Just Back From Japan

I just got back from my trip with Lois to Japan. If I stick with this blog, you will get to hear all about it. Just in case I don't stick with it, all you need to know is that Japan rocks, the beer is cold and the Jgals looked hot. Save your money and make the trip NOW!

OK. Back to the regular program already in progress. Booking the hotels in Kyoto and Osaka.

I booked my hotels for Kyoto and Osaka on-line using on-line agencies I saw on JapanGuide.com. For Kyoto I found a good deal for a Hirashin "ryokan" on agoda.com. I put ryokan in quotes because it felt more like a business hotel with tatami mats than a ryokan. More on that when I get to the Kyoto part of the story. Agoda was easy to use and everything worked out as promised. Agoda seems to be based out of Thailand. The reason this might be important will be revealed in the Osaka part of my story. I picked the Hirashin based on it's price (about 13,000 yen per night with breakfast), non smoking room, private bath and location to shopping and nightlife. The reviews on agoda were all very positive so I felt good about booking. After I booked I made the mistake of checking tripadvisor and almost crapped my pants. There were a lot of negative reviews on tripadvisor so I was really concerned I booked a dump. I think either agoda edits the negative reviews out or people that post on tripadvisor are crybabies or a mixture of both. I work in the hotel industry so I know there are two sides to every story but only one side is seen on the internet reviews. In case you are booking soon I would recommend the Hirashin if the price is right. Just don't expect a true ryokan experience with historic buidings and beautiful gardens. Hirashin is located in a busy part of downtown Kyoto, built like an office building and no views at all. If you understand this up front, you will not be disapointed with the location, cleanliness or service at this hotel.

For Osaka I used japanican.com and booked Osaka Hotel Vista Grande in the Namba area of south Osaka. Japanican is the English site for JTB, Japans biggest travel agency. I was a bit pissed off after booking this hotel because the web site quoted 8,500 yen per night but after I got finished booking and paid for the room the charge was 8,500 for one of the nights and the other three were at 12,000. I bet there was some disclosure that I must have missed because Japanese are very good at going over every detail but I was really pissed off at the time. I will come to sing the praise of JTB later on in the story by the way. I booked a double room, non smoking. Believe me that if you are sensitive to smoke, a smoking room in Japan is like living in an ashtray. I picked this hotel because of the look of the room, non-smoking, location to the action of Namba and the price. There were a few glitches with this hotel that were fixed quickly. Other than that I loved the set-up of the room and the location could not be beat! Service was the worst of the four hotels but that is not saying that it was bad service. Just not as good as the others mostly in terms of friendliness.