Tenshi no Sato -- worth the trip?

Hi, Sam

I called Sato now.
At fisrt, even if Tsybaki is out of stock on 9th, Dragontiger can order Tsubaki by paying money on 9th. (Then Sato will send Tsubaki to Japanese address asap. )
Many and many people will come to AE at Sato, but I think few people will buy Tsubaki, so if Sato has Tsubaki, Dragontiger can get him on 9th ^_^.

>Also, would she have to queue with the people waiting to buy after event dolls to buy a doll thats usually available at tenshi no sato?
No. If she doesn't try the lottery, she doesn't need to go to Sato from early morning and can enter soon. But many people will queue to pay money in the front of register and there are sooooooo many people in B1 floor. If Dragontiger wants to enjoy Sato peacefully, I recommend her to go to Sato after confusion. I can't declare what time it is, but after PM2:00~? might be best.

>I didn't know they had other limits that haven't sold out yet! What limits do you think they'd have?
They have several limited dolls, but I'm sorry I forgot to ask it If you need, I'll call Sato again.

>I heard that sato sells Yo-Tenshi on special events. Will they be available?
No. I'm sorry Yo-Tenshis are limited models for Sato Anniversary Events...

 

I went to Kyoto a couple of weeks ago, I find temples a little dull but there are some lovely gardens in Kyoto (including the one in Sato) that will be worth seeing in the autumn (they're nice all year round but they won't have the autumn colour).

Don't forget the castle with the anti-ninja floor and Toei Movie Land; the set where they shoot the samurai dramas. That's on one of the stops between Kyoto main station and Sato.

And the giant buddha at Nara.

You need more than one day; as other people have said everywhere you want to go is quite far apart.

 

Reading this thread makes me so excited to go to Japan >3> Tenshi-no-Sato is actually one of my motivations for learning to speak Japanese... XD I'd love to place an FCS order in Japanese, y'see. I know you can get along in English, but I think it'd be even cooler to go and be able to speak to the Volks folks in their own language :'D

 

aww, that was so nice of you to call Sato!

Unfortunatly, I think dragontiger is staying at a pension and will be leaving on the 15th. So if they don't have a Tsubaki on the 9th, I don't think I'll be able to get one...but thanks for your help! If they don't have one, I think I'll ask her to get me a Manabu! Unless of course they can send Tsubaki to the place she's staying before she leaves, but they probably arn't willing to so that or can't.

I'm sure dragontiger will be very happy to hear she can avoid the crowds! She was hoping for a quite visit to tenshi no sato...but I think the chance to buy an AE doll might get her to go a little early. Expecially because she'd love to own a Yo-SD!

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions! You've been a great help!

 

I'm a bit confused. So if you do FCS in japan at the Sato store they can't ship the doll to you unless you have a japanese address? O_O

 

You can not do FCS in Japan at Sato or a Sumika UNLESS you have an address in Japan to ship it to. (or you're going to be in Japan an awful long time so you can pick up your doll in person. Supposedly Sato and the Sumikas currently take 1 1/2-2 months to make a doll.)

 

You can't order FCS in japan at all unless you have a japanese shipping address. Sad, I know. :'(

 

hm. I was looking at the website... What things at Tenshi no Sato are you not allowed to do unless you're a Volks owner or member?

"Tenshi-no-Sato Kachu-an

This is a place that Volks presented only for SD owners and Dollfie members.

We hope that you'd have a wonderful time with your Super Dollfie at this beautiful historical garden and a very modern museum. We look forward to meeting you there. "

Is that just the museum? Or will they not let you in the garden unless you're a member?

Plus for some reason the English visiting reservation page doesn't go beyond June 2007.

 

Umm... nothing that I'm aware of. The only stipulation is that you book in advance if you're not a VS member.

But I've never gone without a doll.

But they're not the kind of people who are going to go "OMg you don't have a dolly, you can't go into the garden!!! " so don't worry about it.

Just please remember once you book to print out your confirmation email for them, and also take your passport to prove your identity. It makes everything much easier for them.

 

Thanks. ^^ I might be going, perhaps.

I guess I'm over-interpreting "only." I guess they mean that more in the sense of "especially."

 

Volks' English can be a little obtuse at times. So basically, take everything with a grain of salt and assume it's the basic gist of what they meant, but not the exactitudes!

 

I went there last month and it was lovely and spent alot of time in the gardens, so pretty, tho im not a member of Volks as live in the UK, I did take one of my Volks dolls and everyone was so lovely to me.

I think it is well worth the trip, but as said, remember to take a print out of your reservation and passport and they dont speak any english there, which is worth knowing.

 

Pardon me.. don't know if this may be off topic, can you bring dolls from other manufacturers to tenshi no sato...? I really want to bring mine there but he's a Luts doll,

 

Whoever mentioned the trains were expensive wasn't kidding. It cost me just over $300 to go from Tokyo to Kyoto and back on the shinkansen. At the time, I didn't know about the magic of the Japan Rail Pass (only available to tourists!): http://www.japanrailpass.net/eng/en002.html

You'll note that it's all of ~$260-$340 for as much railway travel (and a good bit of bus travel) as you want for a full week, even on the non-reserved shinkansen!

If you're even *thinking* of travelling outside of Osaka or Tokyo, you may want to investigate this, make sure you get the right stamp on your passport, and have a blast

 

Tenshi no sato is for Super dollfie owners. I think it would be considered rude to bring your non volks doll there. I mean you can physically bring it in a carrier but to take it out and take photos I don't think that would be allowed

 

That was me talking about trainfares, I also mentioned rail passes.

Actually you CAN reserve seats with a rail pass, you just can't take the Nozomis. You can take all other shinkansens. The general pass must be bought before you go to Japan though.

If you're just staying in the Kansai area and not going to Tokyo there are a bunch of different passes you can get in Japan. There is a Kansai day pass that can be used for special rapids to Himeji or on the Haruka to leave from KIX and the Sanyo Pass that is from Shin-Osaka west to Fukuoka only. It is a bit expensive but allows travel on the Nozomi and can be bought in Japan. Neither covers a lot of the smaller lines you might want to take depending on where you are trying to get to vs. a rail pass which covers all JR lines but the Nozomi.

You can get from Osaka to Kyoto for about 500 yen one way, for those curious. ^^

Rail passes and takyuubin are the two greatest deals in Japan.

 

I didn't mean to imply you couldn't reserve seats--sorry if it sounded that way. I just meant that you could use them on any non-reserved train, including the shinkansen.

I was there during Kin-yobi and a some of the trains were reserved--I don't know what the status of the railpass is with such trains, and I didn't want to imply that you could use it on such trains without knowing for sure If they can be used on already-reserved trains, all the better for visitors!

 

A JR Rail pass can be used on any train except the Nozomi shinkansen. You can reserve a seat in the seat reservation section for free on any train except the Nozomi assuming one is available. Nozomi are the fastest shinkansen and run the most frequently, but there are still Hikari every 20-30 minutes and they don't take that much longer to Kyoto. If you want to go to Hiroshima though you'd need to change in Okayama or Shin Osaka.

The only caveat is unless you expressly buy a green car rail pass (which still can not be used on the Nozomi) you can not ride in a Green Car should there be one on your train. I have never seen a train made up expressly of green cars.

I've used rail passes during many holiday periods including Golden Week 2007. I nearly always reserve seats on Hikaris in advance. In fact if you know someone in Japan, if they're fluent enough in Japanese they can reserve seats for you in advance, which comes in handy for Golden Week and New Years when the trains are often full. ^^ If I know when I want to travel ahead of time, I've also booked seat reservations when I first arrive in Japan when I validate my pass.

 

Very cool! I'll remember this next time I'm in Japan! (It will certainly make getting around in the Golden Week travel crowds a LOT easier...)