re: Japan over Christmas / New Year's

I was born and raised in Auburn, moved here a year out of AU to teach and have been here since (going on 22 years). I'm happy to help with info / advice, budgeting, accommodation options, things to do etc. - let me know.

Kagoshima City for the win.

Hotel (Castle Park)
LINK

A bit more temperate than further North, ferry landing to Yakushima.

Ya I imagine getting along down there without Japanese would be very tough.

Lucky you have someone to go somewhere off the path like that

Yes, traveling / living here is MUCH different from living in the US or Europe, but with some decent prep and planning, you would be surprised. The Japanese people, as a whole, are wonderful people. White privilege helps!
And if you are not white privileged enough, it def. helps to know people who know stuff. Japan is not that expensive. From what I have heard and know, Europe is much more expensive. SEC folks - come on and spend a week or two here. REALLY.

PS - Mom was here on 3/11/11, at home here with our three year old daughter. I was driving, on the way home when the earthquake hit. I didn't feel it. When I got home, mom was downstairs and outside holding our daughter. I parked my truck, and mom was half freaked. I told her that here in Japan, earthquakes are common and as we could see, all power poles were still upright and there was no major damage here where we live. We went upstairs, turned on the TV, and watched live the tsunami and damage and destruction that came afterwards for about 15 hours. It sucked. In the few days afterwards, local supermarkets were sporadically open and closed depending on power availability, there was no toilet paper to be bought, no milk, no bread, no batteries, etc. It was surreal, looking back, but after two or three days, these mother frickers got organized setting up donation centers (blankets, diapers, powdered milk, towels, bedding, etc.) and EVERYONE pitched in. The response here, and from abroad, was awesome. My mom's Sunday School class of 15 or so people back in Auburn raised about 2,000$ cash in a few weeks to support relief here. THAT was awesome. I guess I wish more of "us 'Mericans" would hop on a plane and come experience Japan. With a bit of prep and planning, it really can be much cheaper than Europe. Please come visit - hit me up for info / suggestions / advice. I am happy to help!

If you're going to keep it to those places I'd flip your agenda. I enjoy Kyoto/Osaka much more than Tokyo. If you're gonna go to Japan in winter you should try to get to Hakkaido.