Who wants to goto Japan with me!

[Herblenny]

You know, I been wanting to goto Japan for many many years!

Wondering who wants to fork out couple of grand and goto Japan for a week?? See the motherland where our cars are made and check out some shops..

Post here if you are interested!

[fikren]

very interested, I've been trying to talk the wife into going maybe this summer money and work permitting. Get a small little group together and might be able to get some savings on lodging/plane tickets through a good travel agent.

[djmtsu]

If you're buying, I'm going!!

[Brent]

I'm going in the summer of 2009 after I get back. I've actually already started planning my trip. Love to get a group to go then, but I'm sure you guys would have all of already went by then.

[fikren]

well I don't have a time frame myself other than I'd like to go at least within the next 2-3 years. We need to see who all would be interested, set a semi solid date and go from there. Summer of 09 might be pretty good gives people about a year and a half to know about it and be able to set some funds back. Getting there and lodging is just part of the cost, you can't tell me you wouldn't show up with a couple of empty suitcases to haul some goodies back with.

I plan on my wife and I going regardless but it would be so much nicer to be able to show up with a group of people to do things with than just me and her showing up and trying to find our way around and all. Last time I was there was about 23 years ago when I was 7 or 8 so needless to say I don't remember anything about it.

Jonathan

[Herblenny]

Cool! I been wanting to go for years!! Just didn't quite work out with the plans.. 2009 I think will give us plenty of time and get some Japanese vendors to show us around. I'll start working on that... and see if there is a BIG event that we could all attend.. and give us time to learn Japanese

[ZGN]

Originally Posted by Herblenny

Cool! I been wanting to go for years!! Just didn't quite work out with the plans.. 2009 I think will give us plenty of time and get some Japanese vendors to show us around. I'll start working on that... and see if there is a BIG event that we could all attend.. and give us time to learn Japanese

I speak a little bit, but not enough to carry on a conversation with anyone.

[fikren]

Originally Posted by zgn

I speak a little bit, but not enough to carry on a conversation with anyone.

I'm thinking about trying out the rosetta stone language learner to see how well it works and how in depth it actually gets. They offer a online version where you pay for a set number of months and can then access it anywhere from any computer. If I decide to do something like that I might be pursuaded to let a few people have the info so they can make use of it also should it turn out to be a benificial program.

I doubt it will teach you to say "I need a dirt price on brand new rotors" but might get close "I need to pay little for new triangles"

[fikren]

http://www.rosettastone.com/personal/languages/japanese

[David Jerome]

If you guys get some pricing together my Fiance and I could possibly be interested. Someone learn the language really well so we can go buy about 20 sets of new rotor housings for dirty cheap.

[Brent]

Hey, don't buy rosetta stone just yet. Give me about a week to see if I still have a hook up with it.

As far as pricing goes. I've been looking around for a while. Typically, per person, if we flew from Nashville to Tokyo in Jan., for example, prices range from ~$1450 for airfare and hotel(holiday inn) to ~$1900 to stay at the Intercontinental Tokyo Bay. If we went in October, the price is the same. Summer months seem to add ~$400-$500.

I think our best bet would be to get airfare seperate, make a plan for traveling all throughout Japan(maybe contact the vendors and see what they reccommend), book the hotel based off of that, and prob. have everyone get a rail pass.

What does everyone think?

[fire85gslse]

Man, this would be a awesome trip with a group of people.

[fikren]

Originally Posted by fire85gslse

Man, this would be a awesome trip with a group of people.

That it would be. I'm definatly in if we are going to be looking near or in the summer of 09. Gives me plenty of time to set some cash back.

At least in a group we will be able to understand each other.

[1twistedrx7]

ummmm this could be fun!! get these plans made out if it sounds good i will go!

[Brent]

I PM'd Carol about it since she went earlier this year. Here is some advice she had.

Originally Posted by ImStillOnJava

sounds like fun im itching to go back, maybe in september haha. if you're looking for a big event, you can try to plan for july 7th, for Sevens Day. Or theres just usually places to go every weekend and some week nights for small events.

id say figure out what kind of tuners you want to visit, and see if you guys will plan to stay near tokyo (kanto region) or if you would like to travel down south more (kansai/kinki region).

the trains and metro there are very convenient and easy to figure out after the first day. if you're planning on not travelling far, you could get by just paying daily for subway and train tickets, or you can check out JR (japan rail) for their visitor's unlimited pass if you guys want to go all over the place (lets you use the bus system too).

my accommodations cost anywhere from 25-50 a night. for the most part i booked at hostels and small hotels. www.hostelworld.com is a good place to start. they're not bad at all, places are always clean, every place usually provides free internet access. another option is looking for what they call "weekly mansions". its basically like renting an apartment for a week. multiple bedrooms, kitchenette....much roomier, and it broke down to maybe 30 something per person ea night.

food's not too expensive there either, i spent maybe 15-30 a day on sit down meals.

i did my hwk more on the tokyo area....tuners out there would be... rmagic, re-amemiya, knightsports, wise one auto, top secret, panspeed, kazama, scoot, spoon, mugen, jun, amuse....given that a lot of them are still quite far apart from each other....90 minutes one direction, 120 minutes another direction......and a few of them aren't near a train station...you could probably take a bus or a taxi...and then walk aimlessly around pointing at a map printout like i did and asking convenience stores how to get there haha. Theres also Tskubua circuit or motegi ring, nikko circuit... the honda museum, the toyota factory tour....asahi or sapporo beer museums..

down south would have Feed, hks, signal, makers7, bride, splash, tanabe, nagisa auto, junction produce, chargespeed...

useful links:
www.japan-guide.com
http://www.gaijinpot.com/
http://gojapan.about.com/

uhm...not sure what else to say....meals are great, no tips, and tax is factored into the menu price. whatever or wherever you eat, you pretty much just bring the check up when you're done and pay.

party and drinking districts = roppongi (lots of foreigners and english speakers, for those days when you just dont feel like trying reallly hard to communicate or miming out what you need hahaha), Shibuya, Shinjuku.

if you guys plan to go out late night, find a place to stay thats in that district so its not too expensive to take a taxi or walk back....otherwise plan to stay out til 5am partying because the trains stop working at midnight.

not sure what else....ask me if you have more Qs

carol