From: Haruko Kinsha
To: Satoshi Watanabe, Kyon Sorata, Katie Andrew, Kaede Takeuchi, Wataru 
Yamada
Date: Morning of May 13th, 2004
Subject: Lake Inawashiro Road Trip

[encrypted email]


Good morning friends, 

Location: a house on the shore of lake Inawashrio in Fukushima province. 
It’s about a four hour drive, 3:35 by mountain route, 4:15 by coast from 
Tokyo. The Tohuku JR line to Inawashiro is also an option and we could 
pick you up, but that seems less fun. Given the number of people, I’d 
probably try to borrow a car from friends or get a rental, but that would 
probably be pricey.

The timing:

We have a few options after Shin Okubo Story’s short run, which I hope 
you’ll all attend. [These options will not be discussed IC to keep our 
options open.]

The place:

I’ve found a couple different options, I tried to make sure they were all 
at least a little isolated, as I think part of the fun is just having a 
part of the lake to ourselves. The most affordable one has three bedrooms 
(one longer, two square) and is pretty traditional and not just in good 
ways, but I think it will do the job and I think it’s a price we can all 
afford. There's a four bedroom option that would make things easy to 
break out in to two person groups, but it raises the cost some 


[Haruko links to three places she’s considering. Two traditional Japanese 
and one more modern. The one she picked has no A/C, rustic bathrooms, a 
quaint kitchen, and no row boats or canoes or the like. The others have 
more divisions or features.]

Activities:

    Mirror Lake itself.

    Hot springs! We’re finally having a hot spring episode!

    There are hikes nearby up the hills and mountains. Some neat shrines 
around too.

    Home area of Noguchi Hideyo, there’s a museum nearby.

    I found two places for paragliding/hangliding (and a page explaining 
the difference). 
        Inawashiro Paraglider Area (Just around the lake and up in the 
mountains) 
        Sky Park Haneyama (About an hour drive, probably more from south 
of lake)


And we should probably limit it to those of us on the train, plus 
Shiraishi-chan and/or Nanami-san. I’m not necessarily averse to other 
people, but I think that should only be done by consensus, so please ask 
first. 

Contributions needed:

    Cost: [A nominal cost. Let’s say 10,000 yen per person. This does not 
require spending +Barter. But any upgrades on what we describe above will 
have a cost.]

    Convoy Lead: I’ll work on the vehicle, handle maps, and will work 
with Kaede to figure out how to make sure things work for his guests(s). 
Though if anyone has access to a car, it would make my life easy and I 
could do something else instead.

    Organizer: Someone to figure out who has what room, makes sure 
organizes chore shifts that sort of thing, point person for reservations.

    Quartermaster: Someone  to coordinate food and drink (and by drink, I 
certainly include booze). I figured a contributions assuming we buy in 
bulk and cook ourselves.


Haruko

P.S. Interested in a cheap trip to see Taki in Osaka trip later this 
year? Drop me a note please and I'll make it happen.