From Morning Calm to the Rising Sun

In a little less than a week I will be in JAPAN!!  I'm really excited, and I devoted a big chunk of this past weekend getting ready and cleaning and making lots of lists.  I have also been doing some of my favorite things to do before a trip.

Books: Not only am I pouring over the guidebooks I've borrowed from friends (right now I have 2 Japan travel books and one Tokyo book),  but I've also decided what book to bring to read on the trip itself.  There's an awesome used English bookstore in my neighborhood called "Fully Booked" which is absolutely great (I'll devote a whole post to them later), but they had a few Murakami books on the shelves so I decided to be super nerdy and read "Kafka on the Shore" while traveling through Japan.  It was the first Murakami book I had ever read and one that I had passed on to other friends to read,  so I bought another copy and it worked out really well.  When I think of riding the trains through Japan, I think of Murakami.



I love picking out books for trips.  I still read old fashioned, 'real' books, and picking out which book will travel somewhere with me is oftentimes more important and more exciting that figuring out what clothes to pack.

Lists: Now I'm pretty sure I should have a Doctorate degree in list making by now, and if not, at least a Masters.  I love lists.  I not only have lists of what I need to pack, what I need to buy before I pack, where I'm going, and where I'm staying, but also one of the best kinds of lists- a playlist.

The most important songs on this playlist include:

"Tokyo, Tokyo" by Arrah and the Ferns- a great group I saw a few times in college, plus this song talks about not only Tokyo, but Chicago, so it's a double win.

"Okinawa" by Nimbleweed - I found this song on the YouTube channel of that awesomely nerdy guy who did the NPR Rap a few years back and I really love it.

"Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots"- the Flaming Lips-  I saw this song performed live (that's what htis video is from) my first year in Korea up in Seoul, so it's one of those songs that I associate with Japan AND Korea, and home too. 

I'm also including the Decemberist's "the Crane Wife" and Anathallo's "Hanasakajijii (parts 1-4)" since they're both based on Japanese folk tales, along with a random collection of other songs that don't have much to do with Japan as much as I want to listen to them while I'm there.

Cleaning:  One of my things I love most when coming home from traveling, is coming back to a super clean apartment.  It doesn't always work, and sometimes the pre-flight crazies take over and you end up with clothes scattered all over your apartment as you're leaving for China, but when it happens it's so nice.

So in order to ensure a squeaky clean return, I need to clean now.   Sometimes it feels really stressful including a full out apartment cleaning on top of all the other to-dos but it's worth it. It's worth it when I can enjoy the happy warm fuzzy feeling of knowing that while sweatily traipsing through Japan, back in Korea my apartment is spotless and waiting for me to walk in drop my bags, take a hot shower, and crawl into a nice clean bed to sleep Sunday away.

I love trip planning and preparing and I know this week is going to go by really quickly.  I hope you're ready for a major geek-out Japan 'cuz I'm a-coming!

From Busan with Travel Planning Love,
Jenna



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