Narita, Japan- October 2007

In late September/early October, we flew back to the US for a whirlwind trip through the Carolinas and Oregon. We’re moving back to the US soon and we’re kind of in the market for a new hometown. For a variety of reasons, we’ve selected the Raleigh-Durham area in North Carolina. On the way back to Thailand, we were connecting through Japan so we thought we would stop in and see a bit of the country. I was in Japan many years ago with my parents but that was a very brief trip and I only saw the airport town of Narita. This time, my husband and I figured we would see a bit more. Our travel itinerary this time included Narita, Kyoto and Nara. Because we did so much during our one week, I will blog each city separately. This one is for Narita. I know the photo isn't really what you expect for a blog on Japan. But I took it in Narita and loved the way it turned out.

We arrived in Narita in the afternoon and headed for the Kirinoya Ryokan in Narita for our one night in this little airport town. In many places, the airport is built in locations to avoid bothering locals and in areas without a real town to speak of. This doesn’t seem to be the case in Narita. Narita is a lovely little suburb of Tokyo with a great rail system and good downtown area. I would happily stay here and commute into Tokyo to avoid the expense and hectic feeling of th big city. Indeed, our innkeeper (Mr. Katsumata) was happy to tell us about all of the Olympic (and near Olympic) athletes that came from the local high school and his own family.

A ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn usually with a communal bathroom, tatami floors, hard pillows and cozy floor futons. We stayed almost exclusively in ryokans during our travels. They are usually cheaper and more comfortable than western hotels or business flop houses---according to our sources.

Mr. Katsumata settled us into our room with a tray of green tea and rice snacks. After tea, cleaning up a bit and airing out our clothes for the next day, we headed out to dinner. We selected a little sushi restaurant walking distance from the downtown. We love our sushi restaurants in New York City, but the spectacle of watching sushi plates riding around on a conveyor belt as sushi chefs took orders for specialty items is one that really shouldn’t be missed. It wasn't until two nights later we had sushi that was better than what we had in Brooklyn, but this was cheap, good and a fun experience. After our dinner, we walked back to our ryokan buzzing with too much green tea and sushi.

We both awoke before sunrise and stayed in our futons reading until a decent hour to get up and bump around without waking our innkeeper. The Japanese bath is an interesting experience but I have to say I was a bit too freaked out by the water from the tub that is never drained so I just took a normal shower and left the boards over the tub intact. We dressed and ate breakfast downstairs then walked up the hillside behind the high school to a lovely overlook and then back down to the Narita temple complex. By the end of our week long trip, we were getting a little “templed-out” but this was our first temple in Japan so we delighted in the sloping rooftop, the serene duck pond and the lanterns lining the forest paths. We then spent the rest of the early morning trying to work out our train tickets to and accommodations in Kyoto.

Let me now provide three pieces of advice I wish we had listened to in our book Japan by Rail (that we picked up at Powell Books in Portland).

1. Buy a Japan Rail pass BEFORE you leave for Japan so that you can travel cheaply. These passes are not available inside Japan and will make rail travel affordable and easier.
   
2. Book your ryokans via the Welcome Inn book or website. It includes all the same places as Lonely Planet (and more) but they’re easier to book because the information is complete and correct.
   
3. Book your hotels well in advance if traveling during the popular leaf-peeping season of October. This last piece was more difficult for us because of the way we were traveling to Japan, but if you can book well in advance, I recommend you do it. October is a fantastic time to travel in Japan with great weather and lovely autumn colors. Many Japanese families know this and are booking in the same ryokans you are.

We eventually worked out our next leg of travel and headed out on the noon shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto.