Where to go and what to do?

今日は！ こんにちは！Konnichiｗa! Hi! I'm planning a trip to Japan in May 2011 for two weeks. I will arrive in Tokyo and plan to travel to Okinawa for a few days SCUBA diving. I want to see Mt Fuji and visit friends in Kyoto and Osaka. Other than this I need ideas on the top attractions, cities, temples et c. to visit. Any ideas? どうもありがとう！ Martin

www.japan-guide.com Should have a lot more than I could ever fit in this post.

great website ! bookmarked :D I'll surely use it to note down places which I want to see in about 3 years or so if I get the chance to visit Japan. Arigato na Derek-san !

マーティンさん。 こんにちは！ How exciting to hear that you will be visiting Japan! And especially, that you have picked one of the most beautiful seasons! May is just before Summer - so not too humid, and not cold! You must visit the famous Shibuya crossing and check out some "unique" Japanese people walking about around there. It will surely give a different perspective of who we are... otherwise, the little pebble streets in Kyoto are beautiful and, if you're heading down to Okinawa, you must find a beach that is not on the map! They are many of these hidden beauties. Have fun! -Sayaka ;)

If you want to see places that a lot of tourists don't go to I would recommend Sado Gashima (Sado Island) which is off the coast near Niigata. This is the home of the KODO drummer troop. The pearl fishing beds are lovely and the coastline is beautiful. The island has a number of nice Ryokan. Also go to Miyajima near to Hiroshima. It has a beautiful shrine and the deer and monkeys are great fun. Also no visit is complete without Iwakuni which is near Miyajima.  Nara is fantastic as they say in this course. In Nara there is a museum in a small temple just outside of town (walking distance). It has some wonderful exhibits of Samurai and also WWII items. I can't remember the name but maybe Sayaka knows of it. Hiroshima is always very emotional and was for me. I am fond of Kochi on Shigoku. The town is nice, they have a lovely castle and when I was there they had a fantastic farmer's market with a lot of arts and crafts on Saturday mornings. But by far and away my most favorite spot for beauty is the most southern tip of Shigoku Island. For the life of me I cannot remember the name but the pictures I took are hanging on my wall. Sayako may know. I think you can only reach it by car. If I think of more wonderful spots I will post them but to see them all you must stay for a long time :-)

I apologize for my IPad typing. It is Skikoku Island. Please disregard other IPad typos.

The spot on Shikoku that I was referring to is Ashizuri. Absolutely beautiful!

I think Kyoto is a place you should visit also. It has lots of tradtional Japanese peoples and places there

Don't visit Kyoto, it is really boring place, if wish too visit some temples then you can go there, but it is really a dead town.

I visited Tokyo and Kyoto in July, with a day tour to Mt Fuji. It was my second trip to Japan adn I Intend to travel back next year for the Cherry Blossoms. Next year, we will do a similar trip adding in a day tour from Kyoto to Hiroshima. My friend and i will be doing the Geisha experience in Kyoto, where we get a Geisha makeover and are photgraphed...a real girlie thing. Also we hope to go to the Costume Institute and maybe the manga museum. Also Shi Jo Dori (did I get that right) is a great place to visit...it has all the modern brand name shops as well the side streets offer more traditional shopping and souveniers. My favourite place in Tokyo is Asakusa. This is the reason I decided to learn Japanese.

(@ Joanne) Wow! That sounds like a lot of fun! When I'm older I want to visit Japan.

I dont know what you are all talking about, but all you said sounds interesting. So have decided to go in Japan although even I'm only 15 years old... But every day before i sleep in the night and wake up in the morning, 1 of my prayer is to go in Japan...I will wait a few years before I will to reach my goal to go in Japan... And i will study hard so that before I'll go to Japan I know how to speak their language... I want to go in Japan because I like their culture, their movies especially anime!! I like the designs of their house too.Secret places and many many more!! so thats my reason to go in Japan.. Arigato gozai masu ta!! (^_^)

I would want to go to Japan in the spring so I could see the cherry blossoms! (hmm...what do they call it? ...Hanami?)

yeah, hanami 花見 lit. flower-see. 桜の花の咲く時

After trying hard on Rocket Japanese for longer than I'd like to admit, I am finally taking my family to Japan - we leave in 2 weeks and will be staying for 5 weeks! We have a house in Kyoto for 3 weeks and an apartment for a week in Toyko. The rest we are piecing together and plan lots of day trips, I am bring my son (9) and daughter (18) and we are so excited and nervous. We made arrangements for my son to spend a couple of days in an elementary school and make some friends. He wants to see what life in Japan is like. Any advice is appreciated! ありがとう　ございます

はー my daughter is 18 ! すみません

Thanks for all your comments and advice. I had a great holiday last year! Everywhere I went was great so you'll have a great holiday in Tokyo and Kyoto.

Ive just returned from japan a week ago..i love that country so much..i used to live in Akita.,,,.Yuri honjo..for about 4 years..recently divorced so moved back here to Australia..i miss the rural area we lived and of course my 2 children who are still with there mum..lucky we still get along great,,I only ever saw one western person the whole time i was there..i loved that..the winters were very harsh up the mountains but we loved it,,great for kids to grow up and having no neighbours was fantastic,,im a farmer and enjoyed the lifestyle,,it didnt make us rich money wise but the memories you could never buy..i cant wait to go back over as soon as possible,,probably 4 months time,,i hope anyone who ventures over has a great time,,i love the people and culture so much,,,i hope you do as welll