Planning Japan Trip

[gertie]

I have mentioned previously we are planning a trip to Japan. This is to be the last hurrah of family trips for us as it will also be my youngest daughter's graduation present, and I would like it to be just right. Naturally we have all been doing a lot of research on the net, so as you might suspect we have reached information overload. There are just so many cool things to do we could never do them all in a short visit. At this point, I am trying to at least come up with an itinerary and I have some specific questions based on the one I have sort of devised.

1. Is Ooedo Onsen Monogatari in Tokyo a complete tourist trap? Some of the pictures of the outdoor pools look interesting and I was thinking of taking advantage of the after 6 pm discount to just relax one evening after dinner.

2. Alternatively, any recommendations of a ryokan with onsen in the Nikko area near Edo Wonderland? I understand there is a good day of things to see in the area including waterfall, temples, a lake and thought we could travel from Tokyo to Edo Wonderland, night in Nikko, day of touring there, then onward to Keso Valley and from there Hiroshima.

3. What is the best route for travel from the Sensoji Temple to JR Akihabara Station, we will have about 45 min for the trip in order to make the 18:00 Sky Bus tour past the Imperial Palace, Ginza lights, and Marunouchi.

4. We are semi-settled on a hotel a friend recommended in Shinjuku for Tokyo and I saw a recommendation on another forum of 14th of Takashimaya. I think they mean a resto in the Takashimaya Dept Store building but I can find nothing via google. Maybe they meant the 14th floor has a good resto of another name?

5. Someone said there are old-style traditional Japanese homes one can stay in at Kyoto which often include laundry facilities, they had a special name. Can anyone tell me this name so that I can search for one? Also, I was told the best prices are on Japanese websites, and I have someone that can translate for me if anyone has any information or knows if this is true.

6. Is there some sort of market or street stalls near Ueno station?

Overall itinerary:

Fri-Mon Tokyo, Tue day trip Kamamakura, Wed, Sanrio Puroland + Tokyo evening, Thursday Edo Wonderland, Friday Nikko, Saturday Keso Valley, Sunday Hiroshima, Monday to part of Thursday Kyoto, Friday and Saturday Naoshima, Saturday return to Tokyo, half day Akihabara, fly home Sunday

What we have so far for details:

Arrive Friday, train to hotel, dinner Shinjuku, Tokyo Metro Building Observation Deck, sleep

Saturday - Ueno Park, Tokyo National Museum, Ueno Toshogu Shrine, Shinobazuno-ike Pond & Swan paddleboats, Shitamachi Fuzoku Shiryo-kan, Kyu-Iwasaki-tei Garden, train to Nezu for Nezu-Jinja Shrine, Train to Sendagi for Asakuro Choso-kan, possibly Rikugi-en Garden then onsen, dinner, sleep

Sunday - Harajuku for teen, shopping, big 100 yen shop, Chocomilk Jinguumae, Meiji Shrine, Omotesando, Shibuya night crossing for photos, dinner in area

Monday - Tsukiji Market early, breakfast in the Jou-gai, try to be done by 10:30, on to Edo Tokyo Museum, then Sensoji Temple and the Nakamira, done by 5:15 and over to ride the bus at 6 pm. Might do the two hour tour, depending how tired we are, it adds the Rainbow Bridge.

Tuesday 8am metro/Jr line, Information Center for English info in Station, explore temples via map, Enoden Line to Hase to see Great Bhudda statue and Kannon Statue in nearby temple (Hase Dera?),Zeni-arai Benten Temple, further Hase line to Enoshima, walk over bridge to Enoshima island, pass for escalators via various attractions, observation tower, Enoden line back to Kamakura, Jr back to Tokyo, temples cost around 300y, Meigetsu-in Shrine particularly nice

Wed. Hello Kitty Sanrio Puroland, Animate in Ikebukuro in evening, dinner in area

Thursday - unknown, teens think spend the day in the anime shops in Akihabara, but that seems like a bit much. Thinking Edo Wonderland this day myself, with overnight in ryokan in area to enjoy the onsen, waterfall, etc that night and

Friday - continued Nikko - Nikko Toshogu Shrine, Kinugawa River Boat, lunch Tachibanaya or Kurahachi? Maybe bus to Kegon Falls and Lake Chuzenji,Information center near station + has temple pass, Leave for Keso Valley

Saturday - Leisure in Keso Valley preserved towns, then on to Hiroshima, would like to arrive not too too late at night for a good sleep

Sunday - Tour Hiroshima, see Miyajima and the Kintai bridge at Iwakuni, onward to Kyoto late

Monday-Thursday mid-day, Kyoto for Inari Shrine / Torii gates, Gioji Temple, Nijo-jo, Kinkakuji, Ryoanji Temple, Palace, Kyomizu-dera, daughter to be made up as Maiko for pictures, kimono painting lesson on t-shirts at Cultural Center, overnight in temple hostel perhaps with morning meditation with monks and small tour

Thursday travel to Naoshima, back to Tokyo on Saturday, fly home Sunday.

The one thing I haven't fit in for the time in Tokyo is Tokyo Station, although many seem to say it is better to view it than view from it. Teen really wants to see it and the only thing I can come up with is train back to Tokyo from Naoshima, go straight to Tokyo Tower, and from there to Akihabara for the Anime shops.

All suggestions and criticisms welcomed.

[cristina]

Gertie, I wish I had something valuable to add to your itinerary, but having never been to Japan (or Asia for that matter), I don't. So I will live vicariously through your upcoming trip report.

But I will say that we did a last hurrah family trip a few years ago to Barcelona. It was, because we all knew it would be the last chance to travel as our non-extended selves, the best trip ever. So I wish you as happy a trip as we had.

Cheers!

[Deleted]

I don't think I've been to Tokyo for 20 years, so everything I might have once known has expired.

Ilbonito to the rescue? Spindrift?

[ilbonito]

you'll have a great time - Tokyo is amazing. For what its worth:

Firstly, I would say don't "overplan" (and I say this as someone who is constantly guilty of the same crime Give yourself just time to wander around in Tokyo. You could spend a great half day wandering aimlessly though Harajuku - in fact you should! -- and come out with some of your fondest Tokyo memories.
I haven't been to Ooedo Onsen Monogatari but I really enjoyed and would recommend Yumeguri-mangekyo, another hot springs "theme park" just near Disneyland in Urayusu. Yes, its fake but it is so fun; you dress up in robes and sit in (real) hot springs in bamboo groves or fake caverns or pseudo-shrines hung with red lanterns. Its mixed, so you have to wear bathing suits.

Someone has a blog about it here: japan-travel-sr.blogspot.com/2008/12/yumeguri-mangekyo-onsen.html

But you can have another great "hot bath experience" if you go to Naoshima, (i'm jealous!!). Don't forget to go here:

cubeme.com/blog/2009/11/13/i-♥-yu-naoshima-bathhouse-by-shinro-ohtake/

Sensoji temple is very close to Asakusa and its easy to find. You could do it in 45 minutes but if you are seeing other temples in Kyoto, and you dont have time to take a wander around the neighborhood (there is a cute old retro amusement park and riverboats!) I wouldn't place a high priority on it. I see you are already visiting the Nezu-jinja though which is wise because I think its Tokyo's loveliest. The kappabashi district, with a street full of shops selling plastic food, is nearby btw.

There is a market in Ueno under the train tracks called Ameyokocho and it is fun, definitely worth taking a look in. Ueno also has a whole district of shops selling motorcycles, the park with heaps of museums in it (the Natural history one is surprisingly cool. They have the real stuffed body of the famous dog Hachiko, whose statue is in Shibuya).

The Imperial Palace is a complete nonevent. Nothing to see. Don't get too excited about that.

Hello Kitty Puroland is in the MIDDLE of NOWHERE suburbia. It'll be 90 minutes to get there, and back from Shinjuku and its very young-child focused. You might be disappointed. On the other hand, if you'll be in Ikebukuro I definitely, definitely recommed a visit to the Centre for Natural Disasters. You must book in advance and you may need a Japanese speaker though, thats the only thing. Its free. You go in in small groups and they teach you what to do in an earthquake, then put you in a simulation room which shakes like a real major earthquake. It is surprisingly terrifying even though you know its coming. Everyone else is watching you, and cracking up, on a closed circuit TV. You have to model the "safe" behaviours you were just taught.
Then you run through a darkened maze pumped full of smoke to simulate a fire, then practice putting real fires out with extinguishers. Its really a great day. More about it here www.wherescool.com/spots/ikebukuro-bosaikan-tokyo/

I have one suggestion for you:

Nakano – Tokyo’s Most Underrated

Nakano is perhaps Tokyo’s most underrated tourist hangout. Sure, everybody goes to Shinjuku and Shibuya yet Nakano is only 5 minutes away on the Chuo line, with a funky vibe. It is slightly under-the-radar and residential with a charming mix of people – a big gay contingent, students and young hipsters living in tiny onebedroom apartments who want to be near where the action is, plus quite a lot of elderly. As a result it is cute and very traditional in places, and grungily hip in others. A great place to walk around in.

I’ve blogged before about the attractions of Nakano before ;about an interesting local park and a beetle shop, but of course the great, unmissable attraction is the SunMall and Broadway arcade. The long arcade starts opposite the station’s North exit and bustles with funky little local shops selling socks, or rice crackers, or really cheap clothes, before ending in the SunMall. This weird, dan, four-storey complex is stuffed to the brim with shops selling cosplay outfits and rubber monsters, hugely expensive dolls with shaved heads (creepy!!!) and used comic books and games machines and guns and alien replicas. On the top floor are a shop selling great souvenir Tshirts, an avant-garde bookshop and a fossils store. Two of my favorite places – the shop that only sold things people left on the subway, and the gay comic book shop – seem to have closed down, but who knows what could have replaced them? I think this is truly one of the few places that every visitor to Tokyo should experience.

In the streets around the Sunmall I also discovered Tokyo’s (and perhaps the world’s) only Ainu restaurant, serving food from Japanese indigenous Ainu people. The food is so-so to be honest; I had what was described as venison on the menu but turned out to be a few small pieces of meat in a mound of moyashi sprouts, and the cramped dining room wasn’t hugely comfortable. But the gregarious Ainu owner performed traditional Ainu music and dancing for us (and in fact, he made us do an Ainu ” thank you dance” before we could leave the establishment) which made it a fun night.


I'll re-post some other old links from my Tokyo blog that I think you might find useful....

[ilbonito]

Ikebukuro:



Ikebukuro, as I have discussed before on this blog, is the ugly sister of Tokyo. It boasts the world’s second busiest train station, its largest department store (by some measures), huge shopping malls, crowded streets, but somehow without any of the glamor of excitement of Shibuya, or even the charm of Ueno. It is dirtier, tawdrier and even more dangerous (people say) than Tokyo’s other mini-cities.

So what does it have? “Chinatown” – a slightly disappointing cluster of stores around a fragrant alleyway where actual Chinese people shop, (rather than Yokohama’s much more celebrated Chinatown, where Japanese tourists come to buy robot pandas).

The world’s longest escalator, in the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space Museum – a highlight of any trip to Ikebukuro!

The peerless entertainment of the National Centre for Disaster Prevention, and SUnshine 60, a towering skyscraper, mall and aquarium complex built on the haunted site of a prison for war criminals.

And – Otome (Maiden) Street – the home for Tokyo’s girl otakus!!



Yes, female geeks now have their very own district, on the other side of town from the masculine geek stronghold in Akihabara! Here, frumpy-looking women come to drink tea in cafes where waiters dress like butlers, or where female waiters cross-dress as male butlers. Afterwards, they meet their frumpy friends to comb through comic book stores for girl manga. These are mostly of the “yaoi” variety – sugary gay love stories about handsome, pure-hearted, androgynous-looking men who fall passionately in love with each other. So, these women can console themselves with the thought that no matter how disappointed they are with the boorish straight men in ther lives, at least pure love exists in the gay world!
There is a whole neighborhood, “Boys Love Street”, of these stores, the largest of which is nine storeys tall. I went into one. I was the only man in the place, and it was packed.

The comics usually show high school boys laughing together in intimate, yet not overtly sexual poses…

[ilbonito]

my FAVORITE Tokyo daytrip:



Kurihama, about an hour and twenty minutes South of Tokyo, is the place where the American “Black ships” first landed in Japan and demanded that the country open itself up to the outside world. But aside from this historical fact, it also has another, more pressing claim to fame. The reason I went there is simple – Godzilla. Located in a vast flower park called “Kurihama Flower World” is a 10 metre tall statue of the beast (named for the words “gorilla” and “kujira”, which means whale).

Originally located on a local beach ,as if emerging from the sea, the Gorilla-whale statue was a local landmark in the 50s and 60s until it deteriorated and was removed as a “health hazard” . It was rehabilitated and moved to this flowery hilltop by popular demand. Today, it sits menacingly under high-voltage power lines, in a childrens playground. And the day I went it was gazing hungrily at an inflatable burger shaped bouncing-castle. You can even climb into Godzilla’s crotch and slide down the tail!



Kurihama is also the terminal for the ferry across Tokyo Bay. From a small working harbor, crowded with small trawler boats and fishermen and squawking gulls, the ferry pulls out to make the half-hour crossing to the Chiba side of the bay. The day I went the boat was almost empty. As it plowed over the dark, cold-looking waves, huge tankers appeared on the horizon heading out of Tokyo Port to everywhere in the world, and the mountains of Chiba loomed closer in hazy blue silhouettes.

For most Tokyoites, “Chiba” brings up images of characterless suburban sprawl. So as the boat drew closer, I was astonished by my first glimpse of this remote part of the prefecture. A small town clung to the pier, a few shops and restaurants and a run-down boat harbor, with a tall line of palm trees . And then behind it rose an abrupt wall of lushly forested mountains, covered in what what was virtually jungle. Jagged cliffs plunged into the forest canopy and mysterious white whisps of (smoke? mist?) floated up the slopes.

It looked like King Kong’s Island



The only way through the “jungle” it seemed, was a cable car which went some 300 metres, up to the top of a nearby peak. Bearing in mind that Im not great with heights, this wasnt an overly appealing option but what choice did I have? I got in and it creaked into action. The view from the cable car was spectacular, and terrifying. As I rose higher and higher the green forest canopy stretched out below me as far as I could see – I was like a bird flying over the wilderness

Finally at the top of the mountain, I came to a rickety station stalked by feral cats, and a stunning view of the sea, the forested slopes, the neaby mountains, all the way across the bay to Kanagawa. On a clear day I would have seen Mt Fuji too, shimmering in the distance.

I had heard about this mountain, Nihon-ji, from friends. It is truly one of Tokyo`s best kept secrets. For here, little more than an hour from Tokyo, was this wild place. And carved into the mountain, in the limestone cliffs and numerous caves, were armies of small Buddhas – thousands of them -and this



The largest antique Buddha in Japan – at 30 metres, much higher than those of Nara or Kamakura, carved into a cliff-face, in the middle of the forest. It is astonishing. The statue, carved in 1725, stands staring out impassively at the view below. And even more astonishingly for Japan, I had it almost to myself. There were two other people there. Why doesn’t anybody know about this place? It felt like I had stumbled onto a mysterious secret.

By then, the day was late and I ws scared of being left stranded on the mountain if I missed the last cablecar. I sprinted back up the many stairs to the gateway – some of them wide and well-maintained, some mossy, many of them broken.

I saw little cliffs and waterfalls and grottos of statues, and a terrifying lookout post perched on the very lip of a plunging cliff, but I couldnt stop – in the end I made it with only 5 minutes to spare before the ticketmaster of the station turned off the lights, jumped onto the cablecar herself, and we all (all five of us!) went back down the mountain.

I had wanted to see this: carved like the famous “Bamiyan” Buddhas in Afghanistan into a niche in the cliffs, but in the end there was no time. So here is a picture of some other guy standing there, from google images:



Look out for the porno-vending machines at the temple entrance. I found some machines selling guns, and another pinball machine with a prize of “Horny Shorts.

[ilbonito]

A whole page from my blog a few years ago when I did a "farewell tour" of Tokyo; sightseeng ideas in Ikebukuro, Ueno, Kamakura and robot shops in Akihabara:

ilbonito.wordpress.com/2008/07/

Feel free to ask if you wanna know anything more practical and nittygritty

[Deleted]

I have no suggestions, but have a great trip, Gertie! Yours girls will have a fun time for sure.

[ilbonito]

Oh, one more practical suggestion. From glancing at your itinerary I think you might be underestimating the physical size Tokyo covers. If I were you, I would make a mental division between West (Shinjuku, Shibuya, harajuku and to a lesser extent Ikebukuro) and East (Ueno, Asakusa, Nippori and Ginza).

Although these neighborhood clusters are close together (you can easily walk Shibuya to harajuku and on to Shinjuku if you want) it is a good 40 minutes - at least - from one to the other, eg Shinjuku to Ueno.

Try and do the "east side" sights together and the "West side" on the same days, to cut down on wearing cross-town commuting.

[Deleted]

I stayed in Shinjuku the first time (I confess that I was at the Inter-Continental ) and somewhere very close to the Imperial Palace the second time. I very much preferred Shinjuku, but I felt that I was probably seeing a more normal and standard vision of Tokyo the second time.

[ilbonito]

The area around the IMperial Palace can be quite sterile - very business-y with just huge buildings, scuttling oppressed-looking salarymen, and empty streets on weekends and evenings. I would much prefer to stay in Shinjuku which is infinitely livelier with shops, cafes, bars and departments stores as well as offices. You could wander through Shinjuku at any hour of the day and be entertained.

[gertie]

OOo thanks so much for all the information. I just knew this group would have all kinds of great contributions.

ilbonito, you are awesome! And I love the information about those carved statues so close to Tokyo. Just thinking here perhaps we could find out how early ferry rides start and the cable cars creak to life. Maybe by taking 1/2 day for that instead of a whole day for Kamakura, we could re-arrange a bit and see more of Tokyo. I'll be perusing your blog and probably pestering you for information shortly.

I'm afraid Sanrio Puroland is a request of my daughter's (she's 16 and yes, she knows lots about it, having watched every video on youtube she can locate about the place), so we are stuck with it. She's loved Hello Kitty since she was a tot - what was I thinking introducing her? I'm hopeful we can be there for opening, see enough, and leave in time for late afternoon/early evening back in Tokyo. I had chosen Ikebukuro for the Animate and/or any other anime haven I could find as an enticement to get the teen to leave before the dead last closing of the place. Might also add that place from your comments.

I did know Tokyo is huge, just was my understanding getting around it via subways was really fast. I've been hunting around for an interactive map of Tokyo I saw when we were first thinking about this trip. The only one I can locate now has only the most popular attractions. I'll make a point of sitting down with some sort of map as I rework the schedule. I really want to get some of the things you've mentioned into our schedule. I'm trying hard for a good mix of my daughter's otaku crazy cosplay goth lolly anime and more educational and cultural stuff.

Daughter is so excited about this trip and actually does want to see some of the cultural stuff. She even planned a couple of our days and helped me work on some things. She came up with a few ideas that will completely overhaul our later schedule, but should help us get more out of our time. She emailed her changes to our schedule over to her just before I read this.

Instead of the above schedule for leaving Tokyo, she suggests we come back from Nikko just in time to board the night bus to Hiroshima. We don't actually have much planned for Hiroshima, so she thought we could just do a half day at the Peace Park / Monument / Museum and a half day at the island with the Torii gate. Thus our schedule changes to:

Fri- Nikko touring all day, return to Tokyo just in time to board the night bus to Hiroshima, we should be tired enough to sleep regardless.

Sat- Tour Hiroshima and the island shrine, board the train to Kyoto for hotel and dinner there

Sun- Sagano Romantic Train, Hazo River Boat back, Takao for a look at the first manga, Kyoto Craft Center shopping in Gion, Gion Corner for evening show and tea, dinner in the area

Mon- Board early Hikari for Kiso Valley and spend the day there - more my thing, daughter is being sweet and giving me a day which I plan to spend just strolling

Tues- Naoshima early, spend the day looking around

Wed- Walk 1 from Frommers www.frommers.com/destinations/kyoto/0080020033.html only backward, since we will have already seen Gion in the evening. Tokyo Tower and dinner after.

Thurs- Nijo Castle, International Manga Museum, Nishika market, Marumasu Nishimuraya Yuzen Kobo to paint a t-shirt using traditional kimono painting techniques, Pontocho to walk around, maybe see Maiko, dinner

Fri- Philosopher's Walk and Ohara

Sat- to Osaka to fly home

I've been researching all she has suggested, the seats on the night buses actually don't look bad. Better by far than airplane seats in cattle car class. She included a map, and it looks like she is probably better at planning than I am. I will post here when I figure out something better for Tokyo.

Btw, ilbonito, thanks for the offer to help, I do have a lot of questions.

For example: I hear they strongly discourage the use of cell phones on the subway and trains - fine by me. Do they also discourage snacking on them? I'm guessing messy, sticky things would be bad, especially on short subway rides, but as long as it isn't messy/sticky ok on longer rides?

Another question I have about getting around in Tokyo involves the subways and such again. I'm planning to pick up Suica / N'ex pack at the airport plus exchanging for our pre-ordered Japan Rail Pass. I'd like to not use the Japan Rail Pass until as late as possible so as to get by with a 7 day. If we could just have it active through the Tuesday in Kansai region, we could cover all but our travel into Tokyo from Narita, which the N'ex would handle, and our travel to Osaka.

My main question is, for travel within Tokyo, what I read seems to say the Suica is able to be used for most everything. Subway, bus, and the Jr trains. As best I can tell, the local JR trains are fairly inexpensive, correct? Or is it best for me to hunt down subway maps and use those instead? I ask because the days my daughter has planned out include information regarding what stations and trains to take to get everywhere and includes JR trains for some of it.

Thanks again, everyone!

[ilbonit0]

Do they also discourage snacking on them? I'm guessing messy, sticky things would be bad, especially on short subway rides, but as long as it isn't messy/sticky ok on longer rides?
Technically , it is considered rude to anything while walking or in an non-restaurant public area in Japan. (Interestingly, icecreams are excepted from this rule. It is acceptable to walk and eat an ice cream...though not on the train). However, like so many things, these traditions are falling by the wayside more and more. Eating on trains, surprisingly, isn't actually banned but this is mostly because most Japanse people just wouldn't do it anyway. I wouldn't worry about it too much though - if you are hungry, you are hungry.

Bring reading matter though -magazine, guidebook (or a journal to write in!) because inevitably you will be spending a lot of time in trains. Resign yourself to it, and make yourself as comfortable as you can.

www.hyperdia.com/en/ is a superuseful train website for Tokyo. You type in where form and where to, and it gives you the options, how long they take and how much it costs.

From memory Suica can be used on pretty much everything. If you want to save your JR Pass, it might be worthwhile buying a SUica for your days in Tokyo, and activating your pass on leaving the city. You'll need to take JR to get to Kamakura, for instance, anyway but it makes more sense to pay for that separately, rather that losing a day of the pass.

Sorry I can't help you much for outside Tokyo, I haven't been to Naoshima (although wanted to!!) or Kiso valley. Maybe someone else has?

[spindrift]

Gertie, sorry but I've only just found this thread.
My knowledge of Japan is very limited in that I visited the country with two friends, one being a Japanese Tendai priest (Buddhist). We did not stay in Tokyo although we visited the Asakusa temple one day (at the top of which is a relic of the historical Buddha).
We lived in one of our Sensei's (teacher's) temples near Chiba New Town about an hour and half from Tokyo then we visited Hiei-zan the seat of the Tendai Buddhist sect in the northern hills above Kyoto but stayed in a minshuku (Japanese family-run inn) in the little town of Arashiayama not far from Kyoto. There is an ancient Zen temple with its famous gardens in Arashiyama.
We trained down to Nara for a day from Kyoto to visit temples in the deerpark.
But that's all I know of Japan and I'm pretty sure your teenagers would not be interested in much of it.

If you do stay in a minshuku (which I recommend) you will find everything in the Japanese style of futons on tatami, local food, Japanese baths and no western equivalent. I prefer to stay this way in Japan.

Let us know how your plans progress.

Will you visit a temple besides the Asakusa?

[gertie]

Wow Spinny, sounds like a very interesting trip.

Actually, if it is not already filled as I fear, we will spend the night in a temple guest house in Kyoto, and then have an early morning meditation and tea with the monks. It would mean rearranging our schedule to fit a little, but I think it would be very worth the effort. Maybe you could help me with proper manners for that visit. Should we bring some sort of offering?

When I visited a temple with some friends in central Texas, the monks invited us for lunch and that was when we found out their meal consisted of whatever had been brought that day. We did give an offering, but it was cash. I'm sure they were happy with it for some usage, but we would have brought something with us had we known. It was really nice of them to invite us to stay to lunch and chat with them. I'm kinda assuming since this guest house program is a package deal, they have everything they need and probably a few yen will be fine in Kyoto, but maybe you know better than I?

Ilbonito: Any chance you can point me to a Disaster Center in Nokano where you can experience a simulated earthquake? Apparently there are several of these centers in Tokyo, and I find blogs and flickr picture sets, but probably because I don't have the correct name, can't find a webpage with fees, location, etc. Supposedly there is one in Nokano.

Daughter says to tell you she STRONGLY approves of the suggestion of Nokano. Apparently there is a cool shop called Mandrake in the Sun Mall in Nokano that deals in all things manga/doll/cosplay/wigs/OMGMOMIGOTTAHAVEIT!! PUHHHHLEASE!! so you get the picture. She also is dying to see the Godzilla. Apparently they have an adorable little Godzilla critter on Gaia online game? I shudder to think.

Spinny, that Minshuku sounds wonderful. I did not know that was the name, but I had heard of such places and was hopeful of one in Kyoto. After I saw your post we found several in Kyoto. Daughter really wants the one with the cool edo-style kitchen. It even has the old type floor they made from earth and ...some Japanese word I hope means something that discourages pesky visitors. The rest of the house is raised up one step and has the tatami mat floors you describe.

Now that daughter and I are perusing all the ideas everyone has given us, we are redoing our itinerary yet again. I suppose it at least keeps us off the streets.

Edit: Here is a link to what we have done with the itinerary at this point. I put it on my blog so I could add lots of quick links to find stuff if we end up needing to check on our plans from an internet cafe in Japan. We plan to take our mini laptop which will have the excel file where I listed everything about the places we want to visit like open and closing times, nearest station, fees to enter, but in case something happens to it would hate to be left guessing.

[ilbonito]

Gertie -yes, there is a branch of the Mandrake comic store in Nakano (not Nokano). It is in the mall I discussed - sounds like it would be just up your daughter's alley. And as it is only 5-10 minutes from Shinjuku on the Chuo or Sobu lines, it will be quick and convenient to get there. You can see the entrance to the arcade leading to the mall from the (North, I think) entrance of the station.

The disaster simulation centre is not in Nakano, but Ikebukuro, at least the one I went to.
Details are here: www.secret-japan.com/forum/ikebukuro-life-safety-learning-center-t457.html

[ilbonito]

PS - I see the fish market is a big thing on your itinerary. When I was about to leave Japan there was talk of closing Tsukiji to tourists. You'd better check what its current status is, and if this has come to pass. It may have been only for the tuna auctions, I can't recall. The whole complex was due to be closed down and moved out to a warehouse in the outer suburbs some time pretty soon, anyway. The land, near Tokyo's city centre and the bay, is simply too valuable not to be redevloped, sadly.

And some recommendations for wandering around harajuku and shibuya:
www.cnngo.com/tokyo/shop/5-craziest-hidden-tokyo-fashion-boutiques-137325

[gertie]

The Tsukiji has indeed spent some time closed to tourists. Newly on their website, only 140 people are allowed in for the very early am auction, and no small children. At 9 am after the greatest part of the professionals have made their purchases and left, they open and allow people to walk through, no strollers allowed, though. All this according to the newest update of the website, which happened a few weeks ago. I am still perusing your blog, so much great information.