Click HERE for 36 of Japan's Most Stunning Places

Near Nagano   

Matsumoto Castle near Nagano

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

In the beginning: Jotaro and Taka Kobayakawa  Nov. 17, 2015

Tip 1 Minimizing Jet Lag April 16, 2018

Tip 2 Japan Rail Pass (perfect for travel beyond Tokyo)

Tip 2 b Shinjuku Station, busiest in the world. 3.5 million passengers each day.

Tip 3 Hitching Rides with Buddha: a great first book to read about Japan.

Tip 4 Pocket WiFi across Japan: access to Google Translate and Maps, texting, email, etc.

Tip 5 Portable charger for you phone and Pocket Wifi

Tip 6 Hotel APA Shinjuku Kabukicho Tower (we regularly use the Tower as our base of operations).

Tip 7 Introduction to Ryokans: Japan’s historical, traditional accommodation.

Tip 8A Miyabidado Takemine Ryokan in Tokyo for our wedding night.

Tip 8B Copious ideas to build your own Japan Itinerary including World Heritage sites.

Tip 9 Tokyo Subway: A wayfinding introduction.

Tip 10 Ghibli Museum: Home of Japan’s greatest director/animator.

Tip 11 Conversion of $ to Yen

Tip 12 Travel Light: Using Roll Aboards and Gadget Bags

Tip 13 Pasmo card for easier Subway use

Tip 14 Japan Rail Pass

Tip 15A Home Stays: the best way to learn about Japan

15B My Friend Yuji Documentary

Tip 16 Kanji: Japanese Writing

Tip 17 Google Maps: A great way to navigate Japan

Tip 18 “Do not hesitate to ask when you need help.

Tip 19 Way Finding in Japan and Restaurant Culture

Tip 20 Temples, Shinto Shrines and Japanese Culture

Tip 21 Using Google Translate to help translate to and from Japanese

Tip 22 Hiroshima:  Peace Park and ringing the Peace Bell

Tip 23A No need for Electrical adaptors for your devices and drinking tap water is very safe in Japan

Tip 24 Akiko and her new Tour Company (highly recommended)

Tip 25 Folding steel for Samurai Swords and bringing home a fine folded steel kitchen knife from Nara

Tip 26 The Great Buddha of Todai-ji 

Tip 27 Miwa Mountain of 1,000 Shrines

Tip 28 The Cherry Blossom Report: Tracking the Sakura Zensen

A few first day phrases.
                             
                             Phonetic pronunciation
Good morning          Ohiogozaimas
Good afternoon        Kon'nichiwa
Good evening           Konbanwa
Excuse me.               Shide shimas   or   Sumimasen
Thank you.                Arigatogozaimas
Where is the toilet?  Toire wa doko deska?

Which way to taxis? Taksi wa dochira no michi deska?

First Kimono

I stopped breathing the first time I saw Patricia in a kimono.










In Asuka Village near Nara, Tanaka-san taught Patricia how to put on a kimono.

On April 6th, I’ll post photos of Patricia in her wedding kimono.

Calligraphy and Sumi (Ink) Classes

When last we were in Nara we learned how traditional Japanese Sumi ink is made.  For those headed to Kyoto and Nara, you might want to include this on your tour. At the Nara Visitor Center, a volunteer picked up the phone and called ahead for our how to make Sumi experience. Here is where we learned how for hundreds of years, Japanese craftsmen have been making traditional sumi ink sticks.

 

Bokuen Nagano, 6th Generation Ink Artisan 

Videography By: Toby Manzanares

 

Photo credit:  https://kinkoen.jp/en/experience/

 

Click HERE for Gripped Sumi Experience 

"Taking the time to rub the ink calms the mind before writing by hand, a process in which the body and mind can move in unison to express themselves.
That is what is in your hand when you grip Nara Sumi. Hidden in this ink are 1,400 years of thoughts and expressions. It is as if, just for a brief moment, you and your hand are reaching back through all those centuries to when Nara was the capital of Japan, and this ink was as fresh on this land as it is in your hand."  --source: https://kinkoen.jp/en/experience/ 

 

 

"In recent years, using the Gripped Sumi Experience as a way to speak with both Japanese and non-Japanese people about Japanese culture, especially calligraphy and sumi, is the one thing I enjoy more than anything else. From now and forever, I want to preserve Kinkoen as a place where everyone can casually gather and talk about these things." --Bokuen Nagano

Directions to Bokuen Nagano's Sumi Workshop:

547 Sanjōchō, Nara, 630-8244, Japan. (from Nara Train Station)

To magnify, click on the map below. 

We loved our stay at Hotel Nikko Nara. Click HERE for a photo tour. After 9 trips to Japan, it is the only hotel chain we recommend. One or two nights here, but book as much as possible in homestays where you will enjoy the truest experience of the people in Japan. We stayed with the Tanaka family in Asuka Village. See Mrs. Tanaka's new Guest Stay below. 

 

Click HERE to see Takako Tanaka's Guest Home

I'll work on getting an English translation.   

 

And click HERE for Tobys Tip #15 Japan Home Stays

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video credit:  https://youtu.be/SS4qfuBnpGw

Click HERE to play this video.

 

 

 

Tokyo:  Patricia has signed us up for a Tokyo Calligraphy class while we're there.  Stay tuned for the details.

Cherry Blossom Report

Tip # 28 The Cherry Blossom Report:  Tracking the Sakura Zensen (the wave of cherry blossoms sweeping up across Japan from the south).

You might remember the dream I mentioned earlier: getting married under a "snowfall" of cherry blossom petals. As our wedding is just 12 days away, I am tracking the Cherry Blossom Report (click below) in hopes that those pink blossoms will be at their peak on the day of our wedding (April 6th, 2019).  Wildly optimistic am I. 

A wave of cherry blossoms arrives in Okinawa, southern Japan sometime in March. As the days warm, that pink wave in full splendor sweeps north in a spectacular, breathtaking phenomenon that becomes center stage all across Japan until the blossoms finally arrive at Cape Soya, at the northern most tip of Japan. 

CHERRY BLOSSOM FORECAST  CLICK HERE 

TIP # 27 NARA    Miwa Mountain of 1,000 Shrines

Tip # 26. NARA    Visit The Great Buddha of Todai-Ji and the feed the Messengers of the gods in Nara Deer Park.

Meet the largest bronze Buddha in the world at this UNESCO World Heritage site.

One of the great pillars of Todai-ji has a passage.  It is believed that one emerges from the other side of the pillar into enlightenment in the next life.

Tip #25 Eight hundred years of Forging Steel into Samurai Swords

Gassan Sadatoshi is a Japanese Master Swordsmith.  His forge and studio can be visited in Sakura City, not far from Nara.  Gassan has the honor of having made the sword for the new emperor of Japan and is considered a National Human Treasure of Japan, his work, so masterful, the far away Boston Museum of Art has sought out his work for the museum’s collection. I thought I would buy one of his swords for my son Jason. 

I learned Gassan’s legendary swords cost $3 million.   I believe that includes the beautiful blade engraving below.

 

After all, Gassan Sadatoshi makes swords for emperors. I have begun to save my pennies.

Tip # 25 NARA   That same samurai sword forged folded steel can found a short walk from Todai-ji Temple, just above Nara Park where you can take home traditional Japanese fold forged steel in the form of fine cutlery for your kitchen.

Kikuichi swordsmiths have been folding steel for 750 years. Considering all the souvenirs I've ever brought home, this is the one is a treasure I use every day.

Kikuichi Cutlery

Click on the video below for a close up of the “wood grain” 

of Japanese folded steel.

See how repeatedly fold forging steel blades (Click HERE)
creates a wood grain pattern in the hardened steel.

Here is a quick map...