Japan

It’s was a typo, thanks for correcting

you can see also that in Japan( i will make no commentary with my poor english). Photos are speaking for themselves.

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I love apple spel correct :grinning:

This might well be worth a visit:

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i would spend my holidays inside. Better come with cash and no credit card.

PA024152%20Tokyo%20from%2019th%20floor%20(Small)
Tokyo from the 19th floor of our hotel last year.

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Thanks to all for suggestions.

We returned on Sunday after 22 full days in Japan, staying in 13 hotels/ryokans in various locations spanning the bulk of Japan from Sapporo in the North to Nagasaki in the South.

Seen/enjoyed/experienced cherry blossom, temples and shrines, onsens, markets, “bullet” trains, stunning views, an anime convention, and visited the Hiroshima peace park, and part of the area devastated by the tsunami in 2011. We’ve eaten good food and consumed lots of sake, and have been left with a strong desire to go back and see more of some areas.

The Japanese people are amazingly friendly and have an engagingly polite manner that made every contact a delight. We have innumerable memories, supported by getting on for 1500 photos! Once I’ve had a chance to sort through the pics I’ll post some, and detail a bit more of our experiences.

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yes, yes, photos please! :smiley::+1:t5:

Thanks for the Midori tip at Shibuya. Indeed pretty good, though busy and they don’t take bookings- so first eve we went there we gave up after half an hour, serving how long the queue was. Next eve went earlier, and still had to wait well over an hour - but the food was worth it.

Mind you, a couple of days earlier we had stumbled across a small ‘sushi train” restaurant just north of Akihabara, which was the second best sushi we had on the trip - and cheap! I really wish I’t taken a photo of the place and noted it’s precise location, as now I’m going to have to spend time retracing steps on Google Street View hoping to find it to record it…

Had some rather nice king crab in Saporro, while nearly everywhere did sushimi.

And the Noribetsu onsen was the best of the onsens, and would surely convince anyone unsure of them. Sadly my wife wouldn’t let me try to sneak into the women’s one, int which I’d seen a large number of women entering young and less so… Didn’t see bears there, but the volcanic landscape is fascinating!

We ended up more just wondering round Akihabara briefly going into different stores and being amazed - though prices weren’t generally cheaper than UK, range of things was stunning.

Nissan did indeed have some interesting displays at the Gina showroom. But in a different way the cars on the street were …erm… interesting! Downright ugly, but absolutely practical and sensible for city cars, with so many boxy cars, fitting maximum internal capacity into minimum external space, while of course streamlining is irrelevant at city car speeds.

Yes, the cars range from bland to resembling mobile refrigerators… as divorced from the Western aesthetic as you can get…but so uniquely and distinctively Japanese. It’s invigorating being immersed in their culture. I can assume you’re up for another visit sometime in the future? :+1:

Didn’t see one, if we would have tried!

In Asakusa (Tokyo) we were struggling to choose where to eat quite late, when places were starting to close. Came across a barbeque restaurant (the type where you cook for yourself), where they spoke no English, and Google translate wouldn’t recognise the writing in the menu, which had no pictures so we chose by guesswork, lots of smiles and pointing… I didn’t really enjoy the intestines or cartilage, but we had fun, as I think did the waiter!

When we were in Takayama we went to a similar establishment, but with a picture menu and the waiter understanding some English, which helped. Amongst other things we had Wagyu beef (my wife and sons loved it, but too fatty for my taste). Similar highly marbled beef in a number of other places, notably Sendai, though less fatty than Wagyu.

Didn’t get to see that, but amazing how many Samurai sword shops there are - some with extremely impressive (and expensive) swords.

Didn’t gave time to seek it out, though we went into a number of musical instrument shops across the country - however not much in the way of ethnic instruments on display. (Unlike a street in Shanghai, but that’s another story!)

Saw a Tower Records store in passing, but no time to go in. It reminded me of the days when there was one at Piccadilly Circus!

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The more we saw of Japan the more we felt we want to go back and see it in greater detail, with more time some places in particular. Whether we make it as a family is less certain, more likely my wife and I some time for a longer period once we’ve retired, while I suspect our sons will do it in shorter trips, limited by work holiday allowances, but with more time ahead of them, though one son started wondering if he could take time out and get a job there, though recognising that he needs to learn some Japanese first!

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I suspect you had the gist of the robata experience. Wish I suggested to you one of the many Yakitori bars where salarymen kill time after work before taking the late train home. You made great use of your visit there. One favourite memory of mine was loading up on beer and rice crackers on the platform ahead of the Shinkansen trip from Tokyo to Narita. Sitting staring out the window in first class with snack and beverage one of the most relaxing experiences of my life.(without involving music I.e. )

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I used to work in that very shop (1986-89), IB!

Tokyo to Osaka !!

Reposting my map as I missed one place in the original!

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