Temple visit and write in

grph. messed up the formating. sorry, not edit button

Well, I've thought this was a good idea ever since you mentioned it like two months ago lol. Can you give me the train station it will be at? I'd like to run it through hyperdia and see how much it is to get out to your neck of the woods. :)

For the temple we get off at JR Ishiyama station, then take the Kitnetsu for about two or three stops (I think that leg of the trip is 230 if i remember correctly. I can't remember the station name though...) After that we have to come back to Ishiyama, and take JR to Omi Hachiman. (which I think is 400 yen) From Omi Hatchiman to my dinky little local stop is another 350 yen on the Omi Tesudo line. Which adds up to....some 2000 yen from Ishiyama, around and back. Darn JR. And Omi Tesudo.

Osaka to Ishiyama is 950 yen. I'll see if I can get discount tickets at the dicount shop if I have a heads up from interested partys but it will likely only save us a few yen anyway.

So looking at about 4000 yen total (Osaka to Boonies, getting around boonies, getting home). Hmmm. I think I can swing it, especially if we eat cheap :D

If I have a drivers licence, (which is a BIG if at this point) and we only have a few people I may be persuaded to drive to OmiHachiman...which would save all of 700 yen, but it's something?

The only other RSVP I have also has requested eating cheap. The good thing about the boonies is we can do that even if we eat out one meal. :)

And they're nice boonies! really!

Hi! I'm REALLY interested in your temple visit and write in. And, as it happens, I have Saturday the 10th off from the yob-job (heh, heh, heh). But ONLY Saturday, unfortunately, and as I live in Tokyo I don't know how pragmatic it will be to get down there for the shindig.

My plan would be to leave Friday afternoon or evening and stay somewhere nearby so as to get there at whatever time in the morning the write-in starts. Then I'd of course want to take part in the temple visit. And then, unfortunately, I'd have to head back to the Big Smoke here as I work the next day, Sunday the 11th, early. EARLY. (>_<)

Anyway, please count me in, tentatively. I'll confirm later, early next week.

Thanks for coming up with such a great idea--the visit to the temple Murasaki prayed/wrote at is inspired--and please get in touch with me.

Thanks!

Ishiyama is crazy close to Kyoto, five stops on the JR I think . The shinkansen or the night bus would probably be your best bet. We are gonna hit the temple first and do the write in the second, mostly because the temple might have Momoji...which means that if we wait until noon or two to visit we will be killed by crowds. Also it's cheaper to eat lunch out and dinner in than the other way around.

Actually, the night bus might work perfectly for you, if you are a night bus sort and you don't mind being in Otsu crazy early. There is one that leaves Shijuku and comes to Otsu...but I have no idea on times going in that direction as I have only taken it the other way. It's actually probably cheaper to take one all the way through to Kyoto, actually, since it is only a few JR stops further. If not, I would take the shinkansen to Kyoto and backtrack.

I suppose this is really going to happen! I...maybe should clean my apartment.

This sounds really cool and I wish you guys the best. I'd love to go but I am way too lazy/cheap to try to get all the way there from Fukuoka. ;)

Greetings from western Tokyo! I am a veteran NaNoveler who masquerades as a university student by day, and am quite excited to join you all via the night bus (Lord willing--haven't bought the all-important ticket yet). Five important logistical questions, though:

1) Does your apartment have enough power outlets, or should I plan on bringing a surge connector to multiply connections?

2) Does it have wireless access? Nice but not necessary for me.

3) Where and when should we meet Saturday morning? Ishiyama station seems the natural point, but what exit etc. etc.

4) Is dinner the only group meal, meaning everyone should bring something for the potluck then but is on their own the rest of the time?

5) How are you planning to get from the temple to your place, and how long/much will it be? I hope to hang around Kyoto the next day...

Thank you so much for being willing to put this together, Erin; 源氏物語 in English translations was one of the reasons I first became interested in Japanese culture. Looking forward to meeting you all when we have higher word counts.

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you! Site outages at the first incarnations of this post.

The plan is this:

10 AM we meet outside the gates of Ishiyama station, JR. I am relativly sure its small enough that there will only be one gate. Any earlier than 10 and I think the Osaka folk will murder me, any later and anyone who takes the night bus will do the same. From there it's a five or six minute train ride and a ten minute walk to the temple. I was thinking we would eat out, but I am not so sure that's possible now that I look at the timing. There aren't many resturants in the Ishiyama dera area. We have three options.
1. Eat at one of the cafes or restuants in Ishiyama, in spite of lack of selection.
2. Eat late in Ishiyama or Omi Hatchiman.
3. I will pack some sandwiches and some oni giri and I think there will be a place to sit down and eat them in the gardens. The sandwiches will be ham and cheese, possibly egg salad. I am not very good at making egg salad or oni giri though, so consirer yourself warned.

I am thinking I will go with option 3, unless I get a major public outcry for one of the other two.
We will probably finish with the temple a little after noon or one. From there it will take us a little under a thousand yen and about an hour to make it back to my place. We will take the Kintetsu back to JR Ishiyama, then the JR to Omi Hatchiman (27 mintues, 400 yen) then another train to my apartment. (15 minutes, 350 yen) We'll stop at the grocery store or a resturant in Omi Hatchiman if people are still hungry/ want to buy something to contribute to the comnunal food cause.

Dinner will be a communal meal as well. I will cook something and others will have access to the stove if thier contrabution requires it. I imagine we will have a meal something like Kyushoku in elementray school, several dishes that are in no way related. I might need to pick up some dishes....

There is no wireless. I have way more outlets than appliances. I am going to try to pick up a surge protector at the recycle shop, but extras might be good for those who can fit them in thier bag easily. If all else fails my laptop has a long battery life.

It takes about an hour to get to Kyoto from my place, if you manage to time the trians right. The small line that runs to my house runs twice an hour from 6 am to 11 pm, and the JR you are connecting to runs more often than that, two slow trains and two expresses every hour at least, usually more, so it's not too hard to get where you are going in a timely fashion.

I think it is looking like we will have 5-6 wrimos present. If you are planning on comming please RSVP by pm by Thursday or Friday, so I can do a headcount and not panic when we are supposed to be meeting in Ishiyama. That said, if trains make it so that you can err on the side of being early or the side of being late, please be early. It will make me a lot more bearable for the people who have to wait with me. (right Hiko?)

I'm all in now, night bus ticket in hand, so see you all there!