2016 Animated Spring

Hi my name is Neal, really looking forward to having fun in Japan and spending money on all the otaku goodness.

In 2014 I went on this tour and it was a great experience. I’m looking forward to doing some of the things I liked last time like the convention and Akihabara, and maybe some new things like the Kyoto Animation store.

If I was to make a few suggestions to people, it would be ready in case it gets a bit cold and be ready to walk a lot!!

Hi my name is Heather, cannot wait to meet everyone and have a blast together traveling to and throughout what I assume is everyone who is going on this tours’ dream trip! JAPAN AND ANIME HERE WE COME! Hope to chat to you all soon and learn more about you before our trip. Where is everyone coming from?

Hi friends! My name is Heather, too. I’m extremely excited to be joining this group and to get to meet all of you and make new friends! I’m looking forward to both all the anime AND the Cherry Blossoms.

I’m from Orange County, CA and this will be my first trip to Japan. I have been out of the country before, but only to English/French/Spanish speaking countries where I could understand at least a little of the language. I also only travelled with one or two friends, never in a group, and never without knowing anybody. This will definitely be a fun adventure!

Hi everyone! I liked the introduction format from last year’s trip on this forum, so I’m gonna use it (with a few changes).

Name: Kyle

From: From Vail, Colorado. Born and raised in Durango, Colorado.

What brings you to the tour?: Since I’ve become an anime fan, it’s been a dream of mine to visit Japan, but trying to figure out how to do it on my own has been frustrating. I actually got a flyer for PacSet Tours with an anime DVD I ordered from RightStuf, and it was a perfect fit for what I wanted to do. I also just love to travel and experience new places, but have only been overseas once in my life until now. It’s been 11 years since I crossed the Atlantic, it’s time for me to cross the Pacific!

Looking forward to: Can I say “everything”? No? Ok,then: Akihabara anime shopping, Tokyo Tower, the dinner cruise, cherry blossoms, beautiful temples and castles in Kyoto, getting to know my fellow travelers and anime aficionados.
What’s on your desk?: My phone, a near-empty coffee cup, some maps of Tokyo/Japan (I’m a geography nerd as well as an anime nerd), my Emi Yusa figure.

Favorite Animes of all time: Fate/Stay Night, Evangelion, School Rumble, Shakugan no Shana, Sword Art Online (which is weird since I’m not really a gamer but whatever), Akame Ga Kill (NO, CHELSEA!! WHY?? *sob* T-T), Hataraku Maou-sama.

Favorite Anime from Fall 2015 and Winter 2016 Seasons: Fall – Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry. Winter – Musaigen no Phantom World.

Anything else?: I have a daily countdown to this trip on the whiteboard in my office at work. Safe to say I’m fairly excited to go, and excited to share the experience with you all!

Hi! My name is Erissa. I coming from Colorado Springs with my husband Ryan and good friend Quynh. This trip will be my 4th visit to Japan (mainly Tokyo) and my longest stay. I’m most looking forward to Osaka and Kyoto because I’ve never been. I also own an anime store in Colorado Springs called Rainy Day Anime, so I plan to do A LOT of shopping during the trip.
Looking forward to meeting all of you!

Hi! My name is Ben, I’m 26 and I live in Kansas. This will be my first trip out of country. I love anime and video games. My favorite anime right now are DBZ, Evangelion and One Piece. My favorite video game franchises are Pokemon and metal gear solid. I’m also a huge Star Wars fan. I am most looking forward to the trip to Hokone.
I look forward to meeting you all!

Hey everyone! I’m going to borrow Kyle’s format as it seems to work well.

Name: Adam

From: Northern Ohio

What Brings you to the Tour: I’ve been an anime fans for years but never been out of the country before. I happened to also get a flyer for PacSet from one of my RightStuf purchases and it sounded like the perfect opportunity.

Looking Forward To: Definitely Akihabara and Tokyo in general. Getting to meet people interested in the same things as I am.

Favorite Anime of All Time: My favorites are always shifting but for now I’d go with: Kimi ni Todoke, Inuyasha, Yuki Yuna is a Hero, Witchcraft Works, Oreimo, Girls und Panzer, and Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions.

Favorite Anime from Fall 2015 and Winter 2016 Seasons: Fall – Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon (Tai-Madō Gakuen 35 Shiken Shōtai) Winter – ERASED (Boku Dake ga Inai Machi)

Anything Else: Really looking forward to the tour and can’t wait to hang out with everyone. If you’re into Twitter, I tend to post there from time to time on shows I’m watching or anime goods I’ve bought. I’m listed as the same name I use on the forums, iMagicianX.

Name: Chris
From: Fort Worth, TX
What brings you to the tour? This is a bucket list trip for me. I’ve always wanted to go and I finally buckled down and made it a priority. I’ve been a fan of anime since the early days Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon were on tv. I found out about Pacset from Anime News Network and it looked like a great opportunity.
Looking forward to: Everything. Cherry blossoms were the priority. I knew if I only get one trip, I have to see the cherry blossoms. I’m a big Gundam fan, so, the Gundam museum is a highlight. I have a feeling I’ll be coming back with a suitcase full of Gundam stuff. Generally, looking forward to a great adventure.
Favorite Animes of all time: Gundam Wing, Gundam Seed, OO Gundam, Full Metal Alchemist and Cowboy Bebop. Trying to get into the Iron Blooded Orphan Gundam. Towards the Terra is a great one. Summer Wars is a great movie. I’m looking forward to The Boy and The Beast.
Anything else? Looking forward to experiencing a new country, eating lots of seafood, and meet a lot of great people along the way.

By the way, anyone else wanting to go to the Shinjuku Robot Restaurant? I saw a video of it on youtube and just have to see this in person.

We saved a video of the live stream. No chat log but it shouldn’t be necessary. PacSet LiveStream

Hello All!

Name: Bill

From: Northern Ohio

What brings you to the tour?: I have been a fan of anime for a good while but as of late, it has picked up. I have been interested in visiting Japan and I think it will be great to finally see the culture and other things anime related.

Looking forward to: Many things on the trip. Akihabara, anime/souvenir shopping, Gundam Front, cherry blossoms, and hanging out with others on this journey.

Favorite Anime: Just to list some Trigun, Clannad, Oreimo, Evangelion, Sword Art Online, Angel Beats, Squid Girl, and No Game No Life. (I would like to add Steins;Gate and The Fruit of Grisaia to the list but I only completed the Visual Novels for them. Still working on the anime equivalents.)

Favorite Anime from Fall 2015/Winter 2016: Erased, KonoSuba, and Shomin Sample are three I am the most current with. I have recently started to watch a couple others like Dimension W and Myriad Colors Phantom World and they seem promising.

Other Things: Games like Persona 3/4, Danganronpa, and Ace Attorney Phoenix Wright which I haven’t seen their anime equivalent but are still great.

I am looking forward to meeting you all and enjoying the trip.

Name: Quynh

From: Colorado Springs,CO GO BRONCOS!

What Brings you to the Tour: Erissa and Ryan, they forced me to go… j/k

Looking Forward To: visiting a 7-11 there, I’ve heard many stories

What’s on your desk?: Macbook, phone, 3 cups of old coffee, makeup, and my dog because I just put him there

Favorite Anime of All Time: Confession: I don’t watch a lot of anime, more of a Star Wars, Marvel nerd but Attack on Titan and Sailor Moon are in the top

Favorite Anime from Fall 2015 and Winter 2016 Seasons: Hmmm…good question.

Anything Else: Am really excited about the tour, this will be my first time out of the country. I am mostly excited about all the amazing food we will get to eat!
Instagram @warpedchick

Name: John

From: San Francisco Bay Area

What Brings you to the Tour: I love Japan and anime. It is great opportunity to go on an anime themed tour and share common interests with the group. This will be my second trip to Japan with my wife, Kristen. We recently got married in September. It will be our honeymoon. 

Looking Forward To: Shopping in Akihabara, Nakano Broadway and all the Jump Shop stores. Attending the Anime Japan convention. Viewing the beautiful shrines, castle and cherry blossoms. Pigging out on all the delicious Japanese foods.

What’s on your desk?: At work, I have photos of my family, work papers, filing metal dividers, two computer monitors, stress balls, metal paper weight, bunch of office supplies, Sharks hockey puck, bonsai and a bamboo plant. The geeky stuff I have are a paopu plushie, a tachikoma figure, nyanko sensei figure and an anime cube calendar.

Favorite Anime of All Time: Cardcaptor Sakura, Tsubasa Chronicles, Naruto, One Piece, Zegapain, Noragami, Natsume Yuujinchou and Angel Beats.

Favorite Anime from Fall 2015 and Winter 2016 Seasons: Fall: Bones and Noragami. Winter: Erased, Gate and Kono Suba.

Anything Else: I’m thrilled and ecstatic to meet everyone in Japan! See you there soon! -^.^-

Name: Kristen

From: San Francisco Bay Area

What brings you to the tour?: Our honeymoon! We had an anime themed wedding, so it’s only fitting to honeymoon in Japan :) This will be my 3rd time to Japan, I absolutely love it there.

Looking forward to: SHOPPING!!!!! Especially can’t wait for Akihabara, Nakano Broadway, Jump Shops, Pokemon Centers, crane machines full of glorious prize figures, and seeing cities outside of Tokyo.

What’s on your desk?: At work I have 2 monitors, a Luffy hat desktop figure between them, some small gachapon fake plants, a tea cup, cherry blossom office supplies, and random work related paperwork. At home, my desk is just covered in copious amounts of anime figures XD

Favorite Anime of all Time: Tsubasa Chronicle, Card Captor Sakura (I love CLAMP!), One Piece, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Mirai Nikki, Sword Art Online

Favorite Anime from Fall 2015 and Winter 2016 Seasons: Fall: Sakuraku San no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru, Noragami Aragoto Winter: Erased, KonoSuba

Anything else?: I’m already losing sleep just from being excited for this trip. Can’t wait to meet everyone!

For anyone who is looking for offline City maps on their smartphone, check out the Life Hacker article that came out today.

Life Hacker Lonely Planet’s App

Just to summarize if you don’t want to use the link,

App name is Lonely Planet
Free App for Android and iOS
You can save maps locally on your phone and use GPS to determine your location within the app.
Currently only Tokyo and Kyoto are available for Japan but more are planned in the future.
The Cities they do have guides for show places of interest near by.

Hello all! My name is Leslie, I’m from Minneapolis and really excited to be going on this tour! I’ve been to Europe in college many years ago, but have never been anywhere in Asia, and I am most looking forward to touring Studio Ghibli, seeing the cherry blossoms and eating sushi! My husband Ryan is also going, he’s a huge anime fan so this trip is the perfect combo of awesome things for us and we’ve been wanting to go for a few years now. We are also treating it as a kind of belated honeymoon, we were married in May. I Looking forward to meeting you all, experiencing all kinds of new places and things, and having a super fun time! See you all soon!

Here we are. 5 days away. How is everyone feeling? I have a ton of work to get done before Saturday. I’m so ready to get on the plane.

Hi Everyone! My name is Jared and I’m super excited for this trip! Are you?

From: Massachusetts (nowhere near Boston!)

What brings you to the tour?: Finding love in Japan. Just kidding! Okay so I’ve been into anime for about 15 years now and I also grew up on games from Japan. I’ve been on a tour once before with PacSet (Pawprint Pathways 2014 – the original!) and while that trip is amazing, there wasn’t a whole lot of Tokyo. So I’m excited for more city and more opportunities for photography and video stuffs. Also the culture is super interesting; just observing how things work in Japan is fun!

Looking forward to: Our tour guide Evan. ALSO shopping for cels at Nakano Broadway, looking for artbooks and prints, pencil boards, and other older merchandise from series long past, AND playing DDR at the arcades (I’ve seriously been practicing). Looking forward to searching out game and merch stores in Akihabara again, Anime Japan, and FOOD. I’m also really looking forward to taking more photos and shooting more video. The Chihayafuru movie is coming out on Saturday March 19th and I’m totes planning on going if anyone wants to go!

What’s on your desk?: Right now? Let’s see… I have coffee, a chocolate chip cookie, tablet, phone, receipt for new camera stuff I recently picked up, Spirited Away see through puzzle and frame I haven’t put together yet (it’s p cool), vitamin c drops to fight off getting sick.

Favorite Anime of all Time: In no order.. here we go! Escaflowne, Yu Yu Hakusho, Marmalade Boy, Cowboy Bebop, Chihayafuru, Spirited Away, Wolf Children, Wolf’s Rain, Evangelion, Whisper of the Heart, Last Exile

Favorite Anime from Fall 2015 and Winter 2016 Seasons: Fall: I think I’ll do favorite anime from the last few seasons because I kind of took a break for a little while. Erased, Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju (vocal theater anime!), Chihayafuru, Noragami, Nagi no Asukara, Shirobako

Anything else?: I’m really excited for this trip, to see Kippu again, and looking forward to the free day. I’m starting to plan a route that includes shopping and other stuffs, but it might all change to sight seeing and walking around, etc. I’ve been posting photos to my instagram account (symposiumforgeek) from the last tour and made a little series out of it.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 11 months ago by Jared.

Has anyone received the final tutorial on “last minute stuff” they talked about? I think it was supposed to be about weather and clothing to bring? I’ve had trouble sometimes receiving emails from them, so I just wanted to see if it’s that again or if they haven’t sent it out yet.

Anyone meeting up tonight? Or has anyone else arrived at the Sheraton yet? If you have email meat moonshadows64@gmail.com

Just got to Four Points if you guys are nearby.

You guys want to meet downstairs in ten minutes or so?

Great on my way down, I’m in a attack on titan hoodie :)

Official pre tour meetup happening NOW at Breesters 4 Points Sheraton. We have the fancy lounge area with leather couch. #anime #leathercouch

We’re down in the Four Points lobby if anyone else is getting breakfast.

Here’s links to my pictures from the trip. I primarily only took pics of new stuff for me so if you want my pics from last trip just say so and I can add those links too. These are not curated so quality will vary.

Japan 2 3.21.16 Tokyo Tower: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4g6v6b481q1ab66/AACvD4gaRFVl-gCF5V7KyP_Ia?dl=0
Japan 2 3.22.16 Akihabara: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gtq1qde29prwgbj/AACtOvJ27rMqdQsS0lYZWkdFa?dl=0
Japan 2 3.23.16 Meiji Jin… Shrine: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fa2mxz87pedv62q/AAC1V6Z52sAAGW8ilqn4RjgWa?dl=0
Japan 2 3.24.16 Gundam Fr: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9r0gc4485unbs50/AACxZbERWiWKAFSC9ep4OE0Xa?dl=0
Japan 2 3.25.16 Hakone: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/sic424lel2n7t23/AACJNlrgE6XCXdO_35Z9YqOHa?dl=0
Japan 2 3.26.16 Anime Japan: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uuldi6ttlhler3b/AADZBvrsAUtbIbplnXvOJpLla?dl=0
Japan 2 3.27.16 Shinjuk… Gyoen: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/46mesc8ibjoijyz/AABLv7HMggeFQ_WD4PF1aK-Sa?dl=0
Japan 2 3.28.16 Osaka Castle: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/s5vwydh487glqvm/AADIyiseRTiVS7clFKu8udVLa?dl=0
Japan 2 3.29.16 Kinkak…, Ninjo: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uv41pwuii43n8tm/AACvZY1C9lXjqOjTNIj3PRsFa?dl=0
Japan 2 3.30.16 Fushimi Inari: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mqhhdpt21v072hk/AABSQGiLh9EybVjOko-81hI8a?dl=0

Hello all ,

Little late to the party it seems but I made it 0-0 ,my name is Amanda I’m from Burnsville,mn .This will be my first time traveling and what better place than Japan,finally decided that I’m doing this. Super excited everything so sounds amazing I can barely wait.

Some of my favorites shows include- Berserk, Samurai Champloo , soul eater and FMA, to name a few.
Recently starting watching Yona of the dawn( now one of my favorites ), My hero academy,Fist love monster and Servamp. There are a few more but these ones are pretty good so far.

Looking forward to meeting everyone ^_^