Process
PHASE I
You will eventually need to split up into groups of four. But first, everyone needs to learn a bit about Japan.
1) Begin by watching this video to introduce you to Japan.
2) After watching the video, try here are some lists of things to do in Japan. As you read each one, begin to think of how you would want to spend your time in Japan.
3) You will need to start writing down ideas now. Use the inspiration software to brainstorm with your group members everything that interests you about Japan from the video, the lists, and your own preconceptions.Decide, as a group, what interests you most and what you want to explore about Japan.
4) Do research on the official Japan tourism site.
This site has more detailed official info about all the areas of Japan, including cultural activities, climate, and types of cuisine associated with each. With your brainstorm in mind, get information everything that interested the group as a whole, and the areas associated with it.
5) Finally, using inspiration again, decide on what area or areas you want to focus your trip on. and how long you want to make your trip.Remember to be realistic! You have $12,000 for four people. If you go to multiple areas, you have to consider transportation costs between the areas. You may of course have to readjust your trip as you start budgeting and seeing how much things actually cost, but try to start out with an estimate.You will soon realize whether the trip you have envisioned now is affordable.
PHASE II
Step 1. From here on, the group will split into four. Each of you will have different responsibilities for planning this trip. You must choose amongst yourselves one of the four roles.
1) Transportation planner-You will research all the family's transportation needs and costs.
2) Cultural activities planner-You will research and plan the cultural activities associated with your areas of interest.
3) Lodging(where to stay) planner-You will research all the different types of hotels and lodging in Japan and plan where the family will stay in each area.
4) Cuisine and Shopping.-You will research the food and shopping options in your areas.
For each case, you will consider how much things cost and ultimately come up with a total budget for each aspect of your trip.
In order to do this, everyone should go to this website to open up a Google Docs account. If you already have a Gmail account, you should have one. You will need to use their free word processor and their spreadsheet program. Google Docs will help you see and work with your teammates online.
After setting up the account, make sure you allow your classmates access to your documents. If you need help setting this up, ask your teacher or classmates..
You will likely need to convert from the Japanese currency, the yen, into dollar. For that, this site will be of help.
From here you will go on your individual quests for a while. Each of you will visit different websites.Do Keep in mind any multimedia, such as pictures or videos that you come across, as at the end you will need to choose some to include in your project.
Step 2: The instructions for each individual role
1) Transportation planner
First you have to get to Japan! There are a few major airports in Japan. The two most famous are Narita airport around Tokyo and the Kansai airport around Kyoto. Depending on where your group decided to travel, decide which airport is closest. Then use this website to find out the price for a round trip flight from NYC for the amount of time the group decided. Assume travel will be done in the next few months. Do you notice that leaving on different dates results in a cheaper prices? Make sure to remember that each fare has to be multiplied by four.
Once in Japan, you have a variety of transportation options, Watch this video to give you an idea.
As you could probably tell,trains are really efficient in Japan and are the main form of transportation within Japan. Since Japan is a much smaller country, it is much easier to get from region to region by high speed train.The main train company in Japan is Japan Railways Group, known nationwide as JR. They have a really extensive English website that has a region map along with schedules and fares. Plan out as much of your transportation needs as possible using the website. Note that they also sell passes for certain areas in Japan. Depending on how many areas your trip is visiting, perhaps that would be cheaper option.
Japan is serviced by numerous local trains as well. The following site has not only information about the JR trains, but also about local subways of each region and how to purchase special passes.
Extensive list of train and subways services in Japan
From the information learned, you should be able to roughly estimate how much money will be needed for transportation. Use the spreadsheet function for Google Docs to list the cost associated with all your transportation needs. Try to think of every type of transportation that you will use. Airplane, trains, buses, etc.
2) Cultural Activities planner
Watch this video to get an idea of the types of activities that are common in Japan.
Use this website to see all the different options for each city. This extensive "wiki" also lists prices for many different activities. Knowing the interests that your group has brainstormed, plan out activities for each region and try to estimate the cost.
After you have chosen a number of activities, think about when the activities will be done throughout the length of the trip. This the main point of an itinerary. Use the sample itineraries from these websites to get an idea of how to construct one of your own.
Frommer's suggested itineraries
Using a Google Docs document. write down a rough itinerary. Use the spreadsheet document to lists the costs associated with your itinerary.
3) Lodging planner
Japan is a unique country in the number of options that people have for lodging. You can find many large, luxurious, and modern hotels, but strictly staying in those type of places will shorten your stay in Japan greatly. This website list all the different type of accommodations of Japan, and gives a description for each.
However, the above website did not list one type of accommodation that is commonly found in cities. The most interesting and most likely cheapest form of accommodation are capsule hotels. Instead of explaining what capsule hotels, this is a good video explaining what they are.
Now, as you learned from the video, this type of lodging might not be the most comfortable, or even the most appropriate for a family to stay in. Though it might be an interesting experience to do for one night.
These sites also list the types of lodging in Japan, but in a more compact form and more recently updated. More importantly they also list average prices for each type of accommodation.
And now, one of the most useful sites for booking any type of lodging in Japan. This site covers every region in Japan, and has most of the hotels, Japanese inns, and hostels in their database. Use this site to see what it would be like to book a reservation. What is the cost? Are beds open?
Reservation and lodging search engine
Finally, write down your lodging itinerary using a Google Docs document.list a breakdown of how much it will cost using the spreadsheet document.
4) Cuisine and Shopping planner
Japan is known to have some of the best and most varied food in the world. Many people think of Sushi when they consider Japanese cuisine, but in reality, there is much more. This next website has a large list of common dishes found in Japan, along with pictures.
After getting idea of what type of cuisine is available, use this website to plan what types of restaurants are going to be included in the trip, and write them down using Google Docs. You can look up restaurants by region with this really helpful website. This website also list the average cost of a meal at most restaurants, which you should also keep track of.
Shopping is also tied into the culture of Japan. Look at this website, where they explain the very important concept of "Omiyage" and popular cultural items often bought in Japan,
This is another website that gives information about shopping. Only this is made up of personal accounts related to shopping by people who have traveled in Japan. This should give you more ideas that should lead to a shopping list.
Using a Google Docs document, write a rough meal plan listing the cuisines and restaurants planned during the trip. Also make a list of possible shopping options. Finally, use a spreadsheet on Google Docs to list the cost of the meals as well as the shopping budget.
PHASE III
For the last phase, you will all work together again. The reason you were using Google Docs is so that each of you can easily look at each others work so far, and you can all make adjustments and modification on each others work.
A)Discuss your work with your group members. Compare your budgets.
B) Make adjustments. When you combine your budgets, do you go over your $12,000 budget? Maybe go with some cheaper options or shorten the length of your trip. Are you under your budget? Then perhaps you will plan for better hotels and restaurants for a few days. Discuss with your classmates and make any changes on Google Docs.
C) Now that you have made adjustments, combine all your individual budgets into one entire trip budget. Create another spreadsheet for this finalized trip budget. For some examples of how a trip budget looks or how to do one, go to these websites.
D) Now that you know that you can afford it, take all your activities, meals, and trips and make a final itinerary using another Google Docs document. Look at these website to get an idea of how to put together your final itinerary.
E) You guys will have to present your itinerary and Budget to the class. Throughout this quest, you have visited many websites with interesting pictures and videos. Finally, choose 4 multimedia items from the website that you all have visited that illustrates the trip that you constructed. Be ready to present these to the class!
