On the eve of our departure

Bags are packed, documents in order. Midterm assignment submitted. The house is clean. The last few weeks have been stressful trying to tie up all the loose ends before we depart, but it has been worth the effort. Tomorrow we depart for the Land of the Rising Sun. I couldn't be more excited.

We fly directly into Kansai international airport, located near Osaka. Osaka lies in the central region of Honshu - the main island - several hours west of Tokyo. From Osaka, we will head west towards Hiroshima and Yamaguchi and slowly make our way east over the course of the next several weeks.

Our itinerary is deliberately vague. There are a few key sites and events that Jennifer and I intend to take in: the Aoi Matsuri festival in Kyoto, the Peace Memorial in Hiroshima, the temples of Koya-san, the Sumo tournament in Tokyo, to name a few. But in between those places and times, we left ourselves the freedom to explore Japan as it happens.

We packed lightly to accommodate our whimsy (thanks in no small part to Doug Dyment of
www.onebag.com) and learned a smattering of the language in case we get lost.

I am so excited to be going on this trip. I promise to bring back photos and stories.