Japan – Trip Planning

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We’ve been planning our trip to Japan, and I wanted to provide a list of resources that have helped tremendously.

Paul’s Travel Pics – wonderful, well-organized, highly-detailed, supremely useful site with tons of fabulous photos that recount the travel adventures of a couple after my own heart. Paul and his wife organized their Japan trips according to what foods they wanted to sample; indeed – those of you who know DD and I know that this is exactly how we roll as well.

Hida Takayama Ryokan & Hotel Association – wishing to book Ryori Ryokan Hanaoka (based on Paul’s recommendation), I emailed them and received swift and speedy response with confirmation of our reservation.

Japan-guide.com – amazing resource for possibly everything you may want to know about Japan. Most helpful were the “How to get in/out” sections that often listed particular train lines and whether those lines were covered by the JR Pass.

Japanese Guest Houses – English booking tool for some lovely Ryokan and Minshuku.  I used this tool to book our UNESCO-world-heritage designated  Gassho-Zukuri Guesthouse, Yokichi in Shirakawa-Go.

Chase Concierge Services – the concierge went out of her way to make sure I was successful in every way – even down to practicing my exceptionally bad Japanese – in making a reservation at Ryugin. At first I had every intension of asking Chase to take care of the booking, but when the concierge found out that I actually wanted to attempt to communicate in Nihon-jin, she offered to stay on the line, ready to jump in should I run into trouble.  And alas, the 5+ months of Japanese classes at Soko Gakuen completely left me as I was placed on the spot; thankfully the kind soul at Ryugin who patiently endured my fumbling mumblings spoke perfect English.

Rakuten – great Japanese bargain travel website with an English interface. I used this to book Minshuku Ginmatsu in Kanazawa, and Smile Hotel Namba in Osaka.  For Ginmatsu I had to pay in advance, and our credit card was charged right away; for Osaka I had the option of selecting to pay at the hotel.

Tokyu-Stay —  I’m not sure how I stumbled upon this chain of hotels, but they have a great website and easy booking tools. I received confirmations right away, and in one case, where I had specifically posed a request – that we definitely wanted a non-smoking room, I received a quick email back to indicate that they had received my request and would comply.

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