel gift shop. They have a nice, large gift shop with local gift items we have not seen in other areas of our travels. Takayama is known for Hida beef, and a kind of apples. There are a lot of different, unique to the area food items in the gift shop all packaged for travel. We picked up a couple of of things, because we could pack them in our suitcases that will be delivered to Tokyo and not have to carry them with us for two days with the limited bags.
You may or may not be aware, Japan is getting a new Emperor on May 1- the current emperor Akihito is stepping down and his oldest son Crown Prince Naruhito will be the new emperor. Each emperor has a unique name for their era of reign. Emperor Akihito is Heisei and Crown Prince Naruhito will be Reiwa. We learned from our shadow AbD guide in training that with the change in era, it is tradition to sell boxes of cookies and sweets in commemoration of the new era; these items are sold only for a limited time, we think until the end of this year. Our Takayama hotel gift shop has some of these commemorative items. This is the first time we have seen these, so that is one of the things we picked up here. We aren’t sure where we may find similar items in Tokyo. If I do see them, I’ll make note in my posts for future reference.
Here is a photo of the Japanese characters that represent the new era, and the things for sale in the gift shop, if you might also be interested in this unique limited opportunity
Store display
Japanese Writing which is for the new emperor’s reign -
Our dinner was at Suzuka, a small Japanese restaurant in town, for the famous Hida beef. It was very delicious! As AquaDame commented from her trip, we agree it is the best we have had here. The hosts were gracious, coming out to meet us and help get the bus parked in the narrow alley, and greet us as we entered. They were very welcoming and were happy to have our group at their restaurant.
We were back at the hotel around 9:30 pm, to check on our laundry, finish getting things ready for the next day, and get some sleep. The rain held off for the entire day...more Disney weather magic. Nothing more in the forecast until Tokyo. We have an 8:30 report time tomorrow, with luggage outside our doors for pickup by 7:30.
I am finally caught back up again! After breakfast at the hotel, we are off to see Takayama, our agenda for today -
—historic village of Shirakawa-go
—traditional Japanese lunch at Irori
—countryside bike ride or walk and food exploring
—dinner at Suzuka
—Onsen experience
First, a view of the sunrise from our hotel room, it is very cloudy with some rain is predicted for this morning but we should miss most of it. The clouds make for a pretty morning sky. We have a beautiful view of the mountains from our hotel room. There is a binder with hotel info in front of the TV; in the binder are some post cards with pictures of the mountain range and some elevations noted...all in Japanese but we picked one up to try to translate when we get home.
Slight pause for a side comment - I am liking this hotel....it has fresh grapefruit! We had pink at dinner last night and white at the breakfast buffet. Now, back to the adventure.
Today we traveled about 50 minutes to the historic village of Shirakawa-go through the mountains known as the Japanese Alps. There is still some snow on the tops of the mountains.we went thru a few more tunnels to get there.
Shirakawa-go is an amazing place, so many original old buildings in a little community that was discovered in the early 20th century and preserved to show how life was in Japan in the mountains. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We have about an hour to stroll and visit the largest grouping of structures. It includes shops and food places, along with homes and other businesses, for there are approx 1600 people living there. We are also fortunate in that the cherry trees here have recently started bloom, so there are many beautiful blossoms.
We get to have lunch in the town, at a traditional Japanese lunch named Irori. The owner harvests fresh vegetables grown in the town to serve with the meals. It was delicious! After lunch, we are going to an observation platform that overlooks the community - the options are to take the bus or do a short 10-15 minute hike. If you can make the hike, I’d recommend that option as you can get a few different vantage points along the way before you get to the top & the platform. We have time for photo ops on the platform before heading out.
We will be split into two groups for the afternoon activity. Half of us will start with the countryside bike ride and the other half will have the guided food and culture walk of the historic Takayama market district. We will not miss out on anything, as tomorrow morning we will switch activities with the bike group doing the walking tour and the other group doing the bike ride. We are in the group that will start with the bike ride.
The bikes were waiting for us when we arrived. The guides had confirmed our heights when we checked in on day 1 in Kyoto and the bikes were assigned by height and tagged with our names. After a quick check for seat height, and some instructions on how to ride on Japanese streets, we are off. The bike ride was a lot of fun, and the countryside in Japan is beautiful. We rode past some cattle farms where our guide explained what is required for beef to be able to be labeled as Hida beef. We continued to a small shrine area at the base of a mountain with clear spring water where we could get a drink. We were also provided bottles of water, and we made a couple of stops along the way both our to the shrine and back again, for rest and water.
As we are riding along at one point, we are passed by three boys on bikes, I’d guess they are 12-14. They see us and call out Hello, in English, as we call out Konnichiwa in return to them. Then, as we get back to town, riding along the streets there are several residents standing outdid their homes. They wave to us and say Konnichiwa and we return the greetings. It was special to feel so welcomed to their town. One thing we have found throughout our visit is the Japanese people are so friendly and welcoming.
We are picked up for the ride back to the hotel around 4:30pm. We will have about 3 hours before we need to report for dinner, to relax and explore the hotel, or go to the onsen. We also get information re our hotels and luggage for the next couple of days, and this requires a change of plans for us.
I had researched each of our hotels & found that the Hilton in Odawara was the only hotel with coin laundry machines, so had planned to do a load of laundry there in the evening since from the schedule it appears we would have time & it about the half way point for those also doing the Tokyo Disney extension. However, we will only be In Odawara for approx 13 hours - it is basically an overnight rest stop as we can’t get to Tokyo from Takayama in half a day on the bus. We are making stops along the way to Odawara and then on to Tokyo, but not seeing anything in the Odawara area itself.
The plan with the luggage is they will pick up our luggage here in Takayama and take them to the Peninsula in Tokyo. We are asked to pack a day bag, the AbD duffles we received at tour check-in are perfect for this, with what we will need for the one night on Odawara - clothes, toiletries, medications, chargers. Those who may need a carryon or larger size bag will be able to be accommodated, ie for a Family or medications or etc; the bus has limited storage underneath.
Thus most of our free time was spent sorting through our planned laundry, washing a few things out in the tub, hanging them to dry overnight, and repacking a bit for better organization for the rest of the trip. Tide Pods work great in a bathtub! So we appreciated the three hours to get this done. Thankfully this hotel has dehumidifiers in the rooms, likely because it is close to the mountains and popular with skiers who would need to dry out their wet ski things, so our clothes dry in a few hours with the dehumidifier in the bathroom and our things on hangers, the clothesline, and the shower rod. We learned that items need to be above the dehumidifier to get the full benefit and dry quicker, so moved things around a bit after dinner to help the drying process.
As the hotel is not close to town (there is a free shuttle to the JR line station in Takayama, looks from the schedule in the room it is maybe 7-8 minute ride and runs once per hour), and our free shopping time in Takayama is tomorrow, we also browsed a bit in the hotel gift shop. They have a nice, large gift shop with local gift items we have not seen in other areas of our travels. Takayama is known for Hida beef, and a kind of apples. There are a lot of different, unique to the area food items in the gift shop all packaged for travel. We picked up a couple of of things, because we could pack them in our suitcases that will be delivered to Tokyo and not have to carry them with us for two days with the limited bags.
You may or may not be aware, Japan is getting a new Emperor on May 1- the current emperor Akihito is stepping down and his oldest son Crown Prince Naruhito will be the new emperor. Each emperor has a unique name for their era of reign. Emperor Akihito is Heisei and Crown Prince Naruhito will be Reiwa. We learned from our shadow AbD guide in training that with the change in era, it is tradition to sell boxes of cookies and sweets in commemoration of the new era; these items are sold only for a limited time, we think until the end of this year. Our Takayama hotel gift shop has some of these commemorative items. This is the first time we have seen these, so that is one of the things we picked up here. We aren’t sure where we may find similar items in Tokyo. If I do see them, I’ll make note in my posts for future reference.
Here is a photo of the Japanese characters that represent the new era, and the things for sale in the gift shop, if you might also be interested in this unique limited opportunity
Store display
Japanese Writing which is for the new emperor’s reign -
Our dinner was at Suzuka, a small Japanese restaurant in town, for the famous Hida beef. It was very delicious! As AquaDame commented from her trip, we agree it is the best we have had here. The hosts were gracious, coming out to meet us and help get the bus parked in the narrow alley, and greet us as we entered. They were very welcoming and were happy to have our group at their restaurant.
We were back at the hotel around 9:30 pm, to check on our laundry, finish getting things ready for the next day, and get some sleep. The rain held off for the entire day...more Disney weather magic. Nothing more in the forecast until Tokyo. We have an 8:30 report time tomorrow, with luggage outside our doors for pickup by 7:30.
Cousin Orville
Inventor of Air Cooling
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2000
Awesome report as always. Is there an optional activity for those who don’t want to or can’t ride bikes? My youngest can’t yet.
sayhello
Have Camera, Will Travel
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2006
I was going to ask the same thing, because my wrists have been acting up lately (chronic tendonitis) and I was curious what the options would be if it was too much to be able to bike.
Sayhello
Mathmagicland
Disneyland - the original since 1955
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2014
There were a few on our tour, who did not want to do the bike ride. One person did the food portion of the walk around the town both days, but that might not work so well with a lot of people due to the way the walk was structured with the food tastings set up for a certain number of people, and some of the places we went were not that large in area so more people would not fit. (More on the logistics of the city walk tour activity in my next post, I am answering before posting that so this may seem a bit confusing at the moment.).
There was an annual festival happening in the biking town this weekend, so AbD arranged for a local expert & a walking tour of some parts of the festival for those that did not want to ride, who all ended up on the same group when we were split out for these activities now that I think about it. We didn’t have any non-bikers in our group.
I expect they might handle those logistics the same each tour, to put all non-riders in one group as it will make it easier for the alternative. As we walked around town, there seem to be a couple of other possibilities for non-bikers on the biking day that would be different from the food/city walk tour as the town festival was only this weekend.
I would not be too concerned; I feel confident AbD will have it covered as they realize not everyone can ride & had the alternative activity on this tour. I recall they asked for our heights before we left, for the bike portion which I realize now was to help size the bikes, and confirmed at tour check-in. So they will know who has said they don’t or can’t ride, and can be prepared with an alternative.
Mathmagicland
Disneyland - the original since 1955
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2014
Saturday April 20
Breakfast time at the Takayama hotel can vary depending on when tour groups plan to head out - yesterday the buffet opened at 6:30 and today it will open at 7:00. Our agenda for the day -
A bit on the logistics of our group splits the past two days. We were split into groups A and B, for bike riding or the town activities. We were then split again into sub groups of A1 & A2 and B1 & B2.
For the bike ride, the streets in the town are very narrow, it is an older town and keeping a large group of riders together would be challenging. So we had two smaller groups each with a guide. The AbD guide rode out to the spring with one group and back with the other, to get photos of each. Also, one group rode the route clockwise and the other counterclockwise for better separation.
For the in-town activity we had two things - the food tour and the calligraphy lesson. Same sort of split with one half doing the food tour first & the other starting with calligraphy, then we swapped. Also, a clarification re my earlier response, we did not have anyone do the food tour twice. A couple of ladies did not want to ride so spent their time shopping in the town rather than the alternative bike ride tour activity.
Food tour - we walked around the town for about an hour with a local guide as she explained about some different foods local to the area. We had a few stops and were able to sample things at these stops. There are a lot of rice paddies in the area, it is home to several sake breweries. We stopped by one for a tasting.
One of the old streets we walked down -
Sake barrels -
The calligraphy lesson was a lot of fun - our local expert showed us how to make the brush strokes, and then we had a choice of five or six different Japanese kanji characters to draw for ourselves. They were safely put in newspaper & our AbD guide held them for safe keeping until we were back at the hotel. For these in town sessions, since we have a shadow guide on our tour, one stayed with each sub-group.
We had about two hours in town for Lunch and shopping on our own in Takayama. Those in the bike ride group were bussed back to town for the lunch and shopping as we were all getting on the bus here for the ride to Odawara. A few people picked up art in town - it was very well packaged with string ties to make a handle and for transport back home, if anyone is interested in art as a souvenir.
We’ve had a lot of Japanese food here on the adventure, and sometimes you just want a great hamburger. We were told about a burger place, described as the best burger in the area. And, we feel that is an accurate description! This place sells Hida beef hamburgers, with good fries (more like potato wedges). They have reasonable prices and clean uncrowded restrooms. It is called Hanamizuki and is a few blocks away, a short walk from the train station. Since it is burgers from Hida beef, we can still say we had Japanese food for lunch. Here is info and a link to a Google maps with the location for those who may be interested.
Hanamizuki
2-chōme-48 Honmachi, Takayama, Gifu 506-0011, Japan
+81 577-33-0123
https://goo.gl/maps/TK4UbUNYLM6jWd5B9
We get back on the bus around 1:45pm for our 4.5-5 hour ride to Odawara. Once again our AbD guides have activities to help pass the time, with a fun trivia game and a Disney movie to watch,
This starts out through rural Japanese landscape; we see the Japanese alps, dams, trees, waterfalls, mountains - very beautiful scenery. Since the trees in this area are a higher elevation, they bloom later so we see lots of cherry trees. At about the half way point we stop for a 20-minute rest stop. This rest stop has a nice store and a Starbucks for those who want to pick up a Starbucks Nagano mug. They also have some regional Kit Kats, and a big display of items related to the new emperor.
During the second half of our ride, we are hoping for a Mt Fuji sighting. Mt Fuji can be elusive when the clouds are in the area. Disney magic came through and we were rewarded with a view of Mt Fuji peeking up above the clouds! We were able to make a very short stop for quick photo op - run across the parking lot, take family pics, run back to the bus - we were there maybe 10 minutes or so.
Onward to Odawara, where we arrive approx 7:15pm - it was after dark. We are on our own for dinner at the hotel, and the hotel has various amenities and activities ie putting golf course, pools, amusement center with bowling and karaoke (some at extra cost) for those who want something to do. It is nestled into the hillside and each room faces the ocean. Our AbD rooms were on the upper floors and while we could not see much at night, we had nice views of the bay in the morning.
We have an 8:15 report time tomorrow, for our journey in to Tokyo.
Breakfast time at the Takayama hotel can vary depending on when tour groups plan to head out - yesterday the buffet opened at 6:30 and today it will open at 7:00. Our agenda for the day -
- Bike ride or guided food tasting walking tour of historic Takayama market district & calligraphy lesson, whichever one we did not do yesterday
- Lunch and shopping on our own in Takayama
- Scenic transfers to Odawara - rural Japanese landscape, possible Mt Fuji sighting - this will be another 4.5 hour bus ride with a rest stop at approx half way through
- Check in at Odawara, hotel has various amenities and activities ie putting golf course, pools, amusement center with bowling and karaoke (some at extra cost)
- Dinner on own at one of the hotel restaurants
A bit on the logistics of our group splits the past two days. We were split into groups A and B, for bike riding or the town activities. We were then split again into sub groups of A1 & A2 and B1 & B2.
For the bike ride, the streets in the town are very narrow, it is an older town and keeping a large group of riders together would be challenging. So we had two smaller groups each with a guide. The AbD guide rode out to the spring with one group and back with the other, to get photos of each. Also, one group rode the route clockwise and the other counterclockwise for better separation.
For the in-town activity we had two things - the food tour and the calligraphy lesson. Same sort of split with one half doing the food tour first & the other starting with calligraphy, then we swapped. Also, a clarification re my earlier response, we did not have anyone do the food tour twice. A couple of ladies did not want to ride so spent their time shopping in the town rather than the alternative bike ride tour activity.
Food tour - we walked around the town for about an hour with a local guide as she explained about some different foods local to the area. We had a few stops and were able to sample things at these stops. There are a lot of rice paddies in the area, it is home to several sake breweries. We stopped by one for a tasting.
One of the old streets we walked down -
Sake barrels -
The calligraphy lesson was a lot of fun - our local expert showed us how to make the brush strokes, and then we had a choice of five or six different Japanese kanji characters to draw for ourselves. They were safely put in newspaper & our AbD guide held them for safe keeping until we were back at the hotel. For these in town sessions, since we have a shadow guide on our tour, one stayed with each sub-group.
We had about two hours in town for Lunch and shopping on our own in Takayama. Those in the bike ride group were bussed back to town for the lunch and shopping as we were all getting on the bus here for the ride to Odawara. A few people picked up art in town - it was very well packaged with string ties to make a handle and for transport back home, if anyone is interested in art as a souvenir.
We’ve had a lot of Japanese food here on the adventure, and sometimes you just want a great hamburger. We were told about a burger place, described as the best burger in the area. And, we feel that is an accurate description! This place sells Hida beef hamburgers, with good fries (more like potato wedges). They have reasonable prices and clean uncrowded restrooms. It is called Hanamizuki and is a few blocks away, a short walk from the train station. Since it is burgers from Hida beef, we can still say we had Japanese food for lunch. Here is info and a link to a Google maps with the location for those who may be interested.
Hanamizuki
2-chōme-48 Honmachi, Takayama, Gifu 506-0011, Japan
+81 577-33-0123
https://goo.gl/maps/TK4UbUNYLM6jWd5B9
We get back on the bus around 1:45pm for our 4.5-5 hour ride to Odawara. Once again our AbD guides have activities to help pass the time, with a fun trivia game and a Disney movie to watch,
This starts out through rural Japanese landscape; we see the Japanese alps, dams, trees, waterfalls, mountains - very beautiful scenery. Since the trees in this area are a higher elevation, they bloom later so we see lots of cherry trees. At about the half way point we stop for a 20-minute rest stop. This rest stop has a nice store and a Starbucks for those who want to pick up a Starbucks Nagano mug. They also have some regional Kit Kats, and a big display of items related to the new emperor.
During the second half of our ride, we are hoping for a Mt Fuji sighting. Mt Fuji can be elusive when the clouds are in the area. Disney magic came through and we were rewarded with a view of Mt Fuji peeking up above the clouds! We were able to make a very short stop for quick photo op - run across the parking lot, take family pics, run back to the bus - we were there maybe 10 minutes or so.
Onward to Odawara, where we arrive approx 7:15pm - it was after dark. We are on our own for dinner at the hotel, and the hotel has various amenities and activities ie putting golf course, pools, amusement center with bowling and karaoke (some at extra cost) for those who want something to do. It is nestled into the hillside and each room faces the ocean. Our AbD rooms were on the upper floors and while we could not see much at night, we had nice views of the bay in the morning.
We have an 8:15 report time tomorrow, for our journey in to Tokyo.
Mathmagicland
Disneyland - the original since 1955
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2014
Sunday April 21 -
Easter Sunday in Japan - no Peeps or eggs hunts in store, though we did see eggs at the Hakone art museum. Here is our agenda for the day -
There are a couple of exhibits especially for kids up to age 11 to explore and crawl around inside...those with kids, one parent will likely spend their entire time between the two as the kids we saw seemed to really be enjoying it.
If you want some different types of souvenirs, I would definitely allow time to explore the two gift shops at the art museum as they have some very different items from what we’ve seen thus far. We did not allow enough time....Once again, I needed 5-10 more minutes.
After the art museum we are on our way to Lunch in Kamakura (included), about an hour away. This lunch was western style food, served family style and good food.
Then it was a short drive to the Kotoku-in Temple & Buddha statue. This is one of the largest Buddha’s in Japan. It outdoors and not in a temple, yet the surrounding trees are so tall we cannot see it until we get inside even though we know it is just on the other side of the wall. This is a short stop, 15-20 min, as there is no temple to visit. They do offer a chance to go inside the Buddha for ¥20 per person, very unique opportunity as we have not had this before. The line to do so moved quickly. It is sort of like seeing The inside of the Statue of Liberty but a lot fewer stairs as we do not go all the way to the top.
Today is our day of hour drives, as we make our way towards Tokyo. We next head to the CUPNOODLES Museum. We have a little over an hour here, to make our own Cup Noodles packaging plus our own custom flavor combos. While there are a LOT of people doing this, the lines move very quickly and we have more than enough time to explore both the museum and the gift shop.
On our next hour long drive, we cross the city boundary line and are now in Tokyo!! While the boundary is a bit anti-climactic, it is still special as as this has been our destination during our travels through Japan. We are welcomed warmly at the Peninsula in Tokyo, as we have been at all of our hotel stops. This hotel and the rooms are amazing! I am not posting pics as pics will not do it justice. We have a little over an hour to rest and relax before our report time for dinner. The hotel is right across the street from the grounds of the Imperial Palace.
Dinner will be at Gonpachi. This is a very popular restaurant, with a lot of people waiting for a table when we arrived and wondering why they could not be seated at the group of empty tables set aside for us. This was Japanese food, served in multiple courses. We had seven or eight courses before dessert, nothing very large but surprisingly very filling. It is sort of like a tasting menu.
Then we are off for our last stop of the day, the famous Shibuya crossing. Lots of neon and lots of people waiting to just cross the street, back & forth. Kind of funny if you stop to think about it, we are waiting to really not do much of anything but it is an iconic Tokyo experience. Our guides get quick family photos as we hurry across the first time, we are able to cross a couple of times before heading back to the bus.
We are back at the hotel around 10pm, and will have an 8:45 report time in the morning for our first full day in Tokyo.
Easter Sunday in Japan - no Peeps or eggs hunts in store, though we did see eggs at the Hakone art museum. Here is our agenda for the day -
- Hakone Open-Air Museum
- Lunch in Kamakura (included)
- Kotoku-in Temple & Buddha statue
- CUPNOODLES Museum
- Dinner at Gonpachi - included
- Panoramic tour of central Tokyo & Shibuya crossing
There are a couple of exhibits especially for kids up to age 11 to explore and crawl around inside...those with kids, one parent will likely spend their entire time between the two as the kids we saw seemed to really be enjoying it.
If you want some different types of souvenirs, I would definitely allow time to explore the two gift shops at the art museum as they have some very different items from what we’ve seen thus far. We did not allow enough time....Once again, I needed 5-10 more minutes.
After the art museum we are on our way to Lunch in Kamakura (included), about an hour away. This lunch was western style food, served family style and good food.
Then it was a short drive to the Kotoku-in Temple & Buddha statue. This is one of the largest Buddha’s in Japan. It outdoors and not in a temple, yet the surrounding trees are so tall we cannot see it until we get inside even though we know it is just on the other side of the wall. This is a short stop, 15-20 min, as there is no temple to visit. They do offer a chance to go inside the Buddha for ¥20 per person, very unique opportunity as we have not had this before. The line to do so moved quickly. It is sort of like seeing The inside of the Statue of Liberty but a lot fewer stairs as we do not go all the way to the top.
Today is our day of hour drives, as we make our way towards Tokyo. We next head to the CUPNOODLES Museum. We have a little over an hour here, to make our own Cup Noodles packaging plus our own custom flavor combos. While there are a LOT of people doing this, the lines move very quickly and we have more than enough time to explore both the museum and the gift shop.
On our next hour long drive, we cross the city boundary line and are now in Tokyo!! While the boundary is a bit anti-climactic, it is still special as as this has been our destination during our travels through Japan. We are welcomed warmly at the Peninsula in Tokyo, as we have been at all of our hotel stops. This hotel and the rooms are amazing! I am not posting pics as pics will not do it justice. We have a little over an hour to rest and relax before our report time for dinner. The hotel is right across the street from the grounds of the Imperial Palace.
Dinner will be at Gonpachi. This is a very popular restaurant, with a lot of people waiting for a table when we arrived and wondering why they could not be seated at the group of empty tables set aside for us. This was Japanese food, served in multiple courses. We had seven or eight courses before dessert, nothing very large but surprisingly very filling. It is sort of like a tasting menu.
Then we are off for our last stop of the day, the famous Shibuya crossing. Lots of neon and lots of people waiting to just cross the street, back & forth. Kind of funny if you stop to think about it, we are waiting to really not do much of anything but it is an iconic Tokyo experience. Our guides get quick family photos as we hurry across the first time, we are able to cross a couple of times before heading back to the bus.
We are back at the hotel around 10pm, and will have an 8:45 report time in the morning for our first full day in Tokyo.
BluesTraveler
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2015
Love your trip report. Thank you for taking the time to do it.
Mathmagicland
Disneyland - the original since 1955
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2014
Thn
Thanks! It is a great trip, I think folks will really enjoy it.
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