The "weekly" accountability report was one of those things that was supposed to help keep me in check in conforming to my goals for the year. It's hardly been weekly and it's hardly been keeping me on track (ask me how many times I've ordered Papa John's in the last month. I dare you). But, there was one item on the list that's about to get scratched off and that is the trip to Nihon.

I've probably mentioned before, but this trip is something that my brothers and I have wanted to do for some time, borne out of our budding interest in Japanese animated wares. Anime, in a fashion, was sort of a gateway drug into all manner of Japanese things from games to language to culture to music. It seems only logical that from this fascination we should go and visit the source.

If you were to ask "what are you going to do there?", the answer would be slightly awkward. You see, while there is a list of things we'd like to do, there's no set plan, no schedule, no itinerary. This is probably a terrible way to visit a foreign country, let alone one for people who've never left the States and also have only the most rudimentary knowledge of the native tongue. But, the idea is more one of exploration than anything else. So here are the main points we plan to hit:

Akihabara

The mecca for all things otaku, we'll probably spend a goodly amount of time here. This is probably where most of my money will be dropped on swag, arcades, and god knows what else. There are also plans of hitting up a maid cafe while there, where my brother Chris and I can admire the local selection of females while being entirely awkward around them.

Food

Obviously, food is a huge fuckin' deal over there, and a huge fuckin' amount different than over here. Now, I myself am not a seafood fan, but on this occasion I'm going to make some exceptions. I'll try fish, I'll have one of my brothers film it in case the result is funny. We're already preparing for a bit called "Chris will eat it" wherein Chris will eat things that are.... unusual. Here's the "official" list:

• Takoyaki
• Dancing squid
• Sea-horse on a stick
• Something with jellyfish
• Taiyaki
• Nikuman
• Sushi
• Tamago on a stick
• Honest to god ramen stall
• "Family" restaurant (or Denny's)
• Korean Barbecue
• KFC
• Kitkats
• Pepsi

Cultural/Touristy Things

Of course, we need to hit some more mainstream items as well. On the list are:

• Fuckin' Sky Tree
• Rainbow Bridge
• Tokyo Big Sight
• Ueno Park
• A shrine
• A castle
• 7-Eleven
• Karaoke

This is, more or less, the list we've been cultivating for the last several months and it'll be interesting to see what we hit, what we don't, and what we see that wasn't expected. Also, I plan on firing up the month of solid blogging again come June 1 (which means a blog post every day we're over there), so stay tuned for some fun stuff to come!