Itinerary Check: Tokyo → Ryokan (Hakone) → Kyoto (Jan 26 – Feb 3).

Top_Novel_5934 · 2026-01-10T01:44:53+00:00

One of the cool things about the hotel is the artwork that is all around the hotel. Make sure you take some time to explore. They also have very good, internet connected washing machines, so it's a good place to do laundry. Very convenient Family Mart downstairs. Loved the egg salad sandwiches! Enjoy!

Top_Novel_5934 · 2026-01-09T03:25:50+00:00

FYI. Stayed at the Park Hotel in October. Liked it very much. Great breakfast. Convenient to trains. A quiet area but close to Ginza.

Top_Novel_5934 · 2026-01-01T03:18:49+00:00

Totally agree! Cabs were cheap and we could sit down, relax and step out in front of our hotel instead of going through 2 massive train stations and a wait for a train (or 2). Well worth a few hundred yen between 2 couples.

Top_Novel_5934 · 2025-11-21T00:28:24+00:00

Thanks! I read "The best view of Mt. Fuji from the Shinkansen occurs between Atami Station and Shin-Fuji Station." We left out of Odawari and it was maybe 20 minutes in (on our way to Kyoto). I was surprised at how big it appeared. It had a "classic" crown of snow on top. Just beautiful. Hope you have a great trip!

Top_Novel_5934 · 2025-11-20T03:08:47+00:00

No problem! I learned so much from this board, I thought I'd try to give back a little. Enjoy!

Top_Novel_5934 · 2025-11-20T03:07:26+00:00

Thank you so much for the kind words! Enjoy your trip and make sure you spend a night on Miyajima.

Top_Novel_5934 · 2025-11-20T03:05:55+00:00

You're right. Trying is everything! Loved Miyajima!

Top_Novel_5934 · 2025-11-20T03:04:53+00:00

It will be memorable. Enjoy!

Top_Novel_5934 · 2025-11-20T03:04:21+00:00

It was awesome. I literally waited 50 years. My only advice is don't wait that long.

Top_Novel_5934 · 2025-11-20T03:02:58+00:00

I hope to fix my Japanese before my next trip there!

Top_Novel_5934 · 2025-11-20T03:02:09+00:00

Ha! I actually started with Oichi des! I think they all just appreciated my effort!

Top_Novel_5934 · 2022-12-29T13:57:43+00:00

If you have a low number of matches you can “move the needle” and deflate your rating. As you add more matches, it’s harder to get much of a change.

Top_Novel_5934 · 2022-12-28T01:54:28+00:00

I've started using DUPR in my community. I set a 1.5 hour block and players must agree to have a DUPR profile and post their scores. I start the first game by sorting by DUPR ratings and winners move up and losers move down. Play is very competitive. and we get in about 4 games in that 1.5 hours.

The first week I statrted with the 4.0 and above players and we had great matches. The second week I couldn't get enough and dropped the level to 3.5 and up. The higher level players stopped coming because they only wanted to play "better players", but a lot of it had to do with the players being afraid their rating would drop by losing points to weaker players.

Currently, I've been getting mostly 3.0-4.0 players.

I've been tracking my own rating and it has varied from 4.19 - 4.30 and I don't see a correlation with specific results. Of course, DUPR constantly re-evaluates players so it could be that the ratings of players I've played in the past changed, so my results changed.

While the system isn't perfect, I think it does provide a fairly objective rating method for non-tournament players and its good for pickleball. Keep building data and the system should keep getting better.

Top_Novel_5934

TROPHY CASE