Sunday Times Travel 47 TOTAL GUIDE JAPAN

JAPAN The ToTal guide From geishas to sushi, cherry trees to Mount Fuji – 25 pages of ‘only in Japan’ moments Answered! Your top 31 questions about Japan. Among them… Where do I start? (Page 48) With these easy city-and-scenery itineraries How are the loos? (Page 54) Bafing, but clinically clean Can you bathe with monkeys? (Page 58) Yes Is it pricey? (Page 60) Not any more Can I meet a geisha? (Page 63) Yes, with our insider tips Will I be sleeping on the foor? (Page 70) Depends how you get when you drink sake (Page 64) GETTY : h P a R og T ho

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October 2013 Sunday Times Travel 47 TOTAL GUIDE JAPAN

Mind-boggling moments are endless in Where do I start… 2 …with a spa on the side? 3 …for a full-on citybreak? 4 …for zany mixed with Zen? Japan. What’s that control panel by the loo Tokyo – Kyoto – Hakone Tokyo – Kyoto – Osaka Tokyo – Kyoto – Mount Koya why 1 …for a flying first visit? A visit to an onsen hot-springs resort (see After you’ve spent several days in Tokyo Zen up in the temples scattered among the for (page 54)? Why do cherries cost more Tokyo – Kyoto page 58) is a very special experience in Japan, and Kyoto, take the train (only 30 minutes eight peaks of Mount Koya, two-and-a-half If you have time for only a few days in Japan, and breaks up a hectic Tokyo-Kyoto itinerary from Kyoto) to Japan’s third-largest city, hours by train from Kyoto. Of the 120 here, you visit than vintage Champagne (page 67)? And spend them in the current and former capitals. beautifully. For real relaxation – and a few walks Osaka, the country’s capital of hedonism. might start at Kongobu-ji, a Shingon Buddhist Japan? those moments are unforgettable, too Touch down among the neon blaze of Tokyo, and boat trips on the lakes – you’ll want three You’ll need two or three nights to do it religious retreat founded 1,200 years ago on the country’s largest city, where rumbling nights in Hakone, but you’ll get a taste with even justice, especially if you want to absorb its a slope amid thick cedars; then sleep at one – you’ll always remember first seeing a expressways weave between concrete a one-night detour. In 90 minutes on the train raucous street life, delicious (and cheap) of the 50 temples that allow overnight guests. high-rises, and streets are chaotic with cars, from Tokyo, you can be in Fuji-Hakone-Izu cuisine and affordable-yet-quirky fashions You’ll pray, meditate, practise arts such as kimono-clad geisha (page 63), eating a multi-course kaiseki meal commuters and multi-storey shops. Spend at National Park, an area home to majestic Mount (see page 53). Between meals (Osaka is calligraphy with the monks, and eat blissful least two nights here – for the museums, sumo- Fuji, the symbol of the nation. Admire its snow- famed for its food), get a city overview vegetarian Buddhist-monk cuisine, known (page 51) or belting out karaoke in a booth, Lost in Translation- wrestling, department stores, fish market and dusted profile from the cable cars, ropeways from the 112m-high Tempozan ferris as shojin ryori. Temple-hop for a few days, style (page 71). But for all the big hitters, it’s the unexpected nightlife. Then glide off to the hushed grandeur and funicular railways that wind through the wheel (senyo.co.jp/tempozan/index.html; perhaps stopping in the intricately decorated of Kyoto, just over two hours away by bullet park, then soak away vestiges of Tokyo-mania £4.60), situated by the harbour. Take in the temple of Kongosanmai, followed by the huge that truly astounds: the curious island revamped as a living work train, for its (1,600) temples, geisha girls, with a dip in an onsen. The first was built here main sights (see page 66), then shop for Okunoin cemetery, which has 200,000 stone teahouses, gardens and shrines. Aim to spend in 1590 for battle-weary soldiers, and now 12 bargain souvenirs at Japan’s largest outlet stupas and a hall of lanterns where thousands of art (page 72), say, or the vending machine dispensing ‘marital at least three nights, preferably in a traditional bubbling hot springs serve hundreds of public mall, the ATC (atc-mare.com). Wendy Wu of oil lamps burn permanently. JTB (020 8237 ryokan or minshuku (see page 70). Abercrombie baths scattered in the mountains. Inside Japan Tours (0844 288 5396, wendywutours.co.uk) 1605, japanspecialist.co.uk) has a nine-night aids’ (page 70). From the slopes of Mount Fuji (page 68) to the & Kent (0845 485 1142, abercrombiekent.co.uk) (0117 370 9751, insidejapantours.com) has a has an eight-night trip, spending three in guided tour visiting Kyoto, Mount Koya, Tokyo, beaches of Okinawa (page 62), one thing’s for sure: Japan is has an eight-night Tokyo and Kyoto trip from nine-night trip to Tokyo, Hakone and Kyoto Tokyo (B&B), three in Kyoto (B&B), and two Nikko, Mount Fuji and Hakone, from £2,255pp, £2,895pp, B&B, including two nights at a ryokan from £1,990pp, B&B, with flights from in Osaka (room only), from £2,690pp, room only, including flights from Heathrow, like no place you’ve ever been to before. in Kyoto (half board) and flights. Heathrow to Tokyo and transfers. including flights from Heathrow to Tokyo. transfers, and some meals.>

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Rice and easy: ordering sushi is simple (it’s the multi-course kaiseki meals that need to are complicated…) know!! 6 Is there anything to eat besides sushi? 5 How am I going ot a fan of uncooked fish? You’re Expect rice, fluffy Japanese omelette strips, to get by in in luck. Japanese cuisine is hugely grilled tofu or fish, pickled veg and other Japanese? varied, from the famous ramen accompaniments, from crispy seaweed True, few people (noodle soup) to kaiseki (elaborate, to slimy natto, a soybean concoction not speak English here, Nmulti-course Japanese haute cuisine). Seafood dissimilar to mucus. In Tokyo, the one especially outside is popular, but it’s usually cooked, and you’ll unmissable breakfast is sushi at Tsukiji fish Tokyo. But if you look also find pork (tonkatsu – fried cutlets), chicken market (go between 5.25am and 6.15am lost or confused, (yakitori – grilled skewers) and beef (Wagyu for the tuna auction), best taken on someone will come to – massaged cattle). And don’t rule out tofu a stool at Daiwa (5-2-1 Tsukiji). your aid, and a simple – even die-hard haters tend to like it in Japan, ‘sumimasen’ (excuse where it’s made fresh and served grilled, fried, Midday munchies: The Japanese eat ramen me) while pointing smothered in sauce, chilled and more. day and night, but this gut-busting bowl of at a map is enough noodle soup comes into its own at lunch. to get directions (and The raw truth: ‘Sushi’ actually refers to the Fukuoka is home to one of the most famous plenty of enthusiastic rice, seasoned with rice vinegar, sugar and salt, types of ramen in Japan, hakata, a pork broth, gesturing). There not raw fish. Sushi has any number of toppings: and here you’ll find the original restaurant of are also some good veg, raw or cooked fish and seafood. Sashimi – the well-known Ichiran ramen chain (2-2-10 translation apps. raw fish served in thin slices – is justly famous. Nanokawa Minami-ku; 00 81 92 523 8606, Try iTunes’ Learn ichiran.co.jp/english; mains around £7). Each Japanese (free) or The meal deal: You’ve just arrived in Japan, diner sits in their own booth and fills in a form, Image it (69p), which and you have no idea where to start – enter the specifying everything from the tenderness of uses line drawings izakayas, Japanese gastropubs. These are the the noodles to the amount of spice. At most to help get your everyday joints for drinking, snacking and ramen restaurants, however, you buy a ticket message across. socialising, and unlike most restaurants, which from a vending machine by the door and hand Tokyo’s subway is often specialise in one type of cuisine, izakayas it to the chef once you sit at the counter. If in a doddle. It’s colour- offer a wide choice of options, from sushi to doubt, go for the top left button – it’s usually coded, and station tempura (lightly battered vegetables or the restaurant’s best-seller. names appear in seafood). If you’re brave, sample the more Western script. It also challenging Japanese drinking snacks – Make a meal of it: In Kyoto, a kaiseki meal at a identifies the line fermented squid entrails, for instance. ryotei (a trad high-class restaurant) isn’t cheap, by a letter, but worth the splurge. As you sit on tatami while each Mind your elbows: The Japanese eat early, mats in a private rice-paper-walled room, you’ll station has with lunch at noon and dinner from 6pm. When be served by a kimono-clad waitress, who will a number. dining with a companion, always refill their bring dish after dish of seasonal delicacies. Many glass, but never your own. The main chopstick Try Shiokoji Rakusui (00 81 75 344 8888, places to no-nos are leaving them sticking up out of your granviakyoto.com; nine-course kaiseki from eat display rice, and using them to pass food to someone £66). Kaiseki meals are considered an art form, their dishes else’s mouth. In sushi restaurants, never mix so presentation is just as important as taste – with pictures the wasabi paste into your soy sauce. And each dish is served on carefully selected bowls or wax food don’t tip – it causes offence. or plates with suitable adornments: a single replicas in the red maple leaf in autumn, or gently burning window, so you can The rising sun: Japanese breakfasts are a pine needles in winter. Whatever you’re point at your chosen wonder to behold, so do try one at least once. served, it’ll be a meal to remember. one. Some also have English-language menus. Just ask for 7 it with this phrase: So what should I be looking out for on menus? ‘Eigo no menyu ga Here’s some dishes you’ll love pounded rice cake, often Tsukemono: pickled veg, arimasu ka?’ (and a few to avoid)… with a semi-sweet azuki- served with miso and rice at Chawanmushi: savoury bean-paste centre all but noodle-based meals custard, served with sea urchin Miso: a savoury paste Kamaboko: a flat round Fugu: pufferfish – expensive, made from soybeans; used seafood stick, this processed fairly flavourless and as the basis for soups, dips fish ‘cake’ is served with potentially lethal and sauces ramen and other dishes Ikizukuri: a kind of ultra- Tonkatsu: pork cutlet fried in Wagyu: a rich, fat-marbled sashimi, made from live super-crunchy breadcrumbs. Japanese beef from seafood, filleted but Not to be confused with particularly pampered cows, served still twitching tonkotsu, a popular pork-bone often considered too sweet Mochi: soft, rubbery ramen soup for Western palates >

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8 Where can I buy a kimono (and the rest)?

hat Westerners think of as a Tabata, Kita-ku; www.fukusukedo.net/english. Dress code: pick up a traditional kimono in Kyoto kimono might actually be one htm) and Tansu-ya, a chain (2-12 Kagurazaka, from £100; and dress your pooch in a style all its own – pet gear is available in all department of several traditional Japanese Shinjuku-ku; tansuya.jp). Also in Tokyo, try stores and specialist shops nationwide garments: a kimono, often Sakaeya (3-15 Miya-cho, Omiya-ku; kimono- Welaborate, expensive and usually of silk, sakaeya.com/english). and women hang in animated scenes at including the obi, or sash; a yukata, typically the gallery-like Dover Street Market (named made of cotton but requiring few or no Haute couture: While it’s not unusual to see after its London predecessor) in Ginza (6-9-5 undergarments; or a haori, or wide-sleeved people wearing kimonos, Japan is also one of Ginza Komatsu West, Chuo-ku; ginza.dover jacket. To buy one, avoid the tourist shops and the world’s most fashion-forward countries. streetmarket.com). Classic men’s shirts temple-side market stalls, which proffer cheap- At the top (and youthful) end, designer Nozomi cost from £175 and a women’s ruffled and-nasty Made-in-China affairs. Instead, in Ishiguro cuts incongruous fabrics in unlikely asymmetric dress goes for £2,106. Mikiri Kyoto, try the five-storey Mimuro (Matsubara- asymmetrical shapes at his Shibuya HQ (17-18 Hassin (5-24-2-2F Jingumae Cat St, Nishi-Iru, Karasuma-dori, Shimogyo-ku; Sarugaku-cho, Shibuya-ku; nozomiishiguro. Shibuya-ku; mikirihassin-tokio.com) sells mimuro.net/english), which sells yukatas from com), with casual, multi-layered skirts costing wearable futuristic numbers by local labels £13, and kimonos from £100 to thousands. In from £225. But it’s Rei Kawakubo who’s the Potto, Matohu and the wonderfully named Tokyo, you can pick up vintage kimonos from current queen of Japanese haute couture. Her Facetasm, which does a monochrome mesh around £75 at Fukusukedo (1-9-11 Higashi sculptural Comme des Garçons lines for men men’s short-sleeved jumper for £195 and a leopard-print coat for £1,083. There are fashionable folk beyond Tokyo, too. Find next year’s trends in Osaka at Roggykei (Nakamura Building 3F, 1-9-33 Itachibori, Nishi-ku; roggykei.com), such as a chiffon cape for £400 and paper-bag-waisted tulle trousers for £260.

Animal magic: No nation is more fanatical about cats and dogs than Japan. Canine and feline fashion reaches its zenith here, and only the most unloved of pets prances around au naturel. Every department store has a hefty dog- and cat-fashion section, or browse the latest trends at the dozens of specialist pet-fashion boutiques in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. Try Japan-wide chain Pet Paradise (Jingumae 1-6-5; www. creativeyoko.co.jp), which sells sunglasses, firefighter costumes and wool coats with brass buttons and faux-fur collars for your four-legged friends, from £15 for a doggy T-shirt.

And the kitchen sink: Department stores such as Isetan (3-14-1 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku; www.isetan.co.jp) are not to be missed for their ability to predict the household goods you want before you’ve even realised it, such as cookie- cutters for sandwiches (£1.75) or bread- slicers (£11). Or, in the Wonka-esque food hall, chicken-shaped boxes of fried chicken. And a visit to one of the branches of nationwide chain Tokyu Hands (12-18 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; tokyu-hands.co.jp/en), which specialises in gardening, gaming, baking and travel bits and bobs, is not to be missed. You’ll find all kinds of quirky, bargain souvenirs here, such as a plastic rotisserie chicken for £20 (see a theme here?) or bonsai-growing kits for £6. For electronics geeks, there’s the Akihabara district in Tokyo, where you’ll find next year’s tech, but at 10-20 per cent less than you’d pay in Britain, as well as ample gaming shops, anime and manga comics. Get proper Japanese knives, wax sushi, bento boxes and sake sets on Kappabashi Street in Tokyo or Doguyasuji Street in Osaka.>

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need to know!! 9 What are the loos really like? Brace yourself for two extremes. Public loos are occasionally the ceramic ‘squat’ type (but designed for the user to face the ‘wrong’ way, ie, towards the flusher at the back), but Western toilets, though more common, can be confusing, too. They look like your loo at home, but come with a remote control – press the wrong button and a jet of water or blast of hot air will give you a shock. Hit another, and music or fake- flushing sounds will help retain some of your dignity. Many places offer a choice of both. Look for a sign on the door that says ‘Western’ or ‘yoshiki’ if you want the non-squat variety. Carry tissues – you’ll always have access to soap and water, but hand- driers and towels Where can I see the cherry blossom? bring stacks of bento boxes, and The garden path: The love of flora in Kyoto. Other renowned gardens Petal power: hanami are rarely provided. 10 bottles of beer and sake emerge outlasts the hanami season, and even include Kenroku-en (www.pref. crowds like to Hallie Campbell enjoys a picnic in the park like no other congregate at And, crucially, from coolers, followed by shouts of in dense urban landscapes you’ll find ishikawa.jp; £1.95) in Kanazawa; Matsuyama Castle you should always elicate pink blossoms drift favour of classic kimonos. I heard orders are placed and the crucial ‘kampai!’ – cheers. secret gardens of exquisite elegance. Katsura Imperial Villa (Nishikyo-ku; on Shikoku island, remove your shoes like snowflakes from cherry political leaders quote haiku poems decision concerning where to hold The event gets more raucous as Most display similar features, including sankan.kunaicho.go.jp) in Kyoto and where hundreds of and put on the plastic trees, blanketing streets for the cameras, and watched captains the picnic is debated. The grounds of the moon comes up and the sake slips water, pavilions, teahouses, winding Ritsurin Koen (Kagawa Prefecture; cherry trees have been planted in its grounds ’bathroom slippers’, and parks nationwide from of industry prance barefoot in the park. castles and temples are popular spots down. Music drifts across the surreal paths and immaculate landscaping. www.pref.kagawa.lg.jp) in Takamatsu. found outside the DMarch to May, uniting the Japanese in As a foreigner working briefly in Japan, to congregate, while the city of Kyoto scene and merrymakers sing along, Among the popular flowers are iris, door of the loo a collective moment of ecstasy. As a I was utterly captivated. is famed for its cherry-tree-lined dance or generally stumble about water lily, peony and orchid. Get there: Audley Travel (01993 (it’s considered foreigner on a business trip to Tokyo, Kamo river promenade, and Tokyo in a flurry of petals. Individual picnics Some of the best have few flowers, 838210, audleytravel.com) can disgusting not to). I was lucky enough to join one of the Bloom period: It all hinges on the claims the rowdiest party scene in merge, then the park slowly becomes or none at all. Instead they are Zen arrange 14-day cherry-blossom tours The good news hedonistic open-air sakura (cherry- cherry-blossom report on the nightly Ueno Park. one big party, and visitors are gardens, made from rocks, streams from £3,100pp, B&B, with Heathrow is that, no matter blossom) parties known as hanami: news, which predicts the region On the day of the hanami party, a welcomed like old friends. and raked gravel. The rocks can be flights. Japan Journeys (020 7766 which type of loo ‘honourable flower viewing’. As the that will next burst forth in a riot staff member is appointed to set up a Under the spell of hanami, I was no viewed as islands in the midst of an 5267, japan journeys.co.uk) organises you use, it will always first buds began unfurling, I watched of pink. When blooms seem assured, space under a cherry tree in a nearby longer the foreign expat in the office undulating sea – wavy lines of raked a gardens tour from November 15-26 be spotless. workaholics flee their desks and meetings are cancelled, family and park or temple, and hold it until the but part of this charmed circle, at pebbles. The most famous is in 2013, from £2,895pp, B&B, which teenage girls discard skinny jeans in friends are called together, sushi rest of the office can make it. They one with my Japanese colleagues. Ryoan-ji temple (ryoanji.jp; £3.25), includes Heathrow flights. >

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need to know!! 11 Do I have to sit on the floor? Tatami mats – traditional flooring made from woven straw – are a quintessential element of Japanese life, but you can largely avoid an evening spent kneeling on one, as most restaurants and bars have Western-style tables. Even they may have ‘tatami sections’ – it’s fun to eat a meal that way, so do try it at least once: you’ll be expected to kneel (shins on the ground, bum on feet), while sitting around a low table (although it is acceptable for men to sit cross-legged and for women to sit ‘side-saddle’, with legs tucked beside them). Many places to eat, however, also have low-slung tables, but with sunken floors beneath, where you can discreetly put your legs, which is a much more 12 Buddhist temple, but is, in fact, the and a vending machine that spits out sake for about £6. Beware the yoghurt Rush hour: the Ginza comfortable Where can I get my mind blown in Tokyo? place to park your soggy umbrella. T-shirts (from £40) from Japanese version – it’s dangerously moreish. district of Tokyo at night. Opposite, from position Gleaming skyscrapers and zinging neon (grilled chicken) stands. Don’t miss the £16), where you sit at a simple wooden brand Comme des Garçons. top, left to right, Tokyo for non- – Tokyo appears to be a shiny, chaotic vintage Hanayashiki (2-28-1 Asakusa, counter, and ask the chef for the Don’t miss: You don’t so much Lay your hat: Overlooking the skyline from Mori Japanese city of tomorrow. But scratch its Taito-ku; £6), a funfair dating back to freshest of that morning’s catch. It window-shop in Harajuku, Japan’s Relax over dinner: Along with bird’s- Imperial Palace, The Peninsula (00 81 Tower; Mori Tower and people surface and in quiet backstreets you’ll 1949 and home to Japan’s first could be succulent toro tuna, a tangy pop-culture hotspot, as surf a wave eye views, the Tapas Molecular Bar on 3 6270 2888, tokyo.peninsula.com; Maman spider sculpture from below; Harajuku (the find cycling grannies and hidden shrines rollercoaster. For futuristic fun, take a mouthful of sea urchin, a sweet sliver of excitable young Japanese who are the 38th floor of the Mandarin Oriental doubles from £320, B&B) is the girl; octupuses in Tsukiji locals can – mind-blowing, too, in their own way. cruise from Asakusa Pier (from £4.80) of eel – or something equally delicious seeking out outrageous trends in hotel (2-1-1 Nihonbashi Muromachi, techie’s favourite hotel, with motion- fsh market; Shinto sit on their aboard Himiko, a sci-fi manga-inspired that you won’t want to enquire too clothes, make-up and music. All the Chuo-ku; 00 81 3 3270 8188, mandarin detector light sensors, TVs that monk collecting alms knees for Take a walk: From Asakusa station, waterbus with flashy lights and full- much about (cod testes, for instance). sub-cultures are here: the Gothic oriental.com; menu of 20-plus dishes, mute when the phone rings and a in Ginza; temple hours at a time choose exit 1 and enter the red surround windows for 3600 views. Lolitas with their puffball skirts and £93) offers Heston Blumenthal-style technology concierge, should you get entrance in Asakusa; eccentric youths say with no problem). ‘thunder gates’ of Tokyo’s oldest Focus on this: It might be seedy at pigtails; the Goths with their piercings sci-fi food. Expect plenty of dry ice. If your wires crossed. Or try The Capitol hello; shopping mall If you’d like one Buddhist temple, Senso-ji (2-3-1 Grab lunch: You can’t come to Tokyo night, but by day Roppongi draws and leather coats; and the Hello Kitty you’re lucky, you’ll get carrot caviar: a Hotel Tokyu (00 81 3 3580 5871, designed by Tadao Ando of these, ask for Asakusa, Taito-ku). Wander along without tucking into sushi, and there’s gallery-lovers to the Art Triangle, fanatics in pink and gingham. juice transformed in front of you into capitolhoteltokyu.com; doubles from in Omotesando Street; ‘horigotatsu’, followed the market path, lined with trinket no better place to try it than Tsukiji three world-class galleries in futuristic caviar-like spheres, using syringes £190, room only), a minimalist hotel the Sukiyabashi zebra crossing in Ginza by ‘arigato gozaimasu’ and rice-cracker sellers, towards fish market – the sashimi served structures. The largest is the National Buy this: For serious shopping, head filled with a special form of seaweed. nearby that’s slightly more affordable. (thank you). If the the temple’s pagodas. Afterwards, in the cafes on its fringes come Art Center (7-22-2 Roppongi; nact.jp; to the Ginza district to the Dover restaurant has lose yourself in the streets of Asakusa, wrigglingly fresh from the 5am fish £10), a glass-wave of a building Street Market (16-9-5 Ginza Komatsu Sample the sake: At the flagship Get there: Via Japan (020 7484 3328, this option, you the city’s former pleasure district: auction. Try Isonoya (Chuo Shijo with contemporary art exhibitions. West, Chuo-ku; ginza.doverstreet branch of the izakaya chain Takewaka viajapan.co.uk) has five nights in will be given it. you’ll pass centuries-old teahouses, Building No. 10, 5-2-1 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku; That space-age rotunda outside its market.com). Here, you’ll find quirky (3-13-12 Akasaka, Minato-ku), they Tokyo, from £1,162pp, with flights from kimono shops and smoky yakitori isonoya.co.jp; eight-piece nigiri set entrance? It looks like a Modernist art installations, avant-garde fashions, offer 120ml mini-servings of top-notch Heathrow or Manchester, via Helsinki. >

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13 Why would anyone come all this way to ski?

en thousand kilometres is a long way In Hokkaido, the most northerly of Japan’s to go for snow, but a growing number big islands, you’ll find Niseko, where snow falls of Brits are willing to fly 12 hours to almost daily. It’s an hour’s flight from Tokyo, ski in Japan – for two reasons. First, followed by a three-hour transfer to the resort. Tthere’s near-guaranteed fluffy powder: Japan’s Ski Safari (01273 224060, skisafari.com) has a resorts see up to twice as much of the white nine-night trip, with one in Tokyo, room only, stuff as the Alps, ensuring a long, snow-sure seven in Niseko, B&B, and a six-day lift pass season. Even better, pistes are groomed from £1,755pp, including flights from obsessively to ensure smooth-riding Heathrow to Sapporo, via Tokyo. perfection and most are open until 9pm. Just 90 minutes from Tokyo, meanwhile, is Second, the après-ski scene is like nowhere the gateway to the Japanese Alps. You can get else: strip off and soak in natural hot springs off the bullet train and right onto the lift at the with fellow skiers, then follow your new friends Gala Yuzawa slopes. Or hire a car for the four- White stuf: skiing in to a tiny izakaya for copious amounts of sake hour drive to Hakuba, which has the best skiing Hokkaido, just an and sushi, and sleep it off in the rice-paper- on all of Honshu (the main island). Inside Japan hour’s fight from walled room of a traditional wooden ryokan. (0117 370 9751, insidejapantours.com) has an Tokyo; below, monkey business in a hot spring But beware – English-speaking instructors eight-night trip to Hakuba from £1,714pp, B&B, are rare outside of Niseko and Hakuba. with Heathrow flights, and rail and lift passes.

14 Can you really bathe with monkeys? Lisa Scott soaks away her worries in an onsen he monkeys know best, I assured volcanoes, scattered throughout the Baring all: Strict etiquette prevails. You will myself, as I stepped gingerly into country, have created thousands of natural usually soak with members of your own sex, the scalding-hot water. And these hot springs. But while a trip to a bucolic although occasionally facilities are mixed. macaques in Jigokudani Monkey resort, such as Hakone, 90 minutes from Aside from mixed onsens, bathing suits are TPark (jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp; £3.25), Tokyo, is a memorable experience, thermal absolutely, non-negotiably forbidden – it’s two hours from Tokyo, have for years been waters are also pumped into the cedar-lined felt that they could contaminate the water keeping warm in winter by wallowing in soaking tubs of ryokans, city-hotel spas, – and you must never enter a bath without steaming hot springs. I’d joined them at public-bath houses and even specialist onsen a full soap and rinse at the bath-side showers. Korakukan (00 81 269 33 4376, japanese parks, such as Tokyo’s Ooedo Onsen Before descending into the waters, brace guesthouses.com; doubles from £105, half Monogatari (ooedoonsen.jp/higaeri/english; yourself: temperatures can range from board), a wooden inn on the park’s boundaries entry £13). I spent a lazy day at the latter, a hot 40°C to a skin-scalding 90°C. To – macaques often jump into its onsen, wearing nothing but a yukata (cotton cope with the heat, enter very slowly. unfazed by humans who happen to join them. kimono), and a bracelet holding my locker key. This super-onsen houses six baths, a pseudo- Get there: Audley Travel (01993 838000, Bath time: Even without the monkeys, trad Japanese street, a garden with a 50m audleytravel.com) has 11 nights in Tokyo, communal bathing is a quintessential bath and a tank containing garra rufa fish Hakone and Nozawa Onsen from £2,790, B&B, Japanese pastime. More than a hundred that nibble the dead skin off your feet. with flights from Heathrow and a rail pass.>

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need to know!! 15 Everyone says it’s expensive. Is it? It’s not exactly a budget destination, but Japan is still highly affordable. Hotels are a bargain compared with other major cities. According to TripAdvisor, a three- star costs around £46pp in Tokyo and £68pp in Kyoto (in New York, it’s £105pp). Trad-style Japanese ryokans cost more (about £100pp), but include breakfast and dinner. Restaurants are often cheaper, too. You’ll pay about £5 for a ramen lunch, and £8 for dinner at a kaiten (conveyer-belt) sushi joint, though a sit-down set meal can be closer to £13 (in Paris it costs about £9 for a plat du jour). Western food does cost more – burgers can knock you back £10, Don’t miss: Monsters, spaceships Relax over dinner: For a modern Lay your hat: At the 200-year-old Calming measures: 16 Where can I Zen out in Kyoto? Kyoto has 1,600 temples and a pizza up to £16. and aliens are the perfect antidote take on classic Kyoto cuisine, head Hiiragiya ryokan (00 81 75 221 1139, and shrines as well as Imported alcohol is Contemplative rock gardens, tiered paced while meditating upon the lipped geisha. Your best bet is to to temple overload. Find them at to Giro Giro Hitoshina (420-7 hiiragiya.co.jp; doubles from £418, contemplative gardens pricey, too, so stick temples, kimono-clad geishas and mysteries of the world. Meander in wander in the district of Gion along the Kyoto International Manga Nanba-cho, Shimogyo-ku; 00 81 half board), you get tatami floors, in which to meditate. to sake, which costs haiku-perfect cups of green tea – and out of the small temples that lie Hanami-koji Street, which is lined with Museum (Karasuma-Oike, Nakagyo- 75 343 7070, guiloguilo.com; paper screens, cedarwood baths, Opposite, from top, left to right, comic around £10 for 360ml, Kyoto is the antithesis of high-speed off the pathway, and finish in the calm 17th-century teahouses just east of ku; kyotomm.jp/english; £5), home 10-course dinner, £24). Housed meditative rock gardens and bowing character dolls for sale; or Japanese beer Tokyo and frenetic Osaka. With 1,600 confines of the Zen rock garden in the Kamo river. Geishas are best seen to the world’s largest collection of in a renovated warehouse, it serves kimono-clad staff. For a more garden at Heian Shrine; – around £2 to £3. temples and shrines – a legacy of its Nanzen-ji temple (Nanzenji-Fukuchi- in the evening, so earlier in the day, hit items relating to Japanese comics. ‘punk kaiseki’ – a modern version 21st-century experience, check comic-book store; Zen Public transport status as the former imperial capital cho; Sakyo-ku; nanzen.net; free). the mother of all Kyoto temples, of the traditional banquet food. in at the Hotel Granvia (00 81 75 garden at the Shisendo is cheap (a day on the – it’s in a league of its own for those Kiyomizu-dera (1-294 Kiyomizu, Buy this: For an education in 344 8888, granviakyoto.com; doubles meditation hall; tea o’clock; autumn leaves; underground is £4.70), seeking old-school Japanese serenity. Grab lunch: Head for the tatami room Higashiyama-ku; kiyomizudera.or.jp; Japanese green tea, head to Sample the sake: Finish the night from £180, room only), with views over geisha girl; typical as is sightseeing – in at Junsei (Nanzenjimon-mae, Sakyo- from £2). Wander up Teapot Lane, Teramachi Street to visit Ippodo’s with a stroll along Pontocho, the city centre and a handy location gravel Zen garden; Kyoto it’s £2.65 to visit Take a walk: Start at Ginkaku-ji ku; 00 81 75 761 2311, to-fu.co.jp; set lined with sweet stalls selling treats (Teramachi-dori Nijo, Nakagyo-ku; a narrow lantern-lit lane lined above JR Kyoto station. Pontocho, a good the Temple of the temple (2 Ginkakuji-cho, Sakyo-ku; menus from £20). Its antiques-filled such as sticky mochi rice cakes. Carry ippodo-tea.co.jp/en). The staff, with teahouses and bars – prime geisha-spotting district Golden Pavilion, and £3.30). Make a beeline for its gardens, eating spaces are scattered amid lovely on up to the temple complex, which immaculate in headscarves, provide geisha-spotting territory. Pop into Get there: Audley (01993 838210, £4 for Nijo Castle an oasis of meditative raked gravel, gardens. The signature lunch is the juts out of the mountainside. It’s tastings, workshops and endless Mimasuya (157 Matsumoto-cho; audleytravel.com) has a nine-day (Tower of London rocks and moss. Exit and follow the yudofu – tofu in various forms, hot in one of the most touristy of Kyoto’s advice based on nearly three the-la-mart.com), housed in a tour, including three nights’ half entry is £21.50). And canalside for a stroll along The soup, grilled on a stick or fried on a plate. temples, but it’s also one of the most centuries of expertise. Pick your machiya, an old wooden townhouse board at Hiiragiya ryokan in Kyoto many temples are Philosopher’s Path. Lined with cherry, epic, with a wooden stage affording favourite brew from their orange overlooking the river, for a locally and four nights’ B&B in Tokyo, free to get into. maple and willow trees, the pretty Focus on this: The holy grail of any views over the city, and a labyrinthine and green tins; a 100g container brewed sake nightcap at the from £3,140pp, including flights route was traditionally where thinkers Kyoto visit is a glimpse of a ‘real’ red- network of halls and walkways. will cost from £10. tranquil upstairs bar. from Heathrow. >

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19 Is it worth packing my swimsuit or not?

efinitely throw in your one-piece (not your save for the odd blast of music from a passing vehicle dogs (with butter and cabbage). For a more raucous bikini – the Japanese are modest sunbathers), – hire a car and you could easily spend a week here. taste of the island’s culture, head to Usagi-Ya (1F need to and book a flight from Tokyo to the Ryukyu Ishigaki’s dozen-or-so beaches rival those of the Nakamura Heights) for pigs’ ears and tofu paste, know!! Islands, part of the Okinawa region, for sun, sea Caribbean, but every now and then you come across a live Okinawan music, and an all-singing, all-clapping When is Dand sand. Strewn in the Pacific like bowling balls, this reminder of where you really are: a dusty road where lion- audience. Just beware of the local awamori rice wine. 17 it the string of sub-tropical dollops, with their own unique dog statues guard camellia-covered houses; birdsong season for culture and cuisine, are definitely worth the detour. announcing a green signal at a pedestrian crossing; a Wild time: For something a little less pristine, combine earthquakes? They’re hedged in perfect beaches of cane-sugar sand hole-in-the-wall joint serving up pigs’ ears and snails. Ishigaki with an overnight stay on overgrown Iriomote, Earthquakes don’t that segue into a neon-blue sea. And though the water Must-sees include Kabira Bay, where a speckling of a remote island strewn with waterfalls and tangled have a ‘season’ and temperature rarely drops below 200C, you’re guaranteed uninhabited islands rise from a translucent sea – and rainforest that’s a ferry ride away. Here, dense jungle can happen at any towel space during the balmy winter: Japanese people where flurries of highlighter-coloured fish and manta suddenly gives way to sand and you’ll find the most time. But over the shun the sand come November, no matter how hot it is. rays gaze up at you from beneath the floor of glass- magical beach of all. Grab a handful of sand on last century, there bottomed boats. Then there’s dramatic, boulder- Hoshizuna’s boulder-speckled stretch and you’ll have been just three Pacific heights: Most holidaymakers combine three or strewn Uganzaki North Beach, which you’re likely to get a surprise: each grain is shaped like a tiny star major ‘quakes, the four islands over 10 days, but if you’re pressed for time, have to yourself, even if you visit in July and August. (and is actually the skeleton of a minuscule organism). last being in Tohoku bypass the main island of Okinawa and make straight for Come evening, prop up the bar at one of the little in 2011. So if you feel stunning Ishigaki on a direct, two-and-a-half-hour flight town-centre shacks. The local favourite, Negril (behind Get there: Inside Japan (0117 370 9751, insidejapan Sad-eyed sweet thing: geisha girl in a wobble, it’s likely to from Osaka or Nagoya. This is island-living at its most a blue door, down a lane just above the island’s main tours.com) has a 12-night self-guided tour of the Kyoto’s historical be just that. Should a beautiful: vivid green hills merge into shards of white crossroads as you walk away from the ferry port), Ryukyu Islands from £1,780pp, B&B, including flights district of Gion tremor occur, crawl beach and slivers of electric-blue bay, and the air is silent serves up live music along with the Ishigaki take on hot from Tokyo and transfers; excludes international flights. under a sturdy piece of furniture – this will Can I meet a geisha? shelter you from 20 Jill Starley-Grainger briefly enters the Flower and Willow World falling objects. And don’t worry about iterally living works of art – gei 50 minutes for up to six people), in radiation levels – they translates as art, and sha as Gion, is excellent and has a maiko are now significantly person – geishas embody the (geisha in training) who speaks English. below safety spirit of traditional Japan. It is, recommendations, Lalas, a dying profession. In the ’20s, Night owls: Geishas train all day and especially anywhere there were 80,000 geishas; today, work at night, so I headed to Tomikiku tourists are likely to fewer than 1,000, and in the most Teahouse for 9pm. I’m greeted at the visit. Indeed, Tokyo’s esteemed geisha district in all of door by the okasan who runs this okiya radiation levels are Japan – Gion, in Kyoto – a mere 200. (a house that geishas live in), and acts around half those of But that didn’t stop me looking… as ‘mother’ and manager. Wearing a London. See www. simple blue kimono, she guides me jnto.go.jp for advice. Life as art: Choosing a career as a past the stone lanterns of the cedar- geisha is a commitment like no other. panelled entry hall, and shows me 18 What’s It dominates every aspect of life, down where to leave my shoes. Upstairs the deal to the way they walk (tiny, gliding steps) in a tatami room, she seats me at a with tattoos? and sleep (on raised wooden neck table and sits on her knees by me. In the 1800s, tattoos pillows to protect their hairstyles). were made illegal, and Putting on a traditional kimono takes Painted ladies: After a few minutes, even though the law up to half an hour, applying elaborate the door quietly slides open and geisha was changed after make-up and hair ornamentation Tomitae glides in (geisha are given a WWII, it’s still much longer. All their lives, geishas single name that reflects their okiya, synonymous study the traditional arts, from hence all the ‘Tomis’), wearing an with the music to dancing and calligraphy. elegant white-and-purple kimono with yakuza orange and yellow flowers, a wide (Japanese Meet and greet: Until recently, it was orange obi (belt), a glossy upswept mafia), impossible for a Westerner, a woman hairstyle with silk-flower ornaments which or the vast majority of Japanese and full white make-up. Behind her, means people to meet a geisha. The Flower maiko Tomitsuyu enters in an even they’re and Willow World, as it is called, more elaborate kimono and banned in many could only be accessed through an ornamentation – trainees are not as places. Even a tiny introduction from a male patron, eg, skilled at the arts or conversation, so stamp on your ankle a politician or company president. As their appearance must compensate. or wrist could get you the Japanese economy faltered, times For the next hour, I ask them questions thrown out of spas, changed: it’s now possible to take a about geisha life, Kyoto and their arts. gyms, pools, bars and Beach beauty: peek into this world – although it’s not They perform a tea ceremony, dances onsens; keep them crystal-clear cheap, at around £200 for an hour or using fans and the sleeves of their waters and sandy covered with plasters, coves abound on two. Many hotels in Kyoto can arrange kimono, and songs on the koto, a clothes or waterproof the smaller islands meetings, but the Tomikiku Teahouse Japanese stringed instrument. They tattoo concealer. of Okinawa (gion-east.jp/en/info.html; email to pose for photos and then escort me to book: [email protected]; £200 for the door, where I head back to reality.>

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Thong-tied: 21 sumos in Should you drink sake hot or cold? competition; left, displaying orget what you think you know about their ceremonial sake. For starters, in Japan, it’s called Drink up: sake set aprons before on a lacquered tray shu (sake is the generic term for any proceedings alcoholic beverage). Nor is it ‘rice wine’; commence Fit’s made from rice, but the brewing process is actually closer to that of beer. And it’s not strong; at around 16 per cent, it’s barely more alcoholic than red wine. Finally, it doesn’t taste like cheap vodka: that sake you had one time at a conveyer-belt sushi restaurant was the shu equivalent of McDonald’s.

Flavour: Fragrant, floral, delicate, earthy, subtle and balanced – these are the words that spring to mind when you sip from your first cup. The flavour of most shu is more like heavily diluted elderflower cordial or dry white wine than vodka.

Sake primer: There are dozens of categories of shu (see sake-world.com for a good explanation), but broadly speaking, there are How to order: Price tends to reflect quality. beautiful countryside. Takayama, in the two main types. Those with junmai in their In a nice restaurant, a £10 bottle will be Japanese Alps, is an especially good place name are made only from rice, water, yeast and quaffable, but you’ll pay £20 or more for the to try it – among the cobbled streets of its koji mould – and tend to be dry. Others have good stuff. Don’t order hot sake – only the Old Town, there are six traditional breweries. alcohol added, but usually only a tiny amount to bog-standard stuff is served this way. Shu is bring out the flavour, and these tend to be best served at room temperature or chilled. Get there: Inside Japan (0117 370 9751, more fragrant and floral. Neither is better than insidejapantours.com) has a 10-night ‘Sake the other; it’s like trying to compare red wine Sake-tasting: Many breweries offer tastings Country’ trip, including two nights in Takayama, with white – they’re just different. for a small fee (from 50p to £5), and most are in from £2,177, B&B, with Heathrow flights.

22 Where can I watch sumo? Jill Starley-Grainger grapples with the country’s national sport wo fat men try to knock each other a thong (called a mawashi and weighing five Weighty topic: It’s not insulting to call a sumo over – that’s sumo in a(n XXL-sized) kilos each). Over them, they have on gold- wrestler fat – that’s their goal. To achieve the nutshell. Yet despite the apparent fringed silk aprons embroidered with emblems, average 180kg weight, they eat 20,000 calories simplicity, each bout is a heart- such as a butterfly or a mountain. After a few a day, eight times the norm for most men. When Tthumper. What began 1,500 years ago as a minutes of choreographed claps, grunts and not eating, they sleep or train. The latter involves religious ceremony is now a spectator sport. thrusts, they file off. foot-stomping, rice-bag and pole throwing and Six 15-day tournaments, three in Tokyo, three stretches, and starts at 6am. Youngsters who elsewhere, are held throughout the year, so the Face-off: The referee, wearing a wide-legged struggle with the splits (crucial for sumo squats) chances of being in Japan for one are good. samurai-style kimono and black hat, steps get sat on until their joints crack. onto the dohyo, followed by the two (now Game day: Matches start around 9am, but the de-aproned) opponents. They face each other, Practice makes perfect: You can watch the top-ranked maku-uchi grapple from 4pm to perform the classic sumo-squat, leg-raise, wrestlers train in the mornings at their stables 6pm. I arrive at the arena in Nagoya at 3.30pm foot-stomp combo, and then… Nothing. They (where they live and practise) in Ryogoku, and sit cross-legged and shoeless (as required) walk to separate corners, wipe their heads and the sumo district of Tokyo. They don’t charge, on the floor cushion. I’ve opted for a cheap(ish) arms with damp cloths, return to their places but you must pre-book and attend with a £50 spot. The prized ringside cushions cost to repeat the squat-leg-raise-stomp. This fluent Japanese speaker (try Miki Kaneko at from £100 and come with a ‘no compensation’ continues, with variations (salt tossing, hand tourguides.viator.com; £80 for four hours). waiver if you’re injured by a falling wrestler. chalking, etc) for four minutes. Finally, they squat and hurl their massive forms at each Get there: Inside Japan (0117 370 9751, Thong song: At 4pm, all the maku-uchi march other. After four seconds (I timed it – the insidejapantours.com) has a 10-night ‘Golden onto the elevated dohyo, or clay wrestling longest tussle lasted 10 seconds), one tumbles Route and Sumo’ package from £2,236pp, ring. It’s my first sighting of an obese man in off the dohyo onto the spectators below. including Heathrow flights. >

October 2013 Sunday Times Travel 65 TOTAL GUIDE JAPAN

need to know!! 23 Is it easy to find your way around? There are few more baffling tasks than working out Japanese street addresses. In most cities, including Tokyo and Osaka, street names are rare; instead, locations are pinpointed by three numbers, denoting the district, the block and the house – which in an ideal world will lead people to their destination. In reality, it’s tricky – even for locals. Ask your hotel concierge to write down addresses in Japanese so you can show taxi drivers or locals, and expect to have to ask for help – that’s what the Japanese do. Kyoto is even worse. Due to the high number of small districts, a jigsaw puzzle system is also in place using words such as ‘enter north’ and Don’t miss: At the Tenma Wholesale Sennichimae Doguyasuji; ichimonji. Lay your hat: Straddling action- Neon life: buzzy Osaka 24 Where can I get a good meal in Osaka? at night. Opposite, ‘below’. Food Market, just off Tenjinbashi co.jp), near Namba station. packed Shinsaibashi Suji and ritzy from top, left to right, Station Throw off your inhibitions and bring Cover your ears as you enter the batter is made from eggs, flour, yam Street, you can buy a 500g punnet Midosju, the 160-room St Regis Glico Man on the bridge signs are your appetite. Osaka is Japan in the clanging, clunking, pinball-meets-slot- and bits of cabbage, then vegetables, of cherries for – wait for it – £46, and Relax over dinner: Bread-crumbed, Osaka (0800 325 78734, stregis.com/ across Dotonbori river; in English, raw – exuberant, head-spinningly fast machine Atariya Pachinko Parlor. fish, chicken, pork and/or beef are that’s half what it costs in department deep-fried food on a stick, dipped in osaka; doubles from £180, room only) octopus dumplings for sale; carving at Osaka though. and unafraid of a little gluttony. Hastily Continue past shops of every variety thrown in. Try it at Hanamarutei stores. It’s pricey because fruit-gifting sauce – what’s not to love about local rises above the chaos with sky-high Castle; food on the hoof; And one tick off the sights (castle, museum, – shoes, jewellery, incense, kimono (Minami-cho 3-3-16; hanamaru-tei. is big in Japan, and only the best will favourite kushi-katsu? Try some at views, Japanese-silk headboards and an ad for noodles (not guaranteed temple: check, check, check), then fabrics, Hello Kitty – until you reach com; five-plate lunches around £6), do. Or pick up a bag of fish flakes to Osaka institution Kushikatsu Daruma butlers for every guest. Or squeeze dragons); dumpling way to avoid lose yourself in the street life. the narrow Dotonbori river. Stop on a small, casual joint with low-slung sprinkle on food (they shave them (2-3-9 Ebisuhigashi; kushikatu- into Daitoyo (00 81 6 6312 7521, stall; restaurant getting lost is to the bridge to snap a pic of Glico Man, tables in screened-off booths. from dried fish in front of you), boxfuls daruma.com; £9 for 10 skewers), but daitoyo.co.jp/mens/capsule.shtml; decoration; the Zen garden at the use a guide: lots of Take a walk: Boisterous families the neon-lit image of a running man of pickled veg (that orange one you brace yourself for grumpy staff, ‘No capsules from £22, room only), a St Regis hotel; cocktail organisations offer mingle with collar-loosening office that’s been a landmark since 1935. On Focus on this: Skip the guidebook see everywhere is burdock root, not Double Dipping’ signs and piping-hot, 375-pod, men-only capsule hotel time at The Terrace free tours of Tokyo, workers and outrageously attired the other side, the street is lined with ‘must-see’, Osaka Castle (it’s a carrot) and giant bags of dried shiitake. delicious skewers of lotus root, quail with its own onsen. Osaka and Kyoto. teens in Osaka’s miles of arcaded eateries, including stalls selling the 20th-century re-creation). Instead, egg and eel. Guides are mainly shopping streets – and for the past quintessential Osaka street snack, head to the Museum of Housing and Buy this: The art of slicing sashimi Get there: Inside Japan (0117 370 locals who want to 400 years, the most popular has been tako-yaki, octopus dumplings. Living (osaka-info.jp; £4) for a glimpse requires razor-sharp tools – which Sample the sake: Order a Saketini 9751, insidejapantours.com) has a practise their English. Shinsaibashi Suji. Exit onto it from into Edo-era (see page 72) Osaka. could explain why Japanese knives are (sake and vermouth) and watch the seven-night ‘Kansai Nights’ package, Booking in advance Shinsaibashi station, and clock the Grab lunch: Like eggs? Like pancakes? One floor has been transformed reckoned to be some of the best in city lights flicker on with sunset drinks including three nights in Osaka, one at is crucial – see bit. illuminated glass-block facade of You’ll love okonomiyaki, a savoury into an 1830s village in festival the world, especially those handmade at the 12th-floor St Regis Terrace, Mount Koya, and three in Kyoto, from ly/14hUZBY. Uniqlo, the Japanese flagship of the scrambled-egg pancake that’s mode, complete with shops, tatami- by Sakai. Buy a bamboo-handled an open-air hotel bar with a maple- £1,430, B&B, including Heathrow famous casual-wear clothing shop. Osaka’s favoured lunchtime bite. The floored houses and gilded floats. one from £40 at Ichimonji (14-8 and-cherry-tree Zen garden. flights and transfers.>

66 Sunday Times Travel October 2013 October 2013 Sunday Times Travel 67 TOTAL GUIDE JAPAN

High drama: 26 How hard is it to climb Mount Fuji? Mount Fuji attracts Emily-Ann Elliott tackles Japan’s highest peak 300,000 walkers and climbers a year ount Fuji is Japan’s most famous symbol. the clouds below, then watch the sky turn from pink to Towering over Lake Kawaguchi, its perfect red as dawn breaks. After a quick gawp at Fuji’s crater, need to cone perfectly reflected in the water below, I grab a drink from the vending machine at the mountain know!! this 3,776m dormant volcano attracts station, and head back down. The slopes are so steep How do M300,000 people to its slopes every year. But don’t be that a near-jog is the only option, but it means I’m at the 25 I avoid deluded by the bevy of children and old ladies who tackle bottom in less than three hours, where my guide quotes causing terrible it – the ascent is strenuous, and you need to be quite fit me the Japanese proverb: ‘A wise man climbs Fuji once, offence? before even attempting it (as I found to my cost). a fool climbs it twice.’ The Japanese are Fuji is a two-hour drive from Tokyo – I took a bus, renowned for which handily dropped me off at 2,305m, the start of How long does it take? To see sunrise, factor in a two- politeness, and are the Kawaguchi route (one of four). I started my ascent day trip from Tokyo, with one night on the mountain, tolerant and forgiving at 3pm, following the ant-like trail of hundreds of before returning to the capital the next day. The climb towards visitors others. As we picked our way over the reddish-brown, takes six to 11 hours, the descent around three. navigating the volcanic-ash path, hiking parties started to mingle, new complex minefield of companions chatting to each other like old friends. This When is it best to go? The safest and best time to Japanese etiquette. high up, there are no trees to block the view, so we can hike, although also the busiest, is July to August. That said, you need a see down to the glistening waters of Fuji Five Lakes Experienced hikers occasionally climb in June, few basics. Do bring below. After four hours, most of us stop for dinner, September and October. At any other time, business cards and then at 11pm, we set off again to walk through the night. weather conditions make it extremely perilous. give them – holding The goal? To be at the top just before dawn, so we can with both hands – to glimpse the ‘land of the rising sun’ from this iconic peak. Get there: Japanican (00 81 3 3865 5718, japanican. everyone you meet; Even with head torches, the going is slow, but by 2am com) has a two-day Mount Fuji climbing tour, with and read their card I’ve made it to the top with enough time for a few hours’ transport, dinner in a mountain hut, breakfast and as if it’s the most kip. Waking up with the lightening sky, I look down to see a visit to Lake Yamanaka hot springs from £209. > beautiful one you’ve ever seen. Be religiously punctual or early, as lateness is the height of rudeness. Don’t accept compliments – the Japanese consider it arrogant. Never blow your nose in public. Learn a few words in Japanese – you’ll be amazed how much this will be appreciated. Do say hello and bow when you meet someone. Always remove your shoes before entering a shrine, temple, home or anywhere with a tatami mat. Don’t lose your temper, no matter how frustrated. When dining, don’t stick chopsticks upright in a rice bowl, stab food with them, rub them together or wave them around. Don’t sit with your feet facing anyone.

68 Sunday Times Travel October 2013 October 2013 Sunday Times Travel 69 TOTAL GUIDE JAPAN

29 Are karaoke bars still all the rage? Duncan Madden steps up to the mic elting out your favourite song to (30-8 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku), in Tokyo – an hour after 7pm), a lively karaoke box with a room full of strangers has been a booths 601 and 602 were immortalised in a huge selection of English songs. In Osaka, need to classic Japanese experience since Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation. Namba is the nightlife HQ. Seek out Kama know!! the ’70s. All classes of society join in, In Tokyo, karaoke bars of every description Sutra Karaoke (Osaka-ya Jumbo Building, 5th Can you Band you can do it in private booths, laid-back abound in Roppongi and Shibuya. In Kyoto, the Floor #5, 2-1-13 Higashi Shinsaibashi, Chuo-ku; 27 really izakayas or rowdy nightclubs. Kawaramachi district is the place to head for – free), an atmospheric English-friendly bolthole buy live crabs I decided to embrace the fear on the neon-lit try Jumbo Karaoke Hiroba (29-I Ishibashi-cho, popular with locals. It’s hard to find, but even from a vending stage of Smash Hits (5-2-26 Hiroo, Shibuya-ku; Sanjo Dor Nakagy-ku, Kawaramachi Nishi iru; £4 harder to tear yourself away from. > machine? smashhits.jp; £22.70 charge includes two Yes, you can. And drinks), a Tokyo institution. Emboldened by Altogether now: cryogenically cooled shochu (Japanese whisky) cocktails, I squinted grab a mic and sing in a private karaoke booth crustaceans aren’t out over the crowd. LPs and photos of previous even the weirdest crooners lined the walls, glistening with the thing you’ll find in sweat of a thousand sing-alongs. At the them. Japan’s fetish opening notes of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, for cash-and-dash my audience started clapping and giving convenience has encouraging shouts that soon softened to a endowed it with more respectful hum of chat and clinking glasses. than 5,000,000 I was awful, but it didn’t matter – the crowd gave dispensers, delivering me thunderous applause, then I handed the mic everything from eggs to the next in a long queue of wannabe rockers. to neckties to cars to If belting tunes out to a group of strangers – how do we put this doesn’t appeal, you’re in luck. The most popular politely? – marital type of venue is the ‘karaoke box’. These have aids. Most vending private booths in which you can inflict your machines, however, Pod casts: a capsule dulcet tones on only your most trusted are of the drinks-and- hotel for businessmen accomplices. Try nationwide chain Karaoke candy kind, so in Osaka Kan (karaokekan.jp) for its themed booths and you’ll have to speedy service, or the Shibuya Karaoke Kan keep your eyes peeled 28 Will I have to sleep on the floor? Beds, futons, capsules and cages – take your pick from the weird and wonderful world of Japanese sleeps for the unusual or Luxury hotels: Most hotels in Japan You’ll pad around in a yukata (cotton and sleep on a mattress. Bathrooms outré. You’ll are furnished with Western-style beds kimono), barefoot or in slippers, gaze and lounges are shared, and there

find saucy and, unsurprisingly, none are more at a Zen garden, soak in the onsen are sometimes kitchens. They can be undies or a sexy plump or well-sprung than those at and be served a Japanese breakfast noisy, though, as they are favoured ATKINS N e

samurai outfit in the top-end city hotels. Expect and kaiseki dinner in your room. Most by drunk businessmen and students. y W M eLL , , A the lobby of ‘love neutral tones, tasteful artworks and are located in small towns or the Most are men-only, but some have N R e hotels’ (see right), impeccable service. See the guides countryside, among them the women’s floors. In Kyoto, try Nine e OULD RAING which are also often on Tokyo (page 56), Kyoto (page 60) excellent Tanabe Ryokan (00 81 577 Hours (00 81 75 353 9005, 9hours.jp; G

booked via a vending and Osaka (page 66) for options. 32 0529, tanabe-ryokan.jp; doubles singles from £32, room only), and in ey-G AURA , L

machine to avoid the from £205, half board), in Takayama, in Tokyo, Capsule Value Kanda (00 81 TARL S

embarrassment of Business hotels: Similar to luxury the Japanese Alps. The owners speak 3 6206 0724, capsuleinn.com; singles ILL eLLIOTT , J having to ask for a English and the food is excellent. from £22, room only).

hotels, but with smaller rooms and NN COTT e y-A ‘room by the hour’. For beds (usually Western-style), these S RIC

ISA eMIL , less ‘adult’ finds, scour cater to business travellers and are Minshukus: Japan’s answer to a B&B Love hotels: Most Japanese live with , L N e the machines in train ideal for those on a budget. In Tokyo, is a private home with a few rooms for their parents until marriage, even well DAVID TRIOU ADD e

and subway stations: M try the b akasaka (00 81 3 3586 0811, guests. These offer great value for into adulthood, which means ‘love M RSTOCK, RSTOCK, buy a bobble-headed e De theb-hotels.com; doubles from £100, money and give a taste of how real hotels’ are popular. Mainly rented by e LL UNCAN bunny from the B&B) near Roppongi Hills, and in Osaka, Japanese people live. You’ll typically the hour, some are hilariously themed e y, D ANI

Hakuhinkan Toy Park , D Hotel Nikko (0808 234 3422, jalhotels. sleep on a futon on a tatami floor. (rooms with cages or S&M Hello Kitty), AH

machine at Tokyo’s com; doubles from £90, room only). You’ll find a few in the big cities, but but most are fairly bland. Strangely, e Le OBAJ AT RT HARDING, SUP RT

Shimbashi station, or most are in small towns and villages, they can be good value for an e e, K e, , Lee C D

a banana from the Ryokans: Try to spend at least one such as the charming Koemon overnight kip if you’re happy to arrive LL Hy e S, ROB S, Dole machine at night in a traditional Japanese inn. Minshuku (00 81 5769 61446, after 10pm and check out before e AMPB ATUR MANDA Shibuya station. Yes, you’ll sleep on the floor on a shirakawago-kataribe.com; doubles 10am, and are usually spotlessly clean. e e C , A X F Tokyo’s Harajuku area futon, but it’s usually extra-thick and from £136, half board), a thatched- In Tokyo, they cluster in ‘Love Hotel e ALLI , H is ripe with quirky very comfortable. Rooms are simple: roof house by a stream in the Unesco Hill’ in Shibuya, and in Osaka in R RS, e ORWICH H vends, too: look out tatami floors, an alcove with a wall World Heritage Site of Shirakawago. Dotonbori, and rates are around £20- OOTH B L SSIA 4CORN e for candy-coloured hanging and a flower arrangement, a £40 for two hours, or £40-£60 for 12; e L , A specs and trendy table and futon hidden in a cupboard, Capsule hotels: The cheapest option no need to book ahead. The Club ICHA M :

shampoos. brought out at appropriate times by of all is effectively a bed with walls. You Chapel hotel group (chapel-hotel. LFARB e ORDS IM W H your kimono-clad personal attendant. crawl in, close the hatch behind you, co.jp) has a few in the major cities. PHOTOGRAPHS:

70 Sunday Times Travel October 2013 TOTAL GUIDE JAPAN

Night at the museum: I usually get Miyajima island, where you can see And if you want to try a few more Purple haze: a 31 Laura Goulden takes to local life museum fatigue after 30 minutes. one of the country’s most famous island idylls, consider the green fields magnifcent sunset at What’s the best island to visit? the ‘foating’ Torii gate Here, I went back to them all for images – the floating Torii gate in and rocky outcrops of Sado Island, on Miyajima island apan is composed of a long art and epic architecture. But here painting of a swimming pool by David seconds. At Benesse House, I even the Seto Inland Sea. Just 15 minutes just off the northwest coast, for their strand of more than 6,000 they both are. In abundance. Hockney. And it doesn’t stop there. went at midnight. The place closes from the mainland near Hiroshima, traditional Taiko drummers and sake need to islands, but most people live Stroll along the beaches and you at 10pm, but there are hotel rooms it draws hordes of Japanese tourists, breweries (allow two days). yakushima know!! on the four big ones: Hokkaido Arty paradise: Tucked into the might spot a family clambering on inside (00 81 878 923223, benesse- especially in the autumn when the Island is off the coast of Kyushu and When J(in the north), Honshu and the smaller pines and pebbly shores of this a giant yellow pumpkin by Yayoi artsite.jp; from £234, room only), and car-free island is blanketed in sunset- features primeval rainforest, soft 30 was Shikoku and Kyushu. Adjacent to sleepy 15sq km island are three Kusama, who recently had an the handful of guests who stay can hued maple leaves. Even at its busiest, sands and a 3,000m mountain (allow Japan born? each other, they’re often referred to monumental galleries (Chichu, exhibition at London’s Tate Modern wander its exhibits for a genuine Miyajima feels sleepy, with little to two to three days). And the volcanic People have lived on collectively as ‘the mainland’. Of Lee Ufan and Benesse House – her famous dots have also Night at the Museum experience. do apart from relax, snap pictures of Izu island chain is easily combined the Japanese islands the remaining 5,996, only 430 – all designed by Tadao Ando, adorned Louis Vuitton bags. The next day, I boarded the boat back the gates, nudge scavenging deer with Tokyo (the nearest are a couple for tens of thousands are inhabited. And if you have to Japan’s superstar architect), And, of course, there’s the to the real world and got chatting to an away from your hot sweet potatoes, of hours’ ferry ride away) for surfing, of years, but most of choose just one? Take my word sculptures dotted all over the aforementioned Art House Project, elegant silver-haired couple. ‘We only and meander towards the cable car snorkelling and diving – or do the what we think of as for it – it’s Naoshima. Here’s why. shop, and a village-turned- a dying fishing village transformed stayed one night, so we didn’t have up Mount Misen. Once there, it’s a same in the Ryuku Islands. Japan began in the canvas (the Art House Project). into a living work of art. Seven time for the Art House Project,’ they one-kilometre stroll to a tiny temple 7th century, when its Location, location, location: Don’t give a hoot about art? It traditional wooden houses and a told me nonchalantly. I wanted to drag that houses a 1,200-year-old flame. Get there: InsideJapan (0117 370 first constitution was Naoshima lies in the silvery Seto doesn’t matter. At Chichu, the violet- shrine were each handed over to an them back. I didn’t dare ask if they’d Stay for the night at Yamaichi- 9751, insidejapantours.com) can established. Visit any Inland Sea, three hours south of hued James Turrell light installation artist to do with what they liked. The seen the elephant sculpture in the Bekkan ryokan (00 81 829 440700, tailor-make an 11-night trip, including museum, and you’ll Kyoto, via trains and a ferry. It’s pretty makes you feel like Mike Teavee in result? Inside one, it’s pitch black public baths. I haven’t mentioned that? yamaichibekkan.com; doubles Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, as well as see mentions of (peach-coloured beaches nudge Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, except for a living-room-wide pool of I’ve said too much. Forget it. Just go. from £120, half board), which two nights on Naoshima and one these eras. crumbly rocky outcrops), peaceful small and wide-eyed and full of water with numbers flashing beneath; serves work-of-art dinners of night on Miyajima, from £2,050pp, Nara: 710 to 794, (the population is just 3,000) – and E-numbers. At Benesse House, another houses fresh camellias that And when you’ve done Naoshima? baked oysters, sashimi and with Heathrow flights, rail passes when Japan’s first the last place you’d look for modern you’ll want to dive into the bright-blue turn out to be wooden carvings. Slow down with an overnight trip to fluffy tempura. and some meals. n imperial court was established in Nara, a town between Osaka and Kyoto. Heian: 794 to 1192, when the court moved to Kyoto, then called Heiankyo. Kamakura: 1192 to 1333, when the court was in Kamakura, and the shoguns (military rulers) took power; the imperial family were figureheads. Muromachi and Azuchi-Momoyama: 1338 to 1603, when the capital moved back to Kyoto; the shoguns still reigned. edo: 1603 to 1868, the capital moved for the first time to Tokyo, then known as Edo; the shoguns cut off all trade with foreign countries. Meiji Restoration: 1868 to 1912, international trade and imperial rule in Japan were reinstated. Modern: 1912 to today; since WWII, the emperor’s role has been ceremonial.

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