Bon voyage emd!!
 

Have a great trip, and drop us a line if you have a chance!

Lucy

have fun

i see that its warming up in tokyo, low 60s, however, with the high temp. comes pollen. tokyo presently has a very high pollen count, so, if you have allergies, don't forget your medication.

i am sure you are just about packed, and ready to go.

itte rashai.

Aw, shucks. And now that you've alerted me, kuranosuke, the Allegra for allergies is on the bed getting ready to get stuffed in the suitcase! I wonder, can you put prescription bottles in those vaccuum packer bags and make then little? :?
With the warm weather also comes the possibility that the cherry blossoms may pop open a bit earlier, a good thing...((h))
I will likely send you an email or two as my son needs to find internet cafes to keep up w/the county's school website for homework assignments.((t))
rhkkmk, NWA tried to take away my 747 63A&C seats. I had to fight to get them back and a fodors post I did to you is what got them back for me. They couldn't dispute the fact that I had secured those seats after they read the post. ((y))
You guys are the best. ((l)) =D>

Bon Voyage, Emd and EmdJr !

Have fun, eat well, and come back with plenty of great memories (and then start immediately planning the next trip) !

Have a great trip, emd. Thanks to your posting I went up to the Japanrail office in Rock Center the other day and got the paper JR schedule.
Enjoy,
Mara

emd, have a great trip, safe travelling and fun times!

Mara, I'm glad you got a schedule. Isn't is so much better than hyperdia (as long as you have a JR pass and aren't in need of individual train costs)?

mrwunrfl: I love bagel and egg sandwiches! I've put one last recommendation on the "food and dining" page of my notebook for Doutor at the JR stations. I forgot the eyeshades and earplugs. I do have clothespins to close the drapes in the hotel room and I never sleep on planes or trains anyway, so I'm ok without the eyeshades. But earplugs I could use...maybe they sell them somewhere at DCA.
Ok believe it or not I am not packed yet, so I'm off to try out the amazing vaccuum seal bags now-- to just shrink away my entire life into one little 21 inch suitcase.

how did you get them to look at the post??

I was on the phone w/the 5th NWA supervisor I had spoken to last Sunday after they told me I had no seat reservations, and I walked her through the process of going into the fodors Asia forum and finding the New Years post I did where I thanked you and said how I had gotten up in the middle of the night to call and get those seats as soon as they opened up! She read it and put me on hold, and 10 min later came back and announced that I now had those seats.
Sometimes alot of things go wrong, but this was one of those moments like in Annie Hall when Woodie Allen is standing in line in NY to go to the movies w/Annie and he has that irritating guy behind him espousing on his take on the meaning of a movie, and Marshall "the medium is the message" McLuhan walks out of nowhere to Woodie Allen's rescue and sets the irritating guy straight on the real meaning of the movie. It was just one of those rare classic moments in life where things go as you really would like them to.

Hi emd, I hope you enjoy the most amazing trip! Oh, how I hope to get to Japan one of these days--do I ever have trip envy! Wishing you safe and happy travels! :-)

that is amazing....i had a very good experience recently with world vacations....we booked a trip and were told that we would get 5M bonus miles...when the e mail came through it listed 2500...i phoned and talked to a supervisor and he said he would fix it but not until our return...he put me on his calendar for july and gave me his direct dial number if i do not see the miles....what more could you ask for....i'm sticking with nwa....and seat 63!!!!

Have a GREAT time!!!!!

rhkkmk: It was more than amazing. I passed 12 hrs. in 63A and it felt like 4 hrs. I have had worse flights to L.A. from D.C.! We had SO MUCH room next to the seats- I was able to fit my carry on that had my notebooks of printouts from this forum and all the other valuable info that the trip could not go forward without, plus my son's daypack w/all his school work, and everything else. It was great!

I hope you have the best trip. Can't wait to hear all about it!

Oh, do I have good info for you, monkeyrhino... that capsule place *geestore* was great, and I can help you find it- it isn't all that easy to find. Ghibli was top notch. More later.

i just did my last seat assignments and we got 63 for both trans pacific flights....they now are using air busses for nrt to bkk so that will be something new but we are in row 19 which should not be too bad...

emd1...I am saving lots of money for the capsule toy store! When do we get to hear everything about your trip...I am on the edge of my seat. I got some good info when I was in NYC, but I have a feeling your hands-on will be priceless!

I developed a medical problem the last few days in Japan and decided to hold off on seeking medical attn. til I got home, so I am dealing w/that now. And unpacking. And trying to reassimilate back into the U.S. (I am really noticing how LOUD everyone is here compared to Japan). If I have to take another medical day tomorrow then I hope to start the report then.
It is much more difficult being back than I ever thought it would be, and much harder than any other trip I've ever been on. As my son said this morning at breakfast, "Where's the miso?"
But to whet your appetite even more, I'll tell you that I just finshed unpacking the capsule collection I got for my daughter (frogs) and for myself (samurai) and put them in the display cases I brought back from Gee-store and they are just so cool.

On the 330's as the seating is 2 x 4 x 2 it's nice to get a pair if seats and never have to worry about who's sitting with you in a set of 3 seats!

Have fun wherever you're going. I'm just getting back from Paris, so I've been out of the forum for a while. Happy Travels!

Hi emd, I hope your medical situatioon will soon be alright.

Regarding the capsule toys you are talking about, are they anthing like the figurines on the following album?

http://photobucket.com/albums/v214/n...6&addtype=

I bought these 3 samurai figurines (not the murano paperweights) at a specialized shop in the Teramachi arcade in Kyoto. They are about 5cm high (without horse)and costed 300-650 yen. Aren't they cool? The shop had figurines mostly of manga caracters (robots and super heros)and these samurai (shinsen-gumi) figurines were excepions.

emd; hope you did not eat or drink anything bad. get well soon, can't wait for your report.

guenmai; no wonder it was quiet. how was paris? expensive? cold? any excitement? love to go again, but the dollar has to get stronger first.

Kuranosuke...Paris was really nice. The weather totally warmed up the day I got there. It was totally sunny and about 70 degrees.Just two weeks prior it had snowed...and a week prior it was between 45-60 degrees. As for prices, I wish I had been in BK instead. I only went on the trip because a friend from childhood wanted to go. It was her first trip. I've been there a couple dozen times.It costs between $1.39 and $1.45 to buy a Euro depending on where you exchange. I use the AmExp office so it's about $1.37 to buy a Euro. I ordered a HALF bottle of Badoit mineral water at the cafe I've been going to for decades and it cost me 5.50Euros (US $7.70)...absolutely RIDICULOUS!Even if the exchange rate had still been $1.00 for 1 Euros, 5.50 Euros for a half bottle of water is ridiculous.I was REALLY longing for Bangkok and Singapore.Then the taxi ride from the airport to the 6th district...a blcok south of Boulevard Saint Germain and between rue de Seine and rue Mabillon costs $90.00. I was livid. I always take the RER train into town for about $11.00, but the people traveling with me insisted on a taxi. They didn't have any luggage( so it would have been VERY easy for them to take the RER) Their luggage didn't arrive with the plane.I had two wheeled suitcases ,but would have had no problem with taking the RER public transportation.So, it was an indescribable trip.I was there last April, alone, and was able to cut down on expenses easier. Happy Travels!

kappa, those are "way cool" as my son would say. And I was at Teramichi just a few days ago and did not see those. Mine are similar. So much good detail. The whole Japanese world of miniatures is pretty intriguing, not just because they look cool but sociologically it is just such a big phenomena for the Japanese. My son and I did alot of musing and discussing about why it is such a big deal in Japan while we were on the trip. I am going to try to put my photos up on a site somewhere and will include photos of my samurais for you.
It wasn't bad food, kuranosuke. On the contrary, the food was so fresh and excellent everywhere we went. It's "big feet" syndrome. Testing tomorrow. If you don't hear from me for a day or more, then I will be getting treated for deep vein thrombosis. And I stayed so well hydrated, no alcohol, no caffeine,and got up and moved on the planes and everything you are supposed to do. It impeded some of our plans the second week unfortunately, but not too much.

emd; don't know what big feet syndrome is, but i hope its not serious. (didn't mean to pry). don't you just love the cold wet dc weather? :-). keep warm, and get well soon.

kappa, now my son says he saw this store possibly. Is it on the end of Teramichi close to the street that has Takashimaya and the other two big dept. stores? (And if it is, why didn't he tell me about it and take me in there? Nevermind that I was lost in the Takashiyama basement food market at the time...)

kuranosuke, I was just making a joke-- my feet and ankles are super swollen. There is no such thing as "big feet syndrome"-- that's an emd-ism.

kuranosuke, are you in D.C.?

emd; big feet syndrome. ha, ha, omoshiroi. now maybe the cold dc weather might be good to reduce the swelling.

no, i am not in dc, but dc is on my weather watch on my yahoo homepage. always want to know how the weather is in dc so i know which way to go with the washington redskins. right now, more interested in narita weather as i will be there in a couple of weeks for a few hours. trying to decide between the teri burger at mcdonalds or mos burger.:-) to go along with my chocolate shake.

When you come to Crystal City next time, we should get together w/mrw at Yamazato.

sounds like an excellent idea, and btw, don't give up on the gtg in japan.

emd, yes the shop was close to Shijo-Street side (on which Takashimaya & Hankyu Dept.stores are situated). I foud it on the left side of Teramachi street coming from Shijo. While most shop closed by 8pm, it was one of the few which remained open after 9pm.

Kuranosuke said "don't give up on the gtg in japan." Yes, great idea! I tried to send a supportive post to you from my Kyoto hotel on 9th of March but I got a problem with the free pc of the hotel.

You two are reviving my interest in a GTG. Do either of you have a trip in mind for any particular time in the next year? I will start an inquiry posting asking people what their plans are to go or when they are thinking of possibly going.

kappa, that is definitely the place my son was in last Wed. evening. When I showed him your post and your samurai pics he immediately said "I was in that place", and when we looked at the map last night he told me it was on the left side of Teramachi coming off of Shijo. That is a bit eerie, being there in the same week. Small world.

emd; i usually go to asia in oct/nov. if i go to japan, i travel in oct. as japan is not as cold as in nov. this year, i am going in nov. so i am by passing japan. next year is open.

i think kappa lives in japan.

kuransouke: I started another posting on a GTG.

I think kappa lives in Japan also, not sure where...

No, I live in Geneva Switzerland. (Florence lives nearby, doesn't she?)I return to Japan (tokyo area) once a year, usually end of winter-beginning of spring but this could be flexible.

emd, your situation with your son wanting to study in Japan reminds me of a friend I know here. Her son was studying in Tokyo and I brought him French paperback books (they are French from Annecy.) couple of times for his mother.

I think Florence is in Paris. Cicerone is closer to you, she is in Zurich.

Today is emd's 50th birthday. Half a century! Happy birthday, Eileen.

Tachibana in McLean must be the best Japanese restaraunt in the D.C. area. Have been going there every weekend for the last several. The senior itamae is from Nagano, grew up in Shibuya. Another is from Ebisu, one from Nagoya, one from Central America, and another from Osaka. One of the hostesses is from Hiroshima. The place has been in business for over 15 years and many of the customers are v. long-time customers. I think they (the restaraunt) moved from Arlington 15 years ago, and a couple of people that I've spoken to were regulars from that time.

Bill, I am only as old as I feel, as long as I forget about the American Assn. of Retired Old Farts solicitation that came last week (does everyone get one of these two wks before their 50th birthday?) Ha- I wish I COULD retire and go to Japan for more than two weeks at a time. But I guess I'm not old enough for that much fun yet.
I will take my son to the place you suggested when we are really grieving and missing Japan (like this weekend). It sounds great.
And happy bday right back at ya.

Happy bithday emd!

I thought Florence was living in Ferney-Voltaire which is a French town bordering Geneva, Switzerland.