March 16, 2025 • 40 mins
Journey through central Japan with Miyuki, a licensed Japanese travel guide, who unveils the secrets of this stunning region nestled between Tokyo and Osaka. Discover how Japan's superb public transportation system can whisk you away to hidden gems like Hamamatsu, known for its lush tea fields and vibrant musical instrument manufacturing scene, and Nagoya, a city that stands as a beacon of manufacturing prowess and samurai heritage.
Planning a trip to Japan is no small feat, but fear not—our episode is packed with expert insights to help you every step of the way. From unique accommodation options like cozy ryokans and budget-friendly business hotels to the nuances of Japan's effortless public transport, we've got you covered. Explore the charm of lesser-known spots like Hikone, famed for its original wooden castle and breathtaking gardens, and discover the best times of year to experience their natural beauty.
Whether you're seeking surfing adventures in Kanagawa and Chiba or practical travel tips like using IC cards for convenience, this episode is brimming with valuable information.
If any listeners are interested in visiting Japan and want personalized guidance on travel planning, please connect with Miyuki on Instagram @japan.experts.
You can also find Miyuki at her website Miyuki Seguchi.
Her podcast is Japan Experts with Miyuki Seguchi.
You can also download her free Japan Travel Guide - The 7 Steps to Creating Your Unique Immersive Experience.
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Hosts
Carol Springer: https://www.instagram.com/carol.work.life
Kristen: https://www.instagram.com/team_wake/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hi, welcome to our podcast when Next Travel with
Kristen and Carol.
I am Kristen and I am Carol,and we're two long-term friends
with a passion for travel andadventure.
Each episode we interviewpeople around the globe to help
us decide where to go next.
Thanks, miyuki, from Japan, forjoining we're Next podcast and
(00:37):
I don't think we've had aJapanese person talk about Japan
yet.
We've had three different Japanepisodes One was an expat and
two were visitors that werethere for extended time.
So hopefully get a differentperspective and really kind of
hoping for some hidden gems.
So are you?
You said you're a travel areyou a travel guide or a host of
some sort?
(00:57):
Yes, so thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I'm very excited to be here, first of all, so I am a
licensed guide based in centralJapan.
I do provide travel planningsupport as well as private tours
, so that's what I do.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yes, Okay, and so central Japan.
What does that consider?
Is that Kyoto, or am I getting?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
that right?
Yes, very good question.
So we we have Tokyo, which islocated in the eastern part of
Japan, and, as you said, kyoto.
The Kyoto is located in thewestern part of Japan and what's
between them is where thecentral Japan is located, oh,
between them, so north of Kyoto,okay, great yeah, so the, the
(01:44):
eastern part of Kyoto, basicallyokay, so the between Tokyo and
Kyoto there is a big region,that's okay, and plenty to see
there yes, there are a lot tosee in this region.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Yes, okay and so, but when you fly in, do you fly
like, say, I was going to visitcentral, would I go to Kyoto or
Tokyo, or depends on which cityI want to visit first?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, very good question.
So currently the gateway toJapan from the people traveling
from the west are limited toeither the Tokyo or Osaka.
There are two airports in Tokyo.
One is called Narita Airport,which is located in the Chiba
Prefecture outskirts of Tokyo,still part of the greater Tokyo
(02:33):
metropolitan area.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
There is another one, that's Narita.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
you said Narita yes, narita, near Tokyo.
Okay, yes, and there's anotherone called Haneda Airport, which
is closer to the city center.
It's actually in the south ofTokyo and yeah, so there are two
airports in Tokyo and there'sanother airport that you could
(02:57):
try, which is located in Osaka,the Kansai International Airport
.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
So that airport also has flights price from the USA,
and yeah, Okay, so just kind ofdepending on where you get the
best deal.
So I guess the big question ismainly transportation.
So say we wanted to find thesehidden gems, can we go without a
car, or should we rent a car?
(03:23):
And is it hard to rent a car?
Do we need a special license,or very good questions so.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
So basically a lot of my clients, or a lot of like
international business umvisiting japan from the west.
They tend to stay here like forfrom like 10 days to up to like
two to three weeks.
Some people stay here for up toone month, for example.
But it's totally possible totravel by public transport only,
(03:58):
meaning just only using thebuses and the trains.
Okay, and it is true that themore rural you visit, the higher
the chance that you will feelmore convenient to rent a car.
But if you just want to stay inJapan, even for up to 30 days,
(04:22):
up to one month, it is totallypossible to explore places that
are easily accessible by publictransport.
So, yes, that's how convenientpublic transport system is in
Japan.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Okay, and then I see Hamamatsu.
Is that a touristy town?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I wouldn't say so.
I've never heard of it.
That's probably why, okay, yes,I don't know where you found
that town, but Hamamatsu istechnically it's part of the
central region also, but it isyeah, it is not a big tourism
(05:03):
state.
It is part of the ShizuokaPrefecture, which is famous for
Japanese tea and there are lotsof tea fields, and also it's
famous for some of the you know,the musical instruments, by the
way.
Musical instruments.
Oh, musical instruments yes,yes, there's a company that's
based there.
(05:24):
It is not a place the first timetraveler would visit.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Okay, yes.
So what is one of the hiddengems between Tokyo and Osaka?
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yes, so yeah, that's an excellent question.
So I'd like to, of course, talkabout my home region of central
Japan, but a lot of people like, especially for the first time
travelers, what they do.
I just want to give you a bitof the like, background and a
brief knowledge about how wouldbe the best to approach the
(05:55):
Japan travel.
So the like I said, like peopleare trying in either the Tokyo
or the Osaka the Osaka is theclosest airport to Kyoto, by the
way.
What happened is that theystart with Tokyo and there is a
so-called the golden route thatis basically following along the
(06:19):
high-speed train networks.
We call it Shinkansen.
So they travel from the east tothe west or the vice versa.
So, starting with Tokyo orhopping on the Shinkansen, and
they visit Kyoto, osaka, and youmay have heard of the city name
(06:40):
called Hiroshima.
That's kind of the route.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
What about this town in between Nagoya?
Is that very?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
interesting.
Yeah, so Nagoya is actuallyclosest city from where I live
and it's right in the center ofJapan and it is the biggest city
in the central region.
Yeah, it is the home of themanufacturing center.
We call it the bigmanufacturing center.
Like toyota, the japan's likeautomaker, is not their, their
(07:11):
headquarters is located in thisregion and, uh, we have, uh, of
course, the central region is ahome of the, the samurai history
and culture.
Oh, okay, yeah, it is, yes, andalso it is.
It has a great nature and it isa rural and yet, because of the
(07:33):
you know, the centrally located,geographically centrally
located, it has an extensivepublic transport network.
So, compared to other regions,like you know, like like, it's
much more convenient to travelby public transport only.
So that is another reason why Irecommend this region.
People want to visit that islike major cities like Tokyo and
(07:55):
Kyoto, right, and the locationis right in the center, so you
don't have to travel to likejust only, like you know, like,
going to like travel like longdistance, like it's just like
right in the center so you canjust like stop off.
So the Nagoya itself is a bigcity, like, like relatively big
city, but like, just like youknow, like half an hour train
(08:18):
ride away, like you can get toaccess, like great nature or
like castles.
You know the castle is a bigthing, right like for the
samurai history.
So we have a lot of originalcastle from 400 years ago and I
know, of course, japan, like.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
A lot of times we interview people from countries,
we talk about the food and it'slike then sometimes I like
forget well, there's differentregions.
You, just because you knowyou're one country, doesn't mean
everyone eats the same.
But is there like different,like more fresh fish or more, I
don't know, mixed differenttypes of dishes in different
areas Of course of course.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
So we have lots of like great natures, right?
So, if you like, it's just likevery like standard things, but
people tend to forget.
So I want to say this but so ifyou visit there like closer like
beaches, closer to business,like the coastal lines, you will
(09:16):
get more seafood and fish basedfood, and if you visit like
mountainous areas, the chancesare like you will have more like
meat-based food as well, as wehave like some of like mountain
vegetables yeah, mountainvegetables, like herbs, like
this sort of food.
But it is true that you get totry different, like regional
(09:39):
foods, and we have a lot of them.
One of the things that's famousfor the Nagoya region, for
example, the Nagoya area in thecentral region, is miso.
Have you heard of miso?
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Oh yeah, miso soup, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yes, so miso is like the soybean product and also
like made from the soybeans.
But it is not only that.
You know, like miso soup, likevery traditional Japanese food,
but it's not only used in themiso soup.
We have a lot of like misopaste, for example, like udon
noodles, right, like we havelike miso nikomi udon.
(10:14):
Or we have a miso katsu, youknow the like pork cutlet with a
miso paste.
All these sort of likedifferent flavors added, added
to the japanese food, and that's, I think, like regionality of
the food.
Oh, that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, and so I see by shiga, like
west in nagoya, before you getto kyoto, there's a really big
body of water, lake biwa, isthat?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
how you pronounce it?
Speaker 1 (10:42):
yes, that is that like people recreate there, or
is it more like just for boatsor more for reservoir?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Very good question.
So the, the, the lake you justmentioned, is called Lake Biwa
and that is Japan's biggest lake.
It is also close enough fromwhere I live and the one spot I
wanted to introduce today isactually by the lake Beaver.
So just to quickly to answeryour question, it is true that
(11:15):
you can get to do some like, forexample, like canoeing or, like
you know, the kayaking and thissort of like recreation, like
you know, the water kind ofrelated activities.
It is possible to do that.
But it depends because it is abig lake.
You know the people visit therelike it's too big that you
(11:36):
sometimes forget that it is alake.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Oh right, you can barely see the other side.
So yeah, it's like a great lake.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, so it is, you know, like, depending on where
you go, like like, sometimes youcan swim also, but it depends
on, like, which side of the lakeis.
So basically, yeah, you canaccess a lake from the Kyoto
side and you can access a lakefrom the, you know, the eastern
side.
So it depends on which, whichpart of the lake you go.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
But yes, is there.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
So there's some towns and cities around the lake,
looks like of course, of course,and there are a few islands,
even the people living.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
So oh, people live on the islands.
Yes, very nice.
And is there is that prettymuch then sea level, then the
lake, so it can be pretty warmin the summer, or is it kind of
more like mountainous lake?
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Oh, you mean the?
You know the depths of the lake.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
No, no, like the area just the area around the lake
oh area To go visit oh okay,okay, so in the northern part of
the lake it is cold.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
It has a lot of snow.
There is actually a bigmountain nearby called Mount
Ibuki, and it is famous for thesnowy area.
But in the south it's warmer.
The area is closer to Kyoto,for example.
It's warmer than the north.
I'd say yes, it's.
It's warmer down the North.
I'd say yes.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Okay.
I'm just wondering where Kyotois.
Like compared latitudes, it'skind of like the same as
California.
So the weather does it snow inKyoto, or is it?
It does, it does, oh, it does.
Okay, all right.
And so it's like for the train.
So say, if you were going totake a public transportation
like when I planned a trip inEurope, they wanted to take the
(13:23):
fast train from England toFrance, and if you booked in
advance it was very inexpensive,like $40 each way.
But if you waited to the end,it fluctuates and it could have
been $200 each way, and so is itbetter to reserve the train
before you go or can you just gothere and it's always the same
price.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Good question.
So I'd usually recommend itdepends on the season, but it'll
be probably easier for thebusiness to make the reservation
in advance.
I recommend this but it's notbecause of the price.
Prices won't be so different orlike probably the same, like
(14:05):
very similar.
You you wouldn't get like a lotof discount, uh only because
you make a advanced booking.
But it is also.
If it's like quiet time period,it's okay, just like you can
just like go to the ticketcounty or ticket machine on the
day and make the purchase of theticket, and that's what many
(14:28):
locals do actually.
But if you are really likemaybe, like if you're traveling
in a big group, or if you wantto be really traveling during
the busy travel seasons, or ifyou don't, if you want to, you
know like you want to sit tocasa, like it's it's good idea
to make a booking oh, okay, gotit all right and tell us about
(14:48):
the kind of trips that you puttogether or how do you help
people yes, thank you for asking.
So I do have a few differentservices.
So my signature program, likeone one uniquely japan
experience, is an eight-weekprogram.
It includes like two calls,like two one one consultation
(15:08):
calls and during that time, likewe worked as it to create a
personalized itinerary based ontheir interests and needs.
So, basically, what happens isthat I start with a set of
questions and there are the, youknow, like that identifies,
like what kind of activitiesthey are interested in and based
on that, I will make the firstdraft of their personalized
(15:29):
itinerary and over the next likeeight week period, we try to,
you know, the narrow down theirchoices and then, like come up
with uh itinerary and and likethey have like eight week period
of like unlimited chat support.
So while they make the bookings, like if they have any
questions, like regarding to thejapan travel planning, like
(15:52):
they can ask me and I willprovide the best input and okay.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
So at first I thought it was an eight-week trip.
I was like wow, that's a longtrip, so eight-week.
Oh so you're a travelconsultant.
It is.
Oh yeah, I have a friend thatdoes that in Africa and she said
they're super customizable, butthey actually take the people
on the trip.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Do you host them while they're there or are you
more just like no, no, here'swhere you want to go if you love
hiking or biking or whatever soI do provide private tours in
central japan, especiallybecause, like central japan is
famous for samurai history andecology, or traditional crafts
so like the pottery, rockware,like swords or like washi, like
(16:37):
handcrafted paper made umumbrellas or lanterns, these
sort of things I will help themy guests, uh, connect with
local specialists, the artisans,so they can get to speak to
them and they can learn thelearn the skills they have
cultivated, like localspecialists have cultivated,
like for over, like multiple,like generations or like several
(17:01):
decades.
So, yeah, that's that type ofthe experience I help create for
my guests.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
I'm a baseball mom so baseball is big and we my son
actually plays with the.
I wonder if you know him.
There's like semi-famous playerthat came from Japan on his
team in California and I'll findhis name, but one of our dreams
is to go watch baseball inJapan.
Is there specific cities thathave baseball teams or is it
(17:31):
everywhere, like America, mostof the?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
cities do yes.
So, for example, nagoya,likeoshima, like Osaka, Tokyo
yeah, a lot of the cities we'vetalked about today has a
baseball team.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Yes, oh, okay, they all have professional baseball.
Okay, yeah, awesome.
And then where is the DisneyWorld?
That's also things.
Is that near Tokyo?
Speaker 2 (17:55):
um, so we have a Disney Sea and land and they are
both located in the, in the,the greater tokyo area, the
space.
More specifically, they arelocated in the chiba prefecture,
not too far from the naritaairport.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Okay, yeah, I mentioned yeah, there's a new
pass apparently in disney worldlike to get you even more in
front of the line, and somepeople say it's actually cheaper
just to fly to Japan and go toDisney world and go to Orlando
here.
It's just so expensive oh mygosh.
So in when you're helpingpeople plan, do you like book,
(18:34):
like help book the hotels and orlike homestays, or what kind
kind of or?
Do you do both?
Do some people do like vrbo orairbnb or like.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
How it works is my clients will make bookings by
themselves.
But there are different typesof accommodation, very like
different types of traditionalinns in japan.
So we have a ryokan, forexample.
That is a little bit morehigh-end traditional Japanese
inn, like with some onsen, likehot spring facility.
(19:05):
We have like more affordablechoice like the um, the minshuku
.
It's like more of the whole.
You know like it's this kind oflike facilities are run by the
family, so's more like familyoperated in type of place.
And of course, we have likeinternational like brand hotels
and much more like affordableone.
(19:26):
We have the so-called businesshotels, so it's much more
affordable, um, but it's likemore city based hotel.
I'd say so a lot of yeah, a lotof different um inns.
But of course, we have, uh,airbnb and these are like
hostile, like this type ofplaces.
So some of my clients choose tostay at this type of um
(19:51):
accommodation too.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Yes, oh, that makes sense.
Yeah, we just talked to a ladyfrom Belgium and she said she
was staying for like months at atime but nothing.
You'd find an Airbnb like youjust kind of meet the local
people and stay at maybesomeone's like cottage or you
know, an extra bedroom orsomething, and so as a someone
from so far away, it's hard toknow those inside scoops, so
(20:15):
that's super helpful.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Sure, sure yes.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
And then what about renting a car?
How hard is that for anAmerican?
Speaker 2 (20:22):
It is possible if you have an international driving
license.
So, yes, some of my guests havedone so while they are in Japan
.
So it is possible.
But if you are visiting justonly you know the famous spots
or like cities we have discussedtoday, it is actually not
(20:46):
actually not necessary to reallyrent a car because the public
transport system is so widelydeveloped that you didn't really
need to.
You don't really see the needfor this yeah, okay, and then
you have to learn.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Yeah, and you maybe can't read the signs.
I would assume all the signsare in japanese.
Do they have english subtitles?
Speaker 2 (21:07):
of course, like the public transport systems and the
stations and bus stops.
You'd you'd find the english umokay translation.
So it's not that, it's not thathard okay funny.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
My mom showed me something once from japan with
the trains.
She just like was crying,laughing so hard trying to tell
me the story that she saw thisvideo where people it's rush
hour, probably in tokyo, wherethey had like this big, like
massive, like broom or moppushing the people into the
train cars.
Is that just in like thebiggest cities or like are they
(21:42):
ever that jam-packed?
Speaker 2 (21:44):
So I think, like these days still, you may have
witnessed these scenes, but Idoubt it like it's not that
crazy.
I don't think it would be thatcrazy have depending on the line
(22:18):
, but it's, it's not the youknow, the everyday, like
everyday station, right, likeyou get to the station.
Okay, again, no, because I'vebeen to London and I've been to
york and I found, like theirpublic transport systems, uh, as
crowded as tokyo is.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
So yeah, so those are probably just some extreme
pictures, yeah yeah, yeah oh, mygoodness.
Okay, so we talked a little bitabout so we can fly into osaka
or a couple places in Tokyo, andthen so is there anything, any
small towns or any places thatyou must, we must go to in
(22:58):
Nagoya or near that area or nearthe lake yeah, so the one place
I wanted to introduce today isa city called Hikone have you?
Okay, it starts with an H.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yes, h-i-k-o-n-e.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Hikone H-I-K-O-N-E.
I see it, hikone.
It looks like Haikone in likephonetically, american spelled
Haikone.
Okay, that's near the lake,yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Yeah, so it's by the lake, so Hikone is a smaller
city, but what's really and itis also like about a half an
hour bread train ride away fromKyoto, so it's pretty convenient
and it's a day trip distance.
But what's really famous forHikone is the original wooden
(23:58):
structure castle from 400 yearsago and there are only 12
original castles in japan andfive national treasure castles
and hikone is one of them.
Oh okay, there are so manycastles in japan, but most of
them are like concrete buildingokay, this is actually pretty
okay yeah but this is like oneof the original castles and it
is still not as widelyrecognized as despite the fact
(24:22):
it, despite the significant,like the historical and cultural
significance that Kone Castlehas.
But, yeah, so that's one placeI highly recommend.
It has a beautiful garden.
It has a great museum where youcan get to learn all about the
samurai history and culture,like armies, swords, traditional
non-theatricalperformance-related items and
(24:46):
tea ceremony-related items.
It's a beautiful, beautifulcastle and, yes, of course you
see.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
See the pictures.
It's pretty big view.
Yeah, when's the best time ofyear to go to Iconi?
Speaker 2 (24:58):
I actually like um recommend like any time of the
year to visit, but particularlyaround.
The most popular time of theyear is definitely the spring,
because it is also a very famouscherry blossom spot.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Oh, that's what I was wondering.
I've always heard of cherryblossoms.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
So it has a few different modes and around the
mode, like the cherry blossomtrees are surrounded, so it is
very beautiful and, yeah, butit's also like the garden itself
has a great autumn leaf spot,so it it does provide a very
(25:40):
charming, like seasonallandscapes okay, and how does
that town compare to pricing ofthese towns?
Speaker 1 (25:46):
we've talked to that.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
You know less expensive or more expensive to
visit um yeah, I'd say, forexample, like in terms of the
accommodation cost, I'd say it'sdefinitely like more affordable
, um, when you try to findaccommodation in rural areas or
in lesser known places, comparedto cities like kyoto where
(26:10):
everyone wants to stay right.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
So right is there like a nice town not too far
from Kyoto.
That's a little bit moreaffordable.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
That's easy to get to by train yeah, so the Hikone is
definitely one option, butthere are so many other places
that you could visit and explore, uh, for, for example, like um,
so you mean like theaccommodation in terms of
accommodation, where you shouldfind accommodation yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
So maybe, like I see there's a town called otsu on
the lake does it looks kind ofclose to kyoto.
But you know, maybe it'sbecause it's a little farther
away.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
It's has something special, I don't know um, so I
usually recommend is that Ithink it's okay to find
accommodation in kyoto for a fewdays because you want to
explore the what's, the what'sthe you know, the kyoto hustle
offer.
But the thing is that a lot ofpeople trying to stay in Kyoto
(27:12):
for too long, right, like whatthey do is they book the
accommodation for one week andjust trying to figure out what
they do.
So, instead of that, what Irecommend is to book
accommodation in Kyoto for a fewdays and book the rest of the
week or for, for, uh like,additional, like a few days in
(27:34):
central japan in a totally likerural area, not really like the
trying to stay in one locationfor too long so I see yeah
that's what I recommend instead,because you, for example, like,
if you want to stay in thetraditional in like the ryokan,
minsh, minshuku, you wouldn'thave, like, a large amount of
(27:56):
choices in cities like Kyoto,but if you are in the, you know
the rural areas, you are closerto hot spring, the source of the
hot spring, and you will have alot more choices for the onsen
or the ryokan.
So that's how you want tobalance your experiences and
that's what.
That's exactly what I recommendwhere are the hot springs?
(28:18):
um almost everywhere in japan,but really yeah, but not in city
like usually not in citiesright, so you need to like
travel far to enjoy the bestonsen experience I see.
So, usually, you know, a coupleof hours away from cities like
(28:38):
Kyoto.
What happens is that they tryto.
A lot of people try to pack allsorts of different experiences
while they are in cities, whichis not possible, because if you
want to enjoy the onsen, youneed to be closer to the source
of the hot spring, not stayingin city, right.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Yeah, okay, got it.
Oh, I see there's a Lego landalso in Nagoya.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
It is, it is yes.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
That's good.
We like Legos here, all right,very cool.
There's a town called Toyota.
That's funny.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Yeah, so that's exactly where the headquarters
of the Toyota is.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Ah makes sense, Some of our rapid fire questions are
what's a popular breakfast thatyou would have there?
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Okay, great question.
So I usually eat a slice ofbread and I feel that the more
Japanese people eat bread thanrice nowadays.
Of course, the staple food forthe Japanese people is rice,
boiled rice, but the verytypical breakfast, the typical
(29:44):
Japanese breakfast, is rice misosoup, small plate of food
including like seaweed, egg andfish.
You can get this type of likelike meal at the traditional in
such as ryokan and mishuku.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Oh, okay, yeah, we had one guest on our podcast
that she said she ate fishbreakfast, lunch and dinner.
And she said she came home andher hair was so soft and her
skin was so soft and I saidprobably was all that fish
probably make your skin verynice.
All right, and what is one ofyour favorite meals?
If you had a guest coming totown and you had to take them
(30:21):
out for one traditional dinner,what kind of food would you,
what kind of meal would youtreat them to?
Speaker 2 (30:28):
okay, great question.
I personally love udon noodles,yes, so a lot of people think
ramen is, you know, the bestJapanese food.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
What's the difference between ramen and udon?
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Just the thicker udon , just the thicker.
So the udon is the wheat basedum noodles and it is more of the
traditional japanese noodles.
Ramen originate from the youknow, the china, like you know.
Okay, so it's.
But now it's like branded inthe japanese culture and of
(31:09):
course it is part of theJapanese cuisine, japanese food,
and we have a lot of regionaludon noodles too, so it's
interesting to try differentversions of it.
But it comes with a really gooddashi broth soup and it depends
(31:29):
on um, your preference.
You would find you know the, um,the seaweed and the fish based
soup and you can also have a,like meat based soup.
And it also depends on the, the, you know the restaurant's
preference, restaurant choiceand how the chefs cooks, uh, the
(31:50):
food.
But yeah, there are a lot ofdifferent.
It comes are a lot of different.
It comes with a lot ofdifferent toppings, so it's not
only the noodle itself, right,okay?
Speaker 1 (31:58):
got it.
Yeah, I just discovered notlike I discovered it, but just
started having pho from theVietnamese soup.
Kind of the same idea with thenoodles.
It was amazing.
I'm like what this isoutstanding.
Speaking of cooking and meals,do you ever help people find
like places to learn to cookJapanese, like as part of a
(32:18):
package?
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Yeah, that would be really exciting.
Yeah, so the learning how tomake sushi or learning how to
make a Japanese food is a verypopular activity for a lot of my
guests and clients.
So I do yeah, I do help peoplefind these experiences too.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Yes, oh, that's awesome, alrighty.
And then is there what's thepopular holiday?
Tradition is a certain time ofyear that you know if you'd like
to celebrate party.
You know that is pretty big inJapan.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
So we have a few different holidays in Japan and
one is like, of course, the newyear's period.
The first three days of theevery year is a big, big
tradition in Japan.
We eat a special meal calledthe osechi yori.
You know the?
You know the traditionallycomes with a three-layered of
(33:10):
the lacquerware box and all sortof different food are inside.
All of them have associationwith like, auspicious
association um to it.
So that's one.
And we also eat the like mochi.
Do you know the?
Speaker 1 (33:29):
mochi.
Oh yeah, we have mochi cookiesand mochi ice cream.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Okay, like we eat the food called ozoni.
Basically it's a mochi in soupand, again, it has a large
regional variety.
So it comes with.
You know, depending on theregion the soup is like either
the miso, or like soy sauce, orlike the toppings are different
(33:56):
and all sorts of differentthings.
But yeah, basically that we eatmochi and on the new year's eve
we eat, like longevity, sobanoodles.
The soba is a backflip noodle,yes, and it basically um to have
a longer life, to to livelonger, we eat the buckwheat
noodles, lots of differentnoodles, okay, interesting, okay
(34:20):
, awesome.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
And then what's the money?
And how is that?
Is it best to use credit cardor exchange the money?
It's again I've known that.
I think that helps.
Good question.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
So, yes, good question.
So, yes, good question.
So a lot of places accept acredit card, but still um, japan
is a very much cash orientedsociety, so it's always a good
idea to bring some cash, butnowadays we have, uh, the
so-called the IC card.
Probably like I heard some ofyour guests talked about this,
but we have the card that canlike connect it to your credit
(35:01):
card.
So, basically, if you top up,like you will be able to use it
to buy something at the shop, orlike you can even use it to, um
, get on the get on the buses orlike get the catch the trains,
and so it's very convenient and,uh, I recommend getting one if
(35:23):
you're coming to Japan okay, andis there a lot of street
markets or street food where youuse cash?
then yes, so, for example, ifyou um go on to visit the, so,
for example, if you go and visitthe festivals, for example,
there are lots of food stores.
These places only accept cash.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Okay, very good, all right, and the last question I
would like to ask is where's theclosest place to surf for their
surfing listeners?
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Okay, great question.
So it's actually not theclosest place to me, but a
couple of places that came to mymind are the Shonan in Kanagawa
Prefecture, which is locatedsouthwest of Tokyo, so this is a
big surfing destination forlocals and people living in the
greater Tokyo area.
(36:12):
And another place I've been isTsurigasaki surfing beach in
Chiba prefecture, the easternpart of Tokyo, so this was a
surfing venue for the TokyoOlympic Games.
Um, okay, yeah, seems like thisplace has been attracting like
both professionals and amateur,and and how do you spell that?
(36:34):
Along the globe.
So T-S-U-R-I-G-A-S-A-K-I.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Okay, tsurugasaki, tsurugasaki.
Let's see if I can find it onthe map.
But okay, I'll take a look.
Okay, thank you, all right,well, that's it.
And where can people find youif we have some listeners
needing to plan?
You're on Instagram.
Obviously, that's where weconnected.
Do you have a website andwhat's your handle on Instagram?
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Yes, perfect, thank you for asking me that.
So I learned the podcast calledJapan Experts Podcast.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Oh okay, japan Experts Podcast.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
Yes, so it helps like-minded travelers to learn
more about Japan and better plantheir trip around Japan.
So I also have Instagram, thesame handle like at japanexperts
Japanexperts.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
Japanexperts.
Okay, I'll put these all in theshow notes, of course.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Yeah, that would be wonderful.
I do have a website which isbasically my name Miyuki Seguchi
M-I-Y-U-K-I-S-E-G-U-C-H-I.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Okay so this is your own business, then it is oh good
for you.
Yeah, it is oh good for you.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Yeah, I do provide a free Japan travel guide, so if
anyone's interested in visitingJapan, please do sign up for it.
It is totally free.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
So okay, is it electronic?
Speaker 2 (38:00):
I would assume You're not going to ship something, so
it's a Japan travel guide theseven steps to creating a unique
, immersive experience Soundsvery good Because I've heard for
Americans our dollar is morevaluable right now in Japan.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
So just need to find the time that's always, you know
, with children, even thoughthey're almost grown and can
take care of themselves, there'sstill like so many activities
but a couple more years.
Want to take a nice long trip?
Yeah, Japan is definitely on myhot list, Awesome.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Great, all right.
Well, thanks Miyuki, so muchand um.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
we will be in touch and um, unless there's anything
else you want to share with us.
Um, I'm good.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Yes, yes, fantastic, all right yeah, I really enjoyed
uh talking to you and thank youso much for having the having
me on your podcast and a greatopportunity to connect with your
wonderful audience.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Thank you so much, yes, okay, all right, have a
great week.
Okay, see you soon.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Thanks, thank you.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Bye-bye.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
Bye.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Thanks for listening.
If you enjoyed the podcast, canyou please take a second and do
a quick follow of the show andrate us in your podcast app, and
if you have a minute, we wouldreally appreciate a review.
Following and rating is thebest way to support us.
If you're on Instagram, let'sconnect.
We're at where next podcast.
Thanks again, thank you.
Hi, welcome to our podcast when Next Travel with
Kristen and Carol.
I am Kristen and I am Carol,and we're two long-term friends
with a passion for travel andadventure.
Each episode we interviewpeople around the globe to help
us decide where to go next.
Thanks, miyuki, from Japan, forjoining we're Next podcast and
(00:37):
I don't think we've had aJapanese person talk about Japan
yet.
We've had three different Japanepisodes One was an expat and
two were visitors that werethere for extended time.
So hopefully get a differentperspective and really kind of
hoping for some hidden gems.
So are you?
You said you're a travel areyou a travel guide or a host of
some sort?
(00:57):
Yes, so thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I'm very excited to be here, first of all, so I am a
licensed guide based in centralJapan.
I do provide travel planningsupport as well as private tours
, so that's what I do.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yes, Okay, and so central Japan.
What does that consider?
Is that Kyoto, or am I getting?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
that right?
Yes, very good question.
So we we have Tokyo, which islocated in the eastern part of
Japan, and, as you said, kyoto.
The Kyoto is located in thewestern part of Japan and what's
between them is where thecentral Japan is located, oh,
between them, so north of Kyoto,okay, great yeah, so the, the
(01:44):
eastern part of Kyoto, basicallyokay, so the between Tokyo and
Kyoto there is a big region,that's okay, and plenty to see
there yes, there are a lot tosee in this region.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Yes, okay and so, but when you fly in, do you fly
like, say, I was going to visitcentral, would I go to Kyoto or
Tokyo, or depends on which cityI want to visit first?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, very good question.
So currently the gateway toJapan from the people traveling
from the west are limited toeither the Tokyo or Osaka.
There are two airports in Tokyo.
One is called Narita Airport,which is located in the Chiba
Prefecture outskirts of Tokyo,still part of the greater Tokyo
(02:33):
metropolitan area.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
There is another one, that's Narita.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
you said Narita yes, narita, near Tokyo.
Okay, yes, and there's anotherone called Haneda Airport, which
is closer to the city center.
It's actually in the south ofTokyo and yeah, so there are two
airports in Tokyo and there'sanother airport that you could
(02:57):
try, which is located in Osaka,the Kansai International Airport
.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
So that airport also has flights price from the USA,
and yeah, Okay, so just kind ofdepending on where you get the
best deal.
So I guess the big question ismainly transportation.
So say we wanted to find thesehidden gems, can we go without a
car, or should we rent a car?
(03:23):
And is it hard to rent a car?
Do we need a special license,or very good questions so.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
So basically a lot of my clients, or a lot of like
international business umvisiting japan from the west.
They tend to stay here like forfrom like 10 days to up to like
two to three weeks.
Some people stay here for up toone month, for example.
But it's totally possible totravel by public transport only,
(03:58):
meaning just only using thebuses and the trains.
Okay, and it is true that themore rural you visit, the higher
the chance that you will feelmore convenient to rent a car.
But if you just want to stay inJapan, even for up to 30 days,
(04:22):
up to one month, it is totallypossible to explore places that
are easily accessible by publictransport.
So, yes, that's how convenientpublic transport system is in
Japan.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Okay, and then I see Hamamatsu.
Is that a touristy town?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I wouldn't say so.
I've never heard of it.
That's probably why, okay, yes,I don't know where you found
that town, but Hamamatsu istechnically it's part of the
central region also, but it isyeah, it is not a big tourism
(05:03):
state.
It is part of the ShizuokaPrefecture, which is famous for
Japanese tea and there are lotsof tea fields, and also it's
famous for some of the you know,the musical instruments, by the
way.
Musical instruments.
Oh, musical instruments yes,yes, there's a company that's
based there.
(05:24):
It is not a place the first timetraveler would visit.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Okay, yes.
So what is one of the hiddengems between Tokyo and Osaka?
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yes, so yeah, that's an excellent question.
So I'd like to, of course, talkabout my home region of central
Japan, but a lot of people like, especially for the first time
travelers, what they do.
I just want to give you a bitof the like, background and a
brief knowledge about how wouldbe the best to approach the
(05:55):
Japan travel.
So the like I said, like peopleare trying in either the Tokyo
or the Osaka the Osaka is theclosest airport to Kyoto, by the
way.
What happened is that theystart with Tokyo and there is a
so-called the golden route thatis basically following along the
(06:19):
high-speed train networks.
We call it Shinkansen.
So they travel from the east tothe west or the vice versa.
So, starting with Tokyo orhopping on the Shinkansen, and
they visit Kyoto, osaka, and youmay have heard of the city name
(06:40):
called Hiroshima.
That's kind of the route.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
What about this town in between Nagoya?
Is that very?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
interesting.
Yeah, so Nagoya is actuallyclosest city from where I live
and it's right in the center ofJapan and it is the biggest city
in the central region.
Yeah, it is the home of themanufacturing center.
We call it the bigmanufacturing center.
Like toyota, the japan's likeautomaker, is not their, their
(07:11):
headquarters is located in thisregion and, uh, we have, uh, of
course, the central region is ahome of the, the samurai history
and culture.
Oh, okay, yeah, it is, yes, andalso it is.
It has a great nature and it isa rural and yet, because of the
(07:33):
you know, the centrally located,geographically centrally
located, it has an extensivepublic transport network.
So, compared to other regions,like you know, like like, it's
much more convenient to travelby public transport only.
So that is another reason why Irecommend this region.
People want to visit that islike major cities like Tokyo and
(07:55):
Kyoto, right, and the locationis right in the center, so you
don't have to travel to likejust only, like you know, like,
going to like travel like longdistance, like it's just like
right in the center so you canjust like stop off.
So the Nagoya itself is a bigcity, like, like relatively big
city, but like, just like youknow, like half an hour train
(08:18):
ride away, like you can get toaccess, like great nature or
like castles.
You know the castle is a bigthing, right like for the
samurai history.
So we have a lot of originalcastle from 400 years ago and I
know, of course, japan, like.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
A lot of times we interview people from countries,
we talk about the food and it'slike then sometimes I like
forget well, there's differentregions.
You, just because you knowyou're one country, doesn't mean
everyone eats the same.
But is there like different,like more fresh fish or more, I
don't know, mixed differenttypes of dishes in different
areas Of course of course.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
So we have lots of like great natures, right?
So, if you like, it's just likevery like standard things, but
people tend to forget.
So I want to say this but so ifyou visit there like closer like
beaches, closer to business,like the coastal lines, you will
(09:16):
get more seafood and fish basedfood, and if you visit like
mountainous areas, the chancesare like you will have more like
meat-based food as well, as wehave like some of like mountain
vegetables yeah, mountainvegetables, like herbs, like
this sort of food.
But it is true that you get totry different, like regional
(09:39):
foods, and we have a lot of them.
One of the things that's famousfor the Nagoya region, for
example, the Nagoya area in thecentral region, is miso.
Have you heard of miso?
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Oh yeah, miso soup, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yes, so miso is like the soybean product and also
like made from the soybeans.
But it is not only that.
You know, like miso soup, likevery traditional Japanese food,
but it's not only used in themiso soup.
We have a lot of like misopaste, for example, like udon
noodles, right, like we havelike miso nikomi udon.
(10:14):
Or we have a miso katsu, youknow the like pork cutlet with a
miso paste.
All these sort of likedifferent flavors added, added
to the japanese food, and that's, I think, like regionality of
the food.
Oh, that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, and so I see by shiga, like
west in nagoya, before you getto kyoto, there's a really big
body of water, lake biwa, isthat?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
how you pronounce it?
Speaker 1 (10:42):
yes, that is that like people recreate there, or
is it more like just for boatsor more for reservoir?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Very good question.
So the, the, the lake you justmentioned, is called Lake Biwa
and that is Japan's biggest lake.
It is also close enough fromwhere I live and the one spot I
wanted to introduce today isactually by the lake Beaver.
So just to quickly to answeryour question, it is true that
(11:15):
you can get to do some like, forexample, like canoeing or, like
you know, the kayaking and thissort of like recreation, like
you know, the water kind ofrelated activities.
It is possible to do that.
But it depends because it is abig lake.
You know the people visit therelike it's too big that you
(11:36):
sometimes forget that it is alake.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Oh right, you can barely see the other side.
So yeah, it's like a great lake.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, so it is, you know, like, depending on where
you go, like like, sometimes youcan swim also, but it depends
on, like, which side of the lakeis.
So basically, yeah, you canaccess a lake from the Kyoto
side and you can access a lakefrom the, you know, the eastern
side.
So it depends on which, whichpart of the lake you go.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
But yes, is there.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
So there's some towns and cities around the lake,
looks like of course, of course,and there are a few islands,
even the people living.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
So oh, people live on the islands.
Yes, very nice.
And is there is that prettymuch then sea level, then the
lake, so it can be pretty warmin the summer, or is it kind of
more like mountainous lake?
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Oh, you mean the?
You know the depths of the lake.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
No, no, like the area just the area around the lake
oh area To go visit oh okay,okay, so in the northern part of
the lake it is cold.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
It has a lot of snow.
There is actually a bigmountain nearby called Mount
Ibuki, and it is famous for thesnowy area.
But in the south it's warmer.
The area is closer to Kyoto,for example.
It's warmer than the north.
I'd say yes, it's.
It's warmer down the North.
I'd say yes.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Okay.
I'm just wondering where Kyotois.
Like compared latitudes, it'skind of like the same as
California.
So the weather does it snow inKyoto, or is it?
It does, it does, oh, it does.
Okay, all right.
And so it's like for the train.
So say, if you were going totake a public transportation
like when I planned a trip inEurope, they wanted to take the
(13:23):
fast train from England toFrance, and if you booked in
advance it was very inexpensive,like $40 each way.
But if you waited to the end,it fluctuates and it could have
been $200 each way, and so is itbetter to reserve the train
before you go or can you just gothere and it's always the same
price.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Good question.
So I'd usually recommend itdepends on the season, but it'll
be probably easier for thebusiness to make the reservation
in advance.
I recommend this but it's notbecause of the price.
Prices won't be so different orlike probably the same, like
(14:05):
very similar.
You you wouldn't get like a lotof discount, uh only because
you make a advanced booking.
But it is also.
If it's like quiet time period,it's okay, just like you can
just like go to the ticketcounty or ticket machine on the
day and make the purchase of theticket, and that's what many
(14:28):
locals do actually.
But if you are really likemaybe, like if you're traveling
in a big group, or if you wantto be really traveling during
the busy travel seasons, or ifyou don't, if you want to, you
know like you want to sit tocasa, like it's it's good idea
to make a booking oh, okay, gotit all right and tell us about
(14:48):
the kind of trips that you puttogether or how do you help
people yes, thank you for asking.
So I do have a few differentservices.
So my signature program, likeone one uniquely japan
experience, is an eight-weekprogram.
It includes like two calls,like two one one consultation
(15:08):
calls and during that time, likewe worked as it to create a
personalized itinerary based ontheir interests and needs.
So, basically, what happens isthat I start with a set of
questions and there are the, youknow, like that identifies,
like what kind of activitiesthey are interested in and based
on that, I will make the firstdraft of their personalized
(15:29):
itinerary and over the next likeeight week period, we try to,
you know, the narrow down theirchoices and then, like come up
with uh itinerary and and likethey have like eight week period
of like unlimited chat support.
So while they make the bookings, like if they have any
questions, like regarding to thejapan travel planning, like
(15:52):
they can ask me and I willprovide the best input and okay.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
So at first I thought it was an eight-week trip.
I was like wow, that's a longtrip, so eight-week.
Oh so you're a travelconsultant.
It is.
Oh yeah, I have a friend thatdoes that in Africa and she said
they're super customizable, butthey actually take the people
on the trip.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Do you host them while they're there or are you
more just like no, no, here'swhere you want to go if you love
hiking or biking or whatever soI do provide private tours in
central japan, especiallybecause, like central japan is
famous for samurai history andecology, or traditional crafts
so like the pottery, rockware,like swords or like washi, like
(16:37):
handcrafted paper made umumbrellas or lanterns, these
sort of things I will help themy guests, uh, connect with
local specialists, the artisans,so they can get to speak to
them and they can learn thelearn the skills they have
cultivated, like localspecialists have cultivated,
like for over, like multiple,like generations or like several
(17:01):
decades.
So, yeah, that's that type ofthe experience I help create for
my guests.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
I'm a baseball mom so baseball is big and we my son
actually plays with the.
I wonder if you know him.
There's like semi-famous playerthat came from Japan on his
team in California and I'll findhis name, but one of our dreams
is to go watch baseball inJapan.
Is there specific cities thathave baseball teams or is it
(17:31):
everywhere, like America, mostof the?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
cities do yes.
So, for example, nagoya,likeoshima, like Osaka, Tokyo
yeah, a lot of the cities we'vetalked about today has a
baseball team.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Yes, oh, okay, they all have professional baseball.
Okay, yeah, awesome.
And then where is the DisneyWorld?
That's also things.
Is that near Tokyo?
Speaker 2 (17:55):
um, so we have a Disney Sea and land and they are
both located in the, in the,the greater tokyo area, the
space.
More specifically, they arelocated in the chiba prefecture,
not too far from the naritaairport.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Okay, yeah, I mentioned yeah, there's a new
pass apparently in disney worldlike to get you even more in
front of the line, and somepeople say it's actually cheaper
just to fly to Japan and go toDisney world and go to Orlando
here.
It's just so expensive oh mygosh.
So in when you're helpingpeople plan, do you like book,
(18:34):
like help book the hotels and orlike homestays, or what kind
kind of or?
Do you do both?
Do some people do like vrbo orairbnb or like.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
How it works is my clients will make bookings by
themselves.
But there are different typesof accommodation, very like
different types of traditionalinns in japan.
So we have a ryokan, forexample.
That is a little bit morehigh-end traditional Japanese
inn, like with some onsen, likehot spring facility.
(19:05):
We have like more affordablechoice like the um, the minshuku
.
It's like more of the whole.
You know like it's this kind oflike facilities are run by the
family, so's more like familyoperated in type of place.
And of course, we have likeinternational like brand hotels
and much more like affordableone.
(19:26):
We have the so-called businesshotels, so it's much more
affordable, um, but it's likemore city based hotel.
I'd say so a lot of yeah, a lotof different um inns.
But of course, we have, uh,airbnb and these are like
hostile, like this type ofplaces.
So some of my clients choose tostay at this type of um
(19:51):
accommodation too.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Yes, oh, that makes sense.
Yeah, we just talked to a ladyfrom Belgium and she said she
was staying for like months at atime but nothing.
You'd find an Airbnb like youjust kind of meet the local
people and stay at maybesomeone's like cottage or you
know, an extra bedroom orsomething, and so as a someone
from so far away, it's hard toknow those inside scoops, so
(20:15):
that's super helpful.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Sure, sure yes.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
And then what about renting a car?
How hard is that for anAmerican?
Speaker 2 (20:22):
It is possible if you have an international driving
license.
So, yes, some of my guests havedone so while they are in Japan
.
So it is possible.
But if you are visiting justonly you know the famous spots
or like cities we have discussedtoday, it is actually not
(20:46):
actually not necessary to reallyrent a car because the public
transport system is so widelydeveloped that you didn't really
need to.
You don't really see the needfor this yeah, okay, and then
you have to learn.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Yeah, and you maybe can't read the signs.
I would assume all the signsare in japanese.
Do they have english subtitles?
Speaker 2 (21:07):
of course, like the public transport systems and the
stations and bus stops.
You'd you'd find the english umokay translation.
So it's not that, it's not thathard okay funny.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
My mom showed me something once from japan with
the trains.
She just like was crying,laughing so hard trying to tell
me the story that she saw thisvideo where people it's rush
hour, probably in tokyo, wherethey had like this big, like
massive, like broom or moppushing the people into the
train cars.
Is that just in like thebiggest cities or like are they
(21:42):
ever that jam-packed?
Speaker 2 (21:44):
So I think, like these days still, you may have
witnessed these scenes, but Idoubt it like it's not that
crazy.
I don't think it would be thatcrazy have depending on the line
(22:18):
, but it's, it's not the youknow, the everyday, like
everyday station, right, likeyou get to the station.
Okay, again, no, because I'vebeen to London and I've been to
york and I found, like theirpublic transport systems, uh, as
crowded as tokyo is.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
So yeah, so those are probably just some extreme
pictures, yeah yeah, yeah oh, mygoodness.
Okay, so we talked a little bitabout so we can fly into osaka
or a couple places in Tokyo, andthen so is there anything, any
small towns or any places thatyou must, we must go to in
(22:58):
Nagoya or near that area or nearthe lake yeah, so the one place
I wanted to introduce today isa city called Hikone have you?
Okay, it starts with an H.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yes, h-i-k-o-n-e.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Hikone H-I-K-O-N-E.
I see it, hikone.
It looks like Haikone in likephonetically, american spelled
Haikone.
Okay, that's near the lake,yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Yeah, so it's by the lake, so Hikone is a smaller
city, but what's really and itis also like about a half an
hour bread train ride away fromKyoto, so it's pretty convenient
and it's a day trip distance.
But what's really famous forHikone is the original wooden
(23:58):
structure castle from 400 yearsago and there are only 12
original castles in japan andfive national treasure castles
and hikone is one of them.
Oh okay, there are so manycastles in japan, but most of
them are like concrete buildingokay, this is actually pretty
okay yeah but this is like oneof the original castles and it
is still not as widelyrecognized as despite the fact
(24:22):
it, despite the significant,like the historical and cultural
significance that Kone Castlehas.
But, yeah, so that's one placeI highly recommend.
It has a beautiful garden.
It has a great museum where youcan get to learn all about the
samurai history and culture,like armies, swords, traditional
non-theatricalperformance-related items and
(24:46):
tea ceremony-related items.
It's a beautiful, beautifulcastle and, yes, of course you
see.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
See the pictures.
It's pretty big view.
Yeah, when's the best time ofyear to go to Iconi?
Speaker 2 (24:58):
I actually like um recommend like any time of the
year to visit, but particularlyaround.
The most popular time of theyear is definitely the spring,
because it is also a very famouscherry blossom spot.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Oh, that's what I was wondering.
I've always heard of cherryblossoms.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
So it has a few different modes and around the
mode, like the cherry blossomtrees are surrounded, so it is
very beautiful and, yeah, butit's also like the garden itself
has a great autumn leaf spot,so it it does provide a very
(25:40):
charming, like seasonallandscapes okay, and how does
that town compare to pricing ofthese towns?
Speaker 1 (25:46):
we've talked to that.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
You know less expensive or more expensive to
visit um yeah, I'd say, forexample, like in terms of the
accommodation cost, I'd say it'sdefinitely like more affordable
, um, when you try to findaccommodation in rural areas or
in lesser known places, comparedto cities like kyoto where
(26:10):
everyone wants to stay right.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
So right is there like a nice town not too far
from Kyoto.
That's a little bit moreaffordable.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
That's easy to get to by train yeah, so the Hikone is
definitely one option, butthere are so many other places
that you could visit and explore, uh, for, for example, like um,
so you mean like theaccommodation in terms of
accommodation, where you shouldfind accommodation yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
So maybe, like I see there's a town called otsu on
the lake does it looks kind ofclose to kyoto.
But you know, maybe it'sbecause it's a little farther
away.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
It's has something special, I don't know um, so I
usually recommend is that Ithink it's okay to find
accommodation in kyoto for a fewdays because you want to
explore the what's, the what'sthe you know, the kyoto hustle
offer.
But the thing is that a lot ofpeople trying to stay in Kyoto
(27:12):
for too long, right, like whatthey do is they book the
accommodation for one week andjust trying to figure out what
they do.
So, instead of that, what Irecommend is to book
accommodation in Kyoto for a fewdays and book the rest of the
week or for, for, uh like,additional, like a few days in
(27:34):
central japan in a totally likerural area, not really like the
trying to stay in one locationfor too long so I see yeah
that's what I recommend instead,because you, for example, like,
if you want to stay in thetraditional in like the ryokan,
minsh, minshuku, you wouldn'thave, like, a large amount of
(27:56):
choices in cities like Kyoto,but if you are in the, you know
the rural areas, you are closerto hot spring, the source of the
hot spring, and you will have alot more choices for the onsen
or the ryokan.
So that's how you want tobalance your experiences and
that's what.
That's exactly what I recommendwhere are the hot springs?
(28:18):
um almost everywhere in japan,but really yeah, but not in city
like usually not in citiesright, so you need to like
travel far to enjoy the bestonsen experience I see.
So, usually, you know, a coupleof hours away from cities like
(28:38):
Kyoto.
What happens is that they tryto.
A lot of people try to pack allsorts of different experiences
while they are in cities, whichis not possible, because if you
want to enjoy the onsen, youneed to be closer to the source
of the hot spring, not stayingin city, right.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Yeah, okay, got it.
Oh, I see there's a Lego landalso in Nagoya.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
It is, it is yes.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
That's good.
We like Legos here, all right,very cool.
There's a town called Toyota.
That's funny.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Yeah, so that's exactly where the headquarters
of the Toyota is.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Ah makes sense, Some of our rapid fire questions are
what's a popular breakfast thatyou would have there?
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Okay, great question.
So I usually eat a slice ofbread and I feel that the more
Japanese people eat bread thanrice nowadays.
Of course, the staple food forthe Japanese people is rice,
boiled rice, but the verytypical breakfast, the typical
(29:44):
Japanese breakfast, is rice misosoup, small plate of food
including like seaweed, egg andfish.
You can get this type of likelike meal at the traditional in
such as ryokan and mishuku.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Oh, okay, yeah, we had one guest on our podcast
that she said she ate fishbreakfast, lunch and dinner.
And she said she came home andher hair was so soft and her
skin was so soft and I saidprobably was all that fish
probably make your skin verynice.
All right, and what is one ofyour favorite meals?
If you had a guest coming totown and you had to take them
(30:21):
out for one traditional dinner,what kind of food would you,
what kind of meal would youtreat them to?
Speaker 2 (30:28):
okay, great question.
I personally love udon noodles,yes, so a lot of people think
ramen is, you know, the bestJapanese food.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
What's the difference between ramen and udon?
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Just the thicker udon , just the thicker.
So the udon is the wheat basedum noodles and it is more of the
traditional japanese noodles.
Ramen originate from the youknow, the china, like you know.
Okay, so it's.
But now it's like branded inthe japanese culture and of
(31:09):
course it is part of theJapanese cuisine, japanese food,
and we have a lot of regionaludon noodles too, so it's
interesting to try differentversions of it.
But it comes with a really gooddashi broth soup and it depends
(31:29):
on um, your preference.
You would find you know the, um,the seaweed and the fish based
soup and you can also have a,like meat based soup.
And it also depends on the, the, you know the restaurant's
preference, restaurant choiceand how the chefs cooks, uh, the
(31:50):
food.
But yeah, there are a lot ofdifferent.
It comes are a lot of different.
It comes with a lot ofdifferent toppings, so it's not
only the noodle itself, right,okay?
Speaker 1 (31:58):
got it.
Yeah, I just discovered notlike I discovered it, but just
started having pho from theVietnamese soup.
Kind of the same idea with thenoodles.
It was amazing.
I'm like what this isoutstanding.
Speaking of cooking and meals,do you ever help people find
like places to learn to cookJapanese, like as part of a
(32:18):
package?
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Yeah, that would be really exciting.
Yeah, so the learning how tomake sushi or learning how to
make a Japanese food is a verypopular activity for a lot of my
guests and clients.
So I do yeah, I do help peoplefind these experiences too.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Yes, oh, that's awesome, alrighty.
And then is there what's thepopular holiday?
Tradition is a certain time ofyear that you know if you'd like
to celebrate party.
You know that is pretty big inJapan.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
So we have a few different holidays in Japan and
one is like, of course, the newyear's period.
The first three days of theevery year is a big, big
tradition in Japan.
We eat a special meal calledthe osechi yori.
You know the?
You know the traditionallycomes with a three-layered of
(33:10):
the lacquerware box and all sortof different food are inside.
All of them have associationwith like, auspicious
association um to it.
So that's one.
And we also eat the like mochi.
Do you know the?
Speaker 1 (33:29):
mochi.
Oh yeah, we have mochi cookiesand mochi ice cream.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Okay, like we eat the food called ozoni.
Basically it's a mochi in soupand, again, it has a large
regional variety.
So it comes with.
You know, depending on theregion the soup is like either
the miso, or like soy sauce, orlike the toppings are different
(33:56):
and all sorts of differentthings.
But yeah, basically that we eatmochi and on the new year's eve
we eat, like longevity, sobanoodles.
The soba is a backflip noodle,yes, and it basically um to have
a longer life, to to livelonger, we eat the buckwheat
noodles, lots of differentnoodles, okay, interesting, okay
(34:20):
, awesome.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
And then what's the money?
And how is that?
Is it best to use credit cardor exchange the money?
It's again I've known that.
I think that helps.
Good question.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
So, yes, good question.
So, yes, good question.
So a lot of places accept acredit card, but still um, japan
is a very much cash orientedsociety, so it's always a good
idea to bring some cash, butnowadays we have, uh, the
so-called the IC card.
Probably like I heard some ofyour guests talked about this,
but we have the card that canlike connect it to your credit
(35:01):
card.
So, basically, if you top up,like you will be able to use it
to buy something at the shop, orlike you can even use it to, um
, get on the get on the buses orlike get the catch the trains,
and so it's very convenient and,uh, I recommend getting one if
(35:23):
you're coming to Japan okay, andis there a lot of street
markets or street food where youuse cash?
then yes, so, for example, ifyou um go on to visit the, so,
for example, if you go and visitthe festivals, for example,
there are lots of food stores.
These places only accept cash.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Okay, very good, all right, and the last question I
would like to ask is where's theclosest place to surf for their
surfing listeners?
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Okay, great question.
So it's actually not theclosest place to me, but a
couple of places that came to mymind are the Shonan in Kanagawa
Prefecture, which is locatedsouthwest of Tokyo, so this is a
big surfing destination forlocals and people living in the
greater Tokyo area.
(36:12):
And another place I've been isTsurigasaki surfing beach in
Chiba prefecture, the easternpart of Tokyo, so this was a
surfing venue for the TokyoOlympic Games.
Um, okay, yeah, seems like thisplace has been attracting like
both professionals and amateur,and and how do you spell that?
(36:34):
Along the globe.
So T-S-U-R-I-G-A-S-A-K-I.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Okay, tsurugasaki, tsurugasaki.
Let's see if I can find it onthe map.
But okay, I'll take a look.
Okay, thank you, all right,well, that's it.
And where can people find youif we have some listeners
needing to plan?
You're on Instagram.
Obviously, that's where weconnected.
Do you have a website andwhat's your handle on Instagram?
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Yes, perfect, thank you for asking me that.
So I learned the podcast calledJapan Experts Podcast.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Oh okay, japan Experts Podcast.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
Yes, so it helps like-minded travelers to learn
more about Japan and better plantheir trip around Japan.
So I also have Instagram, thesame handle like at japanexperts
Japanexperts.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
Japanexperts.
Okay, I'll put these all in theshow notes, of course.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Yeah, that would be wonderful.
I do have a website which isbasically my name Miyuki Seguchi
M-I-Y-U-K-I-S-E-G-U-C-H-I.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Okay so this is your own business, then it is oh good
for you.
Yeah, it is oh good for you.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Yeah, I do provide a free Japan travel guide, so if
anyone's interested in visitingJapan, please do sign up for it.
It is totally free.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
So okay, is it electronic?
Speaker 2 (38:00):
I would assume You're not going to ship something, so
it's a Japan travel guide theseven steps to creating a unique
, immersive experience Soundsvery good Because I've heard for
Americans our dollar is morevaluable right now in Japan.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
So just need to find the time that's always, you know
, with children, even thoughthey're almost grown and can
take care of themselves, there'sstill like so many activities
but a couple more years.
Want to take a nice long trip?
Yeah, Japan is definitely on myhot list, Awesome.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Great, all right.
Well, thanks Miyuki, so muchand um.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
we will be in touch and um, unless there's anything
else you want to share with us.
Um, I'm good.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Yes, yes, fantastic, all right yeah, I really enjoyed
uh talking to you and thank youso much for having the having
me on your podcast and a greatopportunity to connect with your
wonderful audience.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Thank you so much, yes, okay, all right, have a
great week.
Okay, see you soon.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Thanks, thank you.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Bye-bye.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
Bye.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Thanks for listening.
If you enjoyed the podcast, canyou please take a second and do
a quick follow of the show andrate us in your podcast app, and
if you have a minute, we wouldreally appreciate a review.
Following and rating is thebest way to support us.
If you're on Instagram, let'sconnect.
We're at where next podcast.
Thanks again, thank you.
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