Going to Chubu/ Hokuriku~ ♥

Brimming with excitement; I'll be heading off to Chubu/Hokuriku from the 24th to the 29th of July! ♥ The stars must be shining favorably on me somehow, for by a stroke of luck, I was selected as one of the winners for the Jalan Jalan Japan contest organized by the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO)~♥ Having never won anything in my entire life before, I suddenly feel very lucky and grateful to have been selected!

The contest was to plan an itinerary based on the regions/number of days provided. The region I won for was Chubu/Hokuriku, and I'll be getting a round-trip ticket to Nagoya, as well as a one-way ticket through the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route. There are no rail passes available for that area, so I'm currently in the midst of looking up train timings/transfers and finalizing accommodation, really excited! ♥

Received an envelope full of helpful brochures on the region from JNTO.

A little Yokoso Japan logo at the bottom corner of the envelope~♥

I've always loved gazing at pictures of breathtaking scenery and stunning landscapes, and now I'll get to experience it! Coupled with the delectable food and traditional crafts available in the region, what's not to love~? ♥

Flanked by the Kansai and Kantou regions, CHUBU (中部) is the central part of Japan, comprising of 9 prefectures: Aichi愛知, Shizuoka静岡, Gifu岐阜, Ishikawa石川, Fukui福井, Toyama富山, Nagano長野, Niigata新潟 and Yamanashi山梨. HOKURIKU (北陸) is the northern part of Chubu, the prefectures along the coastline of the Sea of Japan.

Naturally, all 9 prefectures can't be covered, given the limited number of days and large expanse of land they extend over^^ My itinerary's somewhat based on scenic beauty and landscapes, so expect lots of nature and endless expanses of it~♥ I'll be travelling alone, so I'm really excited, but at the same time a tad nervous^^

The main attraction for this region was the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route (all submissions for this region had to include this in the itinerary). I've never been on a mountain before, and all the pictures on their website look so picturesque, so I really can't wait to see it! ♥

In other news, went to a friend's 21st recently.

Aren't they pretty?

Lovely petals in hues of red and pink, my favorite colors~♥

Camwhoring in one of the toilets at ION, they're really spacious~

People will walk around you to avoid being captured on camera haha.

Lots of mirrors too ♥

Soo, anyway, I need to go back to planning! Figuring out which trains to take and calculating travelling times to allocate activity time is brain-racking!^^