Japan Booking Completed

Above, the Tsukuba Hotel. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Besides reading about how screwed up the Obama Administration has made the U.S. healthcare system, foreign policy (should we really feel better that Vice President Joe Biden is in Asia this week?) and pretty much everything else, I made my hotel and airline reservations for next year's trip to Japan.

The only snag about that was the Hotel Asia Center of Japan, my favorite Tokyo hotel, was all booked up. Granted, I could have put myself on a waiting list in case a room should become available, but I prefer a certainty about my accommodations. So, I opted instead to stay at the Tsukuba Hotel in the Ueno area of Tokyo, where I stayed in 2005.

The Tsukuba Hotel is a business hotel and their rooms are small, but I don't need a lot of room, just a place to sleep and clean up. It is a subway stop or two away from Asakusa's Nakamise Street and, also, Kitchen Town (where I plan to pick up some cutlery for my "roomie").

I will be working on gathering more material for an updated The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan and helping out producer/director Jonathan Bellés as he conducts interviews for his documentary, Godzilla and Hiroshima: The Rise of the Kaiju Eiga.

Above, my 2005 room. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The airline I will be flying on is United. This'll be my first time with them since 2005 (I think). The last several trips have been via Korean Air. I go with the best price, rather than with any particular airline. I got a good price on the base ticket: $160. But the taxes and fees made the total amount shoot up to over $800. If I had gotten a ticket for a base price of $480 (which was the next available price), the total would have been about $1,200. At least the room rates I got (¥4400/night) will make the airfare bite a little less.