Taikai: questions about flights to/hotels in Misawa

General
#1

Question to Kevin and Kyle (or anyone with the answer :slight_smile: )

Gotta get organizing things for the taikai here! (Yes, I’m “that way”… {lol})
So here’s my bunch of questions:

1.By what route does one fly in to Misawa? I looked up its code, which appears to be MSJ(?), but neither Air Canada’s site nor ANA’s seems to recognize that.

2.If one must transfer planes in Tokyo, will it be at Haneda or Narita? And how does one get from MSJ airport into the city?

Also, I’m planning to come in a couple of days before the gig to de-jetlag, so:

3.Kevin, can you recommend any decent (=no bugs!) hotels in Misawa to check out?

Thanks in advance for any help. Trying to at least get my flight booked in the next few days - game on!

#2

Hey Linda,

These are great questions; thank you for posting about them.

Kyle and I are working on a Q&A document to be provided with the final version of the application. I believe it would also be in our best interest to create a sticky version of the “Q&A about the Taikai”. So thanks for submitting these, they’ll definitely be included~

As a quick response: last year we took the Shinkansen from Tokyo rather than flying. This may not be for everyone though, as getting to the station from the airport may not be terribly easy (we took the Shinkansen from Ueno, so unfortunately I do not know how easy it is).

Hope this is useful to you.
Best wishes~!

#3

Adrian, yeah, I started to think about taking the train, too, because I checked several hotels in Misawa this afternoon and they are already completely booked for the entire month of April(!). So I was thinking it might be easier to find somewhere to stay in Tokyo after I arrive and then head up to Misawa on May 2 (thereby leaving it up to Kyle and company to arrange accommodations for our taikai group from that point on… :slight_smile: )

Watching for that Q&A!!

#4

Hi Linda!

Yesh! As Adrian said, we’re (“we” being the royal him) are working on a FAQ. This is a great question for it. I will ask Nitta san about the name of the hotel (was it called the “Princess?” or Nexus or something?)

Ah yes, the Shinkansen. Taking the shinkansen is very nice if it’s your first time in Japan, as you can get a nice view of the scenery. However, because there’s a Chu-Hi cart, it’s even more fun to go with other people.

Adrian, is it safe to say that this sums up the Shinkansen ride?

However, it’s faster/cheaper to just transfers planes when you arrive in Narita than taking the Narita Express into Ueno and such.

#5

Hi Linda,

I booked my flight this sunday. I will be arriving in Haneda and from there you can take a flight to Misawa which is as you say MSJ.

I don’t want the hassle of travelling between the airports so therefore I had to take a longer flight to get to Haneda instead of Narita.

#6

And with longer flight I don’t mean the distance between the two airports, but rather my flight plan through europe first :slight_smile:

#7

Hey Linda!
Here is the place Kyle is referring to --> http://www.princesshotel.jp
There are two hotels operated literally one just behind the other. I stayed at the Princess last year, but I believe most everyone else stayed in the Annex. From what I could say the Princess is basically standard “small room”/buisness hotel, but cute. I stayed two nights I believe and that package included a breakfast buffet which wasn’t bad at all, but nothing amazing. Can’t knock this place for the price (two nights was approx ￥8500. I’m planning to reserve a room here again for sure.

I’m sorry I can’t say much about the flights as I live here in Gifu I took the shinkansen last year.

#8

Hello, Linda san!!
What I have to tell you is almost the same as what Josh says. Princess hotel and Princess Anex hotel are standard and reasonable. I also went up to Misawa by Shinnkannsen and local train.

#9

Karl, thanks for confirming the airport code. Guess I’ll have to call this in to a live agent, since the code’s not recognized for online booking… Josh and Kyoko-san, thanks for the hotel info. The Princess was one of the hotels that came up already fully booked(!) the other day, but I didn’t know it had an Annex, so I’ll try that next (after I sort out the flight stuff) and see if I get better results.

Kyle/Adrian, should I book myself into whatever hotel I can get right thru to May 2 inclusive, or is Team Bachido planning to make some special group arrangements for the evening of May 2 somewhere (so that we’re all in one place, as Kyle and I discussed by Skype the other night)? Also, is Team Bachido/Nitta-san going to take care of arranging accomodations wherever we all are elsewhere in Japan thru to the end of the Bachido Festival? (If you don’t have those questions on the upcoming FAQ list yet, please add them. :slight_smile: )

#10

The itinerary is tentative (pending a couple things) but that information will be included in the break-down of the application, and hopefully in everyone’s hands soon

cough Kyle, get that out ASAP cough

I would suggest checking out this forum for the tentative trip plan (the final of which shouldn’t be terribly different, if I understand correctly):

Quick run-down:
May 2nd/pre-Hirosaki: it would be best to find a hotel to stay the night.

Through Hirosaki: we will all be staying in the same place, which is being handled by Masahiro-san. There are details about this included in the application.

May 6th (post-Hirosaki): “day off”; it is recommended you find a hotel/place of stay for that night.

7th and 8th: my limited understanding so far is that Masahiro-san is willing to help people find hotels in Sapporo.

Please understand that some of this is speculative to change while details are ironed out as the schedule nears finalization.

Your patience is appreciate~!!

#11

cough Kyle, get that out ASAP cough

Mousugu dayo! I’m waiting for Nitta san to confirm the estimated costs entered in the form.

I’m hounding him now. It’s getting down to the wire.

#12

Linda, check this out:

I couldn’t find the airport with the ICAO code “RJSM”, which is what should be used these days. I had to search for the IATA code “MSJ” and both my booking sites could handle that.

#13

Karl, thanks for confirming the airport code. Guess I’ll have to call this in to a live agent, since the code’s not recognized for online booking… Josh and Kyoko-san, thanks for the hotel info. The Princess was one of the hotels that came up already fully booked(!) the other day,

Not sure what site you’re trying to book through but using the normal Japanese website, there are the same options I had available last year (i.e. its not fully book =D )
I’ll likely book it again come this weekend. I’ll likely do the two nights “eco” deal they have for ￥9200 like last year. No major complaints at all about that place.

#14

Oh Geez! I missed this one! My appologies but looks like some good info already here! Looking forward to seeing you again Linda!

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