Planning a trip to Japan
We're hoping to visit D's sister and family in Japan this summer. This is the second time they've been stationed there and the rest of D's family visited last time, but our kids just seemed too young. This time around, however, at 9 and 12 (next summer) seems like a much better age - old enough to remember it and appreciate it.
M is getting particularly excited. He is hoping to see Samurai swords and something/anything about anime and manga. However, he is not so excited about the prospect of Japanese food. A isn't saying much about the trip yet, but he is interested in it and looking forward to eating more sushi.
D and I are pouring over the guidebooks he got from the library today and trying to figure out where we want to go exactly. All the recommended itineraries seem to have you bouncing all over the country every day or 2. Not what we're really looking for, especially with kids. Then there was an itinerary for families with kids in one book - perfect, I thought. Until I read it. It was all amusement parks - and not even Japanese ones really. They had Tokyo Disney, Universal Studios Japan, and Japanese Tivoli. No castles, no temples, no shrines.
Lots more looking and thinking to come. And hoping for some airfare sales!
M is getting particularly excited. He is hoping to see Samurai swords and something/anything about anime and manga. However, he is not so excited about the prospect of Japanese food. A isn't saying much about the trip yet, but he is interested in it and looking forward to eating more sushi.
D and I are pouring over the guidebooks he got from the library today and trying to figure out where we want to go exactly. All the recommended itineraries seem to have you bouncing all over the country every day or 2. Not what we're really looking for, especially with kids. Then there was an itinerary for families with kids in one book - perfect, I thought. Until I read it. It was all amusement parks - and not even Japanese ones really. They had Tokyo Disney, Universal Studios Japan, and Japanese Tivoli. No castles, no temples, no shrines.
Lots more looking and thinking to come. And hoping for some airfare sales!
posted by owlfan at 9:13 PM
1 Comments:
The old palace in Kyoto is good. There are probably more temples than you want to visit there, but seeing a couple of them is probably good. (I particularly like the way that all the large Buddist temples seem to be surrounded by trinket malls and have silly games/fortunes for donations. You just know that the Catholic cathedrals must have been like that in the past as well. :) )
Of course, you can ride the bullet train to get there. A and M may not enjoy it as much, but anyone who rides (has ridden) trains in the U.S. should.
I think Tokyo is worth a couple of days, but not much unless you do want to hit one of the amusement parks (they have indoor skiing, that might be different). The fish market is a nice attraction if you think you can keep the kids out of the way of people working.
If I come up with any more ideas, I'll give you an email.
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