|
I'm thinking about checking out Hong Kong while I'm in Japan, since flights will be cheaper. Does anyone have an airline recommendation? I'm not at all familiar with inter-Asia travel so I don't know if there are certain airlines that do it better or cheaper than others.
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2014 19:25
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 8, 2024 18:53 |
|
|
bobula posted:I'm thinking about checking out Hong Kong while I'm in Japan, since flights will be cheaper. Does anyone have an airline recommendation? I'm not at all familiar with inter-Asia travel so I don't know if there are certain airlines that do it better or cheaper than others. If you are patient enough peach airlines is the budget carrier direct from Osaka or Tokyo to Hong Kong. Cheaper proper airline is China Eastern but that means a lay over in Shanghai. The lay over is usually 2 to 24 hours long. A longer lay over means time for you to head out to the city or meet some goons for a beer. Proper carriers like Cathay and JAL are more expensive but much more comfortable 3 hour flight. Anyways for more hk questions pop into the China travel thread and post there. HK is a pretty cool city for me and it's a nice goon shelter so the Hong Kong girls and boys brigade will throw you a welcome party. If you ever do come over please oh please bring me a box of Tokyo banana. And if you ever do have a chance to stop by Tokyo takashimaya then get a box of Gramercy New York "cheese cakes".
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2014 00:28
|
|
|
Listen to Caberham.
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2014 08:27
|
|
|
peanut posted:Listen to Caberham. No No No, peanut is the true master
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2014 10:44
|
|
|
So I've been spending the past week and a half slowly reading through this thread, and I've still got a quarter left, but please indulge me if these questions have been asked and answered in the immediate pages before whatever one this post ends up on: I'm heading to Japan again for three weeks in February, this time with two friends. It's not the first time for two of us, and the third doesn't really seem to care where we go - but then again, she's just joining us for the last week and has chosen to leave the planning up to us. We've got most of our itinerary planned out too: Tokyo > Sapporo (snow festival) > Osaka > Kyoto > Kusatsu > Tokyo. Since we'll be going around a bit, 1) We're planning on shipping our luggage from Tokyo to Osaka and later from Osaka back to Tokyo to the hotels we'll be staying at when the time comes, and just carrying what we need in between in our bags; but is there a better alternative for mailing the luggage? 2) Food recs! Mostly Kyo-ryori is the thing I'm having a hard time finding a good place for, but we're open to anything, especially specialties. I've bookmarked a few places I've already seen recced in the thread, but I figure it wouldn't hurt to ask. (My friend adores really good ramen, but the last person was a bit iffy on raw foods.) I know I'm probably going to end up buying a bunch of omiyage, but I think it'll be easier to do that at Narita and carry it back with me instead of mailing it back?
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2014 23:09
|
|
|
How difficult is it to move to Japan for an extended period if you're self-employed? I'm a writer, with all of my income coming via book royalties/advances, so I don't need a job in Japan. Do I need a particular visa? Can I apply for the state health insurance?
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2014 23:35
|
|
|
tokidoki posted:How difficult is it to move to Japan for an extended period if you're self-employed? I'm a writer, with all of my income coming via book royalties/advances, so I don't need a job in Japan. Do I need a particular visa? Can I apply for the state health insurance? How do you define extended? For 3 months you can stay on a visa waiver, then you can leave and come right back and be fine. After that it gets iffy. Without a proper visa of some kind you can't get state health insurance.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2014 00:14
|
|
|
LimburgLimbo posted:How do you define extended? For 3 months you can stay on a visa waiver, then you can leave and come right back and be fine. After that it gets iffy. Yeah, I figured I could stay for just under three months, fly to a nearby country and then come back to repeat. I wondered about staying there for a year without doing that, and if my being self-employed would make the process easier/different.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2014 00:34
|
|
|
tokidoki posted:Yeah, I figured I could stay for just under three months, fly to a nearby country and then come back to repeat. I wondered about staying there for a year without doing that, and if my being self-employed would make the process easier/different. Since you don't actually plan to generate income in Japan you would probably be much better off just using the visa waiver even if it means you can only stay half the year. (You might be better off trying to find someone who did something similar and asking them; I don't think anybody here has been in that situation.) mystes fucked around with this message at 01:00 on Jan 23, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2014 00:55
|
|
|
mystes posted:Theoretically you might be able to self-sponsor a visa but I don't know how realistic this is. Also, this is total speculation on my part, but even if it worked out it might be hard to avoid paying taxes to both Japan and the US this way (I think you would have to declare your income in Japan for the Japanese visa but you would presumably be getting 1099s in the US). The self sponsor thing is only supposed to be possible for visa extensions, not for issuing new visas.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2014 01:47
|
|
|
Well I guess that just leaves the even sillier option of starting a company to collect the book royalties and going with an investor visa or something. You would have to put a bunch of money into it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2014 02:24
|
|
|
Yeah, sounds like long-term isn't going to be in the cards for me. Bummer.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2014 02:36
|
|
|
tokidoki posted:Yeah, sounds like long-term isn't going to be in the cards for me. Bummer. Look in to Southeast Asia; Thailand has sorta clamped down on tourist visa abuse (although if you're willing to study Thai, you should be able to get an educational visa for a couple of years), but last time I checked (granted, a few years ago) you can outright buy a one year visa in Cambodia indefinitely. I was also able to get a multi-entry 3-month Vietnamese business without having to show any kind of business too, although that was back in 2008, don't know what the climate is like now. Much lower cost of living than Japan.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2014 05:31
|
|
|
tokidoki posted:Yeah, I figured I could stay for just under three months, fly to a nearby country and then come back to repeat. I wondered about staying there for a year without doing that, and if my being self-employed would make the process easier/different. If you make the cash, why just Japan? One of my friend cycles around the world on various 1 - 3 month visas. HK - Japan - UK - Canada - NYC - LA - Brazil and then back to HK. It's quite the life.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2014 21:48
|
|
|
I am OK posted:If you make the cash, why just Japan? One of my friend cycles around the world on various 1 - 3 month visas. HK - Japan - UK - Canada - NYC - LA - Brazil and then back to HK. It's quite the life. For three years I've worked on a cruise ship that doesn't have a regularly itinerary, i.e., cruises around the world, so I've been to something like 60 countries. I've been to Japan several times for short stays and want to stay there for an extended time. I really love it there. I'll probably also at some point spend a month in Turkey (Istanbul is my favorite port).
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2014 22:57
|
|
|
tokidoki posted:How difficult is it to move to Japan for an extended period if you're self-employed? I'm a writer, with all of my income coming via book royalties/advances, so I don't need a job in Japan. Do I need a particular visa? Can I apply for the state health insurance? Would you be willing to go to a language school? It's a pretty easy way to get a visa.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2014 10:39
|
|
|
tokidoki posted:For three years I've worked on a cruise ship that doesn't have a regularly itinerary, i.e., cruises around the world, so I've been to something like 60 countries. I've been to Japan several times for short stays and want to stay there for an extended time. I really love it there. I'll probably also at some point spend a month in Turkey (Istanbul is my favorite port). Ah so you're making pretty good money then? In that case language school is definitely an option, like Ned said. I kinda figured it might be beyond your budget. It's expensive but you can get visas for up to 2 years.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2014 11:11
|
|
|
Thanks, guys. I'll look in to that.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2014 20:20
|
|
|
Are there any small places I should visit in Japan? Not big places that every tourist goes to.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 11:05
|
|
|
One smaller place I like is, if you're in Osaka and like trains, the Modern Transportation Museum. I highly recommend it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 11:35
|
|
|
noirstronaut posted:Are there any small places I should visit in Japan? Not big places that every tourist goes to. Last summer a friend and I headed out to Aogashima. It gets few tourists (very few foreign ones), owing to its obscurity and distance from the mainland. You can get there via neighboring Hachijojima, itself a 45 minute flight or 11 hour overnight ferry from Tokyo. I'd probably recommend the plane as it costs the same as the ferry, although if you do take the boat, you can save on a night's accommodation. OTOH, we stayed at a hostel near the dock (Hachji Joe's) that was only like 2,000 a night, and the steerage sleeping accommodation on the boat is pretty grim. IMO you need a car to get around Hachijojima with any kind of effectiveness (pretty hilly and spread out), although if you're in good shape there are bicycles available for rent. There's at least one abandoned hotel you can poke around on the sly, as well as some snorkeling/fishing, a volcano you can climb, etc. The timings for getting to Aogashima from Tokyo really suck, IIRC there's one ANA red-eye that would put you there early enough to get the one chopper over to Aogashima the same day, but don't quote me on that. For Aogashima, most people wind up taking the helicopter over from Hachijojima; there's a significantly cheaper boat that (in theory) runs daily, but it gets cancelled >50% of the time due to rough seas. Chopper will run you something like 11,000 each way, you still want to book a bit in advance; it's not big and can fill up easily. There are a few minshuku on the island, there's one sorta business one that didn't include meals (but looked pretty rough), we called one of the regular ones and they said it was no problem to skip the meals and only pay for accommodation. Lady who ran it was super nice and still plied us with fresh island sushi, pickled cucumbers, rice balls, and shochu. There's not really much to do on the island but take in the scenery (there's a small onsen and a salt works you can tour). It's not huge but a car is still pretty useful for getting around (steep roads). If you don't have one you can get away with walking, although you may want to give yourself an extra day if you want to check out everything on the island. I really enjoyed it and would like to go back (although time/budget/other travel priorities probably won't permit); pretty chill/peaceful, and the people on the island were all really nice and friendly. In general: If you want to find sorta off-the-radar or oddball things to do, look up B級スポット for the area you're going to (if you don't have much Japanese, Google Translate can do a pretty good job). I've been slowly filling out a personal map of Kyushu (and starting ones for the other regions) collecting stuff from a few different Japanese sites and blogs I've found through some very shallow Googling. Over the long weekend this month my girlfriend and I went around and checked out a bunch in the Nagasaki/Saga/Fukuoka area, which included: -A shrine dedicated to respiratory illnesses where people leave plastic swords as offerings. I've driven past it probably 40 times and never noticed, the entrance is half hidden by bushes from the road. -A shrine and radar emplacement at the top of a mountain. -A funeral home for pets (wasn't actually on any of the B-kyuu sites, but found it in the area of some dirt roads I was investigating) -Bus shelters shaped like fruit -An abandoned seaside hotel -A mini Eiffel tower -A phone booth with a planetarium ceiling roof (it's on the second floor walkway outside of Nagasaki Station, look for the Rotary phone booth) -An onsen for your fingers -An elementary school that had been rendered unusable due to a volcanic eruption -Hi-tech street toilet -An array of vending machines selling fortunes, charms, and condoms -A decaying airplane in the middle of the inaka -A one-legged torii -A safe randomly in a concerete wall along a street -Japan's oldest Western-style shipworks -A spongecake shrine Very little of it gives you a big "wow" factor, but I get a lot of fun and satisfaction out of the research/scavenger hunt like aspect. Pompous Rhombus fucked around with this message at 13:07 on Jan 26, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 13:03
|
|
|
Looks like the cafe that sold miracle berries in Ikebukuro closed (was in Namja town or something ?) Any alternative ?
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 13:05
|
|
|
Try the internet, you're already on it http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%83%AF%E...%83%BC%E3%83%84
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 13:52
|
|
|
zmcnulty posted:Try the internet, you're already on it Well poo poo, I thought this stuff was hard to find.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 13:59
|
|
|
They probably sell hot tar too.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 14:16
|
|
|
noirstronaut posted:Are there any small places I should visit in Japan? Not big places that every tourist goes to. Go to the northeast of hokkaido: abashiri and shiretoko peninsula. Get a bus from sapporo. Everybody should do this before they die.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 16:01
|
|
|
Anyone been to Osore-san? Is it as creepy and otherworldly as I hope?
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 17:19
|
|
|
Pompous Rhombus posted:-A one-legged torii I really think this deserves to be in bold and accompanied by many exclamation points and perhaps some ones.
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2014 10:00
|
|
|
Just found this thread and I'm really gonna have to go through and read through the lot of it. Me and some friends are visiting Japan for a little over two weeks at the end of March (in the hope of seeing the cherry blossom stuff kick off) and it looks like this'll be a good resource for things to do! Our current plans are 1 night in Tokyo to start off with, 2 nights in Kyoto, 4 in Osaka, 3 in Okinawa and a final 5 in Tokyo again. We want to do a few usual touristy things like a see a Kabuki show, go to the Ghibli museum, shrines, eating Kobe beef, etc. One thing that I don't see a lot that we'll be doing is going to Okunoshima, because floods of bunnies are goddamned adorable. A few questions that I hope haven't been answered to death in the thread already: There's a concert that a few of our group want to see on our first night, but we can't make head nor tail of how to actually get tickets. I asked my Japanese teacher about it and what I could understand was that a lot of places don't let you buy tickets from abroad and so our most realistic shot is the show up on the day and hope there's some left. What's a normal way to go about it? It's not a make-or-break for the trip or anything, but it's a group that a few people are into and it'd be fun to see. In the OP it says ATMs aren't open 24 hours a day - is this simply a case of them being inside shops that close at a certain time, or do even hole-in-the-wall ATMs shut down at a certain time? Also, my bank has given me a VISA Debit Card - would a credit card be preferred over debit in Japan? I hope I didn't miss one in the OP, but is there a general guide for etiquette rules that would be different compared to the UK or US? I know a few of the basics like not using your phone on public transport but a full list of "how not to be a dick" would be awesome. One final question - I know that the mecca for women's clothing is Shibuya 109. Is 109-MENS equivalently good for men's clothes? I hope at 28 years old that it won't all be a bit too young for me!
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2014 16:49
|
|
|
Question Mark Mound posted:A few questions that I hope haven't been answered to death in the thread already: There are different ways available depending on which musician it is. Who is it?
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2014 17:23
|
|
|
Question Mark Mound posted:A few questions that I hope haven't been answered to death in the thread already: quote:In the OP it says ATMs aren't open 24 hours a day - is this simply a case of them being inside shops that close at a certain time, or do even hole-in-the-wall ATMs shut down at a certain time? Also, my bank has given me a VISA Debit Card - would a credit card be preferred over debit in Japan? quote:I hope I didn't miss one in the OP, but is there a general guide for etiquette rules that would be different compared to the UK or US? I know a few of the basics like not using your phone on public transport but a full list of "how not to be a dick" would be awesome.
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2014 18:09
|
|
|
Question Mark Mound posted:In the OP it says ATMs aren't open 24 hours a day - is this simply a case of them being inside shops that close at a certain time, or do even hole-in-the-wall ATMs shut down at a certain time? Also, my bank has given me a VISA Debit Card - would a credit card be preferred over debit in Japan? This may have changed since the last time I was in the country (last spring), but I always found 7/11 ATMs to be available and I don't think I was ever charged a fee with my credit union's Visa debit card. (I heard they stopped accepting Mastercard, though.) Certainly don't count on using credit cards. I did find a surprising amount of shops would let me pay with the balance on my suica/pasmo. Fake edit: I just found a page on their site which claims 7/11 ATMs accept Visa debit cards 24 hours a day.
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2014 18:10
|
|
|
inklesspen posted:This may have changed since the last time I was in the country (last spring), but I always found 7/11 ATMs to be available and I don't think I was ever charged a fee with my credit union's Visa debit card. (I heard they stopped accepting Mastercard, though.) Certainly don't count on using credit cards. I did find a surprising amount of shops would let me pay with the balance on my suica/pasmo. Yes, if your card is any of the ones on there you will have no problem using it. Remember to let your bank know you're traveling to Japan so they don't lock your card, and find out if you have an overseas daily withdrawal limit. My American bank has a flat fee of 350 yen when I withdraw in Japan. edit: It says that there are some cards with these marks that cannot be used, but I've never run into that with myself or any visiting friends. I've also never used one of those debit cards that doesn't function as a credit card, though.
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2014 18:23
|
|
|
tyblazitar posted:Like bobula said, this depends a lot on who it is. If they're small/unpopular enough that the show doesn't sell out, no problem. If not, it's still possible to get tickets if you have someone over here to help you. Say who it is, and I can figure out whether it's probable to sell out, whether it's still possible to get tickets the normal way, or if there's a possibility of getting the tickets second-hand (the latter one might be expensive, not necessarily though). I might be willing to help you out, but since I'm in Osaka it might be hard. I'm mostly into rock music and apparently this is a pop group so unless they're mega huge like Ayumi Hamasaki or something I can't vouch for how famous or likely to sell out they'd be! No need to go out of your way to help this random goon, I wouldn't wanna put you out!  Thanks for the general other advice. I'm not too loud generally anyway so I think we should be okay. A handful of the group tend to get a bit loud after a few drinks though so we'll need to keep them in check! That's bizarre about some cards "shutting down" for 20 minutes at the end of each day. I'll have to give my bank a wee shout soon-ish to let them know I'm going and ask for advice on cards.
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2014 19:16
|
|
|
Shibawanko posted:Go to the northeast of hokkaido: abashiri and shiretoko peninsula. Get a bus from sapporo. Everybody should do this before they die. Is a day enough to do enough there for it to be worth it? I'll be in Sapporo in a few weeks for a conference and may have an extra day or so to do tourist things. Would speaking absolutely no Japanese whatsoever be a problem?
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2014 20:45
|
|
|
FYI, 7/11 started taking MasterCard again a few weeks ago.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2014 01:05
|
|
|
I'm curious why there aren't any gas stations with convenience stores in Japan; is it a law, or just a cultural thing? (I could have sworn I saw one on my roadtrip this winter, can't say for sure though).
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2014 06:56
|
|
|
According to the wikipedia page, in such cases, the combini is only allowed to be open as long as the gas station itself. And I suspect that most of the big combini chains want their stores open 24H. So just logistically it may not be feasible since gas station operators maybe don't want to be open 24H? In any case they do seem to exist, however note this one is self-serve so much more like what you see in the US: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AB:General_Minamisomakashima_SS.jpg
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2014 07:11
|
|
|
Pompous Rhombus posted:I'm curious why there aren't any gas stations with convenience stores in Japan; is it a law, or just a cultural thing? (I could have sworn I saw one on my roadtrip this winter, can't say for sure though). They have convenience stores everywhere, why would they need them in gas stations? Also remember that self-service gas stations only started in Japan in 1998 I believe, after a loosening of some laws, and even now only account for about 1/5th of gas stations, so in Japan gas stations just aren't really a place that you get up and walk around and buy things for most people.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2014 07:13
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 8, 2024 18:53 |
|
|
I could see it being pretty convenient though if they combined staffed gas stations with combinis. Do your shopping and when you come out your car is gassed and windshields cleaned.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2014 07:31
|
|