My Hypothetical Trip to Japan

I am going to study art abroad in Japan for a semester! My family will be coming with me for a week to have fun and help me out and get started. I will be leaving on January 3. I'll be there for a full semester. I'm so excited that I wrote out the entire itinerary. Here it is:

1. I need to book my flight now before prices skyrocket. If I book our flight right now it will cost $1157/person (total: $4628+ extra for all my luggage and equipment) through American Airlines. The flight leaves at 6:40 am and we'll arrive to Osaka in almost 24hrs. That is the cheapest flight for us. I'm perfectly okay with that. Before we depart we will exchange our currency at the airport in Raleigh from US dollars to Japanese yen.

2. I need to get immunized for anything I may encounter. I need to be up to date on all the immunizations here in America. Other than those I need a JE-VAX to fight against Japanese encephalitis since I'll be staying longer than a month. Measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and the Tetanus-diphtheria vaccine will also be necessary for me.

3. We will need new passports. It will cost about $135/each at any local post office. I would probably want to get a temporary driver's license/permit. I'll just have to go to a AAA office and pay about $15 for it after filling out the application. It never hurts to have one just in case.

4. My parents would need to book a hotel near where I'm staying. Since I'll be going to Kansai Gaidai University for my studies located in Hirakata they should find a place in or near Osaka. We would have to rent a van for about 10,000 Yen a day. They could stay at the Ritz Hotel in Osaka and end up paying about 417,648.00 Yen which is a little over$ 5,000. Or they could (and I'd prefer this) to stay at a Ryokan. They could stay at Kiku Mori for 17,000 yen which is $208. With this they could get the Japanese experience of residential life.

5. What should be packed for me is all of my stuff (computer, clothes for winter and spring seasons, any entertainment for the trip, a translation book, American toiletries, and other things in my dorm). My family will need to bring entertainment for the trip, all weeks supply of toiletries, and clothes for the winter. I would definitely need to purchase an adapter for my American electronics that needs to be plugged into a Japanese outlet. I might need several. I could purchase them off the internet for around $10.

6. When we settled down and recovered from jet lag we should go sightseeing. Here is what we could do for the dates we're together in Japan:

a. January 3^rd: Leave America and arrive in Japan at the turn of the day.

b. January 4^th: Find a car rental agency and go to the Kiku Mori around 1pm. Unload my family there and of to Hirakata to the college to register and find my room. After which we'll find a restaurant and eat diner around 6 or 7pm. We should head back to the hotel for the rest of the evening.

c. January 5-7^th: Make preparations to go to Tokyo. We could take the car for 6hrs or train for a little less than 4hrs. We could see the Tokyo Tower, Kabukiza Theatre, all the beautiful national parks, and then we can eat in Ebisu. We'll have to find a place to stay of course. We could stay at another Ryokan, the Homeikan, for 21,000 Yen per night. We could go shopping in Shinjuku and Shibuya and eat there. Me and my brother would probably be doing separate stuff from my folks but it would be okay. So much to do in so little time...with my family.

d. January 8^th: We leave to go back to Osaka. On the way back I want to stop by Shizuoka to see the giant Gundam with its new saber! It'll be fun seeing it with my family and taking pictures of it. By the time we get to Shizuoka it'll still be daytime which is fine. But I would like to see the Gundam at night when the saber is lit up. But the family leaves early in the morning. When we get back to Osaka my family will stay in Kiku Mori again for another night. We'll probably eat American food to see what it will taste like there in Japan.

e. January 9^th: My family leaves and I start my life a bachelor student in Japan.