Tokyo Anime and Manga Tour

L

lastresort

Completely Average High School Student
Hello!


First of all, I want to say that before posting this I contacted forum admin to ask permission. (Thank you!)


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
 
Well, on 1st glance of this list you have provided, I must say, you've covered quite alot of intresting ideas/visits.
I think one thing that may be good for us living in the UK (or anywhere really) is to find out about travel to Japan.

For example: Would the traveling cost be included in the travel package? (e.g. plane tickets)
Will you have a representitive meeting us in Japan or UK? If so, which airport?

If I were to go, I would like to go to places/do things you can only find/do in Japan. Of course there's the anime/manga visits that are a must, but I would probably like to see the traditional things. E.g. Kabuki, shrines, sumo, Tokyo Tower etc.
I would also probably like to go to the Eastern/Japanese style accomodation, but I'm not so good with my Japanese (as others may also be.)

My only suggestion is that we could also visit a Hot Springs, like in most manga. Unless the hotel/accomodation has it's own, then it would be a big plus to the package.

Hope that helps. *Bows*
 
Sounds good, it's a shame me and my friends are already doing something very similar for a group of people (we've got about 20 so far, looking to get 50 for uber discountage. :D), otherwise I may of gone for it.
 
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
 
Homestay

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
 
I think everything you have put on that list sounds like the absolute perfect holiday to me.
I think it would also be great if you could incorporate a Japanese festival in the tour, i've always loved the idea of getting to go to one of the festivals i've seen in anime and dress up in a Yukata.
Cherry Blossom season would also be nice to see aswell as some of the beautiful scenery and Geisha in Kyoto.

I like the idea of staying with a Japanese family, i feel that then you could really experience Japanese life, but i'm also quite a private person myself so to have a wide range or different accommodation option would be perfect.
I think choice is very important to me
 
The idea of staying with a japanese family whilst on a trip to japan is a great idea, it would be a great insite to how the typical japanese family go by their daily lives and it would also help to understand more of the japanese culture. Also may help me to learn more japanese if i ever get the chance to go :lol:. And as charter mage said..festivals would be a nice thing to see at the time as well.
The whole idea is a good one and if you could get the plan to work i think you would attract quite a few people to it. me one of them lol, erm..as long as i have the money that is heh.
 
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
 
May want to include a 'free' day to do the random things that they may want to do. Eg as an ecologist would want to hit the Zoo's, aquariums and what ever the equivalent of national parks Japan has.
 
Sounds great, although I'm really not interested in Anime / Manga Workshop with a professional artist. I love watching/reading it but I have no interest in making my own, I'm useless at that style.

Japanese style accomodation or staying with a Japanese family would be my preferred choices.
 
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 Japanâ€
 
If I had the money, this would definately be something I'm interested in. I would probably prefer to stay in a hotel than with a family though, I would feel like I'm intruding.

Though, if you have a tour on during the time it ran, a stop at the Tokyo Game Show would be amazing, and it would attract gamers to your tour too. Something worth considering?
 
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