Prelude: an introduction

So this is the start of my travel blog. In this blog I'm going to cover some experiences from my upcoming two weeks in Tokyo. My first trip to Tokyo was last year, from 22nd December 2008 till 12th January 2009. I also did a travel blog from that trip too but it was in Finnish (link to the blog at the right in links section). This time I decided to do it completely in english so I chose to start this blog.

This time I'm staying in Tokyo for 14 nights, from December 28th 2009 till January 11th 2010. I have two Finnish friends travelling with me, Laggy and Kohfel. I'm trying to update my blog daily, or whenever I can. I will also be posting pictures to my Photobucket account, to where I'll be posting the address later on when I've done uploading my first set of photos.

I'll start my journey by leaving on 26th December from my hometown Oulu to our capital Helsinki, where I'll be staying at my ex-roomie's place for one night. Then on 27th I will go to Helsinki-Vantaa airport where my flight to Narita is boarding at 17:20 (yes I'm using 24 hour clock because Finns use it).

As a fan of japanese music, rhythm games and 'otaku culture' my main interests are going to be band gigs, arcades, Comic Market 77 and Akihabara. Here's a checklist of some sort which I've made for my trip preparation:

• Attend all 3 days of Comic Market 77
• See at least these three band gigs: 男臭ぶちキレNIGHT！～其の23～ , HAWAIIAN6 ”BONDS TOUR” and つばき 10th Anniversary 「正夢になった夜」vol.1 ～VS編～
• Wander in the streets of Akihabara with the help of Akiba map and go to several maid cafes
  
• Go check out Shibuya's Game Kaikan arcade and other well-known arcades
• Hunt used CD records around Koenji, Shinjuku, Nakano etc.
  
• Go to Hakone for a genuine Onsen experience
• Wander around Ueno (Ueno park and amekoyo)
• See the sights from Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
• Check out Yoyogi park on a Sunday for street performers
• Sing some songs at a karaoke box and get wasted in an izakaya
• Try out more different Japanese cuisines like Conveyor belt sushi, yakisoba, shabushabu, takoyaki, taiyaki etc.
  

The plan for my beginning of the trip is like this: I'll go check in to my hotel where I'm staying at, which is going to be Hotel New Koyo in Minami-senju. After I've dropped my luggage there I'm heading Shibuya for the said 男臭ぶちキレNIGHT！～其の23～ live event. And then the next following three 3 days are going to be the 3 days of Comiket77 and after last day we're going to go celebrate New Year's eve somewhere.

I'm sure this trip is gonna be legendary, like the last one was! Only 10 more days to go. At the end I'd like to share a link to a song from one of my all-time favourite Japanese bands: eastern youth. I feel this song fits really well for this whole theme about my dream of being able to travel to Tokyo again coming true. Enjoy!