Planning for next month

Okay, so this isn't a critical post.  It's mostly for me.  I'm planning out the trip next month during winter break, but there are so many things that I don't want to forget anything.  Feel free to skip to the next two posts! (Man, when I update, I really update, ne?)

Anyway, I'm planning a trip to Kyoto and Tokyo with lazzchan, and we'll meet up with my friend Kyle for Kyoto and possibly a leg of the Tokyo trip.  I think I’ll probably leave earlier than everyone else and take a longer vacation because I’m the only one who wants to go to Nara.  It’s too old and uneventful for everyone else.  I think I can spend a day there and do the biggest things:

 
Tōdai-ji (the largest wooden building in the world; it also has a huge Buddha and deer roaming around and gardens that are supposed to be really pretty…though probably dead at this time of the year…)  and Hōryū-ji (one of the best temples in all of Japan and one of the oldest in the entire world), and Hokki-ji (the oldest pagoda temple in all of Japan), and possibly  Kōfuku-ji  and if there’s extra time, but it’s not as interesting as the others.

 

And, finally, Heijō Palace  (Because, uh, Nara was the capital before Kyoto, which was the capital before Tokyo, but most people forget about good old Nara..).

 

A day is plenty of time, don't you think?

 

After that, I may or may not go to Kyoto a day early.  It depends on what the others want to do.  I mean, I don't want to not do something when this is one of the places I want to see the most, you know?  I've been wanting to do a Kyoto/Nara trip for the LONGEST time.

I think Kiyomizu-dera and Daigo-ji and Kinkaku-ji (Rokuon-ji) sound like really good temples to see, and I also think I’d like to see Nijō Castle and the Philosopher’s Walk and the old Geisha district (and possibly the Geiko district, too).  I’m not sure that anyone else will want to do those things, though, and I don’t want to make anyone do the things I want to do because it can be boring or “once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen hem all” kind of a thing.  So I’ll find out if the others want to since we’re probably there two full days now.

 

The days that we’re all there, we’re going to the Tō-ji Temple and, of course, the Imperial Heian Palace.  I think we’re also going to some kind of samurai/ninja/jidaigeki  place, but I’m not really sure what it is.  And Kyle mentioned going by the Nintendo HQ (but may do it on his own; he isn’t sure) and lazzchan mentioned getting a city tour pass, but I’m not sure if she has a list of stuff yet or if we’re winging it.  ^_^

 

After that, we’ll go to Tokyo.  lazzchan wants to go to Akihabara and spend $$ at the Square-Enix store and I think there are one or two other places there she wants to go.  I might buy a digital camera there because they’re supposed to have really good prices and you all know I need one.  It’s just sad that it would be after Kyoto/Nara….*sigh*  I mean, I COULD stop in Osaka on the way and go to Den-Den Town since I’ll be on my own schedule, but I wasn’t too impressed last time…

 

I’m not sure if Kyle will join us or go straight to Roppongi.  I guess it depends on the time.  We still don’t know if we’re taking the Shinkansen or flying yet.  I e-mailed the agent earlier tonight.

 

We’ll spend a full day at Tokyo Disney Sea because lazzchan really wants to go b/c she really liked my entry about it last year.  Luckily (if the time is right in my head, which I’m pretty sure it is), we’ll be doing the park on December 30^th, which means none of the shows will be canceled and they won’t kick us out early for New Year’s prepping like they did last year.

 

lazzchanThe next part is complicated.  I’ll talk to the agent to make sure this is the case before we do anything, but traveling on December 31^st/January 1^st is a nightmare because 1) it is so very, very crowded, and 2) it is more expensive.  Actually, it’s more expensive through Jan….either 3^rd or 4^th, but those two days are the worst.  We’re traveling at a bad time of the year, but that’s okay.  Anyway, we might need to stay in Tokyo for longer.  If we do, we’ll definitely hit up a Shrine on the 31^st for a traditional New Year’s, and I think lazzchan would like the Asakusa Shrine where we were last year, since it’s one of the best in all of Japan….but it’s really crowded on New Year’s Eve, so I’m not sure…  and maybe we’ll do Tokyo Tower. (Did you want to go to Ginza for something, too, Laz?  I forget…)

 

 I might stay an extra day on my own because I want to do a couple of things that lazzchan doesn’t want to do and I don’t want to force her to go with me.  I really, REALLY want to go to Yebisu Garden Place (and not just because they filmed near the  cool statue thing where they’d sit for Hana Yori Dango, but because it just sounds—well, really cool.)  Plus, it’s in Shibuya which is an awesome district.  The street outside of the station is the most amazing thing.  It totally reminds me of NYC.

I also want to go back to Shibuya because if you go out this one exit at the station, there’s a statue of the dog Hachi.  At my conference last week, I bought some eacy picture books to study Japanese.  One is about this famous dog named Hachi. I’ll try to translate and put the story online over the weekend.  It was so sad—I wanted to cry!!  But now I want to see the memorial so much!!!

 

I also really wanted to go to the Imperial Palace last year, but that got canceled at the last minute.   I also think it would be cool to go through and do the Azabu-Juuban tour and see the antique market and stuff that they mentioned at the hostel last winter.  The_sweet hadn’t been interested and neither is lazzchan, so I may not go since it wouldn’t be fun to go alone, but I might because it’d be neat.  We’ll see.  I think I’d like to go back to Harajuku because there are a two or three small shops I need to go back to.  Plus, we were NEVER there in the day--it was always when they were closing down for the night!  If there’s time, I’d like to go through Ueno park because the_sweet hadn’t wanted to last year and we passed through it on our way to the museum.  That isn't an imperative, though.

Anything else I'm missing?