By Karen Quinn-Panzer
Travel Matters
Karen Quinn-Panzer
Tokyo is a city of many contradictions.
One minute you are visiting a temple from 623 AD surrounded by beautiful sakura (cherry tree blossoms). The next minute you are in the middle of Shibuya Crossing with thousands of people at multiple crossroads surrounded by skyscrapers and neon lights everywhere, making Times Square in New York look tame.
We were fortunate enough to go to Tokyo this past month during cherry blossom season. Although it was crowded, there were plenty of places in Tokyo that were peaceful and serene, like Hamarikyu Gardens with the only saltwater pond in Tokyo and an authentic Japanese teahouse. In the midst of the financial district, it reminded us of Central Park in New York, only with fewer people.
We started our visit at Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo – a perfect place to experience Japanese culture and tradition with its Japanese restaurants, artwork and one-of-a-kind gardens. All rooms have huge cantilevered windows overlooking the gorgeous Chinzanso Garden and the Sea of Clouds – a phenomenon that is produced with “a fusion of modern technology and traditional craftsmanship” (steam generated by a waterfall). As a guest, this is truly a magical experience, featuring over 100 varieties of camellias and sakura that is further heightened in the evening with pink lights.
You really don’t want to leave the hotel, whether you’re in your room or walking the gardens or dining at one of their four restaurants on the premises. Even better, the garden is never crowded because it’s open only to hotel guests.
But leave we did – and experienced a walking food tour of Tsujiki Fish Market, which offers more than just fish at this modern date. Famous for its historic tuna auctions, it’s still a good location to sample sushi, sashimi and sake, as well as wagyu beef soup,
From Tokyo, you can explore Mount Fuji in a number of ways. The iconic Fuji is only seen about one third of the time due to its height (12,388 feet) and microclimate. Located on Honshu Island, you can approach from a few locations. We visited Hakone, with its famous hot springs, one of the most popular locations to see Fuji. But the mountain was socked in with clouds. Two days later, our second attempt from Shimizu proved successful, with blue skies and our photos capturing the quintessential sakura blossoms with Fuji in the background.
From Tokyo, we boarded the Crystal Symphony for a 13-night cruise, where we created our own artwork with petrified coral stamping in Okinawa; visited the beautiful Fushimi-Inari Shrine with the dramatic red Torii gates in Kyoto; an active volcano in Kagoshima, and toured gardens all over Osaka, Kyoto and Kochi. We even made our own steamed dumplings in Taiwan.
This was a great way to visit Japan, unpacking only once and enjoying the value of included food and drink with choices of Western or Asian menus. I highly recommend this trip.
Karen Quinn-Panzer is the owner and vacation specialist at Dream Vacations Quinn Panzer Travel in Milford.