Travel plans/Winter 2014

From WikiDotMako

Tokyo

Feb 8-12: Reserved an Airbnb room in Shinagawa.

Itinerary

We'll definitely check out:

Naoshima
Osaka (Plum wine festival)
Akita (igloo festival)
Tsuyazaki (Shochu distillery/1000gen)
  • Day 1
  • Day 2
  • Day 3
  • Day 4
  • Day 5
  • Day 6
  • Day 7

To do

  • Onsen (hot spring)
  • Artsy villages
  • Maybe extreme snow
  • Watch kabuki
  • Watch sumo
  • Buy plates

Ideas of places to go

1) Here is a list of winter festivals in Japan during the time we will be there including:

2) Gods and monsters:

  • Yokai town in Sakaiminato, Tottori prefecture, Chugoku region : http://www.sakaiminato.net
  • God's conference town in Izumo, Shimane prefecture, Chugoku region
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Izumo
The conference is in October, so gods won't be around when we go.

3) Industrial places

4) Nature

5) Craftwork

6) Alcohol

  • Suntory Shirasu Distillery in Yamanashi サントリー白州蒸溜所
  • Kirin Karuizawa (wine and whisky) in Nagano
  • Asahi Beer factory in many places, including Hakata in Fukuoka and Nagoya in Aichi.
  • Many Syochu distilleries in Kyusyu.

7) Food

  • Natto factory in many places including Chiba and Akita.


Note: The government of Japan maintains this list of important intangible folk cultural properties. Several refer to events that occur during our window:

Rokugō Kamakura (六郷のカマクラ行事) in Akita on February 11-15.
the Mona Satoimo Festival (茂名の里芋祭) which is a kind of potato festival in Chiba on February 19-22.
if you like oni, there is the Oni Festival of Toyohashi Shinmei Shrine (豊橋神明社の鬼祭) on February 10-11
the Spring Hoe Festival of Higoshi Shinmei Shrine (樋越神明宮の春鍬祭) on February 11.

Suggested routes

  • It takes about 6 hours to get to Fukuoka (northernmost prefecture in Kyusyu) from Tokyo in Kanto area.

Idea 1 (Mika: a bit ambitious) South to North

Day 1: Kagoshima/Yakushima
Day 2: Nagasaki
Day 3: Beppu or Fukuoka
Day 4: Sanuki or Izumo
Day 5: Akita
Day 6: Hokkaido (floating ice tour)
Day 7: Back to Tokyo

Idea 2 (Mika) Mid to South to Mid

Day 1: Nagoya
Day 2: Naoshima
Day 3: Shikoku or Izumo/Sakaiminato
Day 4: Kyusyuu 1
Day 5: Kyusyuu 2
Day 6: Izumo/Sakaiminato or Hida
Day 7: Tokyo


Idea 3 (Mika) Mid to South to North

Day 1: Naoshima
Day 2: Kyusyu 1 (short udon stop in Takamatsu and okonomiyaki stop in Hiroshima)
Day 3: Kyusyu 2
Day 4: Kyusyu 3
Day 5: Osaka
Day 6: Akita
Day 7: Tokyo

Idea 4 (Mika) Mid to South to North

Day 1: Naoshima
Day 2: Kyusyu 1: Kurokawa onsen (short udon stop in Takamatsu and okonomiyaki stop in Hiroshima)
Day 3: Kyusyu 2
Day 4: Osaka
Day 5: Tokamachi (Vaughn to Tokyo)
Day 6: Akita
Day 7: Tokyo


Idea 5 (Mako)

2/11 Day 1: Travel: Tokyo → Kurokawa onsen (8-9h); Day: Stop for food/activity on the way; Evening: Onsen and stay in Kurokawa
2/12 Day 2: Travel: Kurokawa onsen → Tsuyazaki (3-4h); Day: Open; Evening: Stay in Tsuyazaki
2/13 Day 3: Travel: Tsuyazaki → Naoshima (5h); Day: In Tsuyazaki w/ Shochu tour; Night: Hostel on Naoshima and I <3 Yu
2/14 Day 4: Travel: Boat trip to Takamatsu (1-2h); Day: Exploring Naoshima; Evening: Udon and Staying in Takamatsu
2/15 Day 5: Travel: Takamatsu → Tokamachi (7h); Day: Stop in Osaka for Umeshu Convention; Evening: Snow festival in Tokamachi
2/16 Day 6: Travel: Tokamachi → Yokote, Akita (8h) (Vaughn to Tokyo); Day: Early day in Tokamachi for snow festival; Evening: Kamakura festival
2/17 Day 7: Travel: Yokote → Tokyo; Day: Snow festival in Yokote

Regions in Japan

  • There are 8 main regions in Japan. In general, it's cold everywhere in Feb but it's colder in Chubu, Tohoku, and Hokkaido. There's a mountain range in the middle of Tohoku/Chubu region; west of the mountain range is very snowy.
  • There are onsen, temples/shrines, good food, sesame, and vending machines pretty much everywhere. The whole country is made of volcanoes.

Accounting

  • Mika: 166GBP for Tokyo Airbnb Feb 8-12.
  • Mika: 480GBP for 3 JR pass.