 | "Going to Japan" by Konstantin
(2006-05-23) |
It hasn't even been a year since I've visited Japan, and my friends and I are already starting to plan out our next trip, probably about a year from now. It's going to be great revisiting Akiba, Ikebukuro, and Nakano, but this time around I'm definitely planning on doing more sightseeing than pure fannish shopping. If there's one thing that my previous trip has taught me, though, it's that you can never start preparing too early, partly because planning anything that involves former CS majors is like herding cats, and partly because early reservations can make things a lot cheaper. In case anyone reading this has been pondering a first Japan trip, I thought I'd run down the major issues involved with the planning process.
One of the most important considerations, of course, is picking a time to go. Early summer is usually out of the question due to the rainy season, late summer has Comiket but is stiflingly hot and humid, Autumn is the busiest time of year for us University staff, and winter is expensive around the holidays (and Japan's tourist industry appears to go into hibernation after finishing up the New Year's celebrations). So the logical choice was mid-spring, between Easter and Golden Week, just in time to see the sakura bloom and encounter scores of schoolgirls in seifuku. ^^
Airfare is another major consideration, and another good reason to start looking early, since prices tend to be much higher if you order tickets at the last minute. On the last trip, I've ended up getting tickets from JTB, since they managed to squeeze round-trip tickets from Pittsburgh to Narita just under $1000 per person, and on Japan Airlines to boot (the thought of getting my 6'3" frame shoehorned for nearly a day into one of the tiny seats that pass for economy space of the US airlines is too depressing to bear much consideration), so they're a great place to start. You may be able to get better deals elsewhere if you're flying from one of the major cities, but for a relative backwater like Pittsburgh, JTB looks like the way to go. While at it, it's also a good idea to grab a JR pass from them as well, since those things are extremely convenient, and justify their high cost if you plan to take any trips on the shinkansen.
Picking the right hotel is also very important, and pretty hard if you've never been in Japan before. As we found out last time, one of the first rules is to avoid cheap hotels in trendy areas, because the rooms there are microscopic. Compared to the double at the Shinjuku hotel at which I stayed during the last trip, my old broom closet of a college dorm single seemed downright cavernous. Let's just say that by the end we were running out of space to put our acquisitions, let alone ourselves. So a good choice would be something that charges more than $100/night for a double, is located in one of the quieter areas, and is close to a JR station (Tokyo's light rail system puts New York's to shame, and is a very quick and convenient way to get around the city).
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