Tsukuba on the Water
My recommendation for an excursion during Golden Week is the countryside of Tsukuba. I believe that May is one of the best months to take trips around Japan. Not so hot, fine days, new green leaves etc. You can enjoy nice (sometimes magnificent) Koi-nobori (carp streamers) for Children's Day (May 5) here and there in this season. Also, particularly here around Tsukuba, it's rice-planting season around Golden Week. Many farmers start to fill rice fields with water. If you have a car, you might want to drive to Mt. Tsukuba. Tsukuba city becomes a city on the water. It should be a fantastic experience.
Here is a photo I took last year from Mt. Tsukuba.
And on May 3 this year.
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TV Drama “Seito-shokun!”
From April 20, a new TV drama "Seito-shokun!" has been started on Friday on TV Asahi (10ch). "Seito-shokun!" is originally based on a girls' manga which had been run from 1977 to 1984 by SHOJI Yoko.
By the way, actually, this TV drama is being filmed at the Azuma junior highschool in Tsukuba. If you are interested in filming of TV dramas, you might visit there on Saturday or Sunday. Please be sure not to interrupt the filming team!
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Science & Technology Week 2007
From April 16 to April 22 is "Science & Technology Week" organized by the MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology).
Open house events will take place in many research institutes in Tsukuba during this week.
Don't miss this great opportunity to see inside research institutes and to get familiar with Japanese advanced technologies. I believe this is one of great advantages for people who are living in Tsukuba.
See: a list of research institutes who will hold open house events during Science & Technology Week 2007
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Adventure at an Undersea Station
Inspired by Shaney's post about the Seikan tunnel, I posted a travel suggestion regarding the Seikan tunnel in a comment.
See my comment in the above link.
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An empirically-determined faster route from Tsukuba to Narita
In response to a request from Shaney in a comment on a post about the Ken-oh-dou, I made a kmz file for Google Earth about an empirically-determined faster route from Tsukuba to Narita Airport.
My experience shows that this route has less traffic and fewer signals and it is easier to speed. It takes approximately 45-60 minutes to get to Narita on this route.
Download a kmz file for Google Earth
You can enjoy a tour of the route by clicking on "Tools" > "Play tour".
The trick is to minimize your time on Route 408 as much as possible. The above route follows Route 408 after entering Chiba Prefecture, but I believe this part can be improved. Once I encountered a very slow, huge trailer three cars ahead of me carrying a very big part of something. It almost made me late for my flight that time.
I welcome other recommendations, impressions, and feedback. Let's develop a faster route to Narita!
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