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Deanna plans crazy Japan travel, part N
I have the most awesome idea for a travel baseball adventure in August when I get back to Japan.
I had already thought about going to Shikoku on the weekend of August 27-29 to collect the rest of the prefectures, when I discovered that the Tokyo Big 6 College League is playing an All-Star game there on the 28th, in Matsuyama city, Ehime Prefecture... at Botchan Stadium, celebrating 10 years of the stadium. It's a 30,000-seat stadium that gets a few NPB games per year, even, but of course I have never been there.
So assuming I do my great train ride to Hokkaido and back, making my way through Tohoku for Fighters games in Akita and Morioka as well... I would get back to Tokyo on the 26th, rest one evening at home, and then take off for Shikoku on the 27th.
I have two ways to do it. One way involves seeing a game in Ehime on the evening of the 27th, Friday, at a stadium in Saijo. This would require finding somewhere to stay near there, which I haven't looked into that seriously yet. (The game would go late enough that I can't reasonably get to a city with a Toyoko Inn afterwards, I don't think.) The other option is to go to Hiroshima Mazda Zoom-Zoom Stadium on Friday the 27th and cheer against the Giants there, and stay in Hiroshima that night.
If I stay in Saijo I can take a train to Matsuyama the next day for the college game. If I stay in Hiroshima, I can take a FERRY to Matsuyama the next day!
Either way, okay, I end up in Matsuyama for a Tokyo Big 6 game. This may be one of the most far-fetched things I have done in a while, given that I can see the Big 6 players here in Tokyo easily enough, though to be fair I would really like to go to this stadium and may not have an opportunity otherwise.
Stay in Matsuyama the evening of the 28th. Somewhere either on Saturday before Big 6 or on Sunday before I skip town, see Matsuyama Castle -- it is supposed to be pretty cool.
Then go to Takamatsu on that Sunday, for a Kagawa Olive Guyners vs. Tokushima Indigo Socks game at Rexxam Stadium, which looks to be kind of obnoxious to get to, but I will manage one way or the other. Stay in Takamatsu on Sunday night.
Monday morning, the 30th, make my way back to Tokyo by quite a bizarre route: I'm thinking to go to Tokushima, have lunch there so I can count it on my prefecture list, and then take a ferry from Tokushima to Wakayama, so I can get Wakayama on my prefectures list as well, maybe hit Mie on the way back if possible too, I have to look more closely at the train routes. I could stop in Nagoya on the way back, maybe... I dunno. Haven't looked closely at that part yet.
Rest on August 31st from all the travel...
...come back to school on September 1st. Whee.
If I pull this and my Hokkaido train trip off, though, I could very well add like 8 new prefectures and 4 new stadiums in the course of 10 days. Not too shabby, eh?
I should see if there are any good train deals I can get for this, I haven't calculated the entire cost of this trip, but it's not going to be cheap exactly. The ferries are much cheaper than the trains, it's like 3500 yen from Hiroshima to Matsuyama, and like 2000 yen from Tokushima to Wakayama.
(Hm, just did a rough look and it'll be about 40,000 yen for the transportation part of it, and that's with shinkansen to Hiroshima taking up like half of the price. Hmm. That on top of whatever my Hokkaido expedition will cost may be pretty big, but on the other hand, when the hell else am I going to get to do all this stuff? I suppose I could cut 10,000 yen off by taking a night bus to Hiroshima instead...)
I had already thought about going to Shikoku on the weekend of August 27-29 to collect the rest of the prefectures, when I discovered that the Tokyo Big 6 College League is playing an All-Star game there on the 28th, in Matsuyama city, Ehime Prefecture... at Botchan Stadium, celebrating 10 years of the stadium. It's a 30,000-seat stadium that gets a few NPB games per year, even, but of course I have never been there.
So assuming I do my great train ride to Hokkaido and back, making my way through Tohoku for Fighters games in Akita and Morioka as well... I would get back to Tokyo on the 26th, rest one evening at home, and then take off for Shikoku on the 27th.
I have two ways to do it. One way involves seeing a game in Ehime on the evening of the 27th, Friday, at a stadium in Saijo. This would require finding somewhere to stay near there, which I haven't looked into that seriously yet. (The game would go late enough that I can't reasonably get to a city with a Toyoko Inn afterwards, I don't think.) The other option is to go to Hiroshima Mazda Zoom-Zoom Stadium on Friday the 27th and cheer against the Giants there, and stay in Hiroshima that night.
If I stay in Saijo I can take a train to Matsuyama the next day for the college game. If I stay in Hiroshima, I can take a FERRY to Matsuyama the next day!
Either way, okay, I end up in Matsuyama for a Tokyo Big 6 game. This may be one of the most far-fetched things I have done in a while, given that I can see the Big 6 players here in Tokyo easily enough, though to be fair I would really like to go to this stadium and may not have an opportunity otherwise.
Stay in Matsuyama the evening of the 28th. Somewhere either on Saturday before Big 6 or on Sunday before I skip town, see Matsuyama Castle -- it is supposed to be pretty cool.
Then go to Takamatsu on that Sunday, for a Kagawa Olive Guyners vs. Tokushima Indigo Socks game at Rexxam Stadium, which looks to be kind of obnoxious to get to, but I will manage one way or the other. Stay in Takamatsu on Sunday night.
Monday morning, the 30th, make my way back to Tokyo by quite a bizarre route: I'm thinking to go to Tokushima, have lunch there so I can count it on my prefecture list, and then take a ferry from Tokushima to Wakayama, so I can get Wakayama on my prefectures list as well, maybe hit Mie on the way back if possible too, I have to look more closely at the train routes. I could stop in Nagoya on the way back, maybe... I dunno. Haven't looked closely at that part yet.
Rest on August 31st from all the travel...
...come back to school on September 1st. Whee.
If I pull this and my Hokkaido train trip off, though, I could very well add like 8 new prefectures and 4 new stadiums in the course of 10 days. Not too shabby, eh?
I should see if there are any good train deals I can get for this, I haven't calculated the entire cost of this trip, but it's not going to be cheap exactly. The ferries are much cheaper than the trains, it's like 3500 yen from Hiroshima to Matsuyama, and like 2000 yen from Tokushima to Wakayama.
(Hm, just did a rough look and it'll be about 40,000 yen for the transportation part of it, and that's with shinkansen to Hiroshima taking up like half of the price. Hmm. That on top of whatever my Hokkaido expedition will cost may be pretty big, but on the other hand, when the hell else am I going to get to do all this stuff? I suppose I could cut 10,000 yen off by taking a night bus to Hiroshima instead...)
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There is also the Kumano Kodo (熊野古道) which is the trail that pilgrims used to travel to these three shrines and supposed to be pretty awesome, but it would take you days if not weeks to traverse.
Oh, I almost forgot! There is one sort of nearby baseball link, the Ochiai Hiromitsu Kinenkan (落合博満記念館). However, it is located in Taiji, Wakayama where "The Cove" was videoed; i.e., the place that they catch and eat dolphins. As a result, the local people might not take too kindly to Americans right now.