Tanka challenge and Essay/photo contest

[gurdymonkey]

To know who she is
I would walk her narrow streets
And meet her people.
Like Genji I wish to see
Who lives inside that screened room.

http://www.japantravelinfo.com/2010/win.html

The Japanese National Tourism Organization is holding an essay/photo contest for trips to Japan and (and other travel prizes which would necessitate my scraping up the airfare to get there and use them). If you're interested, be sure to read all the details - prizes for the essay contest are not the same as the photo contest and you can only enter one of them. Since the destinations I was likely to prefer were for the essay contest, I just fired off an entry, which came in under the maximum 2010 keystrokes. (Not sure I'm ready to share what I wrote. Perhaps after the deadline has passed and I can't jinx it.)

Wish me luck!

Comments

[takadai-no-tora.livejournal.com]

Maybe I could start my essay as follows, "I'm writing this while I take a bread from packing for my second trip to Japan. Why wouldn't I want to go a third time?"
Some of the prizes do seem a little odd, though. For example, what good is a one-day trip to Fuji-san and Hakone if you aren't already going to be in-country?

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know. Maybe they're hoping someone'll win it and commit to buying plane tickets and so forth. After all, it is sponsored by the Tourism office.

[takadai-no-tora.livejournal.com]

That's true and if you were already planning to go to Japan one of those trips would be fun, although it sounds like Hakone is a world-class tacky tourist trap.

[sarcasm-hime.livejournal.com]

Only for US residents....BLARGH!

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

Sorry about that.

You might write to the JNTO and ask (suggest?) if they're planning on doing something similar to promote tourism to Canadian travelers. It couldn't hurt.....