Accommodation in Japan

[KARL]

I am in the early stages of contemplating a trip to Japan within the next 30 days. My main concern at this stage is that I know nothing of availability or the cost of accommodation for two at short notice and on impulse. We will likely be arriving in Osaka and travelling in various directions from there, mainly staying outside the big centres with the possible exception of Kyoto. We are after modest, quiet accommodation with a Japanese character/flavour rather than the could-be-anywhere international chain and would welcome any advice/suggestions. Additionally, any suggestions on things worth seeing or doing (non-sport, non-drinking advice only, please) will be gratefully received.

[237SJ]

Why don`t you buy a Lonely Planet book? They grade the accommodation according to price and give a pretty good description and opinion of things. A friend and I turned up in Sri Lanka once with nothing booked whatsoever, just a Lonely Planet book and navigated ourselves around and stayed in some interesting places. I would book in advance though, with Japan.

[Mosaic]

The main Shinkansen station at Shin-Osaka has a tourist information office which might be a good starting point when you arrive. It is quite easy to book some Japanese hotels online through english-speaking websites such as Hotelopia and Lastminute, but they give by no means the bigger picture of what's available. On the other hand, a good tourist office with some english spoken will hopefully be able to help you get booked into tradional ryokans and get you to the onsens around the Kyoto / Nara countryside. Strangely for a country with so much technology, there is not a lot of use of online booking and payments, so the smaller and Japanese-run places tend not to see many foreign bookings. Of course there will be specialist travel agents in the UK who'll book for you, at a price.
Hopefully you will be ordering your Japan rail pass to give you free travel on most systems (including the bullet trains) - order it through http://www.seat61.com if you haven't done so yet, as you cannot buy a pass once you are inside Japan.

Osaka Castle - eat fried octopus teriyaki from stalls - great view from top of castle. Kyoto - the incredibly tranquil shrines in the parks - walk round Gion and see the Geishas. I stayed in the hotel Apa-Gion right on the corner of one of the parks and the Geisha district, lovely location and decent hotel. Nara - feral deer wander the streets cadging titbits - the great golden Buddha and temple, all within walking distance of railway station. Tokyo - where to start? It's an amazing place for just walking, riding the rail system and freelance gawping.

The one thing I didn't feel was done 'well' in Japan was the museums - and I speak as a museum lover. they are very dry line-ups of 'stuff' which you could sit at home and see online or read in a book if you wanted.
As 237 says, get a look at the guideboo

[Mosaic]

...k, both Lonely P and Rough Guide.
Ooooh I'm so jealous - wanna go back!

[KARL]

Thank you Mosaic for the interesting detail.

[lumination]

sta travel. go on their website, they can suggest some very good cheap hostels which are pretty much as good as hotels for half the price! or just pick up a lonely planet book and see what it says in there. im travelling SE Asia at the moment and swear by my lonely planet book! got me through some tough situations!!!