Considering a trip to Japan January 2011

[dat2kman]

For a weeks skiing on Hokkaido Island ( Niseko?), then a few days in the cities.

Was thinking of trying to visit the Zama Nissan wharehouse, and also calling in to Shigeo at Kameari Workshops in Kameari prefecture.

Any other suggestions/hint/tips on places to go and things to see.

I'll have to wife with me, so no girly bars!

Going mid to late January 2011

[acdc-5]

Im 99% sure you can't get into the zama warehouse without being invited by nissan.  It'd be great to get in there though.

[mtopxsecret6]

have a look at the skyline forums, in the japan section, it has the all to do's and what to do's, and what not to do's etc, from all the aussies living over there.

[Huw]

Not sure if I can help with recommendations up that way....but I would suggest taking the time to relax outside of town (especially if you can get a nice car). Once you are out of the big smoke, Japan is very pretty (I am there now and have lived here for a couple of years (although I am only visiting now)). I hated Tokyo initially, but loved the smaller towns/cities.....now am equally fond of Tokyo (having worked there) but it is always nice to get out.

 

Kyushu　(九州） is fantastic and has some nice roads but is a bit of a hike and I don't know many places for Zed pilgrimage (only one or two workshops)......although....it does have Nakasu (中州）...home to Japan's third largest (?) girly bar district....... (which, girly bars aside, is a lot of fun and has some NICE restaurants and bars (as well as some not so 'nice' ones))

 

Also, it is a lot more fun if you can b/s your way in Japanese.

 

The rail pass is also a convenient way to do the 'main' sights very quickly, but you do miss out on the country drives etc.

 

(p.s. January will be cold)

 

Huw

 

[JP]

For car stuff, the Toyota Museum is Nagoya (Aichi) was very good, it follows automotive history back to the start of the century and has oddities such as coal powered production cars used during the war oil shortage etc.

They also had a 2000GT and 432R when I was there.

 

I woudlnt waste too much time on cars though as there is so much to see and do (and eat and drink).

[fufu]

website doesn't look to appealing at first. But if you dig into it, there is a lot of information you can get out of it.

 

I pretty much relied on it for my 2 week holiday last year.

 

http://www.japan-guide.com/

 

Another thing is... transportation. You may want to check out Japan Rail pass (JR). This needs to organised beforehand here in Australia, where you can get the vouchers from the Japanese embassy. From there you can trade it in Japan for a JR Pass. This will save you a lot if your planning on traveling around via the Shinkansen network.

 

To travel between north and south of japan your looking at about $180AUD. So the JR pass covers it being unlimited use. However bear in mind... for 2 weeks we had to pay $700 for this pass. Basically costing more than our flight. But what the JR pass covers is basically the JR network. Standard JR trains and JR shinkansens. You will need to pay extra for subway network as it is owned by another company. If you require maps of the Japan network let me know and I can scan them in and email them to you. It is quite easy to decipher. The Japanese Rail network is fairly easy to understand as well.