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J2p2n
Topic Started: Jul 30 2009, 04:17 PM (89 Views)
Benevolance
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Ancient Wyrm
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Hey, the title worked for Tr2n.

Jenn and I are aiming for a return trip to Japan in winter 2010. Quite possibly to coincide with the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Seems like a good time to get out of town.

I'm hoping to be in Tokyo for the Grand Sumo tournament at the end of January. And shortly after the sumo wraps up, there is the Sapporo snow festival which is quite spectacular. We're looking to tour around to a few of the sights we didn't see around Kyoto and Nara. Nara, especially, it would be nice to investigate further.

For the most part, however, the trip so far is shaping up to be a long, relaxing shopping vacation. I want to spend our days soaking in hot springs, drinking sake and eating fine meals.
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lgm
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Demogorgon
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It sounded like you mixed up the tourist stuff with off-beat things on the last trip. Relaxing and perusing this second time around sounds like a good plan so you're not repeating yourselves in a sense.
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Benevolance
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Ancient Wyrm
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It's our version of a sun vacation this time around. Because we're actually going to Japan instead of Hawaii.

I discovered today that torrents of the grand sumo tournaments are available online for download. This pleases me greatly. I had a blast watching the sumo updates while we were traveling, and attending the match was one of the highlights of the trip.

We also discussed a battle plan: almost immediately upon departing the plane, we are hitting a liquor store. Since drinking is so ubiquitous everywhere in Japan, we're not going to waste a moment!
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Benevolance
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Ancient Wyrm
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Just a little thread necromancy...

We have an itinerary!

Day 1-3. We'll arrive late afternoon in Tokyo and stay overnight. The next day we'll make a day trip to Kamakura to view some shrines, and then fly up to Hokkaido the following morning.

Day 3-6. We'll arrive in Hokkaido and head to Otaru to see the city, then take the shuttle bus to Niseko for a day of skiing followed by a night of drinking and soaking. We head to Asahikawa the next morning for the brewery tour and ice festival, then stay in Sapporo that night and view the snow festival by darkness. We'll view the snow festival again the next morning, then fly to Osaka.

Day 6-19 we bum around Japan, where and as we feel like. Highlights include Samurai town, the Ise shrine, a ninja town museum, Nara and Kyoto in more detail, and several hot spring resorts. There are several breweries in the region that we plan to visit, including the Geikekkan brewery in southern Kyoto. Yum!

Day 19-21. We'll make our way to Tokyo in the late afternoon or evening and do a little shopping. On Day 20, our only objective is the Studio Ghibli museum tour. We leave Tokyo at night on Day 21, arriving in Vancouver several hours before we depart, so we'll have a little more time to shop (and load up on books from Kinokuniya) before we go.
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lgm
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Demogorgon
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Are you or Jenn going to blog your trip? I followed along last time. Jenn was far better at it than you because you spell words with numbers and she posted more.
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Benevolance
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Ancient Wyrm
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We will be blogging our travails once again. We are undecided on whether to bring a laptop along or trust to find internet cafes. It's extra weight and worry we don't necessarily need, but it would make it a lot more convenient to prepare posts and update more frequently. Most hotels offer free Lan/wireless, but not all offer free terminals (or the terminals are super busy). The laptop would also enable us to filter our photos as we go, so we could include images in our posts more easily.
Edited by Benevolance, Oct 20 2009, 05:00 PM.
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Kishi
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Illithid
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Also, Jenn's cuter, so I liked reading her writing more.
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Benevolance
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Ancient Wyrm
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We booked and paid for our tickets today. Suddenly, the trip seems a whole lot more real! I'd better start brushing up on my Japanese. :P
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