I am booked to arrive on April 7, JAL 1 into HND at 3 PM. Not sure yet if my schedule will actually allow me to attend, but hopeful.

I'll be there.

There’s now a slim possibility I may try to join this DO after all. There’s a seat sale with AC right now and prices in J are not as astronomical as before (still pretty high though), but this is a much simpler routing than the one I booked with AF for May which makes it a 2 day trip both ways since trip goes via Europe from NA..(going the long way!).

So don’t count me out just yet. Just want to ask: there’s discussions upthread of doing this in Tokyo rather than Nagoya this year, is that seriously considered?

Now, I need to see if I can take time off around Easter. Good thing everything booked for May is 100% refundable.

confirmed dates ?
 

Are the dates confirmed ?
Like Governator, I am going to OZ Fest this year and have a planned HND stopover at the end of May.

The organizers can confirm, but usually, the Japan DO always takes place over Easter weekend. Just the location changes year over year. I don’t think changing it for May this year was ever discussed.

Am very interested in Nagoya, Ise etc if you ever go there!

I never put that together in my mind, thank you for the heads up on this. Can't make it this year but have blocked out 2024

I'm tentatively interested, as I may already be visiting family in Taiwan the week before so it should be easy enough to hop over to Japan :)

I always have a competing event (by no means compulsory though) at Easter hence I’ve never seriously contemplated this one. Will definitely bear in mind though if the other doesn’t look like working out.

I should have posted here ages ago - I am very much in the Definitely Maybe category. I've blocked that weekend off for work, but have to see how a few other things pan out (flights certainly being a part of that). Fingers crossed!!

Miracle of miracles, I actually got the time off.

Now to start looking at hotels... those have not dropped at all :( and points are sky high as well.

Hotel prices aren't as terrible if you're not focusing on international/US heavy brands. ANA hotels (seemingly unrelated to the airline, but somehow oddly linked to Coast Hotels in Canada) are coming up reasonably priced, as are other more Japanese based brands.

Flights on the other hand - :eek:

So we have about 8 "definite" and 6 "definitely maybe" participants as of today. Reading through the thread it sounds like another Tokyo Do might suit more people, keeping Nagoya for 2024. If we are meeting in Tokyo here's a possible plan:

Thursday 6 April evening - Meet and Greet Drinks
Friday 7 April - Walking tour of Ueno Park - Kappabashi shopping street - Asakusa with an optional water bus trip down the Sumida River
Friday 7 April - Official Do Dinner
Saturday 8 April - Day trip to Okutama (mountainous area of western Tokyo)
Sunday 9 April - Explore less known areas of Tokyo, or a day trip to Yokohama? Kamakura?

Please post any comments or suggestions.

I believe ANA hotels were started by the airline but are now part of IHG which is the primary shareholder.

In 2020 I had booked 12 nights at Hilton hotels in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka at the total cost of a little under US $2,500 or $200 per night at today's exchange rate. I checked the price of the same Hilton hotels for the same period/dates for this year and the total will be a little over US $4,000! I only booked these stays a little over a month in advance in 2020!

My apologies - it turns out it's APA hotels (still a Japanese brand) that are affiliated with Coast Hotels! :p Close but not the same. It was the IHG reference that had me look again, that definitely felt off. https://www.coasthotels.com/partners-affiliates Still, I can earn points with APA, sadly no redeeming - I ended up with quite a few during covid years.

The itinerary, however loose, looks great. I love the idea of a waterbus, didn't realize that was a thing in Tokyo!