That’s right just like OH SO MANY blogs that talk about anime/figures I’ve also ended up doing a blog post saying I’m saving up for a trip to Japan! I’ve been telling myself I’ll visit Japan since the 5th grade so I’m fully committed to saving up, this isn’t an idle promise. Life altering events withstanding I WILL go to Japan in 3-5 years! Starting next month I’ll have $50 subtracted from every paycheck into a separate account. If I happen to gain more money through bonuses and tax returns I’ll add in a portion from that into this fund too!
Now if I stopped collecting figures I could probably have enough money much quicker but…I want to have my cake and eat it too! I’m willing to wait for my trip in order to keep collecting the things I love. After all, I wouldn’t have as much interest in visting Japan to begin with if it weren’t for my love of anime, manga, video games, and figures! But I will cut back a bit because this trip will come to mind every time I’m about to hit the purchase button. I also want to make sure my trip is amazing, even if that means saving up a lot more money to do a few more things.
I finally pulled the trigger and decided that I need to progress from casually discussing plans to visit Japan to committing by actually saving up money because a co-worker happens to be going to Japan in a few months. It made me think over a lot of things I’ve acknowledged already but not acted on, I’m not getting any younger and this trip ideally should happen before I settle down. I secretly hope to be able to visit in 2-3 years, but its best to aim for 3-5 years for now so I don’t feel let down if I need to direct my funds elsewhere for something.
I had originally planned on not going on a professionally scheduled tour because I was worried that all the sights would feel forced and rushed. In the past couple years I’ve already bought and read several Japan tourist books. Although I already know most of the (main) desirable sights from watching so much anime and seeing where the charcters go 
so the tour books I went after were more specialized. But planning the whole trip just as an amateur from tour books might not give me as much satisfaction as I want, the tour my co-worker is going on had several aspects to it that I wouldn’t have thought to arrange as part of our trip. I want to do everything on this tour and I don’t think I would be able to do all this in the same alotted time and budget on my own. Although this tour isn’t my completely ideal trip to Japan, we want to stay in Japan for 2 weeks and this tour is 9 days and focuses on the “classic” sights. I can’t imagine visiting Japan and not spending at least an entire day in Akihabara among other otaku oriented destinations. Plus I imagine our time will feel extremely rushed (but happy) on the tour, we’d love a few days to go to places at our own awkward/inefficient pace without having to worry about seeing enough of Japan to leave feeling satisfied.
I seriously read this part over and over again “Spend the night at a lakeside Japanese hot spring resort. Tonight after change to ukata enjoy a Kyoto styled kaiseki banquet, an extensive meal created from the most refined and delicate seasonal ingredients.” I’ve ALWAYS wanted to do this at an Onsen hotel! And it didn’t help that I saw the meals at a time when I was hungry. I can’t tell you how many Japanese shows I watch just to drool over the food. On “I Survived a Japanese TV Show” when they went to the fish market and had some of the most expensive sashimi in the world I was RIDICULOUSLY envious! Not to mention the food in anime always looks spectacular, damn Naruto always gets me craving Grilled Meat and Ramen!
My Japan Travel Books Read So Far
~Cruising the Anime City: An Otaku Guide to Neo Tokyo
~Little Adventures in Tokyo: 39 Thrills for the Urban Explorer
~A Guide to the Gardens of Kyoto
There are quite a few more I’d like to read in the upcoming couple years.
Do you want to visit Japan? What would you want to see the most?
Yi on 
bluedrakon on 
lovelyduckie on 
ninjovee on
#1 by Guy at September 16th, 2009
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Planning where to go on a trip is always such a hassle. Went to NYC, had “plans”, but they were too vague, not set in stone what to do each day. Ended up doing VERY little. Luckily, I spent the time before at GenCon which was my true goal
Also, you can save money, and then buy the figures in Japan, like the dude on figure.fm who needed 28 boxes to ship home everything he got in Japan. Though that might be going a tad overboard.
#2 by radiant at September 16th, 2009
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Sweet! I went to Tokyo Japan several years ago, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I want to go back again, but I can’t afford to at the moment.
Do you get paid twice a month, or once a month? If it’s twice a month, you’ll have $1250 after one year, which is enough for you to fly to Japan and back, excluding everything else.
#3 by OpenHappy at September 16th, 2009
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Went to Japan twice and love to go a few more times. I have kids now, so we can only go to Hong Kong for vacation now and not really able to make another trip to Japan …. Mmmmm, sounds like a real good idea … japan, want to go as well … also needs to save money …
#4 by Jem at September 16th, 2009
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Sounds cool. Gonna take the bf? For 9 days, that looks to be a good deal. I fear when I go to Japan – I’m gonna have to save A LOT of money.
#5 by Snark at September 16th, 2009
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Good to know that everything has been put in motion for your inevitable trip to Japan! I reckon you’ll love it there! The food is delicious, the sights are fantastic, Akihabara is awesome and porn can be purchased pretty much anywhere!
#6 by meronpan at September 16th, 2009
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personally i don’t like tours for the rushed feeling + lack of freedom… although being able to speak and read japanese certainly made me feel more at home wandering around ^^; also decided that i’d make as many trips as possible so i figured there was no need to rush. ^^;
despite that i actually did go on a tour when i was visiting with my family. http://escapesltd.com/ had a pretty awesome price at the time – was like $900/$1000 per person for a 7 day trip (well, day 1+2 are flight out + arrival, day 7 is departure), and we added 3 days in kyoto for like $200-300 or something. somehow it came out to like $1300/per person for 7 full days in japan (air + hotel). their package is a lot more pricey now, but anyway, what i meant to talk about was the tour they included was just an optional half day thing and we went to tokyo tower, meiji jingu & ginza. was a great intro to the city and then we were free for the rest of our trip.
whatever ya end up doing, make sure to add a day, preferably more for akiba! when the stores all seem to have 5 or more stories of goodies and you start comparing prices, exploring and stuff… the hours will tick by in an instant ^^;
thing i want to do most when i return is probably stay in a ryokan w/onsen. i’ve been to an onsen (hiiiighly recommended, especially a routenburou when it’s winter ^^) but didn’t get to stay there ‘cuz we just stopped by to relax before a flight during my business trip (best business trip/first visit to japan ever. having a native show you around (even if it’s not touristy stuff) was a privilege. not to mention the company paid $100 tempura dinner ^^;;;;).
after that… would love to go to a matsuri or truly enjoy a hanami… ooo and hatsumoude. …seeing live sumo would be cool too… also kabuki…
…sorry for blabbing on so much. i always get excited when talking about traveling to japan ^^;;;
#7 by lovelyduckie at September 17th, 2009
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The price on that tour is nice but I suspect that $2000 price might be a very special sale, and it will spike by the time I can go
so I’m keeping my options open still.
@ Guy – I’d love to do a lot of figure shopping in Japan but I’ll be sure to bore my partner if I do. So I’ve decided to refrain. Plus I’d like to bring back other memorable items of my trip. Something that will make me nostalgic for Japan. As much as I love figures (and I LOVE figures) I probably won’t look at those anime figures and think of my trip as much as if I bought more traditional objects. Although I plan on findind some AWESOME wall scrolls if I can. Meronpan brought back that amazing one of Saber and I keep thinking about it…
@ radiant – I get paid twice a month, plus once I pay off a certain bill I’ll probably increase the amount I put into this fund.
@ Open – I’d like to think I could visit twice in my life but for now I’ll make sure this visit is GREAT in case I never get a chance to go back.
@ Jem – Yup taking the bf, this is def a situation where it’s great that my partner is big into Japanese stuff too. Poor guy is scared of heights/planes but he still wants to go. Half the money will be for travel/eating expenses…and the other half will be for unique souvenirs. I lose control of my wallet when I’m somewhere that far away from home.
@ Snark – I wonder what the fellow shoppers will think of me looking through those types of questionable items with them? Or maybe there are a fair number of tall american girls into that sort of thing? When I say “tall” I mean by Japan’s standards, I’m the same height as the main character from Lovely Complex and that whole series was about how freakishly tall she is so…
@ meronpan – I’d prefer not to do the tour and do all the on my own…but I’m worried I’ll underestimate the language barrier and end up having a terrible time and feeling all the worse because we could have had a better time had I just signed up for a tour. The bf and I have some understanding of the Japanese language…but the only things we’re really good at saying are things like “I’m going to kick your ass” and “I love you” from hearing those phrases so often in anime. After reading about staying in a hot spring hotel there is NO WAY I can not do that now, regardless of if I do a tour or not. I’m hoping if we do the tour FIRST and then stay 5 extra days on our own we’ll feel more comfortable wandering around on our own after being lead around so much. Plus I see foreigners asking for directions in anime often and a professor of mine said that when he asked for directions in Japan the people he asked usually got excited at the chance to use English. Although maybe I’ll get beat up by a Konata for asking a Tsukasa for directions
#8 by Snark at September 17th, 2009
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@ Duckie
Put it this way, I once accidentally bought a yaoi manga (the guys on the cover looked like women!) from a store that only sold yaoi stuff; whatever looks you get couldn’t possibly be weirder then the ones I got -_-;
#9 by lovelyduckie at September 17th, 2009
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@ Snark – LOL, very true, although if I saw you in the store I’d probably feel more comfortable being in the store myself (that is if I liked yaoi). It’s like the time my friends in high school dragged me into this store called Condomworld, and I felt really awkward until I saw a women there in extremely traditional/conservative clothing. I got so comfortable after seeing her that my friends had me be the one to go to the counter to buy all the stuff. I almost fell for a trap figure once, I was going to pre-order Bridget (the nun). I had previously thought that trap was just another word for jail bait…I’m glad I got that cleared up.
Nothing against yaoi or traps mind you, just not my thing. If anything I’d much prefer to see shoujo-ai over shonen-ai.
#10 by bluedrakon at September 17th, 2009
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Not been myself, but do want to go myself. Sounds like you have a great plan. Hopefully pricing will not go up too much in the coming years.
I am sure the time spend reading will help you out later. I myself would probably take the tour deals as I would not want to get lost – lol.
#11 by Snark at September 17th, 2009
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@ Duckie
As an aside, I want to say that Condomworld is the greatest store name I’ve ever heard.
#12 by lovelyduckie at September 18th, 2009
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@ Blue – Reading the tour books is actually kind of fun. I really got a kick out of the Otaku one.
@ Snark – It’s on Newbury Street in Boston, MA if you ever find yourself around these parts
actually…it’s right across the street from the convention center where they have Anime Boston every year! I’ll spread the word for next spring’s convention so that otaku love can be properly accessorized.
#13 by Gordanham at September 20th, 2009
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Hope the money piles fast^^
I’m planning to go the Summer of 2011, but it is an exchange program.
I really wish I could see what you’re selling on ebay on your blog. I visit you blog all the time, but I only check on what you’re selling about once a week. I missed the Fate/ Maids! I would have so outbid for Rider if I had known! You haven’t put up swimsuit Riser yet have you? Also could you give me a hint of what you’re adding next:)
#14 by lovelyduckie at September 21st, 2009
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@ Gordan – Sorry I ended up feeling weird about posting all the figures I was selling since I wasn’t selling via the blog. I didn’t want all my posts to become ones with me selling stuff. I actually did put up swimsuit Rider and she didn’t sell, no bids at $60. Next I’m selling Kotobukiya Swimsuit Shana, Kotobukiya Komari, Cospa Horo, Griffon Caren Ortensia, Alter Sakura and I forget what else.
#15 by The Envoy at September 21st, 2009
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I was planning to visit Japan next year….but the plans seem to be on shaky ground now…..the plan was to do the classical Tokyo-Kyoto route, but not on a pre-packaged tour, but backpacker style.
#16 by lovelyduckie at October 28th, 2009
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My co-worker just returned from this tour and had nothing but good things to say!
#17 by lovelyduckie at November 18th, 2009
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I’ve started saving, but I won’t be able to go on this trip until I’ve been at this company 5 years and earn that coveted 3rd vacation week. So 2 more years!