Why I'm keeping a blog
Some of you know that I've been studying the Japanese language for about two years now, and some of you probably know that soon I will be embarking on my first trip to Japan in the near future... so the purpose of this blog is to keep my friends and family informed of where I am on my trip, how I'm doing and to assure everyone that I am alive and well. Granted I don't know how easy or difficult it will be to get access to the internet while I'm there, but I do know that Japan is not exactly a third world country so I don't think it will be difficult in most of the places I am visiting.

Why Japan?
Some background is probably in order to start out with. It was quite some time ago when I got the interest to start studying Japanese. Fall of 2001 to be exact was when I'd enrolled in my first Japanese class through Fairfax County Adult Education. If I recall correctly, the inspiration came from several places - having recently gone through a rough break up with the girl I'd been seeing for almost 3 years and wanting to just keep myself active, the interest I had in video games at the time after a co-worker of mine burned me a copy of the Japanese version of Final Fantasy IX before it was released in the states (thanks Rey!), plus the idea that I just felt a bit uncultured - as Americans we primarily learn to speak a single language our whole lives and then expect everyone else to learn our language to communicate with us. What's up with that?! I have so much respect for people who speak two, three, or even more languages. Language and culture are so closely tied together that I just feel it makes one more aware of other people and have a better understanding of how to relate with people in general.

So I started to learn Japanese and really enjoyed my first class. When it was over, however, I got shipped off to Madison, Wisconsin for work - which while it was an experience I wouldn't trade for anything, it did force me to lose whatever groundwork I made in taking that first class. Upon returning from Madison early summer 2003, I retook the Japanese I course that fall of 2003 that I'd already taken before as a review, and I've continued with it since. I studied with Ayako Prystup taking her classes through FCAE and also in some private lessons. This fall I've recently switched to a different class at GMU studying with Sufumi So-sensei to change things up a bit & motivate myself to do a little more studying on my own. So-sensei was understanding of my trip and asked me to give a presentation to the class when I returned, which I happily accepted. Ah, the feeling of being back in college again... it's all starting to come back! Hard to believe it's been 6 years since I graduated from Purdue. I'd better not think about that too much, makes me feel old <laughs>...

With all this studying, I figured there's no better reason for motivation than to go to Japan and experience it for myself. For several years I've attempted to plan a trip - and now I finally have! While I'm sure I will partake in some of the touristy things that the country has to offer, I really just want to go there and experience the culture and people of Japan. I unfortunately do not have a traveling companion for this adventure as I was originally hoping. Maybe for my next trip, but I have a feeling that traveling by myself will be an eye-opening, life changing experience.

My Itinerary
Here is my itinerary in text form with each destination numbered. You can match these numbers up with the map image of Japan below, as that is what I used to plan out my trip.

Thurs Sept 29 – Depart Washington Dulles
Fri Sept 30 – Arrive Nagoya, Japan (4:30pm Nagoya time) – Keep in mind Japan is at the moment 13 hours ahead of EST, and I think 12 hours when we’re not in daylight savings time.
Sat Oct 1 – Nagoya (#1)
Sun Oct 2 – Depart Nagoya, travel to Ise (#2)
Mon Oct 3 – Depart Ise, travel to Kyoto (#3)
Tues Oct 4 – Kyoto
Wed Oct 5 – Kyoto
Thurs Oct 6 – Depart Kyoto, travel to Nara (#4)
Fri Oct 7 – Depart Nara, travel to Osaka (#5)
Sat Oct 8 – Osaka
Sun Oct 9 – Depart Osaka, travel to Kobe (#6)
Mon Oct 10 – Depart Kobe, travel to Beppu (#7)
Tues Oct 11 – Beppu
Wed Oct 12 – Depart Beppu, travel to Hiroshima (#8)
Thurs Oct 13 – Depart Hiroshima, travel to Tokyo (#9)
Fri Oct 14 – Tokyo
Sat Oct 15 – Tokyo
Sun Oct 16 – Depart Tokyo, travel to Nagoya (#10)
Mon Oct 17 – Depart Nagoya and return to Washington Dulles, arrive about 9pm

( click the image to see it full size )

How my trip was planned
I wish I had more time to do research on the country, but there’s a lot to Japan even given it’s smaller size compaed to America. Thanks to my friend Ryan who gave me a gift card for Border’s <hugs>, I picked up Fodor's guide to Japan (revised for 2005). I went through it and read all about the different areas they covered, found the places that I thought would be most interesting and then determined what the best way to get from place to place might be based on where the cities were located. I’d also been reading Japan Made Easy, a book which covers the basics of getting around in Japan as well as recommended places/cities to visit and see.

Preperations I've done
My plane ticket was booked on United using miles (thanks to all the travel I did for AMS!) and most of my hotels were booked through Japan Hotel online. I considered using hostels but the booking process, not being completely online, was a bit too difficult for me to seriously consider taking the chance. Besides the business hotels, I also booked a few nights through Japanese Guest Houses to stay at a Ryokan, which is a more traditional Japanese experience. I’ll actually be served a traditional home cooked dinner and breakfast while I am there. When it’s time for bed, they’ll pull the futon out from the closet for me to sleep on. Little more expensive, but should be well worth the experience.

I’ll also be getting from city to city using Japan’s extensive railway system using a Japan Rail Pass. This is very similar to that of what Europe offers in that I can ride most trains, buses and subways with this pass (all except for the fastest bullet trains, so I might have to book a ticket on one just to say I rode it).

Lastly, through Bank of America I was able to order some Yen directly from their website. Besides the Ryokans which only accept cash, I figure I’ll need some when I arrive. It was as simple as filling out a form on their website, telling them how much I wanted and my bank account number. Within a couple days I received the Yen I’d ordered. My passport was renewed back in July of 2003 – when I was first trying to plan a trip to Japan. Only took me over 2 years to do it, but I’m almost there!

So what’s next?
I leave on Thursday Sept 29th, so my hope is that every day or every other day when I'm in Japan I’ll be able to log in, write up a blurb or two about what I’ve done and where I am and maybe post a picture or two for everyone to see. Feel free to leave some comments about my posts if anyone out there is actually reading them… and I hope you enjoy reading about my travel adventures!