nihon e!!
it's official: planes are booked, trains are pass'd, and ji can get back in the country... i'm going to japan!!
i'm super-excited to commence on even more j-land adventures, this time with a partner-in-crime, at least for the first half. shannon will be venturing with me to snow country niigata, known for its rice and its japanese way for a few days until we go down to hang in tokyo a bit before shipping her back stateside. then it will be off to kyoto and tsuru for me to visit robin and ji and who knows what other trouble i can get into for the remaining week...
in the meantime, besides pretending to be a nihongo no sensei to shannon who's steadfastly starting a sporadic trek into the japanese language, i'm trying to figure out how to best bilk the japan rail system to my best (read: least expensive) advantage. tatoeba (for example): shannon's rail pass for her week in japan will cost just under $150... now you may think that $150 is a lot of moola for a week, but compare that to my minimum of $400 (IF i can really work the system) to over $500... just for trains!

so, anyone have a hitchhiker's guide to japan??