Japan

Great photo of the skyline!! Will try that myself. the skytree is worth a trip I hear... need to get a travel tripod too.

A friend's dad is a sushi knife salesman, and she sent me one. Incredibly sharp! I would love to get an everyday japanese knife. I think I'll invest in one when I go

Do! It makes me chuckle every time I use it. So ridiculously sharp. We went to the area just west of asakusa, there are loads of kitchen shops and specialist knife shops around there.

2 months today until I fly out!

Awesome! Offer of a ride still stands when you hit Kyoto. Should be able to find you a bike to use, assuming you're not of truly bizarre proportions.

PM me your Facebook or whatever and we can keep in touch, if you're interested.

sorethroat, likewise. I know you're having a bike-free holiday but if the mood takes you... ;)

great, I'll be in touch. cheers pal

Cheers Jaidias, may well take you up on that when I'm over!

Long shot, but can anyone recommend good accommodation in Sapporo and elsewhere in Hokkaido?

How much are you looking to spend? The cheaper business hotel chains are always reliable and reasonable, if rather bare-bones (and rooms are small, but welcome to Japan). Try Toyoko Inn and Super Hotel.

Have a browse around on Jalan(.net) - they even have an English site (albeit with more limited options). I've booked many a cheap hotel room through that site.

Where else in Hokkaido will you be? Outside of peak times you can get some killer deals. I stayed in Sounkyo onsen town for a climbing trip last winter. No-one goes there in the winter because it's balls cold (think -25C at night). I got a huge room (more like a suite) in a modern-traditional (new, but tatami floor, futon bed, etc) place with 2 enormous, excellent buffet meals and unlimited hot spring access for ¥7000 per night, sharing with a friend. Even picked me up for free from about 90 mins away. Crazy value.

Sounkyo is a place I was thinking of setting up base for some walking.

cheers for the info. Have found a hostel in sapporo so all good there

Sounkyo is amazing and I would totally recommend it. We based ourselves out of the town and had 3 days of phenomenal climbing there. Hands-down one of the most amazing places I've been, especially when all the waterfalls are frozen. Walking should be amazing too, in the summer when everything is green and the falls are flowing.

Wow! That looks amazing. I am not an experienced climber/mountaineer and the people up that way advised me that they still have pretty heavy snow during the days I'm there so I'd need proper equipment. Have decided to stick to southern hokkaido and I am going to Toya-ko and Noboribetsu for some onsen hopping.

Oh well, at least I will have an excuse to go back there in the future. That frozen waterfall is stunning

Toyako is amazing. The Usu volcano stuff is worth a visit if you have the time - I think it's spectacular enough even if you're not a volcanologist like me. You can easily walk around it all in a day. There are sections of road lifted several tens of metres, buildings and vehicles riddled with lava bombs, a huge lava dome... and a neat museum that sort of explains some of it. You can take a cable car up to the most recent crater. I seem to remember there being some English literature around.

It was a toss up between a day in Otaru or Toyako. You've made up my mind for sure.

Otaru is really nice but I think it needs to be snowy to be particularly charming - the ice lanterns in the winter are neat but probably won't be there when you go. I'd pick Toyako/Usuzan volcano.

ah righto. good to know. I was wondering what you were living over there for. can't pick a better place to be a volcanologist I suppose!

@sorethroat: re budget.

I have all my accommodation booked.mostly staying in cheapish hotels. some nights in a hostel and one night in a swanky onsen complex. I had to have one night of luxury!

average price a night of about £25-£30 I reckon. Not as expensive as I feared. I personally don't like dorms at all (have done plenty of trips in them before, but definitely rather have a private room), and have been able to find hostels that do private rooms. Hostels obviously good for meeting people too. I'm not that fussed as I will be hanging out with people I know out there. You'll find a hostel will cost you around £20-£25 a night in a dorm. maybe cheaper.

If you're going for a hotel, try going via quidco. Nearly all my hotel rooms were booked on hotels.com via quidco, who are doing a 10% cashback on bookings.

Thanks very much Sugoi, very helpful.
I am still waiting to book my flights/train ticket/hostels. Handing in my notice is yet to happen, it will though, soon.

Notice handed in, place on MA course secured. All set for Japan. Can't fuckin wait.

Awesome! What are your dates? :)

Hey guys, I'm going to Japan for 10 days in June. We fly to Tokyo and are then thinking of going to Kyoto and Osaka. Can anyone recommend another place as we still have a couple of spare days? We're getting that railcard so should be pretty easy to travel around I guess...

I'd plan of spending most of your Kyoto/Osaka days in Kyoto. In fact I'd recommending basing yourself in Kyoto and doing Osaka as a day trip (or two), really. There isn't that much there - it's mainly just a big, grey, uninspiring city.

Nara is worth a day trip (can do this easily from Kyoto too) and Himeji possibly if you dig castles (the one there is original and really very impressive - again, can be done in a day from Kyoto, especially with the railcard).

A good day trip from Tokyo is Nikko

You can see some stunning temples there.

Personally I can use 10 days in Tokyo very easily.

Thank you both. Much appreciated.

if you're into art and/or architecture you really should visit the benesse art site islands http://www.benesse-artsite.jp/en/
they're in the inland sea so not that far from osaka and well worth the trouble of getting out there.

Kyoto's pretty awesome, really beautiful city with so many scenic places and buildings! Kiyomizudera, Arashiyama, Gin/Kin-kakuji, Nijojo, Heianjingu, Ninnaji.
Didn't have enough time to see Fushimi-inari Taisha.

On another note, I'm planning to go for 10 days during August and I'm thinking of checking out Okinawa for a couple of days, does anyone have any particular recommendations?

All of Okinawa - that's my recommendation!

If you only have a couple of days then you might be limited by transport, but some of the smaller islands are incredible. I went all the way down to Iriomote-jima and it was like paradise.

My ex was Okinawan and I loved going there. I should really go back. Such an amazing place, and so different from the mainland. It's like the Caribbean crossed with Japan or something.

Also, make sure you drink awamori.