The 8th World
Ikebana International
Convention Tour 2001
San Francisco Bay Area Chapter 31
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The 8th World |
The San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of Ikebana International invites you to join us on our Eighth World Ikebana International Convention Tour to Yokohama, Japan. We welcome your joining us on our most interesting Post Convention Tour. We will travel on a motor coach, chartered exclusively for our group through this journey. We will stay in the best available hotels and in traditional hot-spring inns enjoy the freshest local food, and explore the history of Amakusa and Goto Islands where Americans seldom visit. Come with us on this fascinating tour.
Just as on our past tours, we will visit places not often seen by Westerners. Kyushu, the beautiful Southwestern Island of Japan, hosted most of the foreign influence to the country. They welcomed Buddhism in the eighth century, but later repelled the Mongols with the help of the original Kamikaze wind. The Jesuits came in 1579 followed soon by other Catholic brothers. For a few years they were vastly successful, but in 1643 Shogun Iemitsu closed Japan, allowing only one Dutch ship a year to visit Nagasaki. Admiral Perry pried Japan open in 1854 and Tom Glover came from Scotland to trade with Japan, help Mitsubishi expand their company, and have his love celebrated as "Madam Butterfly." And much much more.
Phyllis and Norman Cima, Tour Chairpersons
Ikebana
International San Francisco Bay Area Chapter 31
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I T I N E R A R Y
March 6, Tuesday
LEAVE SAN FRANCISCO
We will meet at San Francisco International Airport mid morning and depart on a nonstop All Nippon Airways flight bound for Tokyo. Set our calendar one day ahead as we cross the Pacific. Enjoy in-flight movies, meals and sleep.
March 7, Wednesday
ARRIVE TOKYO - YOKOHAMA
Mid afternoon we arrive at the New Tokyo International Airport in Narita. A travel assistant will meet our group at the customs exit gate and assist us aboard an airport bus to the Convention Hotels in Yokohama or to the Yokohama City Air Terminal (YCAT).
March 7, Wednesday to March 12, Monday
I. I. CONVENTION IN YOKOHAMA
The Eighth World Ikebana International Convention program and activities are arranged by the I.I. Convention Committee. Accommoda-tions during the Convention in Yokohama are to be secured by each individual through the Ikebana International Convention Committee.
March 13, Tuesday (D)
YOKOHAMA - HANEDA - FUKUOKA - ONTA - YUFUIN
Early in the morning assemble at the Convention’s Yokohama Grand Hotel. For the next ten days, please plan to travel as light as possible. Before departing your hotel, please pack convention attire and any items that are not necessary for the tour, and ask the hotel Bell Captains Desk to arrange "takuhai", the door-to-door courier shipping service, to Narita International Airport. The cost is about $20 per piece plus a small storage fee. Pick up the baggage at Narita just before check-in for our international flight home. Assembly time is 6:30 am. Since the departure is early, if your breakfast is included in your accommodations, please ask the hotel for a simple breakfast or room service in place of your paid breakfast.
After arrival at Fukuoka we travel by chartered motor coach through unspoiled countryside to the Onta pottery village. Ontayaki kilns are some of few remaining traditional, folk pottery kilns deep in the mountains nestled in a narrow, forested gorge. On sunny days hundreds of pots and plates are set out to dry in front of every house. If time permits, we will stop at the nearby city of Hita. During the Edo period (1603 - 1867) the magistrate office here supervised all the territories in Kyushu under the direct control of the Edo Shogunate government. We will see the remains of the ancient structures and the Hina Matsuri (Doll festival).
This evening we will stay at a traditional Japanese inn, the Yufuin Santokan. Yufuin is a misty, steamy mountain village at the base of Mt. Yufu, with a tranquil hot spring. We will be served a Japanese dinner. Breakfast will be served daily during our two night sojourn.
March 14, Wednesday (B, D)
YUFUIN - BEPPU - USUKI - YUFUIN
After breakfast we depart for Beppu, Japan’s most famous hot-spring town, bustling with tourists and many garish sights, to see a series of volcanic manifestations, bubbling mudpots and steaming ponds called "Hells." In the afternoon we drive south to Usuki to see an array of stone Buddhas carved more than a millennium ago in the walls of a stone canyon, displayed in the open air. These stone Buddhas called Usuki Sekibutsu are a National Treasure. We then return and tour Yufuin.
March 15, Thursday (B, D)
YUFUIN - MT. ASO - KUMAMOTO
We leave Yufuin by motor coach along the Kyushu Yamanami Highway to Aso-Kuju National Park. Mt. Aso, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, dominates the world’s largest caldera, a populated green plain nearly ten miles across. If volcanic activity permits we will ride a tramway to the crest of Mt Nakadake, one of Mt Aso’s five peaks. Then we descend the mountain and continue to drive through rolling farm country, clusters of tile-roofed village houses and fields, and small hot spring towns, a most pleasurable part of our Kyushu journey. Shortly we will arrive in Kumamoto and visit Suizenji Garden laid out in the 17th century by the Hosokawa family. The garden creates in miniature famous scenes from the 53 stages of the ancient Tokaido road which connected Kyoto and Tokyo along the Pacific, including a miniature Mt. Fuji and Lake Biwa. It is rated one of Japan’s five finest gardens. Our dinner and room are at the Kumamoto Hotel Castle.
March 16, Friday (B, D)
KUMAMOTO - AMAKUSA FIVE BRIDGES – HONDO
In the morning visit Kumamoto Castle. Kiyomasa Kato, considered Japan’s greatest castle architect, built the castle in 1600. A large part of the original castle was burned down during the Seinan Rebellion in 1877, and the present donjon was reproduced in 1960 as a museum. The original stone walls, watchtowers and fences that remain are one of Japan’s Important Cultural Properties. Then we proceed down the Amakusa Islands stretching west of mainland Kyushu with excellent natural beauty and significant Christian relics. Five Bridges were built to link the Amakusa Island Chain and mainland Kyushu
Seventy one years before the Pilgrims reached Plymouth Rock, St. Francis Xavier was welcomed to Kyushu in 1579 to teach Christianity in Japan. Forty years later, Hideyoshi withdrew the "welcome mat" and by 1643 Japan was closed to the West. The Amakusa converts’ perseverance through these troubles only served to confirm their faith. Our visits include Sakitsu Catholic church standing in a cove of calm water and Christiankan, a museum of Christian relics including mementos of Amakusa Shiro, the valiant Christian youth who led and fought in the Shimabara Rebellion. Our overnight stay is at the Amakusa Kokusai Hotel Alegria in Hondo, Amakusa Islands overlooking the ocean.
March 17, Saturday (B, D)
HONDO – ONIIKE - KUCHINOTSU - SHIMABARA
After breakfast, we take a short ride to Oniike Port and sail on a ferry to the southern tip of Shimabara Peninsula, at Kuchinotsu. Then we travel along the peninsula’s coast, where in midwinter 1637, the most intense battles of the Shimabara rebellion took place. After our arrival in Shimabara, we will see the rebuilt Shimabara Castle which houses a collection of Christian relics, many of which were excavated from the castle area, and remains of the former samurai houses. Overnight at the Hotel Nampuro.
March 18, Sunday (B)
SHIMABARA - UNZEN SPA - NAGASAKI
We depart Shimabara and travel to Nagasaki. A stop will be made in the mountainous Unzen area that was selected as the first national park in Japan because of its beauty throughout the four seasons. It is also popular for its onsen (hot spring). From here we continue on to Nagasaki.
In the afternoon we will visit Glover Park with the mansion built by Thomas Glover, who came to Nagasaki in 1860 when Japan reopened. He supplied Western technology to the founders of Mitsubishi and became the inspiration for the opera "Madam Butterfly." We will visit the Peace Park, where a black stone column marks the epicenter of the second WWII atomic bomb; Urakami Cathedral, memorializing several thousand Christians’ banishment, and the Twenty Six Martyr’s monument with crosses celebrating their beatification. Dejima, where the Dutch were permitted to trade has no remaining building at present, but the recreated Dejima Dutch Merchant House is scheduled to open in April, 2000 on the 400th anniversary of Dutch-Japan trading. Our stay in Nagasaki is at the Nagasaki Grand Hotel for two nights.
March 19, Monday (B)
NAGASAKI - GOTO ISLANDS - NAGASAKI
We will leave early in the morning for the Goto Islands, about a two and a half hour ferry ride offshore of Nagasaki and arrive in Fukue Island. Since its first missionary contact in 1561, this island has had a long tradition of Hidden Christians who secretly maintained their religion up to the present time . Our tour on Fukue Island includes the most famous church, the red-brick Dozaki Tenshudo, built in 1874 and now designated as a Tangible Important Cultural Property; the site of Ishida Castle, which is surrounded on three sides by ocean and the only ocean castle in Japan; Daihoji Temple; Osezaki Cliff, the cliff at the westernmost end of Japan. We will return to Nagasaki on a late afternoon ferry.
March 20, Tuesday (B)
NAGASAKI – HUIS TEN BOSCH
After breakfast we depart Nagasaki for Huis Ten Bosch, Dutch for "House in the forest." Copies of famous Dutch buildings, windmills and canals recreate the charm and beauty of a seventh Century Dutch village—a city "born from the sea." The park encompasses a wide range of activities including a Porcelain museum, a Bell Museum, and the Von Siebold Museum, celebrating the life of Japan’s first western doctor. It has exquisite cuisines; exciting international performances; exclusive stores for shopping; different types of transportation motoring within the park, cruising the canals and the bay. We will be provided with a Huis Ten Bosch One Day Free Passport that allows admission and free use of the facilities for the day. Our stay is at the Hotel Amsterdam in the center of Huis Ten Bosch.
March 21, Wednesday (B, D)
HUIS TEN BOSCH – SASEBO – HIRADO
We will travel by motor coach to Sasebo and continue to Hirado. It was first developed as a port for international trade by the feudal Matsuura Clan to accommodate the Portugese who landed here in 1550. The Dutch, English and Spanish, even Chinese followed and built trading houses here. When the country was closed to foreign trade, everything was closed down and only the Dutch were allowed to remain at Dejima in Nagasaki. The harbor is at the tip of Hirado Island and it was a way station for many historical figures such as the Priest Kukai and Francis Xavier. We visit the site of the Dutch settlement and the Matsuura Historical Museum, created in the castle-like building that was a villa for the Matsuura Clan. It houses a number of objects related to the suppression of Christianity, and the traditional armor, screens and memorabilia. Our dinner and room are at the Hirado Kaijo Hotel, Mizukikan with an ocean view.
March 22, Thursday (B, D)
HIRADO – ARITA – FUKUOKA
We could not end our journey through northern Kyushu without visiting Arita porcelain where white porcelain was first produced in Japan in the early seventeenth century. Before the advent of the railway Arita porcelain was shipped from the port at Imari, so the porcelain became famous as Imariyaki. Our visits include Arita Ceramic Art museum with a priceless collection of Arita Porcelains from all periods including Ko-Imari and kilns of Genemon and Jishugama. We end the day driving to the Hakata ANA Hotel in Fukuoka. A sayonara dinner is planned at the hotel this evening.
March 23, Friday (B)
FUKUOKA – HANEDA – NARITA – SAN FRANCISCO
In the morning we depart the hotel to Fukuoka International Airport for a flight to Haneda, Tokyo. Then by bus to Narita International Airport; pick up the baggage that was shipped from Yokahama, and check in for our international flight. Leave Narita on All Nippon Airways and again cross the International Date Line to San Francisco.
TOUR PRICE, per person
From San Francisco to San Francisco, Room sharing
Round Trip, Including International Airfare, . . . . . . . . . . . $4,880.00
From Yokahama to Kyushu to Narita, Room sharing,
No Intnl. Airfare, But Japan Domestic Air Round Trip. . .$4,540.00*
From Fukuoka Through Tour to Fukoka, Room sharing
Land Program Only,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$4.150.00
*Note: The Japan domestic airfare is as quoted at the time of printing. Because of Springtime break in Japan during the latter part of March, an excursion fare is not presently available. If a lower fare is negotiated, you will receive the savings.
Supplement for single room, available in Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Huis Ten Bosch and Fukuoka only, per person: $480.00
WHAT IS INCLUDED:
The tour price is based on a total package of air and land tour with restricted promotional airfare, tariffs, currency values effective as of February 22, 2000, and is on the basis of 15 persons taking the entire tour program. While we shall do everything possible to maintain the listed price, the tour price is subject to change.
WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED:
Domestic airfare to and from San Francisco; Airport Facility Charges other than indicated; Airport Departure taxes in foreign countries other than Tokyo; passport fees; transfer following arrival in Narita to Yokohama; transfers to and from airports for persons not using group flights; individual transportation for all optional activities; handling and transporting of extra baggage and/or excess baggage charges; meals except as outlined above; personal items such as alcoholic beverages, a-la-carte orders, room service and valet/laundry charges; telephone charges; or other items of a personal nature.
RESERVATIONS AND PAYMENT
A $500 deposit per person with completed appli-cation is required. Reservations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Please make your reservations early. Final payment is due by January 5, 2001. If any adjustment becomes necessary, it will be made before the final payment due date. We cannot accept credit card payments.
CANCELLATION AND REFUNDS
The deposit will be refunded in full with an exception of $200 per person if written cancellation is received by January 4, 2001. Cancellation charges for cancellations in writing received on or after January 5 will be 30% of the total tour price including airfare. Any cancellation on or after January 25, no refund will be made, both air and land, even for substantiated medical reasons, unless a replacement is found. If a replacement is found, any recoverable amount less communication, late booking and/or replacement expenses will be refunded. No refund will be made for interruption of the tour, unused portion, service or features of the tour. NOTE: Neither Ikebana International San Francisco Bay Chapter nor Ishimoto Tours, Inc. accepts liability for any airline cancellation penalty incurred by the purchase of a non-refundable ticket.
DOCUMENT REQUIRED
A valid passport through six months after your arrival in Japan is required. Currently no visa is required for American or Canadian citizens with return tickets for a stay less than 90 days.
INSURANCE
A package of trip cancellation, baggage and medical insurance is highly recommended for unforeseen emergencies and can be arranged through Ishimoto Tours, Inc. If you purchase coverage within 7 working days of your initial trip payment/deposit, the pre-existing medical condition exclusion is waived.
INDIVIDUAL ARRANGEMENTS
For the tour members who wish individual arrangements, such as upgraded air and/or train seating, extending stay in Japan and/or to the other countries in the Orient, please inquire.
ELIGIBILITY
Enrollment is open to members and significant others of Ikebana International. Regarding membership call (415) 566-2976 or www.ikebana.org.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
This tour is planned with your comfort in mind. However, travel in Japan calls for much walking and travelers should be advised that there may be many steps and long train platforms to cover between transfers. Tour members assume the responsibility for their physical abilities to travel. If you are disabled, or become disabled during the tour, it is your responsibility to provide your own assistant. The I.I. S.F. Bay Area Chapter, Ishimoto Tours, Inc., and/or its agents reserve the right to decline to accept, or to require to withdraw, any person as a tour member, should such person’s health or physical condition, or general deportment, impede the operation of the tour. In such case no refund will be given once the tour commences.
For further information, please write or telephone:
Ishimoto Tours, Inc.
195 Granville Way
San Francisco, CA 94127-1133
Phone: (415)
681-3640
Fax: (415) 681-3620
Valid from February 29, 2000 to March 31, 2001.
Calif. Seller of
Travel Reg. No.1001540-40
© Copyright 2000, Ishimoto Tours, Inc.
RESPONSIBILITY
Ikebana International San Francisco Bay Area Chapter, Ishimoto Tours, Inc. and/or the operator acts only as an agent in securing hotels, transportation and other travel services. Travel and services are subject to the terms and conditions under which such accommodations, services and transportation are offered or provided, and Ikebana International San Francisco Bay Area Chapter and Ishimoto Tours, Inc. and their respective employees, agents, representatives and assigns accept no responsibility or liability whatsoever in connection with the operation or service of any accommodations, services and transportation offered or provided in the tour. Ikebana International San Francisco Bay Area Chapter and Ishimoto Tours, Inc., their agents or representatives are not liable for any injury, damage, loss, accident, delay or other irregularity which may be caused by the defect of any vehicle or the negligence or default of any company or person engaged in carrying out or performing any of the services involved. Neither shall they be liable for any personal injury, property loss or other damage to any tour member sustained on the tour whether arising out of or incident to the tour or otherwise. Additionally, responsibility is not accepted for losses or expenses due to sickness, weather, strikes, hostilities, wars, natural disasters or other such causes. The right is reserved to cancel the tour prior to departure. In such case, full refund of all payments will constitute full settlement by the passenger. The right is reserved to make changes in the published itinerary whenever, in their sole judgment, conditions so warrant, or if they deem it necessary for the comfort, convenience or safety of the tour member and in such cases increased costs will be fairly pro-rated. The right is reserved to decline to accept or retain any person as a tour member at any time, at any place for any reason, all at the discretion of the operator and or its agents to be in the best welfare of the tour group or of the individual participants. The required documents as well as compliance with the Customs regulations, baggage and personal effects are the sole responsibility of the passengers. Tour schedule and costs, although given in good faith and based on information available at the time of issue, are subject to change. The airlines concerned are not to be held responsible for any act, omission, or event during the time passenger is not on board their planes or conveyances. The passenger contract in use by the airline concerned, when issued, shall constitute the sole contract between the airline and the purchaser of their programs and/or passenger. Similar responsibility as noted above applies to all types of carriers. The required payment for a reservation on the tour shall constitute consent to all provisions contained herein.
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