re: Traveling to Japan in a few weeks.

Osaka is nice

I've spent time in Tokyo, Kawasaki, and Kyoto on business and vacations. In Tokyo I stayed at the Okura Hotel and really enjoyed it. They had all sorts of bus tours that would leave out of the Lobby every morning. My favorite was to the Toshogu (Tokugawa Shogun) shrine up in the mountains nw of Tokyo. It's a huge fort like complex built in the 1600's where the warriors hung out. You can get a real feel for life during the reign of the Shoguns.

Don't expect meat and potatoes. The food there is really weird like eel livers, sea weed , etc.

Kawasaki was just where I went to work some days and is mostly industrial, not much to see.

Take the Shinkansen (bullet train > 200 mph) from Tokyo to Kyoto. Kyoto is ancient and was preserved during WWII. Stay at the Old Miyako Hotel and you can deal for room rates. It's old style Japanese and very unique. You could spend days wandering around seeing all the temples and shrines in that city.

Noteworthy:
1) The trains leave on time every time. If you're 10 sec late expect to miss your train.
2) Not impressed with Mt. Fugi. You can see it from everywhere in Japan.
3) If you take a taxi from your hotel, have one of the hotel staff write in Japanese "bring me to Hotel xyz" on a piece of paper for your return trip. Taxi drivers seldom speak English and you sure as hell can't speak any Japanese.
4) Forget car rental. They drive like maniacs and you'd be dead meat.
5) Don't ever throw a cigarette butt or any other trash on the sidewalk. You'll be scolded by the closest person.
6) Expect to be craving American food.

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Nawlens Gator

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Very helpful thank you.

I am most excited about Kyoto.

And I do speak a little Japanese , "purchased" (I torrented it) the Japanese Rosetta Stone about 6 months ago and have learned a tremendous amount. Should be plenty to get me around Japan.

Do a bike tour in Kyoto.

Tokyo had McD's, Wendy's, KFC, and Shakey's pizza when I was there. That being said, you may never go back again so at least try the local food.

Most of the menus have pictures. Mizu ramen, soba and yakisoba are all noodle based. Almost everything has rice though. Plain, white rice. One of the rice dishes that I liked was Cuts Curry. It is a mild curry gravy on rice, with pork cutlets.

Yakitori is tiny shish kabobs of chicken. They are awesome but you need a lot of them. They will also have other types of meat. Ask what it is so you don't get tongue, or worse.

In Tokyo, Ginza is the high dollar hotel and shopping district. Rappongi is the bar district. Their trains and subways are pretty safe for night travel. Cab drivers will make no effort to understand you. Get a business card from the hotel desk to show the cabbie where you want to go. Subways usually will take you within a block of where you are headed.

When you go into a bar and they cross their fingers like an X and say "No Gaijin", It means that foreigners are unwelcome. Crossed fingers is no, crossed arms is hell no.

When drinking, they say Compei (com pie) like we say cheers. Compei icky means chug it to the bottom before the glass hits. All compei icky drinks are a race.

I forgot to mention that if you are a sushi fan, the convenience stores have a pretty good variety in the mornings. You just have to look around and all stores are not equal. It is cheap though.

If you need to know any cuss words before you go, just ask.

Have a good time.