penningtron wrote: Mon Mar 17, 2025 11:43 am With all the Japan talk: is it true that Kyoto is a bit overrun these days? Visiting a more traditional city seems like a must for a first timer, but seeing temples with hoards of people doesn't sound appealing. Kanazawa looks similar and possibly less discovered.

100%. We stopped by for a quick day trip in 2023 and it was absolutely filled with tourists. Kyoto doesn't have the transit infrastructure to handle the influx, so if you don't want to walk everywhere (which is what we did), you wind up having to wait forever for buses that are overcrowded with folks. It's still a beautiful spot, but it just can't handle that much of an influx of folks visiting in the way that Tokyo can.

Kanazawa is wonderful, and scratches a similar itch (old castles, temples, wasn't bombed to hell during WW2) - but it also has a fantastic contemporary art museum (complete with a James Turrell Skyspace!) When we were there in 2023, there were some decent-sized groups of tourists (really easy to tell with their matching binders that had Italian flags printed on them), but it was still easy to navigate. Also had the best ramen of my entire life in Kanazawa (Ramen Taiga.)

OrthodoxEaster wrote:

four_oclocker_2.2 wrote: Mon Mar 17, 2025 10:26 am Tokyo/Hokkaido

Where in Hokkaido?

Primarily Sapporo. We've got tickets for a Fighters game, which I'm excited for (though not as stoked about the hour long commute from our hotel to there.) We've got a pretty good list going, but I'm still holding out hope I can find a morning bus tour one of the days we're there to get outside of the city. We changed cities 10 times in 14 days last time we were over there, so I'm looking forward to a more chill routing.

four_oclocker_2.2 wrote:

OrthodoxEaster wrote:

four_oclocker_2.2 wrote: Mon Mar 17, 2025 10:26 am Tokyo/Hokkaido

Where in Hokkaido?

Primarily Sapporo. We've got tickets for a Fighters game, which I'm excited for (though not as stoked about the hour long commute from our hotel to there.) We've got a pretty good list going,

Cool. Sounds like you've got it covered. (If you end up needing recs for an izakaya, a ramen joint, and a jingisukan barbecue spot, just give the word.)

Another strong recommendation for Kanazawa here! Gun to my head, it’s my favorite place we visited in Japan. Definitely don’t skip Kyoto, though.

Kanazawa is lovely and quiet. The Phonograph Museum there was also a highlight of our trip. Make sure and time your visit around one of the three demonstrations they do. Absolutely gorgeous gardens there too. There’s a splendid coffee shop run by an American ex-pat and his Japanese wife.

Here’s my pro-tip on Kyoto: visit the torii gates at night. It’s apparently jam-packed during the day, but when we went at night, we had practically the whole thing to ourselves. We saw maybe 20 or 30 other visitors, as opposed to thousands. It was eerie and honestly pretty magical.

We had no trouble at all using train lines getting around Kyoto, plus our feet and the odd taxi here and there. It’s just that a lot of the key sites are quite far apart. Try to cluster them as best you can, and focus on a handful if you’re only there a few days.

penningtron wrote: Mon Mar 17, 2025 11:43 am With all the Japan talk: is it true that Kyoto is a bit overrun these days? Visiting a more traditional city seems like a must for a first timer, but seeing temples with hoards of people doesn't sound appealing. Kanazawa looks similar and possibly less discovered.

Kyoto is remarkable. yes it is kind of overrun. I wouldn't cross it off the list for that, though. You can get off the beaten path there a bit and it's less lemming-like.

I think Osaka is really underrated, kind of the Chicago of Japan. Excellent, fairly cheap food. Good normal shopping, great walking, vibrant.

Kobe is a nice small city--it makes perfect sense that it's a sister city of Seattle. Right on the water. Had great food there.

Nara is east of both and worth the trip if you're down there. You could easily spend three or four days in that part of the country--I mean, you could hang in Osaka for that long alone.

We stayed at the Oriental Hotel in Kobe, and I think about it every so often. Real nice. Not the cheapest but it would be a good home base if you want to dork around down there for a while.

That said, Tokyo is inexhaustible. It's one of my top few places I've ever been lucky enough to go.

Wood Goblin wrote: Mon Mar 17, 2025 3:09 pm Here’s my pro-tip on Kyoto: visit the torii gates at night. It’s apparently jam-packed during the day, but when we went at night, we had practically the whole thing to ourselves. We saw maybe 20 or 30 other visitors, as opposed to thousands. It was eerie and honestly pretty magical.

Yeah, I've also heard the 'go right at opening' tip. Off season visit, and places that require a little bit more work or walking: all good ideas. I should probably see Kyoto at least once.

All of these places sound awesome. I'd really like to do some sort of digital nomad thing there but don't yet know how to pull it off.

eephus wrote: Tue Mar 18, 2025 12:05 am
Kobe is a nice small city--it makes perfect sense that it's a sister city of Seattle. Right on the water. Had great food there.

Kobe is also a great spot to hunker down for a few days and take day trips to spots like Kyoto/Osaka/etc. Shinkansen rides between Kobe and those spots are less than an hour, so it gives you a nice option to have a home base in a less-busy city and bounce around as you please. FM spacebar is doing this when he goes next month!

four_oclocker_2.2 wrote: Tue Mar 18, 2025 8:56 am

eephus wrote: Tue Mar 18, 2025 12:05 am
Kobe is a nice small city--it makes perfect sense that it's a sister city of Seattle. Right on the water. Had great food there.

Kobe is also a great spot to hunker down for a few days and take day trips to spots like Kyoto/Osaka/etc. Shinkansen rides between Kobe and those spots are less than an hour, so it gives you a nice option to have a home base in a less-busy city and bounce around as you please. FM spacebar is doing this when he goes next month!

+1

Kobe is my absolute favorite city in Japan, though as mentioned previously, my experience in the country is limited (only 5 cities or so).

In Cancun, at the hotel zone. I’ve gotta say…this doesn’t suck.

Edit: I’m at an adults only resort. I forgot that adult means 18+ here. There are college students being human airhorns all over the place. I won’t let it ruin my good time, though.

Dave N. wrote: Tue Mar 18, 2025 4:30 pm In Cancun, at the hotel zone. I’ve gotta say…this doesn’t suck.

Edit: I’m at an adults only resort. I forgot that adult means 18+ here. There are college students being human airhorns all over the place. I won’t let it ruin my good time, though.

Is the Tren Maya running? Could you explore that way or take that to other towns?

Dave N. wrote: Tue Mar 18, 2025 4:30 pm In Cancun, at the hotel zone. I’ve gotta say…this doesn’t suck.

Edit: I’m at an adults only resort. I forgot that adult means 18+ here. There are college students being human airhorns all over the place. I won’t let it ruin my good time, though.

Is the food as good as I dream it to be?