And so once again, it’s time to Return to Japan!
(I did! Â And it was (mostly) great!)
The long-awaited (at least awaited by me! ^_^) fourth Nerdtour will begin soon! Â The plan is to take 1 month in Japan, just like in 2007, except without the science fiction convention, and hopefully a lot more photos and blogging! Â The tour will start on October 20th, when I fly out of Washington National Airport, bound for Narita, Japan! Â I’ll be over there until the day after Thanksgiving, November 23, when I (reluctantly!) fly back to DC. Â While I’m there I’ll be staying in the same apartment building I stayed at in 2007, if they have them available, in Monzennakacho.
(They were available, and I stayed in an apartment one floor up and 4 doors down from the one before!)
This trip is also going to be different, because the places I most want to visit were affected by the horrible earthquake in 2011.  I want to go see what has changed, what has remained, and what is being restored.  I’ll be returning to Sendai and Matsushima, and possibly other parts of the Tohoku region that I had seen in 2007 and 2010.
(Well, I managed to get to Sendai and Matsushima, although I didn’t get to spend as much time there as I wanted, and I didn’t get to see more of Tohoku like I planned.)
I intend to blog every day of the trip and take lots of photos, because I want to help promote Japan to foreign tourists, so that the folks in Japan can get back to more normal lives. Â Japan needs tourists!
(Boy did I blow that resolve, big time! Managed to blog regularly for a couple of days, then decided to spend my time actually doing things rather than write about them! I’m doing that now, on an occasional basis, so stay tuned!)
Since I may or may not have enough money to spare, I’ve started a GoFundMe page, where if you feel like it, you can donate a little to help me survive on the ground there! Â The exchange rate for the dollar is pretty bad as I write this, so a dollar doesn’t go as far as it did back in 2007, or even in 2010. Â Therefore any little bit will help keep me fed, even if it’s only rice balls and ramen bowls!
(No one helped, too many people had too little money these days!)
Look for more in the coming months, as the preparations begin!
(Rather, look for more posts about the trip, as I get to them!)