Pop Japan Travel Returns With a Vengeance

After a year long hiatus Pop Travel Japan is once again offering Japan Tours. To kick things off they've planned their biggest tour ever, The All Japan Alpha+Omega Tour. The tour runs from 8/29/12 to 9/7/12 and covers nearly everything you'd want to do while in Japan, anime, fashion, manga, cuisine, music, TV, history, theater, and tradition. The tour starts at $2490.00, but could run higher depending on any options you want to add. The cost does NOT include airfare to Japan, which is the only downside to this tour. The deadline for signing up for the tour is June 29th, 2012.

The price for this tour includes:

• 6 days, 5 nights in Tokyo; 1 day and night in Kyoto; 3 days, 2 nights in Osaka - all with fully guided tours

• Full hotel accommodations

• Transportation to & from tour activities

• Admission and a booth at the Comitia dojinshi market

• Admission to the Ghibli Museum and the Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum

• Seats for a Takarazuka Revue show

• A special two-hour calligraphy experience, with Japanese tea and sweets in Kyoto's Gion district

• A traditional farewell banquet on the banks of the Kamo River in Kyoto

• A private bus tour of Kyoto

• Admission to Kinkakuji Temple, Nijo Castle, Sanjusangendo Hall, Kiyomizu Temple and Saihoji (the elusive "moss temple")

• The "Pop Japan Gourmet Course" includes meals every day at culinary hot spots (optional)

• Professional, bilingual tour guides

• Customized tour guidebook with maps, descriptions, and Japanese phrases

Price does not include air transportation to Tokyo. We will meet you after your flight at Narita International Airport in Tokyo. We can arrange air travel for you from your closest airport. Contact go[at]popjapantravel.com.

The tour sounds really awesome, but the registration deadline is just to soon for me to get that much money together. But if anyone decides to go be sure and tell them Ziroc's Anime Blog sent you. 



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Animefest This Weekend

Going to be heading to Dallas for Animefest with some friends this weekend. This will be the first anime convention I've been to. We've had some comic "conventions" here in the past, and I use the word convention loosely. They were nothing more than a single room full of dealers and lasted one day. Think one actually had George Takei as a guest, but I couldn't get the day off work for that one.

I'll be attending Friday and Saturday for sure. The friend I'm riding with suggested we go to Gameworks one day, but just found out the Dallas location closed a couple months ago. So as of this post our Sunday plans are up in the air.

Already have the panels I want to check out lined up. Planning on trying to attend the Webcomic, and Voice Actors panels on Friday, as well as the Anime Club How-to and Visual Novel panels. Saturday I want to check out the World of Bishoujo Games, Learn Japanese With Anime!, and Kazuyoshi Katayama panels. And I can't decide if I want to sit in on the Funimation panel or the Dai Sato panel as they both take place at the same time.

I will probably check out the gaming area to, even if I don't play anything. Anyone else going, and have some suggestions on things to do?



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