From phil@metalab.unc.edu Fri Mar 9 16:17:04 2007 Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2007 17:16:22 -0500 (EST) From: Phil Lee To: tterribe@email.unc.edu Cc: Phil Lee , Aaron Krowne Subject: Say, what are we doing in Japan? Re: Fwd: saku saku sakura On Wed, 7 Mar 2007, tterribe@email.unc.edu wrote: > It occurred to me we should probably be figuring out what we're going to > do, um, sometime soon. Now, Tim, that's crazy talk. And, since you know how much I love crazy talk, I wrote a long-ass email chock full of it. Some of this I've mentioned before, but I figure it bears repeating. Emily: > Well, tonight there was a sakura status report on the news and the good > news is they are expected to be in bloom in Tokyo around the time you are > there and also in bloom in this area when you are here! Perhaps we should > make a picnic. We should totally get our sakura viewing picnic on. Oh, yes. > Well, since you will have the rail pass, are you thinking of going down to > Himeji? I think you can do that in a day easily by shink. We are totally going to Himeji. It will rock. I thought Osaka-jo was impressive, so I want to see the castle that Emily has hyped up as being the far superior experience. Awesome. > Hiroshima is also shink-able, probably even in one day. I'd be willing to day trip it down to Hiroshima, also. Ah, the power of the rail pass. > Besides Kyoto and Osaka, Kobe is quite nearby. As is Koya-san which is a > famous mountain with many temples. I figure we'll be able to temple it up in Nara, which apparently is swarming with 'em. There's also the Nara National Museum to consider. > There is a Ninja-house in Mie which is quite near to here. NINJA HOUSE! > Also, one of the prettiest train rides I've been on is in Wakayama down to > kushimoto. The (JR) train line runs next to the sea. Very nice. Well, > maybe you know all of that. This is news to me. I have some JET pals down south, perhaps that would make a potential halfway point for a fun beach trip or whatnot. > I can be free during the day Sat/Sun to hang out with you guys if you > like. Maybe go to somewhere nearby like Kyoto or Nara city or Yoshino to > do hanami? Well, it might be good to meet you in Osaka city if you are > arriving here on Friday night and you can see the prettiest view of the > city which is certainly at night! I am looking forward to having Emily help us play tour guide. She can also help us get from Osaka to Nara that evening, no doubt after fine Osaka dining somewhere. Mmmm, dining. So, for the Nara leg, some rough itenerary ideas: 3/23 - Our triumphant arrival 3/24 - Emily Tour Guide 1 - Kyoto and/or Osaka 3/25 - Emily Tour Guide 2 - Nara: Cherry blossom viewing, NINJA HOUSE~! 3/26 - Himeji and environs (Mount Shosa, dinner in Kobe?) 3/27 - Rail Pass to Hiroshima (Miyajima, Peace Park) 3/28 - Round Two for Nara, Kyoto, or Osaka. 3/29 - Our tearful departure The details are vague, but it's difficult to hit up, say, Kyoto and not do touristy stuff. We can go see the Golden Pavillion. Nara has all manner of stuff, just go to Nara Park and rock from there. Hiroshima has white guilt, plus one of the Three Totally Awesome Scenic Views Of Japan; that's a loose translation, but you get the idea. I figure Emily will be our advisor on these matters, with research done online the day before any activties. Who knows, one of us may break down and buy a guide book or something. On one of these days, we can hopefully meet up with my pal Ben Lawson, who is JETing in Osaka. If we do head down to Hiroshima on the 27th, we have the option of catching The Pillows: http://www.cave-be.net/hiroshima/top.html Aaron, if you're not familiar with these guys - they're best known in the west for providing most of the soundtrack for the anime FLCL - here's a representative sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWIrPL4IhZ0 If the show starts promptly at 7pm - and while I scoffed at this I'm told that bands tend to actually start on time, as opposed to American shows - we can (hopefully) catch the last trains back that evening. The logistics of this may be a bit tricky, but I'm interested in giving it a shot. Actually, I'm damn interested, as by all accounts the Pillows put on a really great show, but negotiating the trains back may make it impossible. I figure we can consult with Emily and the JR website. As for the Tokyo leg of our tour, I've got a fair number of structured activities to suggest. Here's another rough schedule, plus possible events: 03/16 - Arrive in Japan, get situated, try to stay awake 03/17 - Madoka's Birthday! 03/18 - Haru Comic City (aka fanboy apocolypse), Harajuku Park, Fuji-san? 03/19 - Tourism by day, Boxing at Kurokuen Hall by night? 03/20 - Wide open, yo. Holiday! 03/21 - Baseball with the Swallows by day, Uwai Station by night 03/22 - More tourist mania, Takarazuka by night The day after we arrive, our host Madoka is having her birthday! I figure we'll see what she wants to do on her special day - Ghibli Museum, perhaps, or just tooling around Tokyo - with a meal and/or party that evening. Should be fun! I'd mentioned this before, but Haru Comic City is a big, Comiketesque doujinshi event at Tokyo Big Site: http://www.akaboo.jp/event/haru12.html I am totally stoked to go to this. However, it's highly fanboy oriented; Aaron, I dunno how much you might get out of this. It may be a good day to consider splitting up - I'm sure I can talk Madoka into tagging along wiht me to fanboy hell, you guys may or may not want to tag - or we can dive in for a few hours as a group and then escape before it becomes too terrifying. Aaron, if you do go it's probably inherently weird enough to be amusing. Tim, you'd mentioned Mount Fuji. Apparently hiking it is a pretty serious proposition - eight hours or so of hiking, in the off-season - so I'm considering wussing out on this. If you're stoked for it, the 18th may be the day to do it; I can go fanboy out at Tokyo Big Site, you guys can go Fuji it up. That said, I may still be talked into the trip, though we should figure out what's up with that in advance, as we may want to pack boots for the occasion. Here's a webpage with assorted touristy suggestions: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3051.html I believe the 21st is a holiday, so Madoka will be available to help with the tourism. I'm leaving that spot just plain on open on the calendar for the time being. I'm interested in seeing a baseball game, particularly the Yakult Swallows, the underdog Tokyo team (as opposed to the Giants) who play in a cool old ballpark. If I read the schedule correctly, they've got several games happening that week at their home stadium, with afternoon start times at 1pm and cheap tickets. Sounds like a terribly pleasant way to spend an afternoon. Tim, see if you can decipher this: http://tinyurl.com/37xx77 I picked the 21st arbitrarily. If we want to make it a double feature, that night there's an event at Kurokuen Hall. As previously mentioned, Uwai Station is a particularly goofy wrestling promotion. The pic of choice: http://tinyurl.com/29y2se I'd love to go see an event of some sort at Kurakuen Hall, where there's all manner of wrestling, boxing, and mixed martial arts happening. David pimped what looks to be a particularly good boxing card on the 19th, but goofy wrestling sounds even better to me. Finally, I'm determined to go see the Takarazuka: http://kageki.hankyu.co.jp/english/tt_stage.html I understand if you guys re less enthralled by this notion than I am. As far as I can tell from looking at the access page, they're open any day but Wednesday, in which case I can go whenever. As long as I can find an evening to head over there, that's the important bit. For the final leg of the trip: 03/29 - Return from down south, find a good place to dine, chill 03/30 - Final shopping and sightseeing day in Tokyo 03/31 - "Sayonara, Japan!" "See you again soon, honey!" Of potential interest on the 30th is a concert by Guitar Wolf: http://www.liquidroom.net/pickup/1070330 If you guys aren't familiar with Guitar Wolf, they're the Ramones taken to their logical conclusion. A representative sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmyV0dPE0mI They're very loud and we can jump in the mosh pit with Japanese punk girls. This appeals to me greatly. You guys, perhaps not so much, but I figure it's worth mentioning. If you guys are interested in this show and/or the Pillows, we should try to buy tickets in advance. At some point, I need to dedicate myself and my money to hardcore fanboy shopping in Tokyo, but that can happen at basically any point along the trip. I imagine we'll mix it up along with our tourist activites depending on what neighborhood we're going to. Broadway Mall in Nakano is the only really out of the way location I can think of that would require a significant amount of shopping time, but it's so delightfully odd - they've got a beetle shop/museum for god's sake - that I figure it's an attraction in it's own right. That doesn't include things like the inevitable rampage across Akihabara and trying to keep Tim out of all the maid cafes. So, there are a lot of ideas, plus a rough itenerary. I don't feel any burning need to be overly structured, but there are several events, partiuclarly in Tokyo, that I'd like to build at least part of the trip around. Again, I'm not sure how you guys feel about the suggested activities - sports, bizzare theatre, and cult bands anyone? - so I'm flexible. In general, I'm hoping we'll be able to stick together or at least have one of our hosts play buddy system, as I'm quite positive I could get damn lost in Japan. Survey says? Other suggestions? Anyone else got stuff they're longing to check out? Phil