where to go in Japan?

[mimpi]

Hi all,

I am lucky enough to be visiting Japan in early June. I was wondering if any of our people can make some recommendations of nice places to visit? I would love to see some traditional woodworking type of things if that's at all possible. I will be based in Osaka and will have 3 free days at the end of work. I may have an afternoon near to Tokyo as well.

Any and all suggestions welcomed. The wife will join for the 3 days off and expressed interest in visiting small towns that still do hand-craft work or the fancy paper work Japan is famous for.


Hope someone has some ideas if not will do the usually touristy things which I am sure will still be very good fun.

thanks

Alex

[AlexS]

If you get a chance, visit Kawagoe (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6501.html), north of Tokyo. The shop in the photo at the top of the web page is a specialist blade shop - chisels, knives, plane irons and sharpening gear. Goodwoody from these pages put me on to it, and he may be able to confirm that it's still there, as it's 8 years since I visited.
Hakone is another good place to visit, plenty of woodwork, and if you get the chance visit the Picasso sculpture gardens.

[hillpanther]

if you will visit kyoto then just in front of Rokkakudo temple there is a shop who sell woodworking hand tools and cheff knives.the guy there all the time sharpening knives,scissors,kana blade with hand on the wet stone so i think it's worth to visit his shop and see his art.

[mimpi]

thanks for the tips guys. Hoping to get to Kyoto so will note down all these places you have recommended. appreciate it

thanks

Alex

[stewart59]

I would suggest going to Nara, near Kyoto. Kōfuku-ji,one of the temples there, is I think, the world's oldest timber building. A great example of traditional Japanese joinery techniques.

[hillpanther]

if you visit kyoto let me know we can have beer together :)

[q9]

...and if you feel like stopping Takatsuki on the way, drop me a line...

Osaka to Kyoto is about 30 minutes on the express service with JR. I really should get up there soon...

[hillpanther]

ahh!! but i live near hankyu katsura!!

[q9]

Hankyu and JR are about 2 minutes walk from each other here in Takatsuki! Nothing is far from anything here...

[mimpi]

Hankyu and JR are about 2 minutes walk from each other here in Takatsuki! Nothing is far from anything here...

This reminds me of when my wife and I were in Hong Kong and we just finished lunch with my friend there and we were trying to find a jewelry shop. So he loaded us onto the subway and said take the third stop get out and then walk back a bit and the street will be on the right. So we follow his instructions but couldn't find the street. within 5 minutes we were back at the station we started at. and yes we did go the three stops. We both laughed hard over that one. We did walk back and found the street. but why you need to take a train for such a short walk....

Anyway we leave tomorrow and I have jotted down all the suggestions so thanks again everyone. We are really looking forward to all the food and culture.

[q9]

Cool! you'll enjoy it.

Myth #1 - Japanese food is weird - BUSTED!!!

Ramen is be-yooo-ti-ful!!!

Yeah there is some odd stuff, like old man granpa octopus testicles*, but generally it is fairly easy find stuff that is really good. I normally avoid seafood, but it is a bit unavoidable here...so I just deal with.



*actually pickled plums, but my description more accurately reflects the taste (as I imagine it, as I don't have a baseline to go off...)

[mimpi]

Well we had a great time. My business associate there really looked after us and thus we only had one day to ourselves. We were based in Osaka but went wakayama and even futher down south to a beach resort and stayed at an Onsen. very special experiance.

Denden town was great but not enough time to truly explore. Kyoto was raining but still a one day trip there visiting temples etc. Nara was probably our favorite with all teh deer and the old temples. Alas Kofuku-ji temple is being "restored" and was fully under cover or something a shame as I was really looking forward to that. We got a lot done in a short time and looking forward to another trip in the future.

food was awesome I put on 2 kilo in 8 days Yikes!

Checked out all the tools in denden town but couldnt really find any specialist stores only one I found had some hand crafted blades all the otehrs were mass produced stuff. I was more interested in just seeing it all. The knives were pretty special to drool over but as I was reaching for the wallet swmbo said you are not buying one of those.. sigh hehe

thanks for the tips everyone!

[hillpanther]

glad you enjoyed.wish i could meet you in kyoto.really sorry about nara temple :(
there are some traditional japanese handtools shops in denen town but these are really very inside and cheaper than these big fancy shops.