No Regrets!

Hawaii with my 3GD friends last fall was such a success that, upon returning home, conversations quickly turned to where we could go next as a group. Alas, Scott has a lot of things going on in his life and has bowed out of a trip this year, leaving me and Dave to choose our own adventure. So the next trip will be 2GD, not 3GD.

Among the contenders were Croatia, Italy, and Greece, all places I’ve been to and would very much enjoy going to again. But Japan has emerged as the top seed. It’s a place I’ve always wanted to go. It’s different from everywhere else I’ve been, very different, and that has particular appeal since travel has become a homogenous experience for me in recent years. But I haven’t been able to go, because Japan is a really big trip. The time difference and properly seeing the country requires a trip of 10-14 days at least, and for a trip of that length, work and family stuff has always been an obstacle. But things are starting to fall into place this year, and maybe, just maybe, if Dave and I can line up our schedules just right, we can make a trip to Japan happen this fall.

Dave also has an increasing fascination with Japan, and we both have friends that have been and love it.

Of all the things to see and do in the world, one of the things that has been on my bucket list for decades is Japanese baseball game. Friends have told me that Japanese baseball is like American baseball but with the atmosphere of college football, with passionate fans and cheerleaders and everything. I would love to experience that. And if we time things just right, we can arrive in Japan just in time to catch a game or two of the Japan Series, Japan’s baseball championship equivalent to our World Series. Dave has also expressed an interest in seeing a live sumo tournament as well. Fun!

My only hesitation about a trip to Japan is that it seems more of a cultural trip than a nightlife experience. After the nightlife letdown that was Hawaii, we were hoping for a trip where we could be more social. But maybe we just haven’t done enough research.

I don’t know very much about Japan. I’m excited to start learning! I started by firing up ChatGPT and monkey around with some potential itineraries. With two weeks to work with, it seems that we might be best served by an itinerary covering:

• Tokyo (Modern Japan & Nightlife)
• Hakone & Fuji Five Lakes (Nature & Culture)
• Kyoto (Traditional Japan & Cultural Deep Dive)
• Osaka (Food & Nightlife)
• Hiroshima & Miyajima (History & Scenic Beauty)

And it seems we can take relatively affordable bullet trains up and down the islands to see it all.

If we could time things perfectly to catch some Japanese baseball, that would be incredible. There’s a pretty good chance we could coordinate our arrival to catch games 3 and 4, the last two guaranteed games, of the best-of-7 Japan Series. But the season hasn’t even started over there, and there’s no telling which teams will be playing or which stadiums they’ll be playing at. For potential planning purposes, I thought it would be interesting to check the current odds for teams heading to the Japan Series (March 17, 2025):

• Fukuoka Softbank Hawks +200
• Yomiuri Giants +350
• Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters +650
• Yokohama DeNA BayStars +700
• Hanshin Tigers +900
• Chiba Lotte Marines +900
• Hiroshima Toyo Carp +1100
• Orix Buffaloes +2000
• Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles +2200
• Chunichi Dragons +2800
• Tokyo Yakult Swallows +3500
• Saitama Seibu Lions +5000

Fukuoka’s a bit out of the way, but we could make it work. Yomiuri seems to be nestled in greater Tokyo and would perfectly accommodate the start of our trip.

Still so much to brainstorm, research, and plan. But this is all very exciting. Stay tuned!