Begin at the bottom

This is a blog page, so the expectation is that one is adding to this incrementally, from the bottom. Not exactly what I did... so select items from the list to the right, from the bottom up. Or go in whatever order you want, as I did these more thematically than chronologically.

Have fun!
Sarah

Would I go again?

Absolutely. It was great touring with someone who could speak and read the language, even as a beginner. Although there were a lot of signs in English, even in places were there weren't tourists, that didn't mean that people spoke much English, if at all. Would I go if I didn't have a interpreter at my side - probably not, but I think going with a tour group would be fun.

Alan and I traveled inexpensively, which can be done without sleeping in hostels and eating ramen noodles every night. There are things we probably should have done since we were there, that we didn't because of the cost. However, I think we got to see a lot in the limited time we had. And, we had fun! There were moments of tension - typically occurring when I was bone-tired and Alan would have a burst of energy, but we survived.

If you get a chance to go to Japan, take it!

Where we stayed

The types of places we stayed ran the gamut in terms of Western-style vs Japanese. Some had beds, some had futons. Some had a complete, roomy bathroom in the room, some had toilets and showers and tubs, all in separate rooms, all down the hall. Some - um, one, had chairs in the room. But we always had the two most important things: something comfy to sleep on, and AIR CONDITIONING!!!

We stayed our first two nights, and our last night, in Asakusa, in Toyko. Our first room had a mini, in-the-room bath. Second room was complete Japanese style. In this picture you can see 2/3's of the items in the bathroom. It was only nearly possible to get oneself in the bathroom too.
We next stayed at the Turtle Inn in Nikko. This place had an onsen - hot springs! They had two tubs, both very nice. Outside of the tub was a shower area where you get all cleaned up, and rinsed, before soaking in the tub. Very relaxing. Behind the hotel was the Daiya-gawa river, which made for a nice setting.Those are our sweat soaked shirts hanging up there. There are two Turtle Inns - well one is the annex. The annex looked much nicer than the one we were in - I know this because we were directed to the annex, which was further away, and therefore we had to backtrack with our enormous luggage in tow.Apparently all repeat visitors bring turtles. Alan took this picture in the dining room of dozens of turtles.
Next we stayed in Kyoto for three nights. We stayed at the Ryokan Rakucho, which was my favorite place. This picture shows the typical settup; tatami mat for the floor, futons for beds, pillows to sit on, a low table for tea, etc. No closet, but a cubboard. There were two floors at Rakucho. The second floor, were we were, had guests rooms, a kitchen area (fridge, sink, microwave, toaster oven) and a toilet. The first floor had guest rooms, a kitchen area, washer/dryer, showers, toilets, and a tub. Alan was going to soak in the tub one night, but found it to be extremely hot! I like the fact that we could buy yogurt, fruit, bread for toast for our breakfast, and keep it in the fridge. We were the only Americans in this place, the rest were Europeans. In fact we saw very few Americans while we toured about. Here's the front of Rakucho. The front door was never locked, even though there was a laptop computer right there for customers use.
Our next two nights were in the most Western place we stayed in. We were on the 14th floor, or something like, of a modern building in Hiroshima.Our second to the last night was spent in a hotel near Tokyo station. It was the most expensive place we stayed, and pretty much without charm, or niceties. Location I guess, is everything!