Skipping Town

We stayed in some wonderful places in Japan, and I thought it’d be nice to gather descriptions and pictures in one post. Tokyo—Oakwood Apartments Shinjuku Our first place of lodging was the Oakwood Apartments Shinjuku in Tokyo, which are small efficiency apartments. This place was amazing—though it’s geared toward longer-term travelers, it’s open to short-term stays as well; we stayed for four nights. The website provides excellent written directions on how to get from the Shinjuku metro stop to the apartment building, complete with pictures of landmarks you’ll see as you walk. It was an easy 5-7 minute walk from Shinjuku station. The building is quite nice—a nice lobby with a 24-hour front desk (very helpful and English-speaking), a comfortable lounge, and computers with internet service in the quiet lower-level lounge. We didn’t get to make much use of the Sky Lounge, a top-floor lounge where you help yourself to a drink, but we did go up to enjoy the amazing view. Our room had a sma...

(Written Thursday, posted Thursday) “Time spent at ease helps you to relax. Have more free time to keep your mind young. Please enjoy yourself.” These words of wisdom are from a paper cup that until a few minutes ago was filled with hot green tea from a vending machine at Sutton Place Hotel in Ueno, a neighborhood in northern Tokyo. Andrew and I did not really enjoy ourselves as we once again schlepped our luggage through trains and train stations--this time with the added fun of Andrew’s extendable pull handle breaking when we got off the bullet train in Tokyo on a super-crowded platform, resulting in Andrew actually having to carry the heavy suitcase. Backpacks and nothing more next time--that’s a solemn vow. Anyway, the first part of our day was lovely. We woke up in Nara with the sun filtering through the paper-paneled doors of our room at the Ryokan Seikanso. We’d bought doughnuts at the grocery store yesterday, and Andrew got us two cans of coffee from a vending machine just outs...

(Written on Wednesday, posted on Thursday) Sadly, we left Kyoto this morning. If we had the trip to do over again, I think we’d spend the entire time there--it’s a place that is so much better than any picture or book or postcard can convey. We took a very crowded train from the Shunko-in temple to Kyoto Station, where we caught another train for Nara, about thirty minutes south of Kyoto. When we arrived, we hauled our luggage to the Ryokan Seikanso, not a very far walk from the train station if you don’t have luggage to weigh you down. A note about the luggage: we packed very, very well for two weeks, just one wheeled carry-on and one purse (me) and messenger bag (Andrew) each. But we could have packed better--there are things that proved inessential; and as the trip has progressed we’ve accumulated quite a few souvenirs. So our neat n’ tidy suitcase plus shoulder bag has now expanded to two wheeled suitcases, a backpack, a messenger bag, a larger shoulder bag, and my purse. (If I cou...