Distorted Moon over Tokyo (2024)

[Yugamu Tsuki]

Finally have all our hotels booked for November. I'll be acting as guide for my mum (she's been diligently studying with duolingo for about a year and a half now). She is super excited as we managed to get into contact with my host family from 2006 and she is excited to meet "mother and the boys" in person.

 

We'll be barnstorming around the middle/southern half of Japan:

Tokyo Area - As she's gotten into anime recently we figured we'd hang around Akihabara as a base thanks to the close proximity of the Yamanote. To that end I'm sure we will hit the "Little TGV" rail izakaya and a night at Dear Stage. 

 

Kyoto- Regular shrines, train museum, Nara, but most importantly we'll be hanging out with my old host family for an encore trip out ours from the past, Arashiyama's Sagano Romantic Train

 

Hiroshima - Miyajima, Peace Park, and in memoria of my dad we will be hitting up the Costco

 

Fukuoka - Sumo competition. My mum's an avid fan of Midorifuji and seeing him in person may be one of the highlights for her of the trip.

 

Osaka- Meeting up with an old co-worker who also is a railfan.

 

Yamanashi - My mom's a huge fan of Yuru Camp / Laid-Back Camp (anime about high school girls camping and cooking) which takes place around Yamanashi and Shizuoka so we'll be doing a pilgrimage around some the places.

 

Fuchu- We'll be hitting the racetrack for the Japan Cup as well as the Tama Zoo and Puroland. Monorail here we'll need to ride as well.

 

Last time I went was in middle October so I'm sure the colours will be even better in November. Autumn truly will be the season of food, sport, and I'm sure I'll get plenty of reading in during the train rides between each place.

[kuro68000]

Sounds like a packed and very fun time! If you are going to Tama Zoo there is Keio Rail Land right opposite it. I've never, but heard it's more of a kid's thing.

[Yugamu Tsuki]

Outstanding! We'll at least look at it from the outside and then figure out if we want to go in or not. Many thanks!

[Kamome]

The Fukuoka Basho at the Kokusai Centre lacks some of the esteem of watching Sumo in the Ryogoku Kokugikan, but it's arena access corridors are quite tight so your mum will literally be rubbing shoulders with the wrestlers. Will you get a Masu box? We've done this a few times when family have visited in November. They can be a bit tight for 4 westerners to sit in for a prolonged period of time but give you a great view of the action.

 

November will definitely be a great time to come for Autumn leaves. As you'll be travelling east to west, you'll get perfect changing somewhere along your journey. 

[kuro68000]

Any particular wrestlers you want to see? I always enjoy watching Ura.

[Yugamu Tsuki]

Yes, we'll be aiming for a masu once the tickets go on sale in September. Hoping our friends back in the States can catch us in the background when NHK airs the daily highlights. The tickets don't seem too difficult for foreigners to get, I think the harder ones will be the horse race which is traditional chuusen lottery.

 

Ura is truly a crowd favorite with a very unique ritual to get started. I like him, Midorifuji, Tobizaru the Flying Monkey, and Endo who I believe has the most kinboshi of active wrestlers at the moment.

 

Truth be told I have been to the other 3 islands but never to Kyushu before so I am excited for this visit. We were going to try to hit Hitoyoshi and Kumamoto but with the current condition we felt it may take too much time to travel. Hopefully when we go back (because she sure as heck is already planning at least a second trip to hit Hokkaido and the northern half of Japan) the rails are back in order and maybe visit it them.

[cteno4]

Terunofugi is back from his injuries and seems quite unstoppable this week! Great battle with Ura a couple of days ago, one of those grand matches.

next time I get to Japan a sumo match is very high on the list, one of the things I’ve missed on doing in the past. Kicking myself as I had a great opportunity many years ago and I ended up doing a competing fun thing. But never had a bad adventure in Japan, everyone was great and worth it. Just too many to do!

 

jeff

[kuro68000]

I have to agree, the Terunofuji v Ura match was exceptional.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTjy5Qj_ZqQ

[Yugamu Tsuki]

And with an e-mail this morning we secured Masu Box B seats for the November 17th tournament. Suitcase is more or less packed already. This time I'm just doing a carry on, I learned my lesson last trip with the "ease" handling 2 check-ins. I do not need 2 pairs of cowboy boots and 3 suits, though walking through Akihabara in a cheetah print suit and white Panama hat must have been a sight to behold. Just spent the past 4 days doing through my old textbooks and study aids and feel comfortable with my language level again.

 

I went ahead and saved all my locations into google maps and it actually doesn't look as hectic as I thought. With that being said, aside from the aquarium and castle, is there anything in Osaka that would be worth a visit? We will be there about a day and a half and the only think I've even done there in the past is visit the National Bunraku Theater.

[Kingmeow]

51 minutes ago, Yugamu Tsuki said:

With that being said, aside from the aquarium and castle, is there anything in Osaka that would be worth a visit? We will be there about a day and a half and the only think I've even done there in the past is visit the National Bunraku Theater.

 

Joshin Super Kids Land, 5th Floor, if you haven't been.  😎

[kuro68000]

Congrats on the seats, I've wanted to go to sumo for years but can't sit on the floor for that long. Hopefully it's an exciting day. You can always rely on Ura to deliver something interesting, at the very least!

[Yugamu Tsuki]

Does anyone know how the Volks HQ in Kyoto is? I heard its supposed to have a decent model railroad selection/display.

[Kamome]

I went a good few  years ago. There was a good range of HO gauge items on display, not only Zoukei Mura items and a wealth of n gauge stuff. Pretty sure it had an N gauge layout but I could be thinking of another shop. At the time I was looking at the HO options more than N.  I was mostly enamoured with the range of military models, the SWS series of aircraft look incredible, as well as tools and paints not readily available in Japan other than across this company's shops and so started my relationship with not being able to go to any Volks shop and leave empty handed. There is a scary looking Victorian-esque doll element to the Volks business which I cannot understand why you'd want anything so creepy in your home, but each to their own. There is a lot of miniature and figure painting materials as well as some exclusive mecha kits, which although not my area of interest, are pretty impressive none the less.

 

I really like their level of service and range. Maybe outside of Japan finding some of these items is much easier and possibly cheaper, but living here Volks stock products that many other places don't. My local independent carry the Zoukei Mura SWS kits now and can order the HO SRS rolling stock, but I have to get my Vallejo paint and other materials from Volks.

[Yugamu Tsuki]

All packed and looking at the airport from my office window, knowing I'll be there this time tomorrow. Only lingering issue I have is if the JRA site causes by bank to block my card when I try to get tickets so just double checking my Wifi-Calling is going to work in the situation. Gonna try to book our Shinkansen tickets as soon as we arrive so it will be one less thing to worry about. I'm only bringing a carry on in expectation to either ship things back home or pick-up a check-in baggage for goodies on the way back.

[cteno4]

Call your bank on your card and ask for a supervisor. I just had a friend traveling to the fringes of the South Pacific and being told a bunch of garbage at his bank/card until he talked to a supervisor in the security group so that they would put the proper notes in that he is traveling to these countries over these dates. Other staff told him they did it all by ai and no notes and they never had folks notify the bank (pure poppycock)! He’s been traveling in the boonies now for 3 weeks and no issues.

 

jeff

[Tony Galiani]

Have a great trip.  Please keep us posted.

Tony

[Yugamu Tsuki]

I’m actual rubbish when it comes to keeping updated during trips so I’ll post pictures later. Hotel in Kyoto is next to the rail museum which was fun. We were going to Nara today but unfortunately my mom messed up her leg bad so we’ll be staying nearby until the trip to Hiroshima tomorrow. My Japanese is far better than I expected which is a nice confidence boost for this old guy. 
 

The Sagano Romance train was a fun ride, I wish for more red leaves but its been a hotter season. 

[Yugamu Tsuki]

Eating tour basically. Many food stalls at shrines, ,many kaiseki dinners including one with fugu pufferfish. We’ve been averaging 13,000 steps a day but by mom may have done too much on fushimi inari/koimizudera day so we had to skip nara since her legs were acting up. Plus side we hit the toji temple lightup which we weren’t planning on. Breaking from my hermit form in the usa we managed to have dinner with not only my host family but also meeting up with twitter friends for meals/drinks.