Introduction to Tsubaki 2010 - Part 3

Following the conference we will continue to tour those parts of Japan in the post-conference package. While we will not get to either Tokyo or Mt. Fuji on this trip we will get to see some gardens and private areas not generally available to tourists. Here is the post conference itinerary.

Itinerary for the Post –Congress Tour of the ICS Kurume Congress

No.	Date	Time	Schedule	Hotel
12	３／２5 （Thu）	08:30 10:00 12:30 ｐｍ 18:00	Leaving Kurume for Kumamoto Visiting ‘Suizenji Park’, 11:30 leave for Mt. Aso Lunch at the Hotel in Aso Visiting Mt. Aso, a volcano Checking in the Hotel in Aso	Hotel in Aso, ‘Tsukasa-no-bira’
13	３／２６ （Fri）	08:00 10:30 12:00 13:00 15:30 16:30 18:00	Leaving Hotel Visiting ‘Yufuin Folkcraft Village’ Visiting ‘Oita Agricultural Park’, taking lunch Camellia garden and greenhouses, 15:00 leave for Hiji Seeing an old sasanqua at Hiji Junior High School Visiting Camellia Garden of Oita Floral Research Institute Checking in a hotel in Beppu	Hotel in Beppu, ‘BeppuBay Royal’
14	３／２７ （Sat）	08:30 am 12:00 13:00 (15:30) 16:00 18:51 19:10	Leaving the Hotel＊ Sightseeing hot springs in Beppu Lunch Leaving Beppu by bus for Hakata Shinkansen Station (Option: those who want could leave the tour here in Fukuoka) Leaving Hakata Station by Nozomi 42 for Kyoto Arriving at Kyoto Station Checking in the Hotel	Kyoto, New Miyako Hotel
15	３／２８ （Sun）	08:30 09:00 12:00 13:30 14:30 15:30 17:00	Leaving Hotel Sightseeing Nijôjô Castle & Golden Temple Lunch Visiting ‘Goshiki-tsubaki’ of Okumura family in Hiiragino Shopping at ‘Kyoto Handycraft’ Visiting Sanju-sangendo Temple Returning to the Hotel	Kyoto, New Miyako Hotel
16	３／２９ （Mon）	08:30 09:30 12:00 13:00 14:30 15:30 18:30	Leaving Hotel Visiting Silver Temple & Reikanji Temple Lunch Visiting Kiyomizu Temple Leaving Kyoto for Nara Visiting Yakushiji Temple in Nara Checking in the Hotel	Hotel Nikko Nara
17	３／３０ （Tue）	08:30 am 12:00 13:30 14:30 16:30 18:00 19:00	Leaving Hotel Visiting Great Buddha, Kasuga Shrine Lunch Visiting Byakugôji Temple Nara Gokoku Shrine Moving to Hotel near Kansai International Airport Checking in the hotel Ending of post-Congress tour by farewell party	ANA Gate Tower Hotel
18	３／３１ (Wed)	morn.	Checking out the hotel
＊Before leaving the hotel in Beppu, large-sized luggage will be sent separately to the Hotel in Kyoto by land.

There are, of course, other ideas, deviations, additions and substitutions but more on those later. As the departure date (3/11/2010) approaches details will be filled in. We hope to post regularly while in Japan also. Nancy got a notebook style laptop for Christmas for just that purpose. We hope you will enjoy following our trail. Here is a link to the International Camellia website if you want more information: http://camellia-ics.org/

Introduction to Tsubaki 2010 - Part 2

Following the pre-conference tour Nancy will attend the Kurume Conference while Steve does what he does best, wander aimlessly. Here is the conference schedule for the camellia fans.

Itinerary for the ICS Kurume Congress

No.	Date	Time	Schedule	Hotel
07	３／２０ （Sat）	14:00 16:30 18:00	Accepting registrations to the Congress starts Delegates from the Pre-Congress Tour arriving at the hotel Inauguration of the Congress by starting welcome party	Hotel New Plaza & Washington Hotel Plaza
08	３／２１ (Sun)	09:00 09:20 12:00 13:20 13:35 14:00 15:40 16:10 16:35 16:50 18:00	Leaving Hotel Ishibashi Cultural Center to attend “Camellia Fair” Agricultural Park (lunch) Kusano Primary School to see camellia ‘Kurume Mikennjaku’ Hisatomi Nursery to see ‘Camellia Species Garden’ Kurume Camellia Garden Yamanobe Museum to see ‘Camellia Show’ Shikage family to see ‘Kurume Genji’ & ‘Hoshi Hiryu’ Juhonji Temple to see ’Juhonji-aka-yabu’ Hisatomi’s ‘Mother Tree Farm’ to see ‘Taro-kaja’’ etc. Returning to Hotel	Hotel New Plaza & Washington Hotel Plaza
09	３／２２ （Mon）	09:00 12:00 13:45 14:25 15:20 (16:00) 16:30 18:00	Attending seminars (at the Hotel) Lunch Hitoe Imamura’s residence to see ‘Masayoshi’, etc. Tatsunosuke Imamura’s residence to see ‘Masayoshi’ ,etc. Road Station ‘Kurume’, ‘Kurume Flower Center’ Street (ICS Board of Directors meeting) Jibasan (Local industries) ‘Kurume’ Returning to Hotel	Hotel New Plaza & Washington Hotel Plaza
10	３／２３ （Tue）	09:00 12:00 14:40 19:00	Attending seminars (at the Hotel) Lunch Kumamoto Castle (Higo camellia bonsai show & Higos’ garden) Returning to Hotel	Hotel New Plaza & Washington Hotel Plaza
11	３／２４ （Wed）	09:00 12:00 14:10 15:30 16:50 18:00 13:40 14:20 15:35 16:15 18:00 19:00	Attending seminars (at the Hotel) Lunch Option A Ishigaki Kannonji to see C.vernalis ‘Kannonji’ Fukuoka Prefectural Nursery Institute Suitengu Shrine to see ‘Suitengu Anemone’, ‘Yashiro-shibori’, etc. Returning to Hotel Option B Azalea Forest Park Habitat of natural sasanquas in Nagaiwayama Central Tea Plantation in Yame City Yame Doll Museum Returning to Hotel Farewell Party	Hotel New Plaza & Washington Hotel Plaza
12	３／２５ （Thu）	08:30 morn.	Leaving Hotel for Post-Congress Tour or for Fukuoka Airport to return home

Introduction to Tsubaki 2010 - Part 1

Greetings,

Welcome to the first entry in our (Nancy and I) blog for our March 2010 trip to Japan. This trip came about through an unusual confluence of circumstances starting with the fact that the 2010 International Camellia Society (tsubaki is camellia in Japanese by the way) conference is being held in Japan. Add to this an unusually large income tax return from 2009 (which will pay for most of the trip) and the fact that Nancy's sister had reason to join us and the wheels were in motion.

The trip includes a pre-conference tour. Here is the itinerary for that:

Itinerary for the Pre-Congress Tour of Kurume Congress in 2010

No.	Date	Time	Schedule	Hotel
01	３／１４ （Sun）	pm 18:00	Getting together in a hotel in Hakata, Fukuoka Inaugural meeting of the pre-Congress tour, dinner party	Hakata Miyako Hotel
02	３／１５ （Mon）	09:00 09:30 12:30 14:50 16:15 16:30 17:00 18:30	Leaving hotel for Nagasaki by bus Visiting Dazaifu-Temmangu Shrine Lunch in Nagasaki City Leaving Nagasaki Port by jetfoil for Fukue Port, Goto Arriving at Fukue Port Checking in the Hotel Mini-symposium ① Opening speech by Mayor of Goto City ②Welcoming songs sung by children’s chorus ③Lecture on history & present situation of ‘Tama-no-ura’ ④Lecture on genetic investigations of ‘Tama-no-ura’ Welcome party	Campana Hotel, Goto Bus-terminal Hotel
03	３／１６ (Tue)	09:00 09:30 10:30 11:00 09:15 09:50 10:40 11:00 11:30 13:00 16:30	Leaving Hotel Option A (visiting the original site of ‘Tama-no-ura’) Arriving at the mountain foot Arriving at the original site of ‘Tama-no-ura’ Starting to descend the mountain Option B (visiting Catholic Churches and windbreaks) Visiting Mizu-no-ura Catholic Church Visiting camellia windbreaks Visiting a camellia oil producing factory Visiting Gaku Catholic Church Two groups joining to have lunch at ‘Memorial House of Japanese envoy to Tang Dynasty’ Visiting a wild japonica forest at Cape Osezaki Returning to the Hotel	Campana Hotel, Goto Bus-terminal Hotel
04	３／１７ （Wed）	09:00 am 12:00 ｐｍ 16:30 18:２0 19:00	Leaving Hotel Visiting Goto City Camellia Garden Lunch Abunze Visitors’ Center　 Leaving Fukue Port by jetfoil Arriving at Nagasaki Port Checking in Hotel in Nagasaki City	Nagasaki, ANA Hotel
05	３／１８ （Thu）	09:00 am 13:00 pm 15:00 18:00	Leaving Hotel Visiting Glover’s Residence, Ôura Catholic Church Lunch Shopping, (option: visiting Siebold Museum) Visiting Dejima, 26 Martyrs’ Monument Moving to ‘Huis Ten Bosch’ in Sasebo City Checking in a hotel in Huis Ten Bosch	Hotel in Huis Ten Bosch, ‘Amsterdam’
06	３／１９ （Fri）	08:00 09:00 11:00 12:00 13:30 15:30 18:00	Leaving Hotel Visiting Gen-emon Pottery in Arita Visiting ‘Arita Porcelain Wholesale Market’ Lunch at Arita Porcelain Park Kyushu Ceramic Museum Visiting a natural camellia forest in Fukushima Checking in a hotel in Karatsu	Karatsu Royal Hotel
07	３／２０ （Sat）	08:00 10:00 15:00 16:30 18:00	Leaving Hotel for Genkai via ‘Niji-no-matubara’, a pine forest Visiting Genkai Nuclear Power Station (Participants are divided into 4 groups to see a greenhouse, a camellia garden, a tea house and power station grounds, taking lunch halfway) 　 (see Table 1) Leaving Genkai Nuclear Power Station for Kurume Arriving at the Hotel, checking in & registering the Congress Kurume Congress opens, joining welcome party More to follow.	Hotel in Kurume