getaway: japantown, san francisco, for the budget traveler

looking to get far away, but working with a limited budget? when stepping away from the traditional 9 to 5, it's important to look for bang for your buck if you allow yourself vacations at all. this weekend, i was able to play tourist in my old city and to feel like i was transported to an entirely different country-
this image looks like tokyo, but it's california. all this and no international airfare. here's how to plan a japanese getaway of your own...

image: pbo31 via flickr.

we stayed at the hotel tomo! a best western hotel, which was surprisingly charming and fun, especially for the lover of japanese culture. our room had it's own mural, pictured above, as well as the unusual feature of hardwood floor carpet:

the lovely thing about japantown in sf is the ability to totally submerge. extending from the courtyard, there are two shopping centers that are filled with shops, restaurants, pastry and breakfast spots, and the amazing kinokuniya bookstore, a must see. the shops vary in quality of goods, but are all authentically japanese and despite the tourist presence, you will still be outnumbered by japanese people who frequent the place to get a taste of home. the bookstore, for example, is almost exclusively japanese print material.

the most exciting thing we found here, however, was one of the funniest experiences i have ever had. just across from the bookstore in the kinokuniya mall is the true must-do in japantown: the photobooth shop: pikapika.

make sure you ask for the booth with the funny backgrounds. you will not regret it. with a green screen inside, you and your friends can appear riding on an elephant, coming out of the washing machine, and -get this- coming out of the toilet! perhaps i am just a sucker for novelty photo experiences, but this was a real delight. make sure you get the assistance of the very kind attendant- without his translation and tips, our photos would not have been nearly as great. added bonus- if you go with friends, you can get extra sheets for each of you.

and one needs to mention that there is great food here. no need to worry about paying out the nose on a disadvantaged exchange rate- just use the deflated and depressed dollar to get delicious sushi and korean bar b q. our favorites: sushi boom 2 on filmore- looks like a hole in the wall, but is absolutely delicious. try either the crop burning roll if you're into veggie rolls, or the crunch roll. yum. for korean bar-b-que, we loved the place just down into the plaza from the hotel tomo towards the plaza on the west side of the street with tofu in the name. we looked at the recommended ones, but this one smelled so good we had to go in. it was a good choice: delicious bibimbop and tofu soup. such a treat.

and, if you want to pamper yourself, try either kabuki spa for a full-service japanese spa experience, or the more colorful and unexpected imperial spa. look for a review on the latter this weekend.

Comments

[List of San Francisco Hotels]

A nice experience! And as for japanese spa, their traditional approach as for washing in the same bathtube makes me a little sceptic about that kind of treatment...

[Caroline]

Thanks for sharing! The soaking tub at the Korean Spa was quite well-kept, more like a jacuzzi experience and each scrub was conducted individually so that was sanitary as well.

Hope this helps!