Kevin's Japan Trip 2011

[kevinamadeus]

Objective

• To celebrate my graduation (I can't say I really graduated in London but well I didn't go on a graduation trip after uni in HK so... somehow that counts!)
• To visit some filming sites of SKE48 TV shows & PV
• To watch AKB48 General Election and 2 Minogashita Kimitachi e stages by SKE48

Proposed Schedule
Nagoya

• Visit filming sites within Nagoya city, which are featured in Banzai Venus PV, SKE48 Gakuen, Buttsuke!, Kono hen Traveller and more.
• Visit Minamichita (Hazumisaki), where the Hazumisaki PV was filmed. 2 episodes of SKE48 Gakuen also had filming in Minamichita.

Tokyo

• Watch AKB48 General Election (live broadcast, or maybe luckier, win a super distance lottery)
• Watch Minogashita Kimitachi e S2nd Stage (live)
• Watch Minogashita Kimitachi e S3rd Stage (live broadcast)

Other tentative places

• Kyoto
• Nagano
• Enoshima

[kevinamadeus]

Arrived Chubu Airport quite late, so nothing very special about the day.
Had some chat with the ojisan next to my seat though. He is a farmer in Hamamatsu returning home after his visit in China/Hong Kong.
He seemed curious on what I watched while I was on the flight...
Well I watched 110603 Majisuka Gakuen 2, 110604 Star Hime Sagashi Taro, 110605 Itte Koi 48 and 110605 Nemousu TV.
Just to catch up after all the moving stuff in the past few days, you know.




I didn't took the quickest train to Nagoya, but took a second fastest train with normal seats which only costs 850 Yen. It took less than 40 minutes.

And I met SKE48 on the first day. Lucky. (?)


I am staying in Sakae, but as I arrived late, there is nothing I can check out except convenient stores!

[Pollinic]

Have fun on your trip! Looking forward to your Minami-chita report, and especially how to get there. I guess by bus. My original plan is to hit it too.

Mind sharing your Nagoya hotel as well?

[kevinamadeus]

The hotel is Toyoko Inn, the chain with hundreds of business budget hotels. They are small but clean and tidy with breakfast provided. Some branches even provide simple dinners.

This is the SAKAE branch.


Rooms are small.

[kevinamadeus]

I wanted to rent a car to Minamichita, but failed as I didn't have time to make an international permit before I go.
By agents like ToCoo, I can just rent a car for 12 hours for like 4xxx yen. You need to add fuel cost and highway cost but if you travel in groups, renting a car is the best option. Minamichita is around 70ish kilometres away from Nagoya.

If you don't have a car, you need advanced planing for the trip as trains & buses there run very infrequently. It took me hell lot of time to fit everything into the trains/bus timetables. The more places you stop, the more difficult your plan is.

I skipped the amusement park thing in Minamichita. (Bungee Sengen, SKE48 Gakuen etc.) It is hard to get to without a car.

Basically my trip is:

• Ride train to Kowa (East side of Minamichita)
• Take bus to Hana Hiroba
• Take bus to Morozaki (Hazumisaki)
• Take buses (need change) to Uzumi for Kirakuya the shop (West side of Minamichita)
• Back to city by train from Uzumi (probably need changes)

[kevinamadeus]

Points in Minamichita:

• If it is sunny, you will sweat until you are dried. Bring water
• Wear something comfortable to walk on
• Plan beforehand, buses and trains run as few as once every 2 hours
• Buy 1 day buses pass from the driver. It is usable on all routes by 2 bus companies there
• Familiarize yourself with KANJI, or at least hiragana of the places/bus route. There are no english signs nor announcement. I nearly missed a bus because of expecting the name of the route is the same as the terminal. But no they are different

[kevinamadeus]

I went to Hana Hiroba, featured in SKE48 Gakuen. But hell the himawari is not yet ready. 3 weeks later probably.
And it is so huge that you walk like you are dying. At the end, I couldn't find where the twintail Yuria had a role-play with Masana. What a waste of time.

[kevinamadeus]

You see this in their PV & again SKE48 Gakuen.





With people writing things about SKE.





I added mine to the series. Find out what I've written there.

[kevinamadeus]

continue tmr
also visited Oosu and Sunshine Sakae after returning Nagoya.

[kevinamadeus]

This is the viewing tower of Hazumisaki, which you see in the PV and SKE48 Gakuen.
It was renovated last year as more people come after the SKE PV. But still it is kind of raw.









Below the small hill where the temple and the viewing tower resides, there is the coast line where the PV is filmed, and also the Kokuhaku Eizou in SKE48 Gakuen.