We had planned going there for a long time. Say, since the Kurosawa movies and the Kusama sessions. One of those things that kept being postponed. But the aftermath of the 9/11 Attack on New York started us thinking a bit, mainly because, for a while, the bottom dropped out of airline ticket prices.
That didn't last long enough; another consideration was the simple fact that Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world. Besides, one shrinks back from spending 22 hours or so on a non-stop flight Boston-Tokyo, no matter how low the price. Even now, go figure: we paid more for an AA ticket Curaçao-Miami than for the Korean Air LA-Tokyo (over 4 times flying time). Enough mit der gekvetsching about all that, already.