I'm going.

[pacificpikachu]

SO GUYS.

I have made a momentous decision. It's for real this time and I'm not backing down on it.

I am going to go to the Yoko Kanno concert in Japan on 7/7.

I will be buying a ticket to the concert off Yahoo! Japan sometime in the next twenty-four to thirty-six hours most likely (and if not, the next forty-eight hours).

How I will afford this trip, I don't know yet. I have maybe $30 to my name at the moment. I'm going to sell off part of my collection, do more sales once my next package arrives, skimp on Anime Expo (as in, take no spending money and just pay for the basics--and the only reason I'm still going to AX with this decision is because I promised GAINAX I'd see them there), do petsitting and housesitting jobs, ask my grandmothers if they're willing to put any money toward the plane ticket even if it means I don't get birthday or Christmas money for years, basically do anything I can to scrape together the money for this. I'll somehow figure out how to get a loan if I must. Even if I end up sleeping in cardboard box in Japan and can't spend a penny, I just...have to go to this concert. It's my life dream. I can't let it go like this, and I think this is a once in a lifetime opportunity... It's not just Kanno-sama herself who will be there, but Maaya, Origa, Steve Conte, AKINO, the Macross Frontier girls, etc. I have to go. I don't think I can stand sitting around and missing out on this.

I'm going to fly out of LA probably--that way I can just leave Sunday (or even Saturday evening if I need to) from AX and get there in time for the concert. Hopefully one of my awesome online friends who lives in Japan can help me get to where the concert will be held. I'll figure out somewhere to stay that's cheap.

I think I'll stay for about a week or a little more, depending--that way after the concert I can at least stop by the Pokémon Center (whether I'm broke or not, haha) and GAINAX studios once they return from AX, and perhaps go to Akiba and whatnot.

This is going to be insane, and intense trying to figure out how to do this. I've accepted that I'm going to have to make some sacrifices to make this happen. After all, there's less than a month until the concert. If it ends up that I have to just fly there for the concert and then leave a day or two later, so be it.

I am going to go. I am. Nothing will stop me, and I will find a way somehow or another. I can't just sit on my butt and let my life dream pass me by like this.

If any of you can offer any sort of help--whether it's advice, thoughts, encouragement, anything--it would be much appreciated. :D This is going to be tough, and I'll probably be freaking out all of the next month trying to figure something out. But...it just has to happen.

All right, first on the agenda: Get a ticket to the concert. Second: Gather the money for the plane ticket ($700, which isn't too bad, and is the biggest expense of the trip). Third: Gather money for lodging, food, spending, and other assorted costs.

WISH ME LUCK. Goddamn, I'm going to need it. But I'm going to do this. I will. Absolutely. There's no turning back. I must.

Anyway, I have to deal with bird stuff now (I have a pigeon to euthanize, a heating pad to deliver, and birds to pick up) as well as pet stuff, so I'll do my research on this later and start brainstorming ways to make some moolah.

Comments

[sammywhatammy]

WOW. You've got GUTS! I'm cheering you on, and I wish I was going too! Take LOTS of pictures. AND FIND A WAY. YOU CAN DO IT!

[astralvulpes.livejournal.com]

Best of luck getting all that together. o_o; It does sound like an amazing opportunity, though.

As a side-note, I guess I'll be holding Umbreon for a few months? ^_^;;;

[pacificpikachu.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Nope, I'll still be able to pay for him pretty soon. :)

[astralvulpes.livejournal.com]

Okay, just let me know when. ^_^;

He's sitting amongst the remainder of my Umbreon family for now. :)

[pacificpikachu.livejournal.com]

Want me to just send concealed cash? If so, I can send it tomorrow. :D I have cash, but no Paypal money at the moment. .___.

[astralvulpes.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I'm not really comfortable with taking cash in the mail like that - I'd hate for it to get lost, for either of us. :<

I don't mind waiting a few days extra for you to transfer some funds over to paypal. ^^

[pdutogepi.livejournal.com]

Wow! Sounds like this is all gonna be quite the task, but I wish you the very best of luck! :3

[maids.livejournal.com]

good luck!

[cosseting.livejournal.com]

you can do it! if anyone is capable of this insanity, it is you.

i am excited about seeing you this year!

[cultnirvana.livejournal.com]

Ah, so lucky!

I think renting a small cheap apartment (think similar to what students would stay in in Japan) are supposed to be a good, cheap form of accommodation, but I've now idea where to look for one of those.

[hitchi.livejournal.com]

Oh my G-d, Kristin. This is indeed momentous! Amazing for you. Just...I can't believe it! This might even be life-changing. o.o

[denkimouse.livejournal.com]

hm, my first trip to japan was also a concert on a whim, but the circumstances were very different.. with less than a month to plan and only 30$ as of now, i cannot help but feel you do not know what you are doing or what you are in for, planning a trip to this country takes months and a lot of savings, and getting around, the expenses of being here, i just.... i wish you luck but :( i wish you would have planned this out earlier... i will be very worried about you.

not to mention a lot of pkmncollectors are gathering together in japan around the 16th-end of the month, it's already gonna be pretty nuts, but i guess you arent really too interested in that ;_;

sorry to sound like a downer, but i have honestly been right in your shoes, with less than a month to plan to go to a concert, and i didnt even have a passport, but i did have japanese friends helping me out (key, as concerts in japan are a lot diff from america and i would have been fucked just showing up with a ticket, if i could even find it at all), plus i had 2000$ savings. even then, it was one of the dumbest choices i ever made. ;_;

so yes i dont mean to be a bummer but this sounds really crazy and i am worried ;_;

[trf-chan.livejournal.com]

Um...this is very off-topic and random, but...did you once run a website called Heero Is Not Toast or something along those lines? Because I worshipped that site years and years ago when I was really into Gundam Wing.

[pacificpikachu.livejournal.com]

Yeah, see, I realize this is crazy. But at the same time, I feel like I have to try... This is literally a concert that will never happen again, there won't be another one, and I've dreamed of this concert for about ten years now. Plane tickets to Japan right now, round trip, for the dates I would be going are about $700.

Getting money together aside (I'll figure that out somehow), what will I need to do, planning-wise? Assuming no spending money, just cheap-o lodgings and food, what would be the minimum amount I would need, not including plane ticket/concert ticket? What would be the most reasonable way of doing this? I'm thinking of just going for a week or so--enough time to go to the concert and blitz through a few places. Any help and advice you can offer would be valuable beyond words. And even if it ultimately doesn't work out, at least I'll know I tried my hardest to get there.

I do have friends in Japan (such as you and a few others), and I know a few people from an LJ community here are going to the concert as well as others on another site... I could probably meet up with them if I arranged and talked and tried to figure something out.

I did really want to go to the pkmncollectors gathering, actually--I originally planned on going for it, but things just didn't work out. Once this concert was announced, I just...feel like I have to go to it because it'll probably be my only chance to see a concert anything like it. ;; I wish I had done more planning but the concert was announced kind of late... And I didn't think it would work out at all going to the pkmncollectors thing after a few months passed, so I stopped planning. With the death of my dog, the fact that I was kind of in a depressive slump, adopting dogs, and so on, I ended up so busy and distracted that I didn't get working on it.

There are tickets on Yahoo! Japan... What else would one need to get into the concert, if you have tickets?

Anyway, any thoughts from you would be really really helpful and appreciated. ♥ Thank you for being realistic, and it really helps that you've been in my shoes before--even if the outcome wasn't so great.

[centimetre.livejournal.com]

that's really good pricing for airfare btw. i say do it

you can always make back the money when you get back. the concert you would regret missing.

stay safe and you will do fine <3

[trf-chan.livejournal.com]

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee, GOOD LUCK! :D That will be absolutely amazing!

[koyaaniisqatsi.livejournal.com]

Good luck, I'm sure you'll get there. :] ♥

[moogleborg.livejournal.com]

Good luck! :D (Hugs) I hope you'll get to go see Yoko Kanno and have some fun in Japan! :D

[archaneah.livejournal.com]

First item on the agenda: GET A PASSPORT. It usually takes around three months to get one,. In order to get one in less time you have to pay $$ (and even then there's no guarantee that you will get it within a month).

See: http://travel.state.gov/passport/fri/faq/faq_1741.html
(Rush shipping costs $60 in addition to other application fees, and for summer travel, they suggest at least 10 weeks w/o expedite)

According to Lonely Planet (which is, according to my well-traveled sister (as well as a plethora of other world travelers (see archaeologists)) the best resource for traveling abroad) it will cost about an average of 20 or more dollars a night to stay in Tokyo (which I assume is where you will be going), not including food and other accommodations (i.e. transportation). This is base rate at a few hostels. Current exchange rate is almost 1.00 USD to 100 yen, which means it will be approximately as expensive to stay there as it would be to stay here.

Look, honestly, I also don't mean to sound like a downer but I think this is something of a hasty decision, and a little bit unrealistic. I know that this is something that you have been dreaming about doing for a huge part of your life, but it seems like bad timing and there will be other Yoko Kanno concerts (maybe not this one exactly, but others, certainly) and perhaps ones that you would be able to plan out more carefully and save towards. Having traveled abroad by myself (with Cody) throughout Europe, I can attest to the fact that that it is NOT easy. Especially in countries with language barriers like Japan. As an inexperienced traveler I think that this particular trip would actually turn out to be pretty miserable for you.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is this: this is your first "solo" trip abroad (possibly your first time abroad? I don't really know) and as such, it requires a lot more time and planning and care than you can really put into it at this point. Overseas travel is, by definition, incredibly stressful, especially for someone who's never done it before.

Again I don't mean to be discouraging, but this is the best advice I can hope to offer given my own experience and your circumstances. As always, I do wish you the best of luck, and if you pull this craziness off, I wish you a wonderful time. And, of course, require a souvenir. :D

[pacificpikachu.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I would be doing a rush passport in this case to guarantee it... Even if it costs a fair amount extra.

And I'd expect to be putting money aside for lodgings, of course.

I know it's somewhat unrealistic and insane, and that's...kind of the whole point? That I know it'll be crazy to do it, but I'm willing to at least try. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't--at least I will know that I I tried as hard as I could to make it happen. There will not be another concert with this level of amazing, basically...ever. There was the Cowboy Bebop concert a decade or so ago, and there was the Macross Frontier tour and the Turn A Gundam concert, but this is an all-anime concert with her preferred orchestra (Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra) and all the major musicians she works with from all over the world. I'll be miserable if I just sit it out.

In all honesty, I basically just want to go to the concert. If it came down to missing out on other things Japan had to offer due to lack of planning, then so be it. If it ended up literally just flying there, going to the concert, and flying back I would be fine with that. Hopefully it won't come down to that, but if it does, I'd still be happy.

I do have free time to plan even if there isn't much time before the trip itself, so if I can figure out transportation, somewhere cheap to stay, and getting to the concert... Well, that's what I'll try to do. I recognize the stress element of it, the fact that it will be difficult, but I just have to try to go for it. If I don't I could regret it for the rest of my life.

I guess what I'm saying is that I don't expect much from the trip if I do end up making it. I expect stress and freaking out and perhaps not doing anything aside from going to the concert. I can make another trip to Japan sometime and thoroughly plan it and enjoy it, and this time... I'm just going to do my best to go to the concert. If it doesn't work out, then...whatever. It doesn't. But I ought to do my best to try to make it work out.

[archaneah.livejournal.com]

That's the thing though. Especially for summer travel (which is the most popular season to travel) even with rush shipping, ect., it still takes them forever and a day to process your application and send back the passport. I honestly don't think it is possible to get a passport in less than a month during summer time. But you certainly need to do research of your own on that topic.

Also, there's other things to take into account, like, jet lag, time differences and such. If you're only flying in for the concert/flying in the day of the concert, you're not giving yourself much time to acclimate to the time difference or the environment. If you want to be able to really enjoy the concert you would probably want to give yourself more time to become accustomed so that you are awake and feeling okay. Flying long distances and then not sleeping feels like shit (especially with plane food!).

I guess I'm just a little concerned? Abroad travel can be really haphazard, stressful, and even though Japan is not a dangerous country, if you don't know what you're doing or you haven't planned accordingly you can still find yourself in dangerous situations. Especially when you haven't done it before. My first time traveling abroad there was so much trial and error involved, and I certainly found myself in precarious situations (i.e. getting cornered and grabbed by various men, finding myself lost in scary parts of town, getting my wallet stolen (and thank god for Cody being there because I would have been three types of fucked without a wallet). And hell, I spent month planning my trip.

ANYWAY, in more encouraging news, go to cheapair.com and look at the tickets there. I was just on and I found a flight for less that $600 both ways, with all taxes, etc. included.

I really do wish you the best of luck. Just be careful.

[bahzi.livejournal.com]

This. There are third party sites and agencies that can get passports in under 2 weeks, unfortunately, they cost about $300 or more. I'd recommend making an appointment with a government passport site ASAP, they can help with getting them faster, or so says their website, though I bet it still costs an arm and a leg.

http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_4312.html

It does sound a bit rushed, but I hope everything works out so you can go, Yoko Kanno is incredible and worth it. ^^

[archaneah.livejournal.com]

ALSO, you really want to make sure that you will be able to get your passport in time before spending any money on tickets. idk.

:)

Seriously though, souvenirs!

[kirarakim.livejournal.com]

A hostel would probably be your cheapest bet. Where are you planning on staying? Tokyo? It might be hard to get rooms so last minute but I stayed here and it was pretty cheap.

http://kshouse.jp/tokyo-e/

Honestly I didn't spend much money at all in Japan besides merchandise, the biggest expense was definitely the plane ticket. But I stayed at the hostel above which was not that expensive and I mainly ate cheap food, half the time I just bought something at a convenience store. So its possible to do the trip for not a lot of money.

But I sort of agree with the above poster that going to a foreign country takes planning so last minute might not be the best option since I definitely think you need to do some research & planning: getting to the concert, getting to & from the airport, passport, etc. But I will wish you the best of luck.

[ensuing.livejournal.com]

That's AWESOME. I'm so happy for you!!

Where is the concert? Do you have ideas where you might stay?

[pacificpikachu.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm really really hoping this works out. It's crazy, but it might just work!

The concert is at Saitama Stadium, and I'm hoping to find a hostel or cheap hotel as close to there as possible...

[ensuing.livejournal.com]

Nur took care of hotels when we went, and he says he used this site:
http://www.itcj.jp/eng/index.php
He says you might want to get a place in Tokyo and take the train out to Saitama though.

And I totally recommend just eating at connivence stores. When we were in Ueno, we found a bunch of cheap noodle places too, where you just had to put money into a machine and get a ticket to give to the chef. Good stuff.

[wao.livejournal.com]

Well everybody's said everything so all I can say is... at the risk of sounding weeaboo, ganbare~ :D

Even if it doesn't work out, what the hell, the experience and knowing that you tried makes the biggest difference. But yeah, passport issues are a real bummer aren't they? I'm planning my own "I have to go for this!!1!" trip to Australia later in the year, but it's just Australia and I've got places to stay so it won't be too bad... I really hope yours manages to work out somehow, like all hte stars come together and you get your passport in time and stuff. :D

[kirarakim.livejournal.com]

Jumps in ooh Australia is amazing. Where in Australia are you planning to go and for how long? :)

[wao.livejournal.com]

Western Australia, and hopefully Melbourne :D I've been invited to go to Brisbane but I dunno if I'll have enough money. I owe my mum a lot of $ :( Should be around 2 weeks in Septemeber, if all goes well. :D I hope to book the tickets around early July... I was going to make a post about this today or tomorrow :o Stay tuned! (Like it's some kind of interesting tv show, hah)

[pacificpikachu.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Haha, that's exactly the attitude I'm going into it with! If it doesn't work out, then at least I know I tried and I get the experience of trying to plan it/an idea of what the costs would be. I mean, there's no reason not to attempt it, honestly.

Passports are stupid, boooo. I wish they could just be an easy, fast, cheap process, but--well, it is the government... I don't think the government has ever offered much of anything that is easy, fast, and cheap. It says online you can make an appointment with a passport agency if your trip is in less than two weeks, so I think there's hope passport-wise! If it costs a bunch, then whatever. I'll figure something out.

Oooh, Australia! Honestly, Australia would be my second choice in a place to go after Japan... The wildlife there is amazing. And the Great Barrier Reef, and--and--all kinds of things. *____* I wish you the best of luck! If you do end up going, I expect lots of pictures and stories. :D

Someday when we're rich and awesome or, more likely, broke but crazy we should go to Japan AND Australian together. It would be incredible.

Actually, if we could manage to do a Japan trip someday at the same time, I've been invited by GAINAX to drop in the studios, so... >D Yamada-san also mentioned that Ghibli is nearby, and the way he said it made me wonder if there's a way for us to tour it, too. I also know he has a good friend who is an animator at Studio 4°C and his wife works at Toei, so...

Thanks for the luck--I can use it! I'm really hoping things just come together right and it works out. It'll be the best day of my life if it does. T___T

[wao.livejournal.com]

Yeah! That's exactly it :D Either way, you still get the energy boost and the best thing is you know you tried, and the experience will definitely help.

Heh, that's what it is with governments isn't it. But since it's just a passport perhaps if you put in an application NOW (like as in this very moment) something might come up? :o I'm bumming around with passport problems myself, but they should be done when I intend to make a trip.

And the wildlife there IS amazing! Except unfortunately I won't be able to go near the Great Barrier Reef; I'd be mostly in Western Australia (hoping to visit Melbourne too) Still a lot of lovely wildlife though. And I have a (low-end) camera so pictures! Definitely!

But of course we are sooooo going to bump into each other in Japan some day in the future (insert starry eyes and pumping fists) Australia too! And I still haven't stopped being so terribly green-eyed at you getting a personal invitation to Gainax. :p I would TOTALLY DIE TO TAKE A TOUR OF THE STUDIOS. TOTALLY.

It can be done! Someday! I'll be patient. :D

[centimetre.livejournal.com]

:B LET ME COME ALONG BBCAKES ;A;

[ethersol.livejournal.com]

oooh orly? what part of australia are you planning to visit? I'm from South Australia, Adelaide :)

by december here, it shall be summer. atm it's currently winter :o

[wao.livejournal.com]

I'm planning to visit Western Australia (Perth) and maybe check out Melbourne too, hopefully (neeeed the cash). When I go though it'll be around September, so that's around spring I figure - and I'm entirely happy to go in winter/spring because it's perpetually hot humid summer here in Singapore and I'd love a cool break from that!

[ylmik-wisty.livejournal.com]

*crosses fingers for you*
It sounds amazing and I hope you manage to see your dream concert especially after your daring to take these risks.

[ethersol.livejournal.com]

wow, i'm going to be so jealous if you manage to attend this concert. it sounds absolutely amazing *o*

but reading a few other peoples' posts about their experiences abroad, makes me feel a little concerned?

i really hope this will work out for you, and it's important that you try to make this work, so in the end, if you don't get to go, you at leats know you _tried_ to.

i wish you the best of luck, and hope it all turns out for you. but please, PLEASE be extremely careful. people like to take advantage of travellers from overseas :/ *hugs*

[ionneos.livejournal.com]

I'm slightly worried as well, though I don't have any warstories of my own to give you. There's no doubt the slightest bit of danger involved, if nothing else but with the fact that you're going to drive yourself nuts trying to get the funds assembled for this.

With that said, I'll die before I dare to discourage somebody from their dreams. The good Lord's the only one who knows what's going to happen, but I pray that you'll be safe, regardless.

[eriolgal.livejournal.com]

Sadly, don't have much time to write this but...

If you want to meet up while you're here (or even talk about it beforehand) just let me know.

For the record, though: Tokyo is fairly safe, pretty easy to navigate (even with little knowledge of the language), and can be done inexpensively if you're careful.

For hostels and cheap hotels, I've been using this site: http://www.hostelworld.com/ I used it when I travelled around the country in December, and their recommendations are usually right-on.

If you have questions or want to chat, just let me know!

[kasaii.livejournal.com]

As somebody just returning from a Japan trip planned with the sole purpose of living a dream, I have nothing but support for you. Good luck, honey! ♥

(PS- I think there's a J-Hoppers hostel near Tokyo, the one in Osaka was FANTASTIC and I highly recommend them!)

[mei-san.livejournal.com]

I don't have experience traveling to Japan (or experience traveling by myself for that matter). All I can say is best of luck! It seems the passport is the most constraining factor, aside from acquiring the concert ticket. As for money, there are always credits cards, but I don't want you to be debt-ridden like me. And don't forget to plan a safe trip! I'm so excited for you!

[centimetre.livejournal.com]

YOU CAN DO IT

BELIEVE IN MEAN WHO BELIEVES IN YOU

[centimetre.livejournal.com]

lol i can't even spell me

D:

lol fuck i need sleep!

but ilu sweetie

since this is totally the kind of thing I would do (lol) just leave me a comment on lj if you have any questions or anything. i can't think of any specific advice (even if I did I may not be the best person to take it from.) when i bought my tix to japan there was only a little over a week of time (during which i was busy and couldn't really prepare for my trip). but i also had the significant advantage of having over 3k in savings at the time, as well as a spanking new passport. but I don't think you will be riddled with debt because of this trip. even if you do end up spending over 2k in all, i have faith that you will be able to earn it back. 2k over the course of a year is very doable if you are careful with your spending :B

[pacificpikachu.livejournal.com]

LISHAAAA

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR ENCOURAGEMENT! ♥ I really really appreciate it! And yeah, you're right--if I need to get a loan or put it on a credit card or something...well, that's just what I'll do, and pay it back when I can. It's not like it's $30,000 or $500,000 or $1 million or anything, it would be totally accomplishable to just pay it back within a few months if I need to. I'm aiming for $2100 or so, but I'm pretty sure I could make it all work with $1500-1600 or so. I AM GOING TO GO, AND I BELIEVE IN YOU WHO BELIEVES IN ME AS WELL AS BELIEVING IN ME WHO BELIEVES IN MYSELF

Again, thank you! ♥