Author: kymdt

Goodwill Guides

Posted on by kymdt

Today I’ve sent out a bunch of e-mails to voluntary goodwill guides in Japan. They are a great way to get a better idea about local cultural life. You can find out more here http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/essential/guideservice.html

We’re hoping to have goodwill guides for Sendai and Kyoto. Last year we met a guide in Tokyo and were shown places we would have never otherwise seen. I’d also recommend Big Apple Greeters in New York…

We’ve looked around for goodwill guides in China. No luck yet.

Looking forward to high tech toilets.

Posted on by kymdt

One of the highlights of a vist to Japan are the toilets, they are heated and have all sorts of buttons that do all sorts of things. I was pleased to see the Economist acknlowedge this in their article Flush with Ambition.

I love this snippet from the article – “True, high-tech lavatories are energy hogs, accounting for 4% of household energy consumption in Japan—more than clothes dryers or dishwasher”

Perhaps you’ll get a TOTO at your next bathroom upgrade.

Twitter and all that.

Posted on by kymdt

You can keep up to date with our movements no matter what technology you use.

For all you oldies who love e-mail, you can subscribe to us by e-mail. Other people who have moved on to RSS readers can subscribe to our feed. The subscription links are the top right of this screen.

But if you are tweeting about your wheaties then you’ll be pleased to know that this blog is twitter enabled. Follow k_d_t and/or Helen_kw and you’ll be notified in real time.

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Setting up the site.

Posted on by kymdt

I have been slowly setting up this site. I’ve added an Itinerary Page with links to all of our accommodation. I’ve also created a bit of a wish list for China and Japan. Here we will keep adding links to places we’d like to visit. Check out the list for Japan and China.

If you find some you’d like us to do then leave a note on our Guestbook (on the right hand side or the full page), all suggestions will be considered.

You can always check out our latest photos by clicking on the New Photos page. It shows the latest 25 photos from both Helen and I.

Itinerary and Travel Gods

Posted on by kymdt

Yes the Obon Festival finishes on 16 August 2009. This just happens to be the same day we wanted to get a train from Tokyo to Saporro… that’s just bad luck. Even though we had a good travel agent in Japan trying to get us a ticket when they were released for sale today. Special people, perhaps stockholders or JR staff, had snapped up all the berths before they went on sale!! Rude eh?

Anyway, we’ve got a flight arranged, but I am sure Helen is praying to the travel gods.

I’ve uploaded our itinerary you can see it on the Itinerary Page.

Japan Rail

Posted on by kymdt

Japan Rail offers very convenient and fast services throughout Japan. The JR Pass is also great value. Trying to book a JR Sleeper train on the other hand is quite difficult. You need to find a person or travel agent in Japan to book it for you. It can only be booked one month before hand, so it makes it somewhat difficult to plan an itinerary. For those who are inters ted JR East does offer Shinkansen and and some limited express bookings online.

We are trying to book the Cassiopeia, Japan’s dream journey from Ueno to Sapporo. So please cross your fingers and hope we can get our booking on 16 July 2009.

We’re on our way home

Posted on by kymdt

This is my last post, unless I change my mind from Japan. All is looking good with our flights, although I’ve heard that baggage handlers may not handle our bags if they are too heavy! My bag always weighs less than 20kgs – that right sir everytime – there must be something wrong with your scales!!! Maybe that won’t work.

Looking for to a yiros from yiros break when I return.. any takers?
Kym