last-min ?? re: takarazuka, naoshima, akihabara, +

[tumblingwater]

Hi, and first let me say, thanks to all of you and esp. the "old-timers," for all your great tips and wisdom. I've spend so many fascinating hours reading past postings. I have the big Rough Guide for Japan but it can't compete with all of you

In a few days we leave for two weeks in Japan. We've been planning for a year, working on learning some Japanese, etc. We are two separate small families traveling together: me (45-yr old woman) and my 11-yr old daughter; and our friends (46-yr old man and his 11-yr old and 23-yr old daughters).

The trip was started by my daughter, an extreme otaku (ok, I guess there is by definition no other kind), and it's also given us something nice to look forward to and think about in the wake of her dad's death last summer. One of our favorite sources for ideas has been Japan Ai by Aimee Major Steinberger; she did a few things we would like to do that I don't know how to arrange in advance -- maybe someone here has ideas?

These are:
Seeing the Takarazuka Revue do "Rose of Versailles." I know how to get to Takarazuka, but not how to get tickets. Also, any ideas on where to eat after the show?

Dressing up like a geisha or maiko in Kyoto. Does anybody have a lead on where to do this? Both the 11-year olds are very keen on this.

Going to a maid cafe in Akihabara. I know there are many different such cafes. Any recommendations? Esp. keeping in mind that these are 11-year old girls? I.e., nothing too extreme in terms of sexuality would be best. Oh, my daughter just said she wants to go to a vampire cafe. ?

Going to one of the Volks dollstores. (She's resigned herself already that she probably won't be able to buy one, as they are so expensive, but she's dying to see them.) Does it matter which one we go to? The Akihabara one is good?

OK, then on a completely separate note, we are also going to Naoshima for a couple of days (and Hiroshima, but I think we've got that covered with info from previous posts). Naoshima is my thing, I love art and in particular sculpture gardens. We are splurging and staying two nights at Benesse House. We would like to compensate for that expense by not eating at Benesse House. Has anyone been to Naoshima? Any thoughts on where to eat? Also, I think we may rent bicycles while there, so any thoughts on that would be appreciated as well.

Fwiw, our overall itinerary looks like:
4 nights Tokyo. Tokyo activities/sights we'd like to do: Ghibli (got tix); Animation Museum; maid cafe; Volks store; Nat'l Museum of Modern Art/Crafts Gallery; hanging out on Sun. in Harajuku. Day trip to Nikko.

5 nights Kyoto. Kyoto activities/sights we'd like to do: Kawai Kanjiro's house; Kinkaku-ji and Ryoan-ji; geiko/maika dress-up for the girls. Day trip to Uji (Byodo-in). Day trip to Takarazuka for show. Day trip to Nara. Koya-san: is this do-able as a day trip? Looks like it really merits an overnight.

2 nights Naoshima. Art-viewing, bicycling, chilling. We will try to stop in Takamatsu to see Ritsuren-koen.

We have an extra night. Any thoughts on spending it in an onsen in Matsuyama? Looks like it would make sense to go Naoshima--Matsuyama--Hiroshima. If we don't spend it in Matsuyama, we will spend it in Tokyo the night before we leave Japan (our flight's not until 5:30 p.m., so if we have to we can take train back to Tokyo/NRT from Hiroshima the morning of the day we depart, right?)

Another good thing about a night in Matsuyama would be that, otherwise, we won't have a single onsen experience. That would be sad.

2 nights Hiroshima. Peace Memorial Park and Museum; Museum of Contemporary Art. Maybe day trip to Miyajima (but my guess is we'll need some chill time).

Back to Tokyo for departure.

To all of you, domo arigato gozaimasu!

[samurai007]

Matsuyama has one of the oldest and most famous onsens in all of Japan: Dogo Onsen. I went there and it was great! Be sure to take your own bath towel from the hotel, they only rented hand towels there, which are not nearly enough to dry yourself with.

DOGO ONSEN
Matsuyama Travel: Dogo Onsen
Dōgo Onsen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[MMM]

I cannot help with a lot of these, but if you are going to Takarazuka, down the street from the Takarazuka Revue is the Osamu Tezuka Museum, which should be a must see for any otaku. It is inexpensive, small, but a lot of fun, and the young ones will enjoy it, too.

Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum

There are lots of restaurants and shops on Flower Road and near the station, so finding a place to eat will be no problem.

[samurai007]

More info... A quick google on dressing up as a geisha turned up this company: [Makeover Plans]Yumekoubou-Maiko Makeover Studio

Also, going to Koya-san is definitely possible as a day trip. It's about an hour and a half from Osaka's Namba station, maybe a bit more. Getting to Namba station from Kyoto will take a while too, at least an hour I'd say. Still, if you leave early in the morning, it's certainly gives you plenty of time to explore Koya-san. For comparison, Nikko is about 2 hours by train from Tokyo, so it's not much farther from Kyoto to Koya-san. What you may want to do is head down to Koya-san, stay the night at a temple, and then hit Nara on your way north again the next day, or head west to your destinations on Shikoku, etc. Or maybe spend a night in Nara or Osaka to cut at least an hour from the trip.

[JBaymore]

Another "dress up" option for your girls:

Wear a Kimono around Asakusa! - Cultural Activities l H.I.S. Experience Japan

best,

...............john

[tumblingwater]

samurai007, MMM, and John,

Thanks so much, that's all really helpful. Great tip on the manga museum (we would have totally missed that), the onsen (and towels!), and geisha dress-up options. Also, samurai007, great ideas on reducing backtracking on the Kyoto daytrips.

Mil gracias to you all!