Tokyo Vacation 2008

Calling Japan from the US and Vice Versa

My first tip for travelling to Japan (or most places overseas):  Buy an unlimited Skype subscription.

For the unbelievable price of $9.95 a month, you can call any land line or cell phone in the US and several dozen other countries, including Japan.  All you need is a computer with an internet connection and a microphone (or a nice little USB handset like I bought, which you can buy at Wal*Mart for less than $20). 

I paid up yesterday and tested it out at 11 PM last night (which was 1 PM today in Japan) by calling the Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku to confirm my reservation.  While the woman at the reservation desk denied speaking English, she did a great job of informing me that my reservation for 10 days in a non-smoking, queen-size bed room is in place.  The quality was as clear and delay-free as it would have been if I had called somebody across town.

The most important value to this Skype subscription is that I can call home from Japan on my laptop and not have to worry about long-distance charges.

Tentative Itinerary

I have a recurring nightmare in which I am on vacation, my flight back home is leaving soon, and I have yet to do any of the things I wanted to do. 

I really don't want that to happen in real life -- nor do I want to waste any time sitting around our hotel room saying, "So, what should we do today?" to each other -- so I have put together an itinerary for our trip to Tokyo.  I'll post it here for posterity, as I'm well aware that weather, time constraints, confusion and other conditions will change it beyond recognition almost immediately upon our arrival (and possibly before).

Sunday October 5

3:00 AM – Leave for Oklahoma City

4:30 AM – Arrive at airport

6:36 AM – Flight leaves for Chicago
8:33 AM – Arrive in Chicago
12:06 PM – Flight leaves for Narita

Monday October 6

3:00 PM – Flight arrives in Narita

4:00 PM – Take Limousine Bus to Hotel

6:00 PM – Arrive at Hotel

6:30 PM – Explore surrounding neighborhood as time allows (possibly get a night view from the Tokyo Metropolitan Governmentt Building's South observatory)

Tuesday October 7

Possibly the fish market if we are so inclined, then Akihabara, then Shinjuku Gyoen east of our hotel, plus local department stores, etc.

Wednesday October 8

Ghibli Museum and Mikata exploring in the morning, then Shibuya in afternoon and evening.

Thurs October 9

Ueno Park (zoo, etc.), then walking through Asakusa (temples, sculptor’s house/museum, cemetery, etc.) in the afternoon and evening.  Optionally, switch with Oct. 15th schedule if weather permits and we feel up to it.

Friday October 10

All day in Kamakura

Saturday October 11

Flea Market in park near hotel, then to Roppongi Hills, Tokyo Tower, Rainbow Bridge, etc.

Sunday October 12

Take subway to Yoyogi park's south entrance, visit flea market, walk north through Yoyogi park (musicians congregate here on Sundays) to Meiji Jingu, and continue walking north back towards the hotel.

Monday October 13

All day at Mt. Fuji (National Health and Sports Day)

Tuesday October 14

Ikebukuro (Sunshine 60 building with aquarium, shopping, and observation deck, cat play shop, worlds tallest escalator at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space, Namco amusement park, etc.)

Wednesday October 15

Take the train to Nikko (shrines, forest, etc.) or Oct 9’s activities if we switched them.

Thursday October 16

Things nearby our hotel all morning (shopping, etc.)

12:00 PM – Take Limo Bus to Narita

1:30 PM – Arrive at Narita Airport
4:55 PM – Flight leaves for Chicago

2:24 PM – Flight arrives in Chicago
4:55 PM – Flight leaves for OKC
7:06 PM – Flight arrives in OKC

8:00 PM – Leave OKC for Ada
9:30 PM – Arrive in Ada

We're going to Japan!

If you've known me for any length of time, you probably realize that I love anything having to do with Japan.  It's a fascination that probably began with me watching Battle of the Planets and Space Giants while sitting on my mother's lap every day after kindergarten.  As the years went by, a love of videogames and animation fueled my interest in Japan to such a point that the country gained an almost mythical status for me.

Well, between October 5th and 16th of this year, my wife Erin and I will finally be taking a trip to Japan. We will be staying at the Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku in Tokyo.

I intend to use this blog as a travelog while I'm there.  If all goes well I will be posting photos and daily descriptions of our trip here for my family to keep up with us while we were gone, and then hopefully the site will be helpful to people looking to make a similar trip of their own.

To that end I will also be posting some tips for planning a vacation based on my research, while also warning you about mistakes I end up making.  Here's hoping that there aren't many of the latter to report on...