Getting off the Shinkansen in Kyotois a magical experience. Walking from the platform into the main hall of the station is an awe-inspiring view of lights, sounds, escalators rising into the heights of the building, and the light shining from the windows above casting interesting and unusual shadows across the floors, walls, and ceilings of this edifice to transportation. The space holds many surprises from small shops and stores to restaurants catering to every palate you can imagine.
The interior space of the train station defies description and with all great spaces in architecture, requires the visitor to walk the floors of the building to gain that sense of wonder. Maybe the hardest part of coming to Kyoto Station is finding a place to eat. The choices are many and one can find, at each level of the building, something new to savor.
My favorite floor is floor ten. The Ramen street is filled with a wide variety of eateries and places to relax, looking out over the Kyoto skyline. Service in each of these establishments is quick and the food hearty. I won’t bore you with specific details; my advice to the wander the halls to land on a place that suits your fancy.
Once outside of the Station, you’ll find you’re on the southern side of the city and most of where you want to go is north, west, and east of your location.
The city is laid out in a grid pattern, a holdover from the original layout designed Roughly following the ideas brought from China of the capital at Chang’an, Kyoto started as a small place with the emperor in the seat of authority. This grid pattern was extended over the years and you can still see the structure of the original city in the modern street and avenue pattern.
Our trip to the city will include a visit to a variety of temples and shrines, to stores and shopping malls, to museums and walks along the rivers, canals, and outdoor spaces. Kyoto is known as a walking city and we’ll find our way in this remarkable place.
First and foremost, we’ll find our houses, get settled, and then make our plans for the coming days. On the agenda, we’ll walk the Path of Philosophy and locate Ginkaku-ji. We’ll head to Kinkaku-ji and Ryoan-ji, popular tourist locations. On the less obvious side of the city, we’ll check out a festival and flea market at Tenmagu and eventually make our way to Fushimi Inari.
Through it all, you’ll get the sense of place, the importance of this city in the history of Japan and see cultural and historical sites that will help you understand a little about Japan.
Can you navigate Tokyo by subway and train? Let’s find out today and you take charge of the group, leading us into the city on this beautiful Saturday. It will be crowded and busy in every location and it’s worth the time and effort as we find our way to Shinjuku Gyoen, a city park and gardens.
The area that is Shinjuku Gardens was originally the home to Naito family gifted by the Shogun in the 18th century. Lord Naito was the daimyo of the community of Tsuruga. The gardens were, eventually, supported by the government under the Meiji period and by 1906 the structure and design of the gardens was completed. Destroyed during air raids in World War II, the gardens were rebuilt and created as a National Park in 1949.
The garden melds French, English, and Japanese styles into about 144 acres. The historical and cultural importance of the garden is displayed in buildings constructed after WWII and harken back to the Edo period architectural design.
After our time in the park, we’ll grab lunch and then head over to Teamlab, an experiential art exhibition. From there we’ll finish our day at Odaiba, an island in the Tokyo harbor. You can find out the origins of Anime, wander the various shops and museums, and sit along the waterfront as the sun goes down and the bridge across the harbor lights up at night!
Leaving Asakusa Station at 9:00AM, we’ll make our way north to Nikko Toshugo Shrine and Temple including the resting place of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the man who unified Japan in the late 16th century.
The region around the temple complex was founded as a shrine in about the mid-700s. Founded by Shodo Shonin, a monk from Moka City, he worshipped the rivers and mountains in the area and dedicated the original shrine to Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy. This version of Buddhism came from China and was referred to as “Pure-Land” Buddhism. The current temple, Nikko-zan Rinno-ji, has elements of the original temple built in the 700s.
As we exit the train station in Nikko, we’ll head to the ticket office, purchase full passes for the area, and then walk the grounds of the Park. Keep in mind that today, we’ll be walking a lot, up and down paved pathways and through the giant cedars into the heart of the mountain.
As we walk along the trails, I’ll talk about the history of these places and the cultural significance of the complex and the deep connections between Japanese culture and nature. We’ll touch on ideas from both Shinto and Buddhist thought, and I’ll help you see the differences between Temple and Shrines.
As we walk through the park, you will see many small shrines and temples constructed by monks and various Buddhist sects. The area became famous mainly because of the choice of Tokugawa Ieyasu to make this area his official burial site. After unifying the country under the rule of the Shoguns in Edo, the Tokugawa decided on Nikko to be their resting place.
Chosen because it was considered true north from Edo Castle, Tokugawa Ieyasu believed that he might become a semi-divine kami that inhabited the area near the North star. Ultimately, the goal for the Tokugawa was to establish lasting peace in Japan and the founding of the temple complex by the family was their attempt at ensuring such a peaceful society.
As we wander we’ll see many sites AND we’ll focus on Toshogo Shrine, Rinno-ji Temple, and Futarasan Jinja Shrine. We’ll also walk through the Shoyo-en Garden and the Toshugo Museum.
Once we have a little lunch, we’ll walk the Daiya River toward the waterfalls that course through this small canyon. Once we’ve had our fill of waterfalls and nature, we’ll wander back to Nikko town to the train station and head back to Tokyo!
If you could drop into Tokyo in the mid-17th century and walk from the city defined by the Tokugawa family and its administration into the area called Asakusa, you’d find an entertainment area dotted with a variety of restaurants, theaters, and everything in between. The center of the village was Senso-ji Temple. The legend of the temple begins long ago when two brothers found a Buddha in the Sumida river while fishing. The statue was brought back to the small community and it was enshrined in the house of a local leader. His house was turned into a shrine and that was, as the story goes, history.
The Senso-ji temple was expanded by Tokugawa Ieyasu on his arrival in Edo (later renamed Tokyo). The temple complex included the statue and remained intact through a fire in the 18th century. It was World War II that brought an end to the temple complex as U.S. bombs destroyed the community and the temple.
Senso-ji Temple Complex in 1809
In 1958, reconstruction began and the current temple and shops that are housed within the grounds are a center of both local and tourist visits. While the entertainment district this ground used to be has changed, the area holds a special place in the Tokyo megapolis.
Our visit to Asakusa will include Senso-ji, the nearby gardens and a search for the elusive Inari scattered around the area! During the day we will visit the markets in Senso-ji, spend time in the shrine and the nearby temple. You’ll learn the difference between a temple and a shrine in Japan and then explore the area.
As we wander Asakusa we’ll head toward the Sumida River, walk the banks, and I’ll tell the story of the brothers who found the statue in the river and bit about it’s history. From there we’ll walk to the Tokyo Skytree Tower to get a view of the Kanto plain and Tokyo. If the weather is good, we’ll see as far west as Mount Oyama..
The Skytree Tower is the tallest structure in Japan and was completed in 2010 and opened to the public in 2012. Built as a broadcasting tower for NHK news corporation, the tower is a great place to get your bearings in Tokyo as it is visible across the city.
Tokyo from Skytree Tower
As we head back toward Asakusa we’ll find our way into the city and locate an inexpensive restaurant, my personal favorite, Magura Bito
Maguro BitoMaguro Bito is known for it’s Otoro
As night descends, we’ll finish our day in Asakusa with a visit to Big Echo, the Karaoke spot. Be prepared to sing to your favorite song!
Planning group travel is an interesting experience in coordinating the schedules and plans for people traveling with you as trip leader. I decided a decade ago to plan all travel on my own without using tour companies and other groups that can definitely simplify the work involved. Some people have openly questioned my sanity related to this particular approach to travel and I have some answers.
One of the most challenging parts of booking international travel are flights to and from a place. Staying up to date with costs of transportation is difficult, especially if you also have a full time job. In my case, the time I spend on watching flights and costs for flights takes up hours as I both budget tickets and plan travel. As I write this piece, I’m preparing to purchase tickets to Japan from New Mexico. On first thought, one might imagine that you could head to any one of a number of online sites and purchase tickets. Using sites like Orbitz or Expedia or Kayak is great to locate flight information because they aggregate all flights into a common interface. However, I cannot say strongly enough how risky it is to purchase flights from those web sites.
When purchasing flights from a site that is not associated with a specific airline opens travelers up to a huge number of risk factors. Flights changes, cancellations, and other unforeseen changes to flight planes becomes a real problem when tickets are purchased through a non-affiliated site. In one case years ago, I purchased tickets through one of these sites and when changes occurred, I was referred back to the site rather than to the airline involved. In effect, I had no leverage when trying to get home from international travel with my group. We were, effectively stuck in an airport until the site found a solution that cost us a small fortune. Simply put, using an airline’s web portal for purchasing flights is almost always the best course of action. Again in my case, I purchased tickets through United to Asia and when one leg of the flight was cancelled, they quickly offered options. While changes can wreck havoc on travel, having a reliable partner in the process does make things so much easier.
Planning housing in international destinations is so easy now, and finding a great location to stay is possible using the web. For travel to Asia, I always use Agoda as my tool to find hotels. Too, because of the widespread use of VRBO for home stays, I use that tool as a means of finding housing that is less like a hotel and more like a homestay. For example, for our Japan trip, we’ll be staying in VRBO affiliated homes in Tokyo and Kyoto. Those stays, we will all stay together in one location, sharing meals in a common eating area and preparing our own meals together.
Approaching international travel as less of a tourist experience and more of a cultural/historical experience is one of my quests in making international student travel unique. That means staying together and assigning people to cook meals is one of the more fun aspects of our trips. Negotiating the challenges of finding food in local and neighborhood grocery stores is both a fun experience and provides cultural interaction as students try to find the things they need to make a meal. Further, those one on one interactions with folks in a grocery store are some of the most common interactions we can have in a community. It’s so cool to see students find food, bring it back to a house, and prepare that food in a setting that is unusual for them. From my perspective it changes the ways in which we interact with the communities we visit.
Once your group is in the country, ensuring a good experience involves a lot of very careful attention to travel details like museum visits, train rides to community, singing karaoke, or riding bikes through city streets. The minutia of identifying where to go and what do to is time consuming. One thing that I do is avoid a lot of the locations that gather huge numbers of tourists. While some places, like Fushimi Inari are must see spots, finding places that are out of the way and offer an interesting perspective and is equally valuable. That work takes time and some actual experience in the country. Using a guide book to help plan out a trip is really helpful AND if you have never visited a country, taking a group there is terrifying. (no, really) Little things like the best way to get to a place can be a huge challenge if you have not visited a place. Just trying to negotiate transportation can be nerve wracking. In one case, I used Google Maps to to find a location in Tokyo that we all read about and wanted to visit. It was not well-marked and the directions had to follow. When we arrived at the address, the location was an Outdoor Store and not the place we were looking for. How could it go so wrong?!
Fushimi Inari, Summer 2018
As we finish the planning for the Japan trip this year, we are using every resource we have available and that includes student input. Students have lots of ideas about where to go and what to do. Using that knowledge makes the trip so much more interesting and less like a package tour. Too, we can change things on the fly, making decisions to drop stuff off of the agenda and quickly redirect our plans. Some of those moments, like searching out a “secret” ice cream shop is one of the kinds of small adventures that make trips like this one memorable. It really doesn’t have to be about seeing historical and cultural sites every day; it can be about doing small things that have experiential meaning in our lives. Maybe THAT joy….finding hidden places, is worth every bit of silliness that goes along with it. Could be THAT is the real adventure of travel in the world.
Traveling involves a whole series of steps and none are more important than understanding the people and places we will visit. We are guests in Japan and as such need to be attentive and mindful of the culture and practices of folks in the country. Our goal, over the next few weeks, is to become familiar with the history and culture of Japan, as much as possible, and to focus on learning some language and the best ways to interact with people. Yes, it’s true that a global culture is emerging in the world and, respectfully, it’s important to be aware of ways to be both compassionate and kind to those we meet.
In our first meeting this year, we discussed some of the history of the country, focusing on the complexities of life in Japan before World War II. The transformation of Japan between about 1868 and the present has been profound. It’s not to say that countries like the U.S. have not also seen these changes, and, in many ways, Japan is unique in the world in both what changed and what happened in the country. Attached and available is the presentation from the last meeting with some general information about changes in Japan. The presentation is meant as a very brief description of some of these changes. Keep in mind that the way Japanese people see their own history is quite different from the presentation provided. My advice is to search that information and learn about what Japanese folks think about their own past. For our group, we will present on recent Japanese society, post-WWI in March.
One of my favorite places in Japan is Ginkaku-ji not far from the Path of Philosophy. The temple grounds are a wonderful spot to enjoy the landscape design and the intentional ways in which temple grounds guide a pilgrim to contemplation.
The Path of Philosophy in the northern Higashiyama part of Kyoto immerses you in this contemplation as you walk past shrines and temples. Dotted along the path are vendors selling everything from stationary to snacks, and cats perched on walls and stairs.
The more technical side of preparation involves learning some language! Posted are the various pieces of information we talked about in the past. We will begin a more intensive language journey next meeting (February 8th) with some videos, images, and practice! We’ve recommended a few apps for building vocabulary and we’ve found one of the best to be Duolingo. It’s not great at creating context and providing a good understanding of sentence structure; however, it does do a good job of helping you build some vocabulary for the trip!
A few things to make sure YOU have before time gets away from us!
Your Passport! You have to have at least six months left before expiration to travel. Please renew the passport NOW if you need to.
COVID Vaccinations. Be up to date on the COVID vaccines. You must have had all boosters. Have a vaccination card with the updated information available for travel. It is not possible to arrive in Japan without all vaccinations.
Carry-On Bag. I’m a BIG believer in using a carry-on bag verses a checked bag going to Japan. Yes, it’s limited in size AND you always know you have your stuff with you. We’ll discuss this detail in the next meeting. Check out THIS great web site about how to pack a carry-on for extended travel: One Bag Travel. I personally use the EBAG which is a minimalist bag with lots of possible features….you can see that bag here: EBAGs.
I will post more information, more regularly on this site to get ready for travel! In the meantime, check out any and all information about Japan including my favorite band Bump of Chicken.
After a lot of consideration about travel to Bhutan and Thailand, it’s pretty clear that the cost of that trip was far beyond the ability of families to pay the steep fees imposed by the Bhutan Tourism Council. I understand their approach and I want the best for Bhutan and the Bhutanese people. At the same time, it does mean that our school will not travel to Bhutan this year as a result of those changes.
What that DOES mean is that we are traveling to Japan in late June 2023. Our plan is to start in Tokyo, staying primarily in Asakusa, and then on to Kyoto, living for a week in a machiya near Gion.
Included now is the updated itinerary with some specific details about where we’re going and what we are doing. Like all of the trips I organize, we are in Japan using public transportation, staying in one location in each city and visiting sites, museums, and everything else in the region.
As we finalize details for travel, be sure to pass me a note with ideas you have about places to visit in Tokyo and Kyoto!
Be well, my friends, and watch this space for more information about the trip, preparations, and specific thoughts about spending time in Japan!
While the final work on the new Tourism Levy for 2022 is being completed, the biggest change that affects tourists around the world is the increase in the government excise of $200US per person per day. This ONE change signals an end to travel to Bhutan for many people. Simply put, with this new minimum daily cost added to all other costs including transportation, housing, food, and flights into Bhutan will bring daily costs in excess of $400US per day for a minimum package. That daily rate is very expensive compared to many Asian countries and make travel to Bhutan for my school groups practically impossible.
The desire to change the excise tax on tourists into Bhutan has a long history. For years the rate has been $65US per day for all travelers making the minimum daily costs roughly $200 in the low season, $250US in the high season for adults. Additional changes over the years have added $10US to $15/day as the needs of the country have changed. This most recent change practically doubles the cost of travel in Bhutan.
As the leader of school groups that have traveled to Bhutan since 2010, the changes will result in an end to group travel to Bhutan. To make this clear, from the United States, travel to Bangkok, the main launching point for a Bhutanese tour, costs roughly $1200 – $1500US RT from my location. Add to those costs nights stay in Bangkok, RT flights into Paro, a typical ten day trip in Bhutan, and various other costs in the country, the total price of travel to Bhutan would exceed $7000. Even for relatively wealthy US students, the costs for a school trip to Bhutan are unsustainable.
In our case, we will reorient our trips to East Asia to Thailand, India, South Korea, and Japan. To put the difference in costs into some perspective, a school trip before COVID to Japan for twelve days including all transportation, lodging, and food was $3800US per person.
As someone who has traveled to Bhutan many times and really has fallen in love with the people, the country, and the experiences, it’s hard to imagine that we cannot reasonably travel to the country in the future. While I understand the desire to improve the services, infrastructure, and the quality of the lives of people in Bhutan, I am not sure increasing the excise tax into the country makes sense in the short term. Maybe there are thousands of people who are both willing and able to visit Bhutan as a kind of exclusive experience for the very wealthy. I honestly and sincerely hope that the country will benefit from the changes to tourism in the coming years and that this new policy will demonstrate the wisdom of those who fashioned it. As it stands, our small school and community will not have the chance to see those changes first hand and maybe that is as it should be. Tourism is, in and of itself, a complicated and fraught system for Western travelers and for those people who encounter our groups. If nothing else, my hope is that Bhutan thrives even if I cannot be witness to that change. My concern is that these changes will reduce tourism and a stream of income for the Nation. Only time will tell.
If you are here then you know about the upcoming Bhutan / Japan trip for summer 2023. Because of COVID and all of the other changes in life and love, I’ll be organizing this trip as a carbon copy of my 2018 travels.
Our plan is to visit Bhutan and Japan, with a small piece of Thailand throw into the mix. We will adventure into villages, temples and shrines as we try to gain some cultural and social understanding of the people and places we will visit.
As we make our way to Asia, assuming all goes well, we will hit a few milestones along the way including a trip to the Bumthang Valley, a visit to the Orgyen Choling house in the Tang Valley, a float down the Mo Chu, and extensive time in the Dzongs of Western and Central Bhutan. Overall, my hope is that those who travel with me will find an adventure and an experience that will transform hearts and minds….a tall order, indeed.
From Bhutan our trip takes us to southern Japan and the former capital of the country, Kyoto. Renting two machiya, we will make food for ourselves bought at a local grocery, bike to temples and shrines in this expansive city, and learn about the history and culture of Japan by seeing the sites. We’ll make our way to Kinkaku-ji and Gingaku-ji temples, Kiyomizu-dera, Fushimi Inari, the small but beautiful bamboo forest, followed by time on our own wandering the city.
I remember distinctly my experience planning this trip for the summer of 2020 only to face the scourge of COVID as it swept across the globe. I never imagined the virus would spread to all of these places I’ve known and I hope that the people that I encountered years ago are doing well. I’m particularly excited to visit my favorite coffee shop in Kyoto, Sagan.
So, this blog site will host more musings on the travel, details about the trip, and a few new stories of previous days spent in Bhutan and Japan. You’ll see too a few new photos from the archives as I go about updating these pages as a way to incorporate stories and ideas. Finally, you’ll find the earlier trips that did not make it to this blog posted here in their full glory.
So, hang tight my friends and get ready for one of the most wonderful experiences of your young life. In the meantime,
Looking at the international travel landscape, things look challenging. The spread of COVID across the globe has changed the way we can move in the world. My plan, originally, was to travel first to Thailand and then on to Bhutan. As it turns out, this plan may not be possible.
Right now, the best possible way to get to Bhutan from the United States may be through Delhi, India. The flights to India are significantly cheaper than to Thailand, and Bhutanese airlines have more flight choices out of Delhi. Right now, the price difference is more that $700US. That could mean that we will need to adjust our itinerary to stop in India instead of Thailand, and make arrangements with my contacts there.
The benefit for those of us interested in traveling to Asia in Summer 2022 is that we can adjust to changing circumstances. Also, airlines are willing to offer refunds for trips that get cancelled for COVID. As a result, we have the unique ability to decide on changes to travel as things develop.
Further, should India, Thailand, or Bhutan NOT open to travel next summer, we have options. I do expect Japan to reopen and we can pivot to Japan, a trip I planned to take in the summer of 2023. As things change, we can monitor and develop plans based on conditions in the countries we are considering.
I will post TWO alternative plans for travel this summer, relying on my friends in various locations in Asia. Honestly, I look forward to the possibility of travel this summer and hope for all of us that we can again see our friends around the world.
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