Where to Sleep?

My initial plan for the trip was  to only book my first few nights accommodation in Tokyo as well as my last there.  The rest I would book based on what I would hear from others and based on which city or town I would be in - the way I had travelled through Europe back in 1988.  But this was not to be.

In researching when to visit Japan all the information pointed to two seasons - spring and autumn.  Summer is generally very hot, humid and rainy.  Winters are cool.  Since spring meant I would have to wait until March 2009 I decided on autumn for my adventure.  So I booked my flights.

I discovered that not only do many foreigners visit Japan during the autumn, but that many Japanese travel domestically during these months.  This time of year is a particularly beautiful one in Japan as the leaves of the trees are turning to oranges, yellows and reds.  Clearly, many want to see this.

The other condition I set for myself regarding accommodation was that I was not going to stay in western-style hotels.  Rather I would sleep in ryokan, minshuku or temples.  Afterall the point of my trip is not to sleep in a Best Western and to have bacon and eggs for breakfast!  I should clarify that ryokan are Japanese inns, minshuku are described as bed and breakfasts (though they would be better described as bed and breakfasts and dinners!) and temples are, well, temples.

So I started contacting ryokan and minshuku to check availability during the weeks of my stay.  I just wanted to judge whether my plan to "wing it" would be ok.  The responses of the first few I contacted were all negative.  They were booked and advised that this was a very popular time to visit places like Kyoto, Nara, Nikko.

Ryokan Shimuzu in Kyoto - NO VACANCY
Rickshaw Inn in Takayama - NO VACANCY
Hatoya in Kyoto - NO VACANCY
Kikokuso in Kyoto - NO VACANCY
Minshuku Sosuke in Takayama - CLOSED?!?
Hotel Fujita in Nara - NO VACANCY

Panic!!  Was this the wrong time of the year to go?  Was I late (August?) for making my plans?  Would I have to use a travel agency?

The result of all this is that I have indeed booked all my nights and therefore have a pretty fixed schedule.  I just did not want to risk showing up in a town and having to spend hours looking for a place to lay my head down.

I had to compromise however.  In Tokyo, while I am staying in a ryokan, I am sleeping in a western-style room.  In Kyoto I am in a hotel, western-style, the Aranvert.  My last night of the trip, in Tokyo, is a bit of splurge and I am sleeping at the Prince Park Tower in a western-style room.  Half of my twenty-one nights are in western-style rooms.  So be it.  Hey, at least they are all Japanese hotel chains and I don't plan on having bacon and eggs!!

A couple of very useful websites that I used for my research (in addition to my Lonely Planet book) are:

I also looked at the Frommer's website and Fodor's.

It took me five days to book all my nights and I did 100% by internet and email.  No phone calls.  They all got back to me quickly and were very polite in their emails.  Efficient, polite, simple.  Ahhh.....nice!

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