stuff to do

I'm trying to figure out just what we're all going to do together in a few weeks. For New Year's Eve we're going to go somewhere and eat soba noodles (it's tradition) then go to Narita-san for the countdown. It's in Narita, only a short drive from home, which should come as a relief to everyone who remembers the 5am train home from Tokyo last year.

Everything else is pretty up in the air at this point. I assume everyone will want to spend a couple days exploring Tokyo, but beyond that, what do people feel like doing? I've been pushing Sam to get out to Kamakura, because it's a) pretty much the oldest city in this part of Japan, and was the seat of the first shogunate and b) because it has a 30-foot tall Buddha. It's about a two hour train ride from here, and probably about the same by car, thanks to Tokyo being in between. One advantage, we'd pass through Yokohama on the way home. In addition to being a neat city, Yokohama is home to Japan's largest China town. It's a cool place to walk through for awhile, and the food rules (it's where shu-mai were invented).

Another possible destination is Chuzenji-ko (just look at the pictures, don't worry about all the scary looking Japanese), a volcanically-formed lake in Tochigi prefecture, about 70 miles north of Tokyo. In addition to being a beautiful area (should be covered in snow in Dec/Jan), it has a bunch of hot springs and is the bureal place of Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder the Tokugawa shogunate, which lasted from 1602-1868. We could go there for a long day trip, or, if we find a cheap spot to stay, spend a weekend.

There are a bunch of smaller things to see closer to home, like Chiba Castle in Chiba City, only about 30km away. We're probably go to Choshi too. It's a port town with an old lighthouse, among other things.

OK, that's a lot of information, but look over it (especially you, Jonathan). Don't want everyone to just be sitting around the house when you get here in two weeks.