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Slow Graffiti posted:Officially back in the states for a week and still find myself in the Japan mindset. I had to force myself to cross against the light on an empty street last night. Then I was horrified that there were scattered pieces of paper towels on the floor of the bathroom at the bar I was at. Two weeks over there really reprogrammed my brain. Also, cold toilet seats suck. His buddy Sharmander also has some good Japan videos.
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Dec 3, 2019 15:38
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peanut posted:I'm checking flights SFO - KIX for my parents to visit in Dec/Jan/Feb and drat, everything is like $2500 per person on ANA, Korean, China (Taiwan)... But Cathay Pacific has normal, great affordable fares. Do any goons have any other suggestions I might have overlooked? Thirding Cathay Pacific. Also recommend doing a single night layover in Hong Kong, which is usually the same price.
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Dec 3, 2019 17:56
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Bofast posted:His buddy Sharmander also has some good Japan videos. I subscribe to her channel as well. Though there’s something about Chris Broad that I just find hilarious and charming. I even contribute to his Patreon because I’m addicted to his videos. Plus, Ryotaro and Natsuki are great random guest stars.
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Dec 3, 2019 20:57
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When I got back home, I was addicted to watching the guys on the TabiEats channel devouring random konbini food 
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Dec 3, 2019 22:21
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I also love Abroad in Japan. He puts in way more effort into his videos than many other Japan vloggers. Journey Across Japan was wildly entertaining.
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Dec 3, 2019 22:56
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Slow Graffiti posted:I subscribe to her channel as well. Though there’s something about Chris Broad that I just find hilarious and charming. I even contribute to his Patreon because I’m addicted to his videos. Plus, Ryotaro and Natsuki are great random guest stars. Might be that British sarcastic personality, but the chemistry with his Japanese buddies sure helps. I do like the 80s style music he uses, too.
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Dec 4, 2019 06:42
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Decided on February 14 to 22 for my Hokkaido solo trip, looking forward to the snow. Not looking forward to fighting all the other tourists but what the hell, I'll take what I get. I'm also landing on the 14th so I'll be alone in Japan on Valentine's Day like the lonely weeb goon I am.  Out of curiosity, how long do they usually keep the ice / snow sculptures around? I believe the actual snow festival ends shortly before I arrive but it'd be nice to see some part of it. Ditto for the stuff in Otaru, Asahikawa etc.
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Dec 4, 2019 07:42
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Anyone do the Kumano Kodo? A tour guide last year recommended it as I like hiking. Any recommendations? Should I just go with a tour guide company to handle booking rooms at the inns and what not along the way?
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Dec 8, 2019 09:36
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captkirk posted:Anyone do the Kumano Kodo? A tour guide last year recommended it as I like hiking. Any recommendations? Should I just go with a tour guide company to handle booking rooms at the inns and what not along the way? i just did it last month. i went through the Kumano Travel Association and it was extremely smooth logistically; i recommend it. we just did the 3 day highlight route they have on the site and that was plenty good for us not-particularly-outdoorsy-types. https://www.kumano-travel.com/en if you want any specifics just lmk.
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Dec 8, 2019 11:22
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mikeycp posted:i just did it last month. i went through the Kumano Travel Association and it was extremely smooth logistically; i recommend it. we just did the 3 day highlight route they have on the site and that was plenty good for us not-particularly-outdoorsy-types. Do you know if there are issues for people who are booking alone? It sounds like you booked with someone. Looking at their model itineraries it looks like they book with some ryokan (and some ryokan aren't fans of solo reservations). Also, what was the day like, hike to destination and then just chill at the lodging and do it again yesterday or did you get to the destination and wander around and find something interesting to see?
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Dec 8, 2019 20:04
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captkirk posted:Do you know if there are issues for people who are booking alone? It sounds like you booked with someone. Looking at their model itineraries it looks like they book with some ryokan (and some ryokan aren't fans of solo reservations). You can book alone I think. We saw a fair few solo travelers. There are plenty of pensions and minshuku they book with so it shouldn't be an issue I don't think, though I don't know from experience how well they like solo travelers. For our itinerary it was: bus to lodging, explore/hike, get back to/to next lodging, repeat. The main tip I have is make extremely sure you know when the buses you need are because there aren't a lot of them in some places and you're kinda stuck if you get caught in the dark.
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Dec 9, 2019 07:19
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Officially ten days until I go to Japan for the second time and time is already slowing down.
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Dec 9, 2019 16:44
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The last day at work before your trip, time will actually go backwards for a few hours. Science!
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Dec 9, 2019 16:49
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Japan is good!!
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Dec 9, 2019 18:09
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Yawgmoft posted:Officially ten days until I go to Japan for the second time and time is already slowing down. I leave on Thursday, and I can confirm that this has been increasingly the case for the last week or so. Hurry up, time! I'm trying to decide whether to take an actual coat with me, or just make do with a jacket and wool sweater. I really don't feel like schlepping a coat around everywhere I go, and Tokyo and Kyoto will be fairly warm, but I have a feeling I might regret that decision in the Kiso Valley/Takayama/Ainokura. 
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Dec 9, 2019 21:41
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If you’re not on a super strict budget just remember that you can buy whatever you need. I’m going to do a lighter luggage trip in May, just bring maybe three or four outfits that should cover cool-ish and hot that will let me mix and match so I’m not wearing the same thing every day. I’m booking AirBnBs with a washer so I’m not really worried about laundry, and there’s always Uniqlo for everything else  Speaking of booking my AirBnBs, I probably asked this before but this is my first trip to Osaka and I’m going to do a good week and a half without swapping apartments so I’m trying to decide exactly where I want to stay. In terms of convenience I’m thinking of staying in the Kita area — that should be central enough that I can get to transit hubs for day trips relatively easily, right? I’m not really set on staying in any one neihghborhood to see the sights since I know I’ll have to travel anyway, so my thing right now is just convenience and staying near lines that will get me places without having to take a 20 minute subway ride to get to major hubs to branch out. Essentially the equivalent of staying on the Yamanote instead of staying out in the burbs where I have to take another ten minutes just to get to Yamanote. some kinda jackal fucked around with this message at 22:06 on Dec 9, 2019 |
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Dec 9, 2019 22:02
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Yeah but every coat you bring home is that much less gachapon room
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Dec 9, 2019 22:33
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Martytoof posted:If you’re not on a super strict budget just remember that you can buy whatever you need. Buying clothes there rather than packing them is a good plan. Also, stay in minami if you want to do anything at night, imo
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Dec 9, 2019 23:00
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As it turns out, Graniph is a great place to pick up new t-shirts in September when you've sweated through everything you'd packed that was supposed to last two weeks while you wait for a chance to get to a laundromat.
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Dec 10, 2019 00:01
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japanese laundromat are awesome tho. they always have washing & drying combo machines so you just put your dirty laundry in there and come back 80min later, the machine even doses detergent and stuff automatically just remember to take off your shoes inside, gotta stay clean (does not apply in oosaka)
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Dec 10, 2019 09:40
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My last hotel (Unizo) has coin laundromats that sucked at the drying part and I had to resort to drying my clothes with the air conditioning  Those never seem to work right.
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Dec 10, 2019 09:43
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Aix posted:japanese laundromat are awesome tho. they always have washing & drying combo machines so you just put your dirty laundry in there and come back 80min later, the machine even doses detergent and stuff automatically The heck, I’ve never see a coin laundry place where you take off your shoes, interesting
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Dec 10, 2019 11:59
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i've never met a combo machine that didn't suck extreme amounts of rear end
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Dec 10, 2019 12:35
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mikeycp posted:i've never met a combo machine that didn't suck extreme amounts of rear end The pro ones are crazy good. Got a nice new place near my apartment that works real well. Problem with most combos is they’re just electric but there are some which I believe are gas dry.
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Dec 10, 2019 12:37
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LimburgLimbo posted:The heck, I’ve never see a coin laundry place where you take off your shoes, interesting Plot twist: Aix just broke into someone's home to do laundry
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Dec 10, 2019 13:10
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LimburgLimbo posted:The heck, I’ve never see a coin laundry place where you take off your shoes, interesting Back in February 1 out of 3 of the places I had to do my laundry had you take your shoes off. The one place that did was a couple blocks away from Kyoto station near a place with decent pizza and craft beer (where I spent my 80 minutes waiting for my clothes to finish).
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Dec 10, 2019 16:48
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the place in my wife's hometown makes me take off my shoes if/when I go there. that place owns so hard. there's one old lady that works there that is very nice, I had to do a few loads a few years ago and my wife dropped me off and was like "here's 1000 yen for the 7-11 for beer and food" and left and I had a book and the laundromat had wifi and I went and got some tallboys and sat on some cool couch for like two and a half hours drinking and reading and waiting for the laundry to be done. God that was such a blissful time in my life, how do I get to go back to that time The Great Autismo! fucked around with this message at 17:16 on Dec 10, 2019 |
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Dec 10, 2019 16:53
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The Great Autismo! posted:God that was such a blissful time in my life, how do I get to go back to that time I mean if you want to have nothing to do in the countryside, just be an ALT. It's not hard.
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Dec 10, 2019 17:31
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sale on Banksy art posted:I mean if you want to have nothing to do in the countryside, just be an ALT. It's not hard. Earlier in the year when I was applying for jobs my backup plan was to apply to JET and then get stuck out in the country side to take a break from the tech industry. Instead interviews went well and moved to Seattle. At least the flights to Japan will be shorter from here.
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Dec 10, 2019 18:45
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LimburgLimbo posted:The heck, I’ve never see a coin laundry place where you take off your shoes, interesting Me either. But everywhere I've stayed other than Osaka and Tokyo had washing machines inside the hotel.
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Dec 10, 2019 18:54
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captkirk posted:Earlier in the year when I was applying for jobs my backup plan was to apply to JET and then get stuck out in the country side to take a break from the tech industry. Instead interviews went well and moved to Seattle. At least the flights to Japan will be shorter from here. Man there’s quite a few tech jobs in Japan you know. Keep your eyes out and study Japanese and you’re liable to get something much better for your career and life than JET at this point
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Dec 10, 2019 19:21
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The Great Autismo! posted:the place in my wife's hometown makes me take off my shoes if/when I go there. that place owns so hard. there's one old lady that works there that is very nice, I had to do a few loads a few years ago and my wife dropped me off and was like "here's 1000 yen for the 7-11 for beer and food" and left and I had a book and the laundromat had wifi and I went and got some tallboys and sat on some cool couch for like two and a half hours drinking and reading and waiting for the laundry to be done. I’m about to do this but in Taiwan at it will probably be cool
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Dec 10, 2019 19:22
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Cons: Gonna be at least several years before I get to go back to Japan Pros: At least I'm going back to Taiwan next year 
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Dec 10, 2019 19:24
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Taiwan is drat near as good as Japan and depending on your personality can be quite a bit better. It’s also not all that far from Japan so you can jump over pretty often given the time and scratch.
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Dec 10, 2019 19:27
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Yea I went back to Taiwan in 2015 and it was a blast. Plus the benefits are I can speak (not great) Mandarin. I'm actually looking forward to going back to Taiwan this time since I know a lot more about traveling now and exactly what I'm looking for.
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Dec 10, 2019 19:45
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LimburgLimbo posted:Man there’s quite a few tech jobs in Japan you know. Keep your eyes out and study Japanese and you’re liable to get something much better for your career and life than JET at this point Yeah, you're actually in a far better boat than most if you're a programmer. I'm an IT project manager and you're way ahead of me in terms of viability.
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Dec 10, 2019 20:11
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Yawgmoft posted:Yeah, you're actually in a far better boat than most if you're a programmer. I'm an IT project manager and you're way ahead of me in terms of viability. Being stuck out in the country side without needing to worry about coding, code reviews, or all the terrible things the devs want to do to my infrastructure was part of the appeal. Of course the large pile of cash is part of the appeal for my current SRE gig.
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Dec 10, 2019 22:35
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LimburgLimbo posted:The pro ones are crazy good. Got a nice new place near my apartment that works real well. Problem with most combos is they’re just electric but there are some which I believe are gas dry. then i hope to meet one one day
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Dec 11, 2019 01:02
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Any wrestling fans know if it's better to go to the NJPW Suidobashi shop or Todoukan wrestling shop in Sugamo? I know Todoukan is bigger but I kind of wanted to swing by and see the Tokyo Dome/Korauken Hall and I can probably only convince my wife to let me do one wrestling related stop. I thought I saw there was something in Akihabara too...
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Dec 11, 2019 01:33
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akihabara is like 2 train stops away from suidobashi
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Dec 11, 2019 01:40
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