Wow, I'm incompetent

[rkold]

I really ought to have worked on this before since like.... I am going to Japan soon.

So some possible itinerary ideas!
Leave for Japan Wednesday February 10 arrive Thursday February 11th
Friday February 12th shop (dinner with dilettantka ♥ )
Saturday February 13th (day with summer_queen ♥ )
Sunday February 14th (day with becroberts and event! ♥ )
Monday February 15th (shopping in Tokyo or possibly trip to Kutatsu)
Tuesday February 16th (shopping and trip to Ikspiari to buy tea! )
Wednesday February 17th (HAKONE/onsen! )
Thursday February 18th (options! fly to Naha! or.... railpass somewhere...)
Friday February 19th (options Naha or... railpass somewhere)
Saturday February 20th (return from Naha or return to Tokyo from rail passing)
Sunday February 21st (BASARA FESTA Y!J tickets hopefully!)
Monday February 22nd (leave Tokyo for uhhh sight seeing)
Tuesday (more sightseeing) 23

Hmmmm so new thoughts as I work on this...

Maybe... Thursday the 18th I will go to Kyoto/Kansai and spend time in Kansai until Saturday night when I take a late train back to Tokyo.
then Mon and Tues I can go to Takayama and on Wed go back to Tokyo to fly out?

jougetsu what time do you have work on Thurs-Sat?

Other thoughts... arrive in Japan on Friday the 11th
Thursday fly to Naha and stay in Naha until Saturday. Do Mon-Wednesday in Takayama, go to Kansai on Thursday the 25th and then stay there until Sunday and take a late train back to Tokyo and fly out Mon morning

And of course the cheaper option of not going to Naha and just rail passing to somewhere Thurs-Sat. I guess it depends on how long I can find hotels I like in Tokyo for.

Now to work on tickets since at least I have some ideas! :D

Comments

[summer-queen.livejournal.com]

I definitely vote for Takayama. Had I more time, I'd be going there myself. Just discovered Chikubushima while hunting down details in Kyoto -- may add that into my Hikone-area sight-seeing.

Ikspiari? My ears perked up at the mention of tea. I always drop a bundle at Lupicia while I'm in Tokyo....

[rkold.livejournal.com]

I've never been to Takayama and I need to do something new each trip. :D Plus I am hoping it will be sort of off season so that I can book the super expensive hotel I want to stay in at a good price >>;; It has these amazingly looking onsen.

Oh? I don't think I know Chikubushima, I'm tempted to try to see the ruins of Oda's castle >>;;

I want to go to the Lupicia store on Ometosando! It has all the country-wide LEs EXCEPT the Ikspiari ones. Hmmmm I was putting it off because I was worried about crowds, but maybe you know something I don't? I really want to get the Sendai Date Ichigo for me, and a few of the others for my dear friend twotone. I'm also collecting teas to send as gifts or to send out with packages of things I sell via LJ. lol While not as good as Lupicia Karel Capek in Kichijoji has the cutest packages!

[summer-queen.livejournal.com]

I always go to the Lupicia in the mall that the Sunshine City Prince is attached to. It's small, but usually empty, and since I'm typically after Sri Lankan or Indian teas, stocked with everything I could want.

Chikubushima seems out for the trip. I can't get the info for the Nagahama port, but Hikone's port only has boats from March 1 - Nov 30th. Ah well. Another time.

[rkold.livejournal.com]

I've been to the Morioka and the Okayama branches only lol But I want some of the LEs so the Ometosando and Ikspiari branches are much hit ups. If you want to go with me we could make plans to do that on Saturday, I don't know what you were thinking of doing.

Yeah... that is one of the problems with the off-season. I know there are a lot of places I want to visit, but get closed for some of the time I am in Japan, it's one reason I wish I could go in July or August.

[summer-queen.livejournal.com]

I need to be in Yokohama by 3 on Saturday, so I could probably do Omotesando, but I think Ikspiari would bit a bit far afield in the wrong direction. ^_^

(August means you would have to deal with a) insanely hot weather and b) O-bon, which makes the shinkansen packed!)

[rkold.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know I've been in Japan in August before. And it was insanely hot lol But we didn't shink at all. I desperately want to climb Yudono and Gas-san, but Gas-san has such a short season. ~.~

[summer-queen.livejournal.com]

Btw, there's a vegetarian place on Ometesando I've been wanting to try out. Let me see if I can dig up the name and perhaps we could do lunch there that Saturday.

[rkold.livejournal.com]

There are at least 2 vegetarian places near Ometosando-dori XD;; Or at least I've been to 2. They were both yummy. I am bound to be up and out early since I tend to wake up early when I am jet lagged. That and in Japan I just find I am on a morning schedule.

But yeah how does tea shopping sound?

[summer-queen.livejournal.com]

Tea shopping sounds great! This (http://www.bento.com/rev/2486.html) is the restaurant I was talking about.

My first few days I'm always up early, but I'm going to be running around so much I'll probably be getting up at a sane hour by the 13th. Just let me know when and where to meet you and I'll be there.

[rkold.livejournal.com]

I've never been there, I need to find the names of the two places I went. Both were really good as well. I think one is right near where the Lupicia is.

I'm usually up REALLY early my first week and after that I am still up by 7:30/8 lol It comes in handy since I tend to have less to do in the evening.

[jougetsu.livejournal.com]

Thurdays & Fridays I work 3-9:30pm thereabouts, so lunch is definitely do-able. Saturdays I work 9am-4:30pm so the whole evening is free.

I hope you have a fabulous trip and I'd love to see you!

[rkold.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm let me think on this, if I can swing my trains, I might go to Kyoto/Kansai on Wed night and leave early Sunday morning. I just need to be sure I can get to Yokohama in time for my event.

(assuming I get tickets for it!)

[mec]

If you're shopping in Tokyo you might well have some company if you like. ;-) Hope you manage to get everything sorted to your satisfaction!

[rkold.livejournal.com]

I am more than happy to always have you for company. :D Is there anywhere in particular you want to go so that I can try to balance what days I go where?

[mec]

Most of my shopping can be done in Ikebukuro, actually - why I like staying at the Sunshine City Prince, so I don't have to lug doujinshi, CDs and random stuff from Tokyu Hands too far back to my room! The only thing I have to do early on - on the 15th, since I won't have time on the 14th - is go to ticket shops in Shibuya and Harajuku. I don't have much of a shopping list, otherwise, so am happy to trail along, or if plans don't mesh we can meet up for dinner or something. Depends when you're in Tokyo!

[rkold.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I might be ending up in the Sunshine 60 as well. The hotel I really wanted is charging more than I want to pay and while it has a cute onsen and I like the location, the plus of staying in the same hotel as you, is staying in the same hotel as you. >>;

the one day I will have a ton to lug around is for my event and I plan to take a small wheelie for that regardless.

I'd love to go to Harajuku and Shibuya! :D BTW, there is a possibility I'm going to go the day you arrive in the morning to Harajuku so if you tell me what you're looking for I'd be happy to look in advance for you!

[mec]

Ooh, that would be great if we were in the same hotel! So convenient for the Suzaku event, too. (Do we know where it is yet?)

That would be helpful, thank you, but I can't remember exactly where the ticket shop is - I just usually walk along Takeshita Doori until I spot it! What I'm looking for are tickets for Akanishi Jin's Star Live, 'You & Jin' (there's a kanji pun in there) for any day except the 16th, and I have a feeling they are going to be rather pricey! (Jin's popularity level is insane. I haven't seen concert ticket prices like this since Arashi's tickets went on sale, and then people are at least paying to see an entire group.)

[rkold.livejournal.com]

Actually, they're totally booked on Saturday and haven't renewed with English Rakuten so I'll prob stay elsewhere. I sort of know where it is (the address is on the website) but I mean I sort of know as in have been to that area before. It's off the Hibiya line. I'll give you the link and we can figure out where we can meet. :D

When is your concert Tuesday night? I've lost my first auction for tickets ;;_;; I might try to win tickets to both shows, would you be up for either or? I'm scoping a single ticket auction now for the one I'm willing to pay more for and unsure what I am looking at for the other. How high are tickets to the things you want? I bid 37,700 yen for 2 but lost ;;_;; (They were row 9 center though) I really want to be close to the front if I am buying scalped tickets for the Hoshi one. the tickets I almost bid on in row 18 only went for 9000 yen so I think those were just so high because of location.

..I could walk along Takeshita dori. I am possibly coming in on Thursday now and leaving Friday. I need to write up my potential new itinerary.

But yes do you care which concert you see or would you see either or with me on Sunday or will that conflict with Jin? Also would it be OK if post Hakone I see you onto a train back to Tokyo and I hop on one to Kyoto?

[mec]

Yeah, that's weird because when I looked they were totally booked on Saturday too, but I had to contact them directly anyway because I needed to book more than 10 days (11 days!) and did so with my PCI membership. They got me booked in (admittedly, under 'Mr' rather than 'Miss' at first, but we got that sorted out) so I am assuming they did actually have room. Well, we'll get a meeting place worked out soon enough, anyway.

I have a show at 18:00 on the Tuesday, and then I've just won a ticket for the 13:00 show on the Thursday. (I prefer evening shows, but I'll take what I can get.) As for the prices...well, I've ended up paying in the 30,000-40,000 range for these, but those are the cheaper ones. See, the playguide ones, which don't have names on them, are up on the second floor. The fanclub ones are likely to be better but they'll be a minimum of twice that price. I was expecting the fanclub seats to be known by now and the second wave of tickets to appear online, but it doesn't seem to have happened yet and the fanclub tickets that are already online don't have seat details yet. See, they're doing something weird with this show and making members register their email addresses or something like that, and then doing random checks when people go in? I usually have no problem with fanclub tickets despite looking as far from the Japanese name on the ticket as you can get, but I'm a bit weirded out by this process - playguide ones are safer, but I do want to risk a fanclub one for a better seat. As much as I dislike paying out the money, I know I can afford it and this is one of those rare opportunities I'm not going to have again, so...

Anyway, I haven't looked at any tickets beyond the 18th and I'm not going to now until I reach Japan (unless the fanclub seat details sudenly come online), so yeah, am free for anything. If you end up winning one with two tickets, just let me know what I owe you and we'll sort it out.

The only thing I remember about this ticket shop is that it has a big glass case outside where you can see some tickets, plus lots of posters letting you know what's on. It's next to one of the idol shops down that street. If you do happen to be in the area and find it, would you mind just checking out what they've got in there and letting me know if there's much available?

Your itinerary always changes a dozen times before you actually reach Japan. ^_^ Nothing I do on that weekend will conflict with a concert and yes, it's absolutely fine to pop me on a train back to Tokyo.

It's also fine to share the penguin photos - they're public, I don't care who sees 'em! Am replying to things very slowly at the moment and think I will go grab the last of the afternoon sunshine before I return to LJ.

[rkold.livejournal.com]

I will do my best, I know you would do the same for me. And wow you make me feel a lot better about tickets. I bid 37,700 for 2 tickets but they went to 38,000 yen. I'm now scoping some not as good seats, but still decent.

I tend to book via a private websites since they have better prices, how much were you paying a night for a room? I'm thinking of seeing if the Seven Seas is still open. I stayed there in March and they were quite nice though the location isn't as good as the APA but the price was about 2000 yen less a night.

I think what is bad is when my trip is changing while I am in Japan lol Which is known to happen unfortunately lol And OK Thursday I will be somewhere in Kansai so it's a non issue.

What time does your concert end on Tuesday and where is it? I was thinking if you were up for it bringing by my suitcase then so I don't need to take it to Kyoto. I have a few potential itinerary ideas but people coming to the house despite the open house not being for another hour. ~.~

[mec]

I don't normally have to pay more than 30,000 for a ticket (it's often less, especially if it's at a big venue like the Tokyo Dome) but because this is a tiny venue, and because of who the performer is, and because it's his first ever solo live...yeah, I'm paying through the nose. Oh well. Anyway, the concert is at Nissay Theatre in Yurakucho, but I don't know what time it will finish. The first show is on 7th Feb, so after that I should have some idea how long it will be. I'm sure we can work out a convenient time for you to bring your suitcase. It would be pointless you taking it to Kyoto!

Hope the house showings are going well! ^_^

[rkold.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping to stay near Yurakucho, so that should be handy though for meeting up. I could probably meet you near either the theatre or JR Yurakucho station or Yurakucho on the Yurakucho subway line.

So yeah do you care if I win two tickets if it is for the Hoshi show at 12/1 or the Date show at 6? Would you be up for either?

[mec]

Theatre will be crowded with fangirls queuing to hand over cards for a while after the show, most likely! I tend to take the Yamanote Line back to Ikebukuro so the JR Yurakucho station's ideal...but having said that, I don't know exactly where the theatre is yet, so it might be closer to one of the other stations. (I usually see things at the Imperial Theatre; this'll be my first time at Nissay.)

I'd be up for either, yes.

[rkold.livejournal.com]

I looked up your theatre in my map book and it's closest to the Hibiya Station, but getting on either of those lines is not convenient for you. It' about equi-distant between the JR and subway Yurakucho station, so either or would work for me. Technically, at the 60 you're closer to Higashi Ikebukuro on the Yurakucho line, but I can't remember if that station has an escalator vs the JR main one. But yeah I can easily meet you post your concert Tuesday night and go back to Ikebukuro with you and then walk back to my hotel. :D