Only a month to go until I depart for Japan and I am very excited! Hopefully I will have time during my visit to breathe a little life back into my blog.
My plans are coming along nicely. I've booked my flight and ordered my JR Rail Pass voucher. Since I'll be in Japan for six weeks, I went with the one week pass and I will spend the first week on a series of day trips. It's the most cost-effective way to visit several cities, and since they are within a reasonable distance from Hiroshima, I won't have to pay for additional hotel- I can just go back to my apartment each night. That's a lot of train time, but I don't mind.
In my first week, I plan to visit Kyoto, Fukuoka and Osaka. The sumo tournament is in Osaka that week, so I am planning to go one day. If I have the opportunity, I'll return to Osaka later in my trip to watch bunraku since they will have shows during that time. I will spread out my sightseeing in Hiroshima through the course of my visit, but will definitely spend a day at Miyajima Island. I promised my younger kids that I would visit the Children's Peace Monument and have been folding cranes to leave there for them. We have 750 done so far. They are in small bags, by color, and I'll string them together when I get settled. It's easier to pack them this way, I think.
Once my intensive sightseeing trip is done in the first week, I will prepare myself mentally for the true purpose of my trip: study! I will be taking Japanese classes for four weeks. My goal is to avoid English as much as possible (which shouldn't be too hard!) and really focus on listening and speaking Japanese. As a tourist, it would be easy to avoid Japanese since the ability to speak it won't really be expected of me, but I want to try my best as much as possible. I'm not setting a No-English rule, though. That would only frustrate me. A lot of people can do that and stick to it, but I don't know that I can. At any rate, I'll enjoy a little home-language time daily when I chat with my kids on Skype. Some other plans that have me really excited are attending a baseball game and seeing the cherry blossoms in full bloom, two things that I missed out on last spring.
I spent a lot of time looking for accommodations for my trip and finally decided on a small furnished apartment, or ウィークリーマンション (weekly mansion). The cost for a month is comparable to a week in a hotel, but I will also have a washing machine and a kitchen. Being able to cook for myself will save a lot of money- and I need to save money, as the kids have many requests for souvenirs! A hostel would have been just a little bit less, but only if I stayed in a dormitory-style room. We did that for a couple of nights last year and it didn't bother me, but for a longer visit like this one, I would like to have some privacy.
My plans are coming along nicely. I've booked my flight and ordered my JR Rail Pass voucher. Since I'll be in Japan for six weeks, I went with the one week pass and I will spend the first week on a series of day trips. It's the most cost-effective way to visit several cities, and since they are within a reasonable distance from Hiroshima, I won't have to pay for additional hotel- I can just go back to my apartment each night. That's a lot of train time, but I don't mind.
In my first week, I plan to visit Kyoto, Fukuoka and Osaka. The sumo tournament is in Osaka that week, so I am planning to go one day. If I have the opportunity, I'll return to Osaka later in my trip to watch bunraku since they will have shows during that time. I will spread out my sightseeing in Hiroshima through the course of my visit, but will definitely spend a day at Miyajima Island. I promised my younger kids that I would visit the Children's Peace Monument and have been folding cranes to leave there for them. We have 750 done so far. They are in small bags, by color, and I'll string them together when I get settled. It's easier to pack them this way, I think.
Once my intensive sightseeing trip is done in the first week, I will prepare myself mentally for the true purpose of my trip: study! I will be taking Japanese classes for four weeks. My goal is to avoid English as much as possible (which shouldn't be too hard!) and really focus on listening and speaking Japanese. As a tourist, it would be easy to avoid Japanese since the ability to speak it won't really be expected of me, but I want to try my best as much as possible. I'm not setting a No-English rule, though. That would only frustrate me. A lot of people can do that and stick to it, but I don't know that I can. At any rate, I'll enjoy a little home-language time daily when I chat with my kids on Skype. Some other plans that have me really excited are attending a baseball game and seeing the cherry blossoms in full bloom, two things that I missed out on last spring.
I spent a lot of time looking for accommodations for my trip and finally decided on a small furnished apartment, or ウィークリーマンション (weekly mansion). The cost for a month is comparable to a week in a hotel, but I will also have a washing machine and a kitchen. Being able to cook for myself will save a lot of money- and I need to save money, as the kids have many requests for souvenirs! A hostel would have been just a little bit less, but only if I stayed in a dormitory-style room. We did that for a couple of nights last year and it didn't bother me, but for a longer visit like this one, I would like to have some privacy.
Well, I'm sure I will post more about my plans as the date gets closer. For now, I have a lot of studying to do so I can finish all of my classes before I leave.
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