Requests for information

There have been some requests for information...for instance, WHERE I am going and WHEN and all that and to tell you the truth--I don't really know. I mean, I know general things like "we're going to Tokyo and Kyoto" and things that are important to me like "we're going to ride the maglev train!" and "we're going to rent bikes and ride them in Kyoto" and then things I want to do "Go get drunk and sing kareoke!" and "Catch one of those monkeys that sits in hot springs and washes its potatos in the sea and bring it back to the US!" but that is all I know. So, for your view pleasure (and probably my own, cuz I'll most likely loose the itinerary sheet) the *Official Itinerary* is as follows:

Tuesday May 15
Group Leaves Albuquerque for Tokyo Narita

Wednesday May 16
Arrival at Tokyo Narita, will be met by Chester Liebs and Julie McGilvray.
Travel to Tokyo Ueno Station via Keisei Line limited express
Cabs or city bus to The University of Tokyo (Todai)
Check in to Sanjo Honkan and Sanjo Bekkan
Dinner at kaiten sushi in Okachimachi.
Evening orientation and free time.

Thursday May 17

8:45 Meet at Tatsuoka-mon
9:30 Meet Prof. MAENO Masaru at the art school gate of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music (Geidai)
9:30 -10:15 Brief Tour of Geidai kenzobutsu kenkyushitsu and the cultural property sculpture restoration studio with Prof UENO Katsuhisa and Assistant Professor UCHIKAWA Aki
10:30 -12:00 Tour of Ichida-tei and lecture by Prof. MAENO.
12:00 -13:00 Lunch
13:00 - 15:30 Tour of Yanaka and Old Sogakudo with Professor Maeno
16:00 Arrive back at Todai
17:00 Meet in faculty conference room, Building 14, Todai
17:00-17:40 Illustrated introductions by UNM study-tour members.
17:40-19-00 Presentation by graduate students on the Todai Urban Design Laboratory and lecture on Japanese conservation and the history of the Hongo area by Prof. NISHIMURA Yukio.
1900 Welcome reception hosted by the Todai Nishimura Urban Design Laboratory

Friday May 18

8:30 Meet at Tatsuoka-mon
9:15 Arrive at Sensoji gate under the red lantern.
9:20 Asakusa/ San'ya/ Minami Senju/ Kita Senju cultural landscape reconnaissance. Walk from Senshoji in Asakusa northeast (bad direction by feng sui). See Yoshiwara, Nihonzutsumi and remnant early Edo landscape, prostitute burial ground.
Lunch at Iseya (historic tendon restaurant (1889) . Continue on to Iroha shōtengai, San’ya, Kimura san’s lodging house, Kotsu Dori (Bone Street), kubikiri (neck cutting) jizo and execution ground, urban redevelopment Minami Senju, Kita Senju (healthy shōtengai) walk on old Mito Kaido to Arakawa. Ms. YOSIHIRA Magokoro, Visiting Scholar, Health Sociology, University of Tokyo

Saturday May 19
Meeting time TBA. Joint field study of Machizukuri (town making) challenges projects in Tokyo’s Koto-ku with students from Todai and Meiji Gakuin University. Prof. Hattori Keiro, Meiji Gakuin University, Ms. SUNAGA Yoshiko and Ms. IIDA Towa, Talo Toshi Kikaku. (Talo City Planning Co., Ltd.)

Sunday May 20

Free time.

12:00-19:00 “Leave the nest afternoon.” Members will set off individually to explore Tokyo and have lunch and dinner on their own. Suggestions for places to see will be provided if requested. You will be only a phone call away from Prof. Liebs or Julie McGilvray should you need assistance. (An alternate plan will be provided by any member who requests it but since this is a cultural landscape discovery course, it is very valuable to have this experience if possible)

20:00-22:00 Meet back at Sanjo-bekkan to discuss the afternoon’s adventures. Photograph this and all your peregrinations extensively and write down all your questions.

Monday May 21

9:00 – 17:00 Explore various areas of Tokyo to see conservation issues as time will allow including Ueno Station, Ginza, Tokyo Station and Marunouchi district, Shirodome, Yurakuchō, Shinjuku, Omote Sando, Tokyo Midtown, with Prof. Liebs and Prof. FUKUSHIMA Ayako, University of Fukuoka

17:00 Food shopping in Komagome Ginza. Dinner at Prof. Liebs’ apartment in Komogome.

Tuesday May 22

9:00-1700 Explore the sustainable, newer neighborhoods of Chiba as time permits including Minaminagareyama (neighborhoods and rural remnants), Tokiwadaira (aging planned community), Funabashi (“challenge of mansionization”).

19:00-22:00 Members will review what they have seen and photographed and then make a PowerPoint presentation of about 45 minutes worth of images for presentation in the evening of what they found of interest so far and why. Members will also compile a list of questions they have about what they have seen.

Wednesday May 23

8:30 Checkout and lock luggage in Prof. Liebs’ office

9:30-11:30 Members will present their images and observations to Todai faculty and students along with discussions and also answers to their questions by NAKAJIMA Naoto, Assistant Professor, Urban Design.

16:00 leave for Kyoto via Shinkansen, eat enroute.
18:45 (estimate) Arrive Kyoto
Check in to lodging Roku Roku, Kyoto (http://www.6969.me.uk/index.php)
Evening free

Thursday May 24
Katsura Rikyu
9:00 Group 1
10:00 Group 2
Afternoon: visit Ryoanji and discuss gardens and meaning
Evening: dinner in Kyoto and Okonomiyaji restaurant.

Friday May 25

9:00 Discussion of the evolution of and tour of a Japanese traditional house and its land, Ms. KOBAYASHI Yasuko (Julie McGilvray’s former host mother).
13:30 Hike at Daigo Mountain to see Buddhist complex and mountain
retreat and explore mountain trails and how they are linked to the city and lake Biwa. Discuss lake biwa, water history (daigo water history, etc.)….leads into tomorrow bike tour

Saturday May 26

9:00 free time and independent study in Kyoto
14:00 Bicycle field study of restored and unrestored machiya, contemporary buildings. Lots of riding, stopping, looking. (This is also a good time to see how the new/old relate and how infrastructure is very important and integrated (rivers and waterways). Also we will be meeting with Prof. HAYASHI Tomiko, Professor, Department of International Communication, Kansai Gaidai University (Prof. Liebs’ former Japanese professor at the University of Vermont), to revisit her family store on a shōtengai and also to discuss her impressions of Kyoto after being away for many years. TBA

18:30-20:20 Attend lecture by Prof. Liebs, Kyoto University of Art and Design

Sunday May 27

Leave for Tokyo. Group will decide the schedule for this day including some sort of closing event or dinner in Tokyo (Maybe something more formal will happen in the evening) .

Monday May 28

Return to the USA

Except I'm coming back on the 31st. I'm getting a Japan Rail pass and maybe I'll go down to Osaka or back to Kyoto or someplace really crazy and strange for those few days. That's assuming my passport gets here in time...everyone think positive thoughts for Congresswoman Heather Wilson's staff member Chris! (he's helping me get my passport from Charleston, SC before I leave)