Join Austin, Terry, Katie, and Jacob as they romp around Japan for two weeks!
This is a conscience stream of our experiences as they unfold with photos and videos galore, plus our usual sass mouths!
It's definitely going to be an entertaining and interesting experience... Join us won't you?
So I’m sure you’ve worked it out by now that I’m headed to Japan, presumably during the year 2010. Well you’re correct. In fact I might already be there now. I might not have left yet. I might have even come back already! It really depends on when you read this. So in that respect, let me just say that I hope to have / am having / had an amazing time! Or at least that’s what I will want / want / wanted you to think! Or is it? Or?
Anyway the story pretty much goes like this. I’ve wanted to go to Japan for most of my adult life and even grew up watching a lot of subtitled Japanese movies and animation, or “anime.” I’d say I’ve developed a pretty healthy fascination with their culture by now. I love sushi in it’s many forms, I’m an avid RPG video gamer, I’m presently learning to write and speak Japanese, though at the moment I wouldn’t even consider myself conversation-worthy, I have a great respect for their history and beliefs, and to be perfectly honest I tend to find something particularly alluring about the ladies of Japan. Konojotachi wa utsukushi desu! Just saying!
Now, I know this guy, you might know him, by the name of Jacob Hatter, also known to many as the DJ Israel, and he is. Well, commas aside, he pretty much grew up in Japan and was a good companion of mine for many years while he lived here in the States so I got to constantly hear about how amazing Japan is. Eventually the awesome lure of the land of the rising sun recaptured his soul and he parted these shores for greater ambitions. At least that’s how he wants us to remember it. Whatever. All I’m saying is I know a guy who lives over there. I also know other people who know this guy. And those people are coming along for the ride!
Terry Burr and Katie Dahl (follow their story at Can & String) are my companions on this voyage. Since they also know Jacob, and happen to be dating each other, they decided to take a trip overseas together to visit him, sight-seeing along the way. Well naturally when I heard of this I exclaimed my jealousy and desire to go and, to my great enjoyment, was invited along! So I said fuck it, immediately killed my savings, and dropped the cash for a plane ticket because I figured if I didn’t go now with people I know to see another person I know I might never actually go at all. BUT I AM GOING TO JAPAN BABY! WOO!!!
We leave for Japan on March 31st and return April 14th. Two weeks! Two whole glorious weeks with no job, no projects, no calls, no meetings, no coding, no thinking, no stress, no worries! Only super happy neon 3000 fun time! Now I don’t know about Terry and Katie, but for this trip my overclocked brain is shutting the hell down and taking some much needed time off. My phone won’t work so my only form of communication will be this blog, Facebook, and email. Even that will be limited to an extent. I truly want to just cut off from everything for a bit and reboot myself. It’s kind of nice you should try it sometime!
We are flying from Charlotte to Chicago then from there straight to Tokyo where we will be staying for the first four or five days of the trip. Our plan is to span the board of temporary residencies going beyond boring hotels to find more unique places like the famous capsule hotels, hostels, and ryokan! We’re traveling very light bringing only a single rucksack each filled with our laptops, cameras, a few changes of clothes, and some bare necessities. The plan is that we’ll see clothing and items we want to buy while there so no need to bring extra burden! We’re also all bringing empty suitcases to cart home a lot of goodies and loot!
After Tokyo we’re taking the bullet train across the southern coast of the country toward Iwakuni which is where we will meet up and be crashing with Jacob. Now I know “across the country” sounds a bit epic but remember the whole thing is like the size of Tennessee so it won’t be so bad. We should be in Iwakuni for a few days, luckily during which the Sakura (Cherry Blossom) Festival will be going on. Good timing on our part! After that we’re all heading back across the country with Jacob along for the ride, to a few other destinations for some sight seeing and taking in of things and such. I’ll be sure to snap a lot of pictures!
I plan on doing a lot of blog posting while I’m in Japan. Pictures, videos, video logs, stories, quotes, whatever happens will probably end up on this blog or over on Can & String. I want to experience and capture as much as I possibly can in these two weeks so I’m going to try to post pictures and video everyday and even record a daily video log of my experiences. I’m most likely going to do some karaoke and really cannot wait to try the food! I want to be spoiled on authentic sushi and ramen made with family recipes and deep running pride in the craftsmanship of the entire dish down to the ingredients themselves! It’s true artistry and I am an eager patron!
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