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If you have multiple/big suitcases you can mail them to your next hotel at any post office and most convenience stores. The post office won't let you ship electronics (computers) but Yamato dgaf. Japan is small and efficient so they bags usually arrive next day or 36 hours later.
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Oct 18, 2022 23:53
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| # ? Jun 1, 2024 04:11 |
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Oh right Yamato is awesome. 1 airport commute + 1 cross city rail + 1 international check in at 2 times the cost and maybe 2 times the time used Versus 1 airport commute + 1 domestic check in + 1 international check in at half the cost and maybe half the time? Trains in japan are reliable and fun, I guess??? Wonton fucked around with this message at 01:34 on Oct 19, 2022 |
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Oct 19, 2022 01:21
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Wonton posted:Oh right Yamato is awesome. You can smoke on the Shinkansen though!
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Oct 19, 2022 04:30
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Ned posted:You can smoke on the Shinkansen though! nope, no more smoking cars as of March 2020 and a lot of them don't even have smoking rooms now. source: https://jr-shinkansen.net/faq060.html
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Oct 19, 2022 04:41
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Feels like a lot longer than that since I've seen any kind of smoking space on any kind of train. It's been years since you could even smoke on the platform. What shinks have smoking rooms?
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Oct 19, 2022 05:29
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They were on the Nozomi last time I rode one about a month ago.
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Oct 19, 2022 05:32
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Realizing it's been a long time since I've been on Nozomi.
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Oct 19, 2022 05:51
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they should have little smoking terraces on top of the trains. you gotta sign a waiver to use it so if you get blown off JR isn't liable.
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Oct 19, 2022 06:27
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Lighting a cig at 300 km/h.
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Oct 19, 2022 06:50
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i think platform smoking was already banned in tokyo and other major urban centers when i first got here in 2007. still allowed in gunma until like 2009 or 2010, iirc.
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Oct 19, 2022 07:26
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GET YOUR MYSOS BLUE CODE BEFORE YOU BOARD THAT PLANE. Saw the people filling the forms on arrival with pen and paper and then they are uploading online trying to get approval, it’s rough. Even with my APEC travel card, and getting all my poo poo sorted out it took me an hour to board the train from tarmac. If you come to japan, do get your data card sent to your home so that you can swap sims when you land. You save a lot of time and don’t need to line up with other less decisive tourists. Claiming your Tokyo wide pass though…. Ugh… you also have hordes people who are not used to the wonderful ticketing machine UI and take more time
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Oct 19, 2022 08:38
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Last time I was on a Tokaido shinky there was a smoking room, but I've never seen a smoking room on any Hokuriku or Tohoku train
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Oct 19, 2022 08:56
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Any destination recommendations for places maximum 3 hours by car outside of Tokyo / Yokohama that is only accessible by car (or at least going by bus / train is highly inefficient)? Open for any hiking, museums, sightseeing etc. perhaps for a day trip or spending a night or two out there.
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Oct 19, 2022 09:46
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Well most of outer Tokyo is quite accessible by train, but looking at the map, I think some parts of Izu peninsula would be fun by car. Close enough
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Oct 19, 2022 10:24
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Tbh Hakone is a fun drive, if you really gotta be extra special do the Chiba coast
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Oct 19, 2022 14:18
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I'm in Tokyo rn and it's a very good city
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Oct 19, 2022 14:20
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GOON LUNCH TOMORROELW AND UZNEJ FRIDAY
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Oct 19, 2022 15:21
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Verizon offers an international calling plan that is supposed to work in Japan for $90/month. Does switching SIMs offer any advantage over that?
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Oct 19, 2022 15:54
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Yeah it doesn’t cost $90 lmao E: you specify calling plan; do you plan on calling everyone back home at 4am their time or something? Personally, I’d be more interested in a data plan and leveraging voip (gtalk, facetime, etc), but that’s just me.
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Oct 19, 2022 17:23
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I'm going to be traveling from Osaka/Kyoto on 3/4/23 back to Tokyo, which I just learned is the day before the Tokyo marathon. I didn't know that was happening during my time there and as a runner myself it will be interesting to see, but I imagine the city will be busier than usual, no? I assume this will also mean that I have to book shinkansen tickets far in advance and not wait until it's too late, correct?
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Oct 19, 2022 18:28
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Phone posted:Yeah it doesn’t cost $90 lmao I'm using "calling plan" as shorthand for phone/data/texting plan.
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Oct 19, 2022 19:20
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Ham Equity posted:I'm using "calling plan" as shorthand for phone/data/texting plan. And besides this calling plan of yours that costs 90 dollars a month, have you even looked at some alternatives on the internet? Especially when people here were a little surprised at your price tag. I just punched in “japan tourist SIM card” and a few random (albeit probably search engine optimized) entries mentioned Sakura mobile or whatever. It’s 41 USD for a 31 day data unlimited plan. 16 days is 2/3 of that.
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Oct 19, 2022 19:40
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It’s a dead comedy forums, I should try to be nice to people. Guys just go to Klook, tickets, passes, sim cards etc. it’s convenient and cheaper and works for a whole bunch of cities. It’s actually started by a bunch of hong kongers who are fed up with the deep margins related to anything tourists need when they cleared customs x It’s good to be prepared when you travel and ask questions beforehand, Wonton fucked around with this message at 20:16 on Oct 19, 2022 |
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Oct 19, 2022 19:48
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Phone posted:Yeah it doesn’t cost $90 lmao Pretty much this . Having a phone number nowadays is really more for work emergencies back home or if work is paying for it. Registering a temp local number is great for having restaurants call you to confirm registrations or binding to fancy contact less payment services . I’m looking at you kakao taxi or anything related to phones in China.
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Oct 19, 2022 20:00
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Wonton posted:Pretty much this . Oh yeah.. I had to make up a clearly fake phone number and then give a skype number when I reserved a restaurant in Japan. Actually talked to the guy, too, so it's actually something they use!
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Oct 19, 2022 20:54
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Wonton posted:And besides this calling plan of yours that costs 90 dollars a month, have you even looked at some alternatives on the internet? Especially when people here were a little surprised at your price tag. Yeah, it's a foreign country, and Google results are so full of scams that I usually rely on crowdsourcing for areas in which I'm totally unfamiliar with the subject matter. Are these physical SIMs or eSIMs or both? To answer your edited-out questions, I'm a geriatric millennial, not a boomer, and my friend did a year-long intensive Japanese language study course in 2020-2021 at a university in Tokyo. I also work in IT, I just haven't travelled internationally much at all, and the last time I did it was in 2017 when I had Google Fi so I didn't need to worry about service.
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Oct 19, 2022 22:50
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https://www.bmobile.ne.jp/english/ Send the SIM card to the airport’s post office. When you land, connect to the airport Wi-Fi to download their cert. Swing by the post office and pick up your SIM card. Pop out your existing one (lol Verizon), pop in the new one. Iirc, they do throttle on stuff like YouTube, but it’s been a while. Otherwise good LTE coverage everywhere (minus tunnels on the shinkansen). E: dang the future is now quote:Aug. 1, 2022
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Oct 19, 2022 23:27
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Unless something has changed, you don't need to order sim cards any more. You can just buy them from vending machines in the airport lobbies. I've done the mailing thing before and the last time I just said, what's the point? (because I had to wait 2 hours for the post office to open) The whole time I was looking at those vending machines with basically the same things at the same prices. Also, many, if not all, the conbini in the airports sell them.
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Oct 20, 2022 00:17
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Mail the cards to your actual home before you travel I do like how the first page of this thread 6 years ago was “TALKING ABOUT SIM CARDS”
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Oct 20, 2022 00:29
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Cacafuego posted:I'm going to be traveling from Osaka/Kyoto on 3/4/23 back to Tokyo, which I just learned is the day before the Tokyo marathon. I didn't know that was happening during my time there and as a runner myself it will be interesting to see, but I imagine the city will be busier than usual, no? It means some roads will be closed but it shouldn’t mean any extra traffic or precautions when making reservations. In pre-COVID times it meant there were flyers up in areas impacted by road closures.
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Oct 20, 2022 00:39
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Cacafuego posted:I'm going to be traveling from Osaka/Kyoto on 3/4/23 back to Tokyo, which I just learned is the day before the Tokyo marathon. I didn't know that was happening during my time there and as a runner myself it will be interesting to see, but I imagine the city will be busier than usual, no? I assume this will also mean that I have to book shinkansen tickets far in advance and not wait until it's too late, correct? You never need to book shink tickets in advance. Hotels maybe but there are a lot of hotels in Tokyo. If anyone wants to try a capsule hotel, I stayed at Nine Hours Suidobashi last night. It's clean, quiet, comfortable, and the locations are all good. The floors are strictly split into "man" and "woman" sections which might be tricky for mixed groups. The official site has a best guaranteed rate. https://ninehours.co.jp/locations
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Oct 20, 2022 00:46
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peanut posted:You never need to book shink tickets in advance. Golden Week
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Oct 20, 2022 01:35
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Gabriel Grub posted:Golden Week You can still get a non-reserved ticket but you gonna be standing for a long rear end time.
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Oct 20, 2022 02:28
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Gabriel Grub posted:Golden Week My partner and I ended up standing in the section between cars for nearly the full trip from Hiroshima to Sapporo during golden week because we didn't really know about it lol. Definitely book if you're travelling during golden week.
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Oct 20, 2022 02:45
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Waltzing Along posted:Unless something has changed, you don't need to order sim cards any more. You can just buy them from vending machines in the airport lobbies. I've done the mailing thing before and the last time I just said, what's the point? (because I had to wait 2 hours for the post office to open) The whole time I was looking at those vending machines with basically the same things at the same prices. i had an iphone 6s last time i was in japan, but the new (read: old) phone will do eSIM so i guess i'll go that route. set it up while going through immigration. my flights always came in during the afternoon so never had issue with the airport post office
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Oct 20, 2022 03:50
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Anyone been to Kichi Kichi in Kyoto, and if so, does it have big wait times? My hotel is about a 5 minute walk and the chef looks like a blast.
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Oct 20, 2022 04:16
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Week trip to Tokyo booked, arriving on Nov 5, leaving on Nov 12. Hoping I won't have issues getting in.
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Oct 20, 2022 08:15
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Waltzing Along posted:Anyone been to Kichi Kichi in Kyoto, and if so, does it have big wait times? My hotel is about a 5 minute walk and the chef looks like a blast. Go for it and enjoy!
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Oct 20, 2022 08:15
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Once I had to stand in the smoking car of a completely full shinkansen for 90 min hail satan
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Oct 20, 2022 15:19
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| # ? Jun 1, 2024 04:11 |
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I think Japan is a great place to live and visit!
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Oct 20, 2022 16:42
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