ESSENCE OF JAPAN: April 4, 2022
Hopefully, by April, 2022, the world will be in a better place. We have rebooked this trip for 2022, after it was cancelled in 2020. Are any others going with us?
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Hopefully, by April, 2022, the world will be in a better place. We have rebooked this trip for 2022, after it was cancelled in 2020. Are any others going with us?
Comments
I am scheduled for that trip (also having cancelled 2020) along with with my daughter and her boyfriend.
Glad to hear from you! We are planning on arriving early in Tokyo and staying a few days in Kyoto after the tour ends. This will be our first trip to Japan and we are looking forward to it.
Our first trip to Japan, as well. We'll be arriving Tokyo one day early. I know when we originally had this trip scheduled, my daughter had a friend from college working in Osaka and she was going to hang out with her for a few days. I don't know if that's still the case.
I recognize both of your screen names (cathyandsteve & BKMD) from the travel forums. Japan has been on our bucket list for quite awhile. Hopefully, the world will cooperate with us in 2022 and we will have the pleasure of meeting! We have a cruise booked in September, 2021 and we are waiting to hear that it is cancelled. Keep in touch!
You will love Japan! At least a day pre-tour is highly recommended, though not sure my sleep schedule ever adjusted; I used to wander down to hotel lobby in the middle of the night! I tried to reuse my chopsticks, esp. after reading 24 billion pairs of "disposables" are used annually. I believe the country has started to seek solutions. And do try takoyaki, octopus balls, at breakfast or as street food.
I’m crossing my fingers and toes for our three week tour of Japan this September but I’m not hopeful.
You will love the toilets!!!
Hard to know what September will look like. Japan did so well at beginning of pandemic. I've been watching scenes from Tokyo on NHK News, always teeming, even during lockdown.
Nancy, I first went to Japan about thirty years ago, I’ve been twice. Love it. We even spent time with a Japanese family in their home. Their baths are very deep, you shower and then plunge yourself in the bath. Everyone uses the same bath water. We were reacquainted with Japanese toilets on our China tour. We finally decided to get Japanese toilet seats during last year due to the paper shortage, we got one for our bathroom, heated seat light, wash and blow dry and one for our powder room, minus the blow dry. We love them!
At one hotel, if you walked by the toilet room, the lid went up, lights went on and music played! Very special!!
I can beat that Nancy, there was an ice cream parlor where in the men’s, the urinal swung from side to side as you tried to go. In the women’s, as you sat down, the toilet gave a huge sigh!
And my car produces fart noises, though I've never tried that "feature" as I find Elon Musk's little games juvenile.
The Toto washlets have surprisingly proliferated and now there's quite a range in features and prices on Amazon alone. I've heard that folks with various medical conditions really appreciate the technology. They're pretty easy to hook up if you have an electrical outlet nearby. My wife's uncle in Japan, had the entire toilet -- actually the whole room, not just the seat, in his home, complete with music, mood lights, perfume for your bottom, etc. -- actually a mini-spa. Getting through all the buttons was a challenge though. And that was decades ago.
Yes, easy to fit yourself if you have an outlet, we didn’t. Paying for two outlets was expensive and when we fitted the powder room seat, we discovered that the outlet had been wrongly wired, it would only work when the basement lights were turned on. Took us a while to figure out that one We called the electrician and he sent his female electrician to correct things.
It looks like we'll be mandated to wear masks most of the time. Sad.
If Japan opens soon, I’ll eat my hat! They just don’t need tourists for their economy. The tour I want to do of Japan isn’t even showing.
British - post a pic when you do.
What is a projectile train?
As in bullet?
I’ve been on the bulletin train. Ah, it’s her first post! Suspicious but not flagable
This is so funny. We are on two Toto bandwagon, too. I haven't checked the forum in a while, and actually logged on to see if people were talking at all about Hawaii, as we're scheduled for January. But about Toto... plumbers coming tomorrow to our new house to switch out the builder's instal. Like so many we discovered them in Japan on the most wonderful tour -- exactly this time 2019. That was one of the most memorable of all the Tauck adventures we've had. It's worth the wait
also, for folks staying later, do consider a day trip to Nara. We hired a guide who was a high school English teacher for a day trip. It is the largest Buddha shrine, and unique in the hundreds of deer that freely roam the grounds.
Yes, Nara is spectacular. Yes, you will love the toilets. I had to have one at home.