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Shibawanko posted:I ended up getting a Japanese laptop after all. The keyboard isn't bothering me much so far, unless I want to type an @ or a :. You guys must be getting reamed in Europe then, because I thought J laptops were incredibly expensive! 50,000 for a Dell or 90,000 for the equivalent NEC or Fujitsu.
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Jul 15, 2013 22:45
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Weatherman posted:You guys must be getting reamed in Europe then, because I thought J laptops were incredibly expensive! 50,000 for a Dell or 90,000 for the equivalent NEC or Fujitsu. I paid the equivalent of 360 euros for a core i5 lenovo, you can't get anything like that in Holland for less than 500.
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Jul 15, 2013 23:43
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Shibawanko posted:I paid the equivalent of 360 euros for a core i5 lenovo, you can't get anything like that in Holland for less than 500. Did you check that it was a refurb or something? I've gotten tricked by that before.
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Jul 16, 2013 02:20
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Shibawanko posted:unless I want to type an @ or a :. You're gonna get used to these and then be mad at Western keyboards for not making them so easy to type. ' still sucks though.
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Jul 16, 2013 02:33
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Uncle Jam posted:Did you check that it was a refurb or something? I've gotten tricked by that before. No it was brand new, I took a Japanese guy along with me to confirm it all. It was a sunday afternoon discount for 47000 yen. Anyone have experience with going to the barber here? I have halflong blonde hair and don't want to come out looking like an anime man. Maybe I should just take a picture of myself or something to show what it should be like....
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Jul 16, 2013 02:34
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Macs rip you off wherever you buy in the world right?
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Jul 16, 2013 02:43
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Shibawanko posted:Anyone have experience with going to the barber here? I have halflong blonde hair and don't want to come out looking like an anime man. Maybe I should just take a picture of myself or something to show what it should be like.... The guy who cuts my hair (based in my relatively inaka city, no less) worked in Beverly Hills for 4-5 years, never went to college, and speaks English better than pretty much all of the Japanese English teachers I work with  I could do a regular Japanese barber but he's just enjoyable to talk to, and I know he likes having the chance to keep up his English.
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Jul 16, 2013 04:18
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Shibawanko posted:No it was brand new, I took a Japanese guy along with me to confirm it all. It was a sunday afternoon discount for 47000 yen. I took some pictures of how my hair looked after I got it cut in the USA, then showed the guy on my phone. Just don't go to a thousand yen place and you should be fine.
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Jul 16, 2013 07:34
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Shibawanko posted:Anyone have experience with going to the barber here? Nope. We all look like cousin IT. Sorry!
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Jul 17, 2013 01:54
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Posted in the wrong Japan thread, oops. If were to come over on September 18-22 would Sapporo or Nagoya/Kyoto have better weather and be more interesting? I've already been to Nagoya or Kyoto, but it wasn't a well planned trip so I'm willing to give it another shop. I'm looking at hiking, food, and historical stuff. I also forgot how much and how long the train/bus from Nagoya to Kyoto is and how frequent it is. Another option is to do Osaka/Kyoto. what else is around the Nagoya area that is a day trip. The Japanese Alps are in that part? And are there any hostel or other accommodation recommendations for the area? How commonly used is AirBnB there?
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Jul 21, 2013 06:03
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DontAskKant posted:Posted in the wrong Japan thread, oops. I've never been to Sapporo so I can't comment on that. Nagoya is more of a city to live in, there are a lot of jobs, its kind of industrial, but the sight seeing isn't as good. In Nagoya there is the Osu Kannon, which is a street mall that caters to certain interests. Like, there lots of maid cafes, hostess bars, cowboy shops, ex-pat shops that kind of thing. Nagoya castle is ok if you have to be in Nagoya but I wouldn't recommend it. There are about a billion izakaya close to Nagoya station. If you do go to Nagoya try kishimen which is Nagoya style thick broth, thick noodle udon, and the miso soup which is a bit different in Nagoya. North of Nagoya its gets a bit hilly and mountainous. If you like hiking you might want to look up the Nakasendo which is the old foot highway that runs through Japan. There are a bunch of small towns along the route and you can get your baggage sent ahead, but this costs money obviously. In this area is a city called Takayama, which has a very historical style. If the super tourism of Kyoto bugs you, this is probably a place to go. Outside of Takayama and Gifu city however, Gifu prefecture can be boring if you aren't hiking or in a spa-resort. In the valleys it can get very hot and is probably one of the hottest parts of Japan. The train from Nagoya to the closest parts of these hilly areas with the Nakasendo takes about an hour from Nagoya station and will be about $10. I doubt if there are hostels at some of these places, but the chain hotels can be very cheap, sometimes $30-$40 a night. I usually take the shinkansen Kyoto-Nagoya, which is about 40 minutes, $60, but the bus is about 3 hours if I remember correctly. If you've been to Kyoto before, you might want to try Nara, which is pretty close. There are some awesome temples, including the biggest wooden building in the world there. Also a lot of deer that people say are domesticated, but are really still wild but just fed a lot by humans. Edit: Todaiji temple in Nara is really fun, and there are foot paths that extend from it that go through some cool areas for quite a large area. Uncle Jam fucked around with this message at 02:47 on Jul 22, 2013 |
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Jul 22, 2013 02:44
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Takayama has a hostel called J-Hoppers that my friend stayed at for awhile, so I can vouch for a hostel in that area at least.
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Jul 22, 2013 06:52
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Moving to Tokyo from Yamanashi in about a week and still have a big box of Rock Band instruments that no one wants. Any goon suggestions on how to quickly sell or just get rid of plastic instruments in Japan? I'm not looking for any kind of return on investment here, I just need them out of the apartment.
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Jul 23, 2013 06:52
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Sarchasm posted:Moving to Tokyo from Yamanashi in about a week and still have a big box of Rock Band instruments that no one wants. Any goon suggestions on how to quickly sell or just get rid of plastic instruments in Japan? I'm not looking for any kind of return on investment here, I just need them out of the apartment. What version of Rock Band? 360?
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Jul 23, 2013 09:51
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Fryhtaning posted:Things must have changed a lot in 3 years, because I had a hell of a time finding free WiFi in Tokyo. I went last month and free wifi basically consisted of sitting outside of Family Mart, 7-11 or Starbucks like a tramp. I tried to pay for Sofmap 1day which is EVERYWHERE, 500 yen a day but they send a loving confirmation email which you CANNOT click on if you don't have Internet, duh! Anyway is anyone interested in my log of travel in Japan? I went to basically every major city in Honshuu with zero travel plans, zero hotels booked and took lots of photos of poo poo that most people probably don't bother taking photos of. Abused the poo poo out of the rail pass, hopping back and to to avoid the rain. Kept stopping in Osaka on the way to places, for the cheap love hotels. Only got caught out one time, in Sendai - no hotels available at all so we stayed in an Internet cafe. Had to nix that plan for the whole rest of the trip because my husband is 6'4" and couldnt sleep well in a little box. Relied on a Japanese portable gps to recommend restaurants etc (it comes highly recommended) albeit the blazing heat in the last week killed the screen a bit. Almost killed us too, I've spent the last week basically in bed recovering. I was not expecting this heat wave in early July. It felt like late August only a shitton worse because we had no hotel to hide in so we hid in karaoke booths.
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Jul 23, 2013 14:13
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Retro Access posted:I went last month and free wifi basically consisted of sitting outside of Family Mart, 7-11 or Starbucks like a tramp. I tried to pay for Sofmap 1day which is EVERYWHERE, 500 yen a day but they send a loving confirmation email which you CANNOT click on if you don't have Internet, duh! Just a heads-up in case you do this again, you could have stopped into any of the millions of manga cafes everywhere to check your mail and click on links, and grab some free drinks and possibly food while you're there.
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Jul 23, 2013 15:32
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Ara posted:Just a heads-up in case you do this again, you could have stopped into any of the millions of manga cafes everywhere to check your mail and click on links, and grab some free drinks and possibly food while you're there. I know. But they cost 500 yen for half an hour, and there were two of us. Sitting outside family mart and saving that money for decent food was a better option.
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Jul 23, 2013 18:38
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tarepanda posted:What version of Rock Band? 360? Yeah, the 360 version. Why, are you interested?
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Jul 24, 2013 01:33
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I'd like to see the travel log so there's my vote. The WiFi thing killed me last time, I got some... incorrect information from my friend there. Are there sim cards we can get at the airport or a 7/11? I really don't want to do Japan with no internet again. Even at the capsule hotel I was told their WiFi was only for Japanese citizens.
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Jul 24, 2013 01:56
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I'm going to be traveling between Tokyo and Osaka with a friend during around the Obon period. Should we buy our shinkansen tickets ahead of time to be safe, or should we be okay buying reserved seat tickets on the day of travel? To be specific we'll be going from Tokyo to Osaka on the 7th, and heading back to Tokyo on the 12th.
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Jul 24, 2013 02:45
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DontAskKant posted:I'd like to see the travel log so there's my vote. I've never had a problem with WiFi being restricted to only citizens at any type of hotel before. I had a guy be a real condescending dickhole about the passport copy at one place, but he still gave me the wifi password. Some of the bigger stations are finally starting to get actual real honest to god free WiFi, though.
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Jul 24, 2013 03:06
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I paid for a week-pass on Wi2 around Tokyo and it was not a pleasant experience. You constantly get kicked off and have to log back in again. It was hardly worth the ~$15 cost (Visa tourist special)
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Jul 24, 2013 04:28
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Sarchasm posted:Yeah, the 360 version. Why, are you interested? I thought I had a friend who would be, but he already got a set. :-/
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Jul 24, 2013 04:56
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I still haven't found a proper coffee place with wifi either. By the way, if anyone is looking for great ramen, the Nakamoto in shibuya (in a basement across from and to the left of 109) has a great ebimiso (shrimp miso ramen) for 780 yen if i recall, I had it last night and it's one of the best I've ever had.
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Jul 24, 2013 05:15
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The other option is paying $50 for 5 days and doing roaming with my phone. There has to be a better option. Then again I went to Japan the first time with that notion of it being a magical modern wonderland. Never again.
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Jul 24, 2013 13:37
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Quite frankly the best option I've found was to add international roaming and data to my US-based cell phone and then just use that sparingly to find directions.
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Jul 24, 2013 15:52
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Mine is by the day. Singapore can't have better phone/wireless than Japan. That can't be a real thing.
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Jul 24, 2013 16:13
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Wireless coverage seems pretty decent in Tokyo, it just isn't free for the most part. I don't know how amazing coverage is the US or wherever but in my experiences in London and some other European capitals, Tokyo isn't massively better or worse in terms of honestly free and easy-to-access wi-fi.
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Jul 24, 2013 17:17
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Sarchasm posted:Yeah, the 360 version. Why, are you interested? At the risk of saying something incredibly stupid you can probably get a little bit of cash out of them from bookoff if you can't sell them.
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Jul 24, 2013 21:29
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uinfuirudo posted:At the risk of saying something incredibly stupid you can probably get a little bit of cash out of them from bookoff if you can't sell them. "little" is the operative keyword here, Probably 200-1000 yen.
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Jul 24, 2013 21:36
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Kyoya Ryokan is all full in Nagoya for Sept. 21, any other suggestions for onsen around that price range.
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Jul 25, 2013 05:00
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Dp
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Jul 25, 2013 05:00
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uinfuirudo posted:At the risk of saying something incredibly stupid you can probably get a little bit of cash out of them from bookoff if you can't sell them. Even though they're the American version? I wasn't aware Bookoff would take that stuff. And it may come to that. I had to dump a small box of odds and ends there yesterday.
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Jul 25, 2013 08:20
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My main problem I guess is that I simply don't own a smartphone or data subscription in my own country, because i just don't roll that way, but maybe I should just get one. Would it be a good idea to pick up a second hand smartphone while I'm here, or are they all SIM/language locked or something?
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Jul 25, 2013 08:26
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Sarchasm posted:Even though they're the American version? I wasn't aware Bookoff would take that stuff. Bookoff exists in the US too, so who knows!
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Jul 25, 2013 13:44
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Sarchasm posted:Even though they're the American version? I wasn't aware Bookoff would take that stuff. You try Craigslist? Bookoff might not take American items since I think Rock Band is region-locked, but maybe try Akihabara? There are a few stores which sell used foreign games.
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Jul 25, 2013 15:03
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The gallery is doing a tongue-in-cheek mail-in exhibition that looks fun. Examples are here and there are things like...a sock. And a rock. And cigarette butts. Apparently the post office will take anything that has that special tag on it? Would be neat to get sock-art from overseas instead of sock-art from across the street. The english-language site is being renovated and is absolutely hideous so more details are here, if $10 is worth having your sock on the wall of an art gallery in Harajuku for a week.
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Jul 29, 2013 04:12
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plaidboat posted:The gallery is doing a tongue-in-cheek mail-in exhibition that looks fun. I love this idea! Me and hubby dropped by the gallery a couple of weeks ago, it was cool.
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Jul 29, 2013 06:06
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Hi guys. I'm planning a trip to Japan in mid-September and there's a few days in my itinerary that I'm having trouble deciding on, so I'm curious if you guys have any suggestions. Basically I'll by leaving Kyoto the evening of Thursday the 19th, and flying out of Nagoya the morning of the 22nd. I have no destination after Kyoto planned and need to nail down my itinerary for the 20th and 21st. Are there any sites you guys would recommend that are accessible from those locations in that time frame? I'm especially looking for beautiful natural vistas/good hikes.
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Jul 30, 2013 08:00
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Uncle Jam posted:I've never had a problem with WiFi being restricted to only citizens at any type of hotel before. I had a guy be a real condescending dickhole about the passport copy at one place, but he still gave me the wifi password. CrazyLittle posted:I paid for a week-pass on Wi2 around Tokyo and it was not a pleasant experience. You constantly get kicked off and have to log back in again. It was hardly worth the ~$15 cost (Visa tourist special) So I'm reading and I'm still not sure of the best way to get wi-fi in Japan. A) I'll be taking the train to a few places like Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka Islands. I assume there's no wi fi on the train? Is there at stations normally? B) I'll be in Tokyo for 2 weeks. The page I posted earlier really pushes how Tokyo has free wi fi all over the place. Is this a falsehood? http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/indepth/exotic/JapanesQue/special/ntteast.html C) Should I just get some sort of roaming data from my provider here?
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Jul 30, 2013 08:32
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