(Found an unposted web log entry from 2018 and kinda enjoyed reading it, so here it is.)
This is quite bizarre. I took off a handful of days – no, not
even – I took off Friday, first of all.... OK wait, let’s go back even further.
Let's go back to last Friday. And then, let’s also talk about how there is no
place to share all of this information due to the fact that... well... there
just isn't.
But we'll get to that.
Anyway, ok. Back to last Friday and trying to take some time
off. Sort of. I'm bad at that. I'm also bad at leisuring. But I think probably
a lot of people are, or at least they are bad at leaisuring in the way that
most people expect or anticipate or believe or assume they should be leasuring.
You look at pictures in magazines, ones that really pull you in and put you in
a place. Say, a beach.
Imagine… a Corona ad.
There's a beautiful beach, a blue ocean, a chair with a few
beers in a bucket. Someone in a hat sitting in the chair, pops the cap off the
beer and leans back... now what. You sit and stare at the ocean while drinking
the beer.
Ah.
And what? What else? I drink beer very quickly so now what? Listen
to music? Think? Rest? Start worrying that you didn't hydrate enough and so
probably shouldn't drink that other beer in the bucket but really, it’s so
light, it’s almost like drinking water, right?
I mean, most people would be bored sitting in that chair. Or
they would sit there and maybe drink half the beer before they start looking at
their phone and at the in-flight magazine that they stashed in their backpack,
or around for someone to visit with....
Ah, now there is a thought.
Visiting. Is visiting considered
leisure? It's not always relaxing. I think of leisure time as being spent
relaxing, but maybe not necessarily? Some people use leisure time to exercise, which
is like the opposite of relaxing. So ok; maybe I don't relax very well.
I don't relax very well.
I need to talk about control. And about having no oars.
At some point - but not now.
I also need a massage.
I also digress...
So. Back to taking off today.
[insert photo from a magazine article showing a rainbow-hued collection of botanicals on a dinner plate in which one of the captions states "Bright green herb oil
replaces spinach leave you find in traditional artichoke dips"]
No place on line, save possibly my blog,
makes as little sense as my life does. I have curated my life in such a way for
it not to make sense. If other people can say herb oil replaces spinach leaves
in some flower-filled bowl of, supposedly (‽), spinach and artichoke dip, or
that having a climbing wall across from a big glass window in a hotel room was
not a weird idea, I can fly in a day early and
stay at a rooming house in Portland Oregon to have a “me” day.
I can say here that I am possibly one daybook and a pair of
pajamas overpacked. And that yes, my bag is an homage to Babou from Archer.
Because, no one cares, except me. I understand that. I live with me, though,
and I feel I should get some place to document this stuff.
Hullo - I have been back from Japan for about 3 months now, and
just getting around to sharing this post so sorry for the wait.
So, what did it cost to go to
Japan? Is it as expensive as everyone says it is? Of course it depends on what you are interested in and where you want to splurge. I found this other person's blog about her experience which was good to hear before I left, so I thought it would be helpful to give my full breakdown.
NOTE: I went with one other
person, so we split costs on everything.
Our itinerary was:
Day 0 - stay overnight in
Chicago
Day 1 - leave car in Chicago,
fly to Tokyo, Japan (Narita Airport)
(Because of the deal we got for
the package of hotel+flight in Tokyo, it was cheaper to keep the hotel in
Shinjuku as opposed to checking out for two days and checking back in - go
figure! Plus, we could leave most of our stuff there.)
Day 5 - Drive to Ski Hill
Rent snowboard and get lift
tickets
Back to Sapporo hotel at night
Day 6 - Check out of hotel
Drive to airport - return car
Fly to Haneda airport
Train to Shinjuku
Day 7 - Tokyo
Day 8 - Tokyo
Day 9 - Check out of hotel
Train to Narita
Fly back to Chicago
Pick up car
Drive home!
We took our trip in March of
2019.
High level =
Chicago portion
(overnight+parking*) = $203.36
Expedia Tokyo portion
(flight+hotel, 2ppl.) = $3675.01
Expedia Sapporo portion
(flight+hotel)- $659.30+ $130.62(car) = $789.92
TOT. = $4,668.29 ($2,334.15 per
person)
*Parking alone would have cost $90-153 and the timing would have sucked so doing the park and stay and fly thing was perfect.
Since we had been planning for this trip for a number of years (5-10 depending on how you look at it), we were able to bank miles on two different credit cards. We used Visa miles on the Sapporo portion, so we ended up just
paying for the car. We used Discover card miles on the Tokyo portion so it ended up reducing
down to $2747.
(I just checked Expedia and the hotel right now (July) is booking for $79 / night for 2 ppl. ANA flight is $1477 per person.)
N'EX (high speed rail from Narita to Shinjuku) $40 per person round trip –
totally worth it. Portal wi-fi for the whole trip = $116. Again - completely worth it.
I estimate total, for souvenirs, food, and other train rides, we
probably spent less than $2000 total. Granted, we mostly ate out of 7-11s and we walked
most places (very easy and safe), and we shopped at the 100 yen store, but it didn’t detract from
our overall experience, at least not on this first trip (I could have spent the whole time visiting shrines which costs next to nothing). The ski hill we went to in Sapporo was only like $70 for the both of us.
Grand total per person works out to $2700. Without our credit card
discounts, it would have been closer to $3500.
I am packed already. There are a number of things I still need to get, but for the most part I'm all set. Here is a run down:
Backpack -
- Microsoft Surface Pro3
- Charger
- Magic envelope with itinerary
- International Driving Permit
- 20000 yen
- Phrase book
- 2 magazines (Bon Appetite & Country Living) that I already subscribe to but am saving
- Steno pad + Uni-ball Vision Elite pen
- Tiny umbrella (like, not a cocktail umbrella but small!)
- Inflatable neck pillow for plane
- Hairbrush
- Makeup kit (Mary Kay foundation, brown and black eye shadow, mascara, eyelash curler, lip gloss and stick, blush and brush, tattoo concealer)
- Some medication and vitamins
- Bandaids
- Quart liquid bag (serum, SPF moisturizer, hairspray, toothpaste, eyeglass cleaner)
- Hair tie bag (plus tweezers, mirror, bobby pins, and earplugs for sleeping)
- Toothbrush
- Cell charger
- Fitbit charger
- Snacks
- Collapsible duffel bag (to bring back souvenirs)
- Water bottle, travel mug
Rolly bag -
Only clothes. I laid out for each day, theming the first part of my trip around baseball and the color blue, the mid-part on the fact that I'll be in the snow, and the final portion with red and the sakura. I'm bringing 3 pairs of shoes - black, red and some grey walking shoes.
Both of our hotels have onsens (not swimming pools) so I am not packing any swim suits or goggles etc.
Small handbag -
- headphones
- chapstick
- a pen
- business card holder with credit cards and driver's license
- calling cards
- passport
- cellphone
I'll do a separate post of the apps I have on my phone, and possibly the apps I have used (along with some books) to at least partially learn Japanese.
3. Transport - so transport from home to Chicago (drive), place to park car (got a package through drive and park and ride and fly and sleep or something like that - my parents do it all the time), then shuttle to airport. ANA to Narita (which is about an hour from downtown Tokyo) -- oh and by the way, the in-flight food looks like a lot of fun!
So then we're there -- in a Japanese airport -- midday on a weekend. There are a multitude of transport options to get to Tokyo. We will probably choose to go with the least complicated, yet most expensive, train option, which appears to be the Narita Express.
The touchiest transport is going to be getting from our hotel in Shinjuku BACK to Narita in order to fly to Sapporo fairly early in the morning during a weekday (rush hour at the busiest train station in the world anyone?). I'm just hoping someone gives us some tips.
From the airport in Hokkaido we are renting a car. I have it reserved but have not yet paid, so hoping the Seinfeld car rental scenario doesn't happen. We did get a hotel in Sapporo that includes parking, so hopefully it all works out.
We therefore can drive to Kokusai Ski Resort, where DMV plans to rent a snowboard, and I plan on sledding and taking the gondola up to the summit and having tea at the café.
After we drive back to the airport and return the car the next day, we'll actually be flying into a different Tokyo airport - Haneda. We then need to get back to our original hotel - again - hoping for help here.
After that, pretty comfortable with the rest of the transport issues. At the airport when we first arrive, it appears that we purchase a card that then let's us pass through train gates and deducts payment. We've watched a few videos on it and it looks like the machines are in English. So we'll do that once we get there.
BONUS More than you ever were curious about the two Tokyo airports:
Haneda is the older airport, built in the 30s. Before that, people landed planes on the beach at Tokyo Bay. The airport was taken over by the USA after WWII and returned to Japan in the 1950s. As the airport grew, noise from increasing jet traffic lead to the creation of Narita airport. Haneda is still the busier of the two, and slightly closer to Tokyo.
In 1966, a strange string of air accidents ended with the destruction of (British) BOAC Flight 911 which crashed into Mt. Fuji after a wind gust in excess of what the plane was designed to withstand took it down, leaving a 10 mile debris trail and killing all aboard. A 8mm video was found in the wreckage and helped determine what had happened. A group of people who had decided not to board the plane, and there for lived to see another day, included a group of film scouts for the James Bond movie "You only live twice", one of who's names was Cubby Broccoli.
Narita airport was built in the 60s and 70s amid turmoil. A strong resistance group including local residents, unions, and political groups objected to the building of a second airport and the eminent domain rules used to size land to build it. Through many years, building was slowed due to this, and a police presence persisted through the airports eventual opening. At points, both police and protesters were killed in violent incidents. At one point, two towers of 100-200 feet tall were built by protesters to impede the landing of planes. Eventually, judicial decisions intervened and allowed for the destruction of the towers without compensation.
In a more modern incident, Sir Paul McCartney was caught with over 200 grams (almost 1/2 a pound) of marijuana when trying to enter Japan in 1980, and was subsequently arrested and jailed for 10 days. “When the fellow pulled it out of the suitcase, he looked more embarrassed than me,” he said in 2004. “I think he just wanted to put it back in and forget the whole thing, you know, but there it was.” His explanation as to why he had so much pot "for personal use": “We were about to fly to
Japan and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get anything to smoke over
there, this stuff was too good to flush down
the toilet, so I thought I’d take it with me.”
(P.S. as of this writing, it is illegal to bring any stimulant medication into Japan, including some sold over the counter in the USA. Some notable mentions are: ・Viagra and other sexual enhancers. ・Adderall ・Dexedrine ・Prozac ・some inhalers and some allergy and sinus medications.
Specifically, products that contain stimulants (medicines that contain
Pseudoephedrine, such as Actifed, Sudafed, and Vicks inhalers), or
Codeine are prohibited if it contains more than allowed quantity of
stimulant raw materials.
And um yeah, still illegal to bring in marijuana.)
Here is some stuff I have learned so far, in no particular order:
1. The household power outlets in Japan are close-to, but not exactly the same as, power in the USA. After some research, and reading a comment on I believe TripAdvisor where someone said they have never had any problems except for hair dryers and curling irons (neither of which I am traveling with), I have decided I will be OK. The only things we will be bringing to charge would be two-prong (non grounded) plugs like for cellular phones, so I am not going to worry about it.
2. Money belt, fanny pack, small purse, etc. - general luggage. A short time ago, I purchased a three piece luggage set since I'd been using the same luggage from Target since I became a "grown up", and after taking the backpack and the rolly-bag for a few spins around the country, I decided it was best to leave the biggie at home and just go with those two, along with a small purse to carry around when I get there. The rolly-bag in fact is pretty large for a roller - close to 24" with the wheels vs. 22" which is standard for airlines to allow as carry on. I haven't had much of a problem up until now, so I think I'm going to hope for the best.
I have a small purse, but it's mostly brown, and I'm planning to go with a mostly black color scheme, so I'm hoping to get two that I ordered online delivered before I leave. We'll see.
After a valliant search (again... when will my nearly-middleaged self learn?) I've decided to create my travelogue here on my weblogue. It's the closest, most accessible online thing I have to creating a zine on the go, which is teally what i want to do.
SO...without further adieu, I'm going to Japan! I can't tell you how long I've seriously wanted to go, but DMV and I have been planning nearly as long as we've been looking for a new house, so like 3 years. Still havent found a house so decided we had to do something we felt in control of, so over the New Year, I found a pretty good package deal on Expedia so I snagged it.
Last month I made my nearly-annual trek to the Columbus, Ohio anime convention Ohayocon 13 (I think I missed one or two since 2006).
I adore anime conventions. Though I've attended sci fi, fantasy, comic, writing, steam punk and a myriad of everything-sub-and-pop-culture cons, all of which have their own geeky pleasures and attractions, anime cons always seem to convey an overwhelming sense of cuteness and affection (although, humorously, I recently re-read the 2007 manga series Dramacon and chortled a bit at the multiple references to "glomping" the practice of which now a days, I'm sure due to numerous lawsuits, seems to be almost completely dead.) This may be a product of their relatively young demographic,which can also bring an undertone of adolescent immaturity, angst, drama, and "@!#$%OMG! too-many-feelingz!?>!## :-P !!"
Which, in a way, I welcome. Since I am not a pre-teen (or do you prefer tween?) or teenager any longer, I really have difficulty remembering the heart-wrenching, soul rending, all-encompassing love, hate, disdain, and rapturous glory of friendship that I know I felt at that time in my life (and have the amazingly bad poetry to prove). Chalk it up to hormones leveling out or whatever, but still, I don't think it is good to distance oneself too far from what is a huge portion of the population, as well as a great and powerful force in the world.
Honestly. Young people, especially those who go to conventions, have money and they have time--two things a lot of the rest of the population doesn't have. And they spend both very emotionally--influencing what the rest of us see, hear, and read as well as what we are sold. Along with a need to belong (to a group of people outside of their family that represents their individuality), this age group (say, 12-29), is rife with creativity, as is evidenced by the costumes, artwork, and, well, simply hilarious crazy ass shit on parade at Ohayocon.
And even if you don't watch anime, or even know what it is, there is still some great times to be had at Ohayocon.
Penguin Drum
Rainbow Dash
Persona 3
Trucy Wright
Jean Armstrong
Dark Souls
(Where else can you see a mermaid wheeled through the food court on an office chair?)
I admit, most of the images above relate to costuming, since that is one of the brightest, boldest, most colorful (and therefore most visual) examples of what I love about Ohayocon. But there was more than that.
The vendor room, or dealer's room, was ripe with licensed material, video games, manga, DVDs, imported goodies and more. I ended up getting a Chi shirt whereas my sister bought the most Ah-Dor-Ah-Bul notebook from TastyPeachStudios.com. If anyone wants to get me their Fat Pegasus Tee, I will wear it. This place had cats made of mochi. Meowchi.
But wait, there's more! Ohayocon also had an Artist Alley, which was fairly thriving. I will admit to being a person who does not purchase a lot of art for arts sake. But if you have any peripherals, i.e. jewelry, bookmarks, comics etc. I may be tempted. I am also a self-declared button whore. I was lucky enough to find two pretty amazing... God I don't know what to call them, franchises?
One is Prince of Cats, a webcomic that uploads multiple watercolor pages per week. WATERCOLORS! Some webcomics struggle to upload a single penciled page every 7 days! (Not that I'm dissing them; I haven't posted a blog about this convention and I went to it over a month ago.) Prince of Cats is mostly a relationship tale between two queer boys in their final days of high school. The twist is that Lee (above) saved the Princess of Cats and therefore was granted one wish. He has yet to make said wish and so, until he does, he has gained the ability to understand the language of cats. The artist's kickass postcard marketing collateral lead me to her site, where I've been following the story (which only started posting in 2012, but has an active fan base and a number of collections for sale.)
Another was Tokyo Demons, a multifaceted creation which includes a written story, serialized audio show and YouTube channel, book and ebook, as well as posters, pins, a card game, a video game and, um, more. Pretty incredible. My husband bought the fully voiced audio book (!) which we listened to driving back to Wisconsin. The story follows Ayase, a girl with a very strange secret, and Jo Oda, a self-centered pickpocket who is drawn into a convoluted and complex plot he didn't ask for and doesn't really want to deal with.So far my favorite character is Miki Morikawa, a young, incredibly bright nerd who swears like a sailor, leads an inept street gang, and is voiced by a woman. Daniel Ozimek is pretty cool tool.
Lianne Sentar and Rebecca Scoble, both involved with Tokyo Demons and former employees of TokyoPop have recently launched Chromatic Press which has some pretty cool stuff going on so you should check it out.
Panels play a big part of Ohayocon. I find the quality to be hit or miss, and this year was no exception. I attended a Persona panel, which was mostly trivia (I missed the first part. There might have been more discussion, research etc. that I missed). And I did get to meet MegaTokyo artist and co-creator Fred Gallagher, but his panel was so low key I could hardly hear him. I give him a pass, and I won't post the awesome pic of me standing next to him while he was wearing a full body kitty cat costume because he tweeted he was embarrassed by it (then why wear it, Fred?).
The best panel I attended was one about the Ren'Py game engine, a program that helps developers create a video game, namely, a visual novel. A visual novel is a style of game that can be as simple as a story book you click through. The panel was put on by the writer and artist of OTChi Kocchi, a recently released visual novel game set in a pharmacy school. The presenters really laid out the process and it looks pretty simple. The fact that they had never made a video game before also gave me hope of maybe someday making my own. They also handed out free cds of the game (Act I), which is also available for free download on their site.
Finally of course, was the comradery. Because it doesn't matter if you're 17 or 70, hanging out with people-- friends, family, and strangers, who laugh at the same things you do, introduce you to new and innovative experiences, and create an environment where you can feel free to be whoever you want to be, is something pretty magical. Overall I had a blast, and returned home inspired, with my muse raging to create.
My husband is a big fan of They Might Be Giants, as am I (as evidenced by my vanity plate.)
We both enjoyed their album Join Us and the videos posted on You Tube in answer to a contest to create a music video to the first song: Can't Keep Johnny Down. The winner is pretty funny.
HOWEVER, the one that caught our eye was one by an artist named AKAcronny (on YouTube.) This is the video we always picture as we listen to the song.
Now I've been trying to get my husband to go to an anime convention called Ohayocon since I started going myself about 6 years ago. This year, I finally convinced him, with the caveat that I would dress as the Skullivan.
This is how much I love my husband.
He made all the costumes himself. And so I now have a pair of bunny slippers and some neat skeleton tights. Score.He looked up a how-to on papier-mâché (mostly guys making Deadmau5 heads). We found that the fewer the layers, the more flexible and therefore less likely to crack the head was.
Ok so one is right outside of Sparta - home of my Aunt and Uncle.
My view waking up in the second story spare bedroom after a gentle snow sprinkle the night before. The day before, we had visited an Amish goat farm (I will be uploading a review here soon.)
Throughout the weekend, I found myself continually speaking in cross purposes and eventually I started to record them:
Word ---My meaning ---Misunderstood as---
Groom - man getting married - person taking care of a horse
Well done - meat cooked until no longer pink - well prepared
Wedding site - wedding webpage - place for a wedding
Wedding party - group of people inc. bride, groom, bridesmaids etc. - a party thrown for a wedding
Wedding show - expo - tv program
Mini - a car - a miniature horse
Kids - children - baby goats
Colon - punctuation - lower intestine
Tender - not tough - one who tends
A stack of books near the bed in the spare bedroom.
I also made a list of animals that are proving to be ecological "canaries in the coalmine" as far as being very environmentally sensitive. They also all sort of relate to each other as they are not "charismatic megafauna" and few human beings probably even notice that they are in trouble.
These hats, my Aunt's, are headed to the second magical place - Wild Woman Clothing
The store has recently relocated after 10 years in Wilton, Wisconsin (pop. 519) and is now located in an old theater (I believe "The Classic"?) There is a light-up marquee (light up marquis-ha!) out front, a few poster holders, and the remnant of an old ticket booth in the lobby. That's the lobby above, complete with gilded peacock on the duvet.
Once you step inside, it is just overwhelming. And the proprietess laments, "there is nothing in here" - meaning that she has only begun to fill the space.
Needless to say, the hats found a good home.
Kimonos on the wall.
Fancy, funky shoes in sizes that actually fit people's feet!
The fantastic Dress - recently rented by a drag queen who wore it to a convention. I believe he was a Lutheran Financial Planner from Eau Claire.
Another strange sort of symbol kept appearing throughout the weekend, from the lunch location in Onalaska where my Dad and sister and I went, to the box my Uncle sent some of his homebrew home with me in, to the CSA near my friend's house (which she might volunteer for.) What does it mean?
