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I must be getting trolled or somethingTHE AWESOME GHOST posted:You'd be surprised, there are places where $130k isn't enough. Dubai as an example  Dubai, and the middle east is one of the more exploitative places in world. It's a place where there's a few rich elite being supported by subsistence level masses. quote:there's "no taxes" but that means your $130k income as a US Expat is taxable since it's above the threshold. Tax obligations for US citizens is nothing new. Some firms either give you a larger tax-deductible rent allowance or figure out other payments to adjust your extra tax burdens. Are you complaining being too rich? quote:Then for each kid you have, expect to pay up to $22k PER CHILD, PER YEAR for tuition fees, since you'll want to send them to the American schools. Moving around sucks for families and is an extra strain. Boo loving hoo. I don't think you will find too many people here who will be sympathetic to international school kids. Other immigrant kids just :dwi: and go to a local school. quote:Despite Tokyo's reputation, apartment rents are higher in Dubai these days. Dubai allows alcohol but heavily taxes it so a night out drinking will easily cost 3 times what it costs in Tokyo, then their lovely clubs charge huge amounts for the privilege of walking into them because people are paying it. Alcohol is not popular and hard to get in a Muslim country. Gee, I wonder why? Go find some other productive hobby instead of spending more money than usual on booze. quote:A lot of expats go to Dubai because the salaries are so high and untaxable before realizing they're not really saving anything. You basically need a job with tuition benefits and housing included. A legitimate company worth its salt will go through relocation expenses, rent, etc to set you up. Sames goes with the hires. You sound extremely privileged and ignorant. Your complaints are literally #FirstWorldProblems without much irony.
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Nov 10, 2014 07:57
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OK, let me rephrase. I can't imagine not being ok with $130k anywhere that isn't an unsustainably gaudy, hedonistic monument to Man's hubris
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Nov 10, 2014 08:02
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ALFbrot posted:OK, let me rephrase. I can't imagine not being ok with $130k anywhere that isn't an unsustainably gaudy, hedonistic monument to Man's hubris
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Nov 10, 2014 08:04
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I'm a Kuwaiti living in Kuwait, not an expat. This is from talking to Americans+British I work with about why they don't relocate to Dubai, or why they move to Kuwait from there. Many GCC countries don't let foreigners go to their local schools, and a lot of employers in the region are poo poo and will let you figure this out after you've moved already.
THE AWESOME GHOST fucked around with this message at 08:08 on Nov 10, 2014 |
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Nov 10, 2014 08:05
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caberham posted:I must be getting trolled or something None of these are really good refutations of what he's saying, and he doesn't come off as particularly privileged; he's just pointing out there are outliers where expats who have salaries that look like they place them solidly in the upper economic class actually live pretty middle-class lives in some situations. Also you live in HK so you don't really get to throw stones about countries run by rich elite.
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Nov 10, 2014 08:10
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LimburgLimbo posted:None of these are really good refutations of what he's saying, and he doesn't come off as particularly privileged; he's just pointing out there are outliers where expats who have salaries that look like they place them solidly in the upper economic class actually live pretty middle-class lives in some situations. Guess what people in HK are trying to do now about the unequal system? THE AWESOME GHOST posted:I'm a Kuwaiti living in Kuwait, not an expat. This is from talking to Americans+British I work with about why they don't relocate to Dubai, or why they move to Kuwait from there. Many GCC countries don't let foreigners go to their local schools, and a lot of employers in the region are poo poo and will let you figure this out after you've moved already. Sorry for the mistaken identity. The Americans and British you work with are people reeked with privilege.
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Nov 10, 2014 08:11
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Well yeah they get 3 times the salary for similar job roles so that's a given. But still there are countries where you can hear a huge figure for your salary and then save nothing at the end of the day, I can see why someone would be cautious.
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Nov 10, 2014 08:20
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Sorry, i didn't mean for my questions about salary to raise discussions of privilege. It comes purely from being hyper cautious, as i have no idea about the country and it has a notorious reputation for being expensive to live in. Chalk it down to lack of knowledge, my wife having to give up her job (and her paycheque) and us looking to put down a deposit soon for property
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Nov 10, 2014 08:39
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Signor posted:Sorry, i didn't mean for my questions about salary to raise discussions of privilege. It comes purely from being hyper cautious, as i have no idea about the country and it has a notorious reputation for being expensive to live in. What line of work is your wife in, if you don't mind me asking?
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Nov 10, 2014 09:16
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Occupy Otemachi
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Nov 10, 2014 09:58
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caberham posted:Guess what people in HK are trying to do now about the unequal system? are they trying to prepare a rain-proof production of les mis
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Nov 10, 2014 10:55
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I think they started whining about the elections or something. But like Occupy movements everywhere else in the world, they lost focus because tweeting about protesting is only trendy the first few times. edit: Japan tourism thread *posts about HK* zmcnulty fucked around with this message at 12:56 on Nov 10, 2014 |
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Nov 10, 2014 12:34
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Stringent posted:What line of work is your wife in, if you don't mind me asking? Like me IT, she's a QA analyst
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Nov 10, 2014 16:08
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Signor posted:Like me IT, she's a QA analyst Why would she not work? She could probably find a job.
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Nov 10, 2014 16:12
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In my experience IT QA in Asia means doing literally nothing so that's nice.
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Nov 10, 2014 16:12
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Signor posted:Sorry, i didn't mean for my questions about salary to raise discussions of privilege. It comes purely from being hyper cautious, as i have no idea about the country and it has a notorious reputation for being expensive to live in. If your wife cooks and your company pays for rent you will be able to save a lot of money. Tokyo is the type of place where English teachers from America can live a simple life and still pay down their student debt. If you aren't chasing girls and focused on work I could see you saving a nice amount of money with the salary you will be receiving. If you were Japanese and in the same line of work you'd probably be making less than half of what you have been offered and even people on that type of salary with a family are doing fine in Tokyo. Also, Dubai is a shithole!
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Nov 10, 2014 16:23
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Ned posted:In my experience the only place I have watched Sumo while drinking was at a tiny liquor place that had stands for people to drink while watching TV. This appeals very much to me.
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Nov 10, 2014 19:30
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Real estate, sending your children to some ridiculous private school, and owning a car in Tokyo are all expensive, but everything else is pretty cheap compared to western Europe if you know where to look. Groceries are not too bad, eating out can be really cheap. Consumer goods are not really too bad. I spend more money when I'm in Tokyo compared to Holland because everything is so loving delicious and fun, but the price level isn't that high for most things. I'm always a bit shocked by how much Japanese families are willing to spend on things that they don't really need though, like European cars, crazy overpriced and stressful holidays and get-smart-quick education schemes that don't work and just make them miserable.
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Nov 10, 2014 19:51
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Note that sumo finishes by 6pm, less-than-ideal drinking hours. I've only seen it on tv in afternoon places like mom-n-pop udon shops.
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Nov 10, 2014 23:47
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peanut posted:Note that sumo finishes by 6pm, less-than-ideal drinking hours. I've only seen it on tv in afternoon places like mom-n-pop udon shops. I didn't know that at all but that still sounds really nice though! I'm really excited for this trip now that it's a few days away. You goons have all been so helpful with my dumb questions.  Thanks everyone.
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Nov 10, 2014 23:54
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Shibawanko posted:get-smart-quick education schemes that don't work and just make them miserable. As a kidless person, it really was quite startling learning from my friend how much their family spends on Benesse and its ilk every month.
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Nov 11, 2014 03:09
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I have a question about snowboarding/skiing in Honshu. I'm looking at going to the snow during Christmas/new years period (late booking but whatever), what is a recommended area I should look at? I've only been snowboarding once before. I was thinking somewhere in Nagano? Any suggestions or has anyone gone to that area before? Basically anything with good snow and easier access than Hokkaido (I'm in Kyushu). Cheers!
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Nov 14, 2014 05:18
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paberu posted:I have a question about snowboarding/skiing in Honshu. How long, budget and do you have a car? *edit* I'm a big fan of Kagura, especially that early in the season, if you don't mind spending a bit the Naeba Prince Hotel is about as easy as it gets http://www.princehotels.co.jp/naeba/ If you have a car, I'd also recommend Myoko. I stayed with a friend there so I don't really know where to stay, but they get a lot of good snow there. *edit again* Maybe it's just my luck, but Niigata always seems to get a lot more snow that Nagano. I went to Hakuba for a week a couple years ago and the snow was terrible, although the mountain itself is awesome. zmcnulty might know more. *and again* If you're on a budget and leaving from Tokyo, fellow in the office is a big fan of going through this site: http://www.travel-inn.co.jp/ski/ Stringent fucked around with this message at 06:21 on Nov 14, 2014 |
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Nov 14, 2014 06:01
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paberu posted:I have a question about snowboarding/skiing in Honshu. There's a place in southern Honshu, I think Hiroshima/Tottori-ish where the JETs from my prefecture would go. They'd do it over that long weekend in Feb - bomb it up there on the expressway Friday night, drive back Monday on the day off. TBQH it's not that bad to get to Hokkaido now that LCC's are a thing, you can get from FUK to Sapporo on Skymark for like what, 13,000 yen one way? (edit: whoops, you're too late for the cheap seats, winter vacation is almost as bad as GW for flights). Last winter my girlfriend and I drove up to Nagano - you can catch an overnight ferry out of Shin-Moji (the port just north of Fukuoka) to either Osaka or Kobe and take it from there. Japan is pretty good about keeping highways and major roads plowed, there was only one point where we didn't have chains and got turned back*. We did a morning in Kobe, stopped in Nagoya for the night, then drove up and saw Takayama and Shirakawa-go on the way to check out the monkeys bathing in the onsen. Drove back down to Kyushu over the next ~5 days or so, stopped to take in some more sights and had a JTE friend of ours join. Finding rooms for 3 can be kind of a pain in the rear end though, I definitely recommend even numbers of people. I've mentioned it before a few times, but love hotels are great for those kind of trips -- reasonably priced and can easily wing it without reservations, although Saturdays and sometimes Fridays can require a bit more planning in big urban areas. *For the record, I'm originally from Florida and it was my first time ever driving in snow, had zero problems the whole trip.
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Nov 14, 2014 15:15
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Pompous Rhombus posted:There's a place in southern Honshu, I think Hiroshima/Tottori-ish where the JETs from my prefecture would go. They'd do it over that long weekend in Feb - bomb it up there on the expressway Friday night, drive back Monday on the day off. Phrasing
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Nov 15, 2014 01:11
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Edit: nm.
Sheep fucked around with this message at 16:49 on Nov 15, 2014 |
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Nov 15, 2014 16:46
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Narita is a cool airport with a cool mall inside. Question: My (only pair of) shoes randomly got torn on the flight and I need to get a new pair. Where's my best bet to buy a new pair that are size US11 or US11.5? I checked the airport but there weren't really any in that size.
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Nov 16, 2014 08:25
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Abc mart is probably your best bet.
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Nov 16, 2014 12:02
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net work error posted:Narita is a cool airport with a cool mall inside. Size 11 is probably fine at ABC mart like Rabite said. If you can't find anything in your size there is this place near okachimachi https://www.google.com/maps/dir//3+...863!2d35.704691
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Nov 16, 2014 12:33
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This place has large shoes in a good variety of styles: http://www.hikari-shoes.co.jp/zenglish.html Tad expensive but not really that surprising.
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Nov 16, 2014 14:24
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Thanks for the tips y'all, there's an ABC mart near where I'm staying so I'll be checking that out since my shoes aren't getting any better. Also, not sure if anyone remembers about the Tsukiji tour and workshop that I shared earlier but I went today and it was awesome. We did go inside the inner market and it was really busy but man was it cool seeing all of that action but I'm a food nerd so YMMV. Afterwards we made sushi with fish that was bought that same day and it was some of the best I've ever had (thus far) so I really get how big freshness is for sushi. All in all Tokyo is really cool thus far and I even saw an R34 Skyline on my first night which was really cool too!
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Nov 17, 2014 08:16
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R32 or bust. Go eat at kyubei sushi. And then hit up rokkasen And tsunahachi
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Nov 17, 2014 10:16
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net work error posted:All in all Tokyo is really cool thus far and I even saw an R34 Skyline on my first night which was really cool too! You can theoretically get out to Daikoku Futo on one of those highway buses there's a stop there. Might be worth looking in to if you're into cars and are going to be there on a Friday night. Some of the meet ups are based on Japanese date nerdery: we popped in on August 8th, (8/8), which was a big RX-8 owner's meet up. I think one of the guys had said there was an RX-7 one on July 7th as well. Taxi is another bet (a lot less hassle, I imagine). Not sure what it'd run you, but you can get pretty close to the expressway entrance before it and then just pay the toll (I assume that's how that works) on top of the fare.
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Nov 17, 2014 13:34
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Thanks for the tip on ABC, I was able to get a new pair in my size. Re car meetup: I'll try and see if I can convince my fiance that it's something worth going to because it sounds cool. All the UFO machines are bad for my gambling tendencies though...
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Nov 18, 2014 06:34
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Hey Japan goons, Long time lurker here but I figure I may as well say hello and run by you all a rough itinerary for when I arrive in a week's time. I'm looking to spend approximately 5 weeks in Japan before heading to Korea in early January, but this is complicated by a friend joining me about halfway through. So far I'm at: Nov 27th - 4th Dec / Tokyo (7 nights) 4th - 11th / ??? (8 nights) 11th - 15th / Kanazawa (4 nights) 15th - 18th / ??? (3 nights) --friend joins me here-- 18th - 19th / Osaka (2 nights ) 19th - 22nd / Kyoto (3 nights 22nd - 24th / Hiroshima (2 nights) 24th - 1st Jan / Tokyo (8 nights) 2nd - 9th / ??? (7 nights) I have accommodation already booked for both Tokyo and Kanazawa, but other than that everything is pretty flexible. Obviously my biggest concern is either side of Kanazawa, where I'll be visiting a friend for the weekend. What would be a reasonable way to spend that extra time? I'd be keen to check out places like Nara, Kobe, etc. but is there anything must-see nearer Tokyo or en route from there? What's Hakone/ Mount Fuji like at this time of year? For the end of my trip I'm sure i could spend another week in Tokyo, but as I'm booked in a place near Asakusa on both legs would it be worth moving to another area of Tokyo for a bit more variety? Or is there somewhere else in Japan I should be checking out? Lastly - What's the best way to use a JR pass on this trip? Would I be able to buy a 21 day and then a 7 day and use them back to back? Thanks in advance! Bonus question: Tokyo Disneyland on Christmas day - Yay or nay?(My friend is dead set on this)
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Nov 19, 2014 15:31
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Regular people have to work on Christmas so 12/25 might not be that bad. I'll be waxing the school gym! 
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Nov 19, 2014 15:44
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5 weeks?? poo poo. Have you been here before? I would be bored stiff with that many nights in half the cities you listed. But I guess that's just how you like to travel. Anyway with 5 weeks you could do a really wide variety of things. Consider adding Kyushu, Shikoku, and Hokkaido. Late December/early January will have enough snow for winter sports, if you are into any.
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Nov 20, 2014 03:08
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With 5 weeks, I say you should start in Hokkaido and do some skiing. Then work your way down and meet your friend in Tokyo. Airfare is cheap on Jet star or the Yokoso Japan program
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Nov 20, 2014 03:59
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umamidaily posted:Bonus question: Tokyo Disneyland on Christmas day - Yay or nay?(My friend is dead set on this) I've done Disney Sea on Christmas Day and it wasn't too bad. Quite busy but if you make good use of the fast pass system, you can avoid most of the queues for rides.
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Nov 20, 2014 04:17
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Stringent posted:*edit again* We are actually thinking of going to Hakuba, what time did you visit last year? Also which area did you go to in Niigata - Myoko? We don't have a big budget and we'll need to hire gear so a place that's friendly for that is good. Thanks again for the advice! paberu fucked around with this message at 04:37 on Nov 20, 2014 |
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Nov 20, 2014 04:24
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