Tokyo Anime and Manga Tour

[lastresort]

Hello!


First of all, I want to say that before posting this I contacted the webmaster to ask permission.


Here goes!


I am an employee of a Japanese company called Last Resort. We are currently developing a package tour of Tokyo designed to specifically appeal to foreign fans of Japanese Anime. The idea is to bring people to Japan for a week in which they can encounter a range of Japanese cultural experiences with the focus being on Manga and Anime.

The tour will include :

An Anime / Manga Workshop with a professional artist

A tour of an Anime studio

A trip to one of the big conventions
Tokyo International Anime Fair
Comiket
Tokyo Game Show

A trip to the Studio Ghibli Museum

A trip to Akihabara
Akihabara is (as you probably know) the best place in Japan to find Manga, Anime and collectibles.

Other possible elements of the tour (depending on the final length of the tour / time of year etc.) could include :

A trip to Tokyo Tower

A trip to Harajuku.
Harajuku is famous for crazy-looking Goth chicks, street performers and cool fashions.

A trip to the Tokyo National Museum
The biggest museum in Japan. It contains a huge variety of Japanese and other Asian art and archaeological objects.

A trip to Mount Fuji

A trip to the Tokyo Dome
There is an amusement park with roller coasters and other rides as well as a park and restaurants, etc…

A trip to Oedo Onsen Monogatari
This is a kind of Hot Spring Amusement Park. There are a huge range of different baths to try as well as an 1800’s style shopping street, restaurants, shops and stuff. And, you get to wear a Yukata (a type of kimono) in the design of your choice!

An evening watching Sumo

An evening watching Kabuki

And…
Visits to shrines and temples, shopping, restaurants and other great tourist stuff.

I am looking for some feedback with regards to the content of the tour. To that end, I am contacting Anime fans all over the World to see if people are interested. Of course, we want to provide a tour that will give fans the experiences they really want. That's where you come in.

What do you think about the proposed content?
Is there anything not mentioned that you would like to do?
Would you prefer Western style or Japanese style accommodation?
Would you be interested in going on the tour?

Do you have any other suggestions?

If you are interested in the tour and would like to receive information in the future, please let me know and I will keep you informed of developments.

Also, if you see fit, I would be very pleased if you could tell anyone else you feel would be interested about what we are doing. The more feedback I get, the better we can make the tour.

I want to assure you that this is all legitimate and there will be no attempt made to spam you or anyone else who gets in touch with us. Here is the link to Last Resort’s English Language website. Hopefully this will show you that this company really exists! http://company.lastresort.co.jp/en_top.html

Last Resort is a company that tries to promote international understanding and help people to realize their dreams. Generally, the company helps Japanese people travel overseas for home stays and working holidays. But, now we want to help people from other countries take the leap and visit Japan.

I am extremely excited to be working on this project. I have been living in Japan for a few years now and really love this crazy country. I hope that I can help more people experience what Japan has to offer.

Thank you for reading all of this.


Sincerely,


Richard Mands


richardmands.lastresort@yahoo.co.uk

[tstidm1]

Think about doing the tour around one of the three major geek events such as Comiket, Tokyo Anime Fair or Tokyo Game Show. Many foreign otaku want to see either one of those events, but want to see more than just those events.

Also, announce your tours at least 6 months ahead of time to prepare people for the tours. People can't get time off for tours with two months planning like Pop Japan does.

Try to make them under $2,000 a week (from the east coast) without having to go the Ryoken route. I don't think I can sleep on sheets on a floor. There are affordable business hotels in Tokyo and Yokohama for under a $100 or 80 pounds a night.

[lastresort]

I have my first post with suggestions I have recieved from here and other places.

Thanks again!

RM

[kaiyouske]

How about a tour that includes one of the Wonder Fests? /images/graemlins/happy.gif Or maybe a concert of some sort?

[lunap]

I for one am MOST intrested- was planning on a cheapo tour with a friend, but if it comes out to be cheaper than pop japan's version, i'd definitly bite. Everything sounds great, but when is the projected date for price quotes? finalization of destinatons? I REALLY hope you can include a stop in Ikebukuro for all us ladies. One of my main goals is to drink tea at a BL cafe with a trip to the local yaoi shops and score all sorts of goodies; K-books, mandarake, character queen... /images/graemlins/noseblef.gif hope this gets off the ground for you /images/graemlins/knowital.gif /images/graemlins/catgirl0.gif

[lastresort]

Updated to include the Studio Tour and Tokyo Tower.

lastresort

[lastresort]

Unfortunately, the Bandai Museum will soon bite the dust...
http://www.animaxis.com/en/zine/newsletter/view.asp?id=N001638

Doh!

Now removed from the list.

lastresort

[BoogiepopLain]

I just want to say that the tour as proposed in the op sounds like the best tour EVER.

[lastresort]

Right then! Prices...

I’ve been a little wary of naming prices because I can’t give any concrete information just now. But, I think it would help people to have a rough price range to think about.

The cheapest 1 week trip I have seen advertised is around US$1750 and the most expensive is US$2400. These prices include flights and accommodation. Spending money is extra.
(Sorry for not converting prices into all available denominations. To convert to your currency, click here http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/currency-converter )

We won’t cost any more than this and will hopefully be cheaper. But, these are only ballpark figures.

Also, please don’t think that a ‘cheap’ trip is necessarily worse than an ‘expensive’ one. There are a lot of factors that can affect the price. Also, there’s lots of cool stuff that can be done very cheaply.

Food in Japan is not actually that expensive. Around US$10 will see you pretty well-fed.

But, new electrical goods ARE expensive. So, if you buy a new digital camera and the limited edition Totoro DVD player, you will end up spending more money.

I hope this helps put things into perspective.

Thanks,

lastresort

[lastresort]

Last Resort’s main business is in helping Japanese people travel abroad. When they go, they usually live with a family in the country they are visiting. The family will feed and generally look after them for the duration of their stay.

One way of making our tour available to more people (i.e. reducing the price) would be to accommodate people in this way. I reckon this would halve the price of accommodation. This would make the tour significantly cheaper for people choosing this option. The tour will be quite busy so your contact time with the family would probably be limited. But, I think it would be a good way of seeing what life in Japan is really like.

So, would you be interested in staying in a house or apartment with a friendly Japanese family?

Feedback on this would be greatly appreciated. The more people who reply positively to this, the better chance I can convince my bosses to pursue this idea. Thanks!

lastresort

[Scaramanga]

[ QUOTE ]
lastresort said:
Last Resort’s main business is in helping Japanese people travel abroad. When they go, they usually live with a family in the country they are visiting. The family will feed and generally look after them for the duration of their stay.

One way of making our tour available to more people (i.e. reducing the price) would be to accommodate people in this way. I reckon this would halve the price of accommodation. This would make the tour significantly cheaper for people choosing this option. The tour will be quite busy so your contact time with the family would probably be limited. But, I think it would be a good way of seeing what life in Japan is really like.

So, would you be interested in staying in a house or apartment with a friendly Japanese family?

Feedback on this would be greatly appreciated. The more people who reply positively to this, the better chance I can convince my bosses to pursue this idea. Thanks!

lastresort


[/ QUOTE ]
I think this is an interesting idea, but I wonder how you would vet-out "undesirables" from participating? Otherwise, I think this would be a neat option for people who never got to particpate in a student foreign-exchange program.

[lastresort]

Just wanted to clarify a couple of things.

If you took the homestay option and spent nights in a Japanese household, at least 1 person would speak decent English (other than yourself). We would also give people information regarding etiquette (e.g. take off your shoes indoors – a good idea in any country if you ask me!) and other cultural points beforehand.

We will offer a range of accommodation options to cater to everyone. We want to provide everybody with an experience of Japan that they will enjoy. I imagine most people will choose to stay in a hotel, but we would like to offer a homestay to people who are interested.

lastresort

[lastresort]

Hi again everyone!

It’s been a little while since I posted. I’ve been really busy trying to get everything sorted out. You may not believe me but this is actually my 78th consecutive day of work without a day off! I can’t believe I’m not dead!

Things are getting ready to move forward now. We have decided on a target date for the tour as well as a name.

Here it is!

Last Resort’s “Lost In Japan” Tour (I hope you like the name!)

Here is a provisional itinerary.

Day 1 (Wed 20th June)
* Arrival
* Hotel
* Dinner
* Karaoke

Day 2 (Thu 21st)
* Ghibli Museum
* Akihabara
* Roppongi Hills

Day 3 (Fri 22nd)
* Mount Fuji
* Tokyo Dome

Day 4 (Sat 23rd)
* Nihon Minka En (Japanese House Museum)
* Tokyo National Museum
* Tokyo Tower

Day 5 (Sun 24th)
* Harajuku
* Meiji Jingu Shrine
* Miraikan (Science Museum)
* Oedo Onsen Monogatari

Day 6 (Mon 25th)
* Anime Studio Tour
* Ikebukuro

Day 7 (Tue 26th)
* Nikko
* Asakusa

Day 8 (Wed 27th)
* Free Day
* Stay in Capsule Hotel

Day 9 (Thu 28th June)
* Return

Things may change slightly but this is essentially what the tour will be.

Again, I would love to get some feedback about the content and dates of the tour.

We are hoping to finalize prices and make bookings possible through our website by January.

** Please note that this is only our first tour. We will be running subsequent tours in September, December and March. Hopefully we can expand even further so that we are running a large number of tours every year.

If anyone is wants to be added to our mailing list, please send me your email address.

Thanks everyone! Your advice has been incredibly helpful. Arigatou Gozaimasu!

Richard Mands

[CPOK]

I am definatly interested in a tour in march (Tokyo International Anime Fair)