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Aredna posted:Japan: Shinkansens are mid It's just a train (tm). There are slower trains south of Tokyo for example that are a real experience, along the water, ones that go through beautiful groves of trees where you can lay down and be alone some days, that serve snacks and food that is a great memory. The Shinkansen though, just a train. Shammypants fucked around with this message at 04:38 on Oct 10, 2023 |
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Oct 10, 2023 04:32
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If you're riding the shinkansen expecting scenic views and fine dining you’re being tricked somehow.
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Oct 10, 2023 04:54
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Charles 2 of Spain posted:If you're riding the shinkansen expecting scenic views and fine dining you’re being tricked somehow. No, but even something decent in those offerings would be something other than "basic train ride." The Shinkansen is often listed as a top 10 must do activity in Japan, which is very odd if you only consider it has much better train rides.
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Oct 10, 2023 04:56
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I dunno, I feel like the majority of tourists aren't riding it as an activity, the main point of it is that it gets them to major cities fast and without too much hassle. I think they are aware that it is Just A Train.
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Oct 10, 2023 05:05
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It has a pretty nice view of Mt. Fuji if you take a route that goes past it... and it isn't covered in clouds like it has been every single time I've taken the shinkansen! 
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Oct 10, 2023 05:35
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My first day ever in Japan I rode the shink and used the squatter toilet on board and felt very accomplished.
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Oct 10, 2023 07:51
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Shammypants posted:The Shinkansen at the current rates is one of the most overhyped experiences for a tourist in Japan. Food options are bad, coffee is bad, the ride itself is just fine on most routes with views that are no better or worse than other countries. It doesn't *feel* that fast and it isn't luxurious, even in slightly better cars (which is a near total waste of money). There are Amtrak trains with a more premium feel, quite a few actually. Food options…go buy your own at the station like every local instead? Ditto for coffee. The amazing thing is you can go from the center of Tokyo to Osaka in less than three hours in speed and some comfort, and there’s like eight of those trains every hour, and they’re almost never late. It’s boring, but it’s kind of amazing how well it works while being boring. (For the record, I think the same about air travel, but considering the size of Japan it’s far less necessary) Spoggerific posted:It has a pretty nice view of Mt. Fuji if you take a route that goes past it... and it isn't covered in clouds like it has been every single time I've taken the shinkansen! Good luck securing tickets on that side of a train too
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Oct 10, 2023 07:59
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When my family came, we got off at Mishima station once solely to watch the next train blow by at 275kph or something only like 10 meters from us. Sure you don't really feel it when you're on it, but it's a shitload of weight moving pretty drat fast. A different kind of shinkansen experience.
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Oct 10, 2023 09:12
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harperdc posted:Food options…go buy your own at the station like every local instead? Ditto for coffee. Yea, the options are bad there. Bring food to the station is the play.
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Oct 10, 2023 15:10
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Good news, most shinks won't have any food or drinks at all soon.
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Oct 10, 2023 15:19
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harperdc posted:
And jeez how can it take 6 hours with the regular train, it's like 250km. Shinkansen lobby must be sabotaging it
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Oct 10, 2023 16:36
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lol compared to where
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Oct 10, 2023 16:45
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mobby_6kl posted:And jeez how can it take 6 hours with the regular train, it's like 250km. Shinkansen lobby must be sabotaging it It stops more often.
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Oct 10, 2023 17:34
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^^^ Yeah would make sense if they have HSR as the express and make regular trains stop at every village peanut posted:lol compared to where  Dunno what TGV costs, but close enuogh I guess?  It's more that the other options suck. Vienna to Budapest is about the same distance but regular-rear end train takes 2.5 hours and costs 
mobby_6kl fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Oct 10, 2023 |
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Oct 10, 2023 17:34
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mobby_6kl posted:And jeez how can it take 6 hours with the regular train, it's like 250km. Shinkansen lobby must be sabotaging it Do you see the part where you're changing trains 3 times? There are no totally through trains even on the so-called main lines. Even the express trains stop on lots of stations, and comfort can be questionable. The old main-lines also tend to wander quite a lot about, since they were much more concerned with the construction cost back when they were designed: Only tunnels when absolutely necessary, and avoid long viaducts over lower land, instead they tend to follow the terrain. And of course, hitting as many towns as reasonable. I town-hopped a bit on my travel earlier this year: Tokyo to Numazu (via Fuji-Q Highland, so special express in the morning up to the park, bus and local train in the evening down to the coast) Numazu to Kakegawa (via the old mainline, JR Central runs ancient commuter stock on this, surprisingly only had to change once) Kakegawa to Nagano (by Shinkansen, enjoyed how fast it went and didn't mind the 5 minute stops at stations to let other trains pass) Nagano to Kyoto (via the old mainline, the change in train quality when I reached to JR West territory was dramatic, much better stock actually fit for the purpose, but still too many changes) Kyoto to Osaka (regular commuter line, several train companies have routes) I had initially planned to take it all by local trains, but ended up getting a Shinkansen ticket from Kakegawa anyway, I decided I would much rather have more time in Nagano that day. Individually none of the trips were bad, but I wouldn't want to take longer hops by local train. nielsm fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Oct 10, 2023 |
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Oct 10, 2023 17:40
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Forgot to mention, my old rear end PASMO card still worked even after years of inactivity. My friends got those welcome IC cards with the sanrio characters on it and when they use them it shows the balance as usual and when it will expire and be unusable. This is supposed to be a response to the chip shortage for IC cards, it just doesn't make sense to me how that makes more available.
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Oct 11, 2023 00:45
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I've been back for 10 days, and I've never missed a place/vacation as much as I miss Tokyo. I had planned to do 10 international trips by the time I'm 50 (one every other year, with two down at age 32) and I had a lot of other places in mind, but it's gonna be hard not to just go back. Honestly, what a joy to have had such a fun trip.
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Oct 11, 2023 01:00
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I just did 10 days in Japan and enjoyed it a lot. I've been several times before, but it was my first major vacation since 2019 (for a reason I'm sure you all can guess). It really gave me the travel bug again and specifically I remembered what's so fun about being in a new country: being immersed in a foreign language and painstakingly decoding it like it's a game. I think I've convinced myself that I could swing a month-long working holiday in Japan to do some casual language study - my job is fully remote and I'm studying Chinese characters to break my Korean plateau anyway, so I can at least tell myself that it serves that purpose too. If I went through with it, my main priorities would be to surround myself with Japanese people and signs for language practice (which I could probably do almost anywhere), to have a relatively comfortable life, and finally to have some interesting things things to do on nights and weekends, generally in that order. So some concerns I have that maybe some residents could weigh in on, if they were inclined: * My wife wouldn't be coming with me (I'm fully remote and she's not), so it would be a solo trip. Are there any cities / scenes amenable to bumping into temporary travel buddies? At 40, maybe I'm just past the point in my life where this is even going to work well? I don't know, I haven't really tried to travel solo since I was in my early 30s. * Tokyo, Fukuoka, or rural Kyushu: give me your completely subjective opinion on where you would want to stay if you were doing the same thing as me. * I'm leaning toward an AirBnB because I'm going to be working midnight - 4 AM local time. Any other interesting options I'm overlooking?
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Oct 11, 2023 04:40
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Blackchamber posted:Forgot to mention, my old rear end PASMO card still worked even after years of inactivity. My friends got those welcome IC cards with the sanrio characters on it and when they use them it shows the balance as usual and when it will expire and be unusable. This is supposed to be a response to the chip shortage for IC cards, it just doesn't make sense to me how that makes more available.
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Oct 11, 2023 07:28
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IIRC doing remote work while staying in Japan as a tourist is illegal, and can get you in big trouble if they somehow find that out. Keep that in mind while you plan things.
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Oct 11, 2023 09:30
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nielsm posted:Do you see the part where you're changing trains 3 times?  This is actually very helpful, thanks. Otherwise I don't have a clear picture yet of what's feasible/reasonable. I think I should have enough time that I don't have to rush everything but obviously taking 6 hours or basically the entire day isn't going to work out either. The Gay Bean posted:I just did 10 days in Japan and enjoyed it a lot. I've been several times before, but it was my first major vacation since 2019 (for a reason I'm sure you all can guess). *You can bump into travelers anywhere of course, like a bus/train stop, but the best has usually been hostels or guesthouses since you'd be spending a bit more time there together. Super easy to chat people up about their travel plans over breakfast for example and come up with something together. I'm not 40 yet but definitely on the higher end in such places and I've ran into plenty people over 40 traveling by themselves. *As for location, I'm sure Tokyo will have plenty to keep anyone busy, but since you'll have the flexibility, maybe switch locations midway through? *Hostels wouldn't be ideal for working especially during those times (at least if you need to have meetings). Are guesthouses a thing in Japan, where everyone has their own room but shared common areas? That could be another option. I've stayed at AirBnBs while working and it was kind of meh for me - sit there alone all day working and then have to actively put a lot of effort to socialize. Spoggerific posted:IIRC doing remote work while staying in Japan as a tourist is illegal, and can get you in big trouble if they somehow find that out. Keep that in mind while you plan things. 
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Oct 11, 2023 09:42
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mobby_6kl posted:Yeah I see it now I see what's clearly supposed to be a train change even though I've no idea what it says Sorry, forgot to mention the changes at stations. But yes, whether with the JR Pass or paying each time, the Shinkansen is designed to go long distances. Use it as such. mobby_6kl posted:*Hostels wouldn't be ideal for working especially during those times (at least if you need to have meetings). Are guesthouses a thing in Japan, where everyone has their own room but shared common areas? That could be another option. I've stayed at AirBnBs while working and it was kind of meh for me - sit there alone all day working and then have to actively put a lot of effort to socialize. Guesthouses are a Thing, but they’re more common for people trying to stretch budgets while living in Tokyo - especially younger people in their 20s. This is because having roommates is fairly uncommon outside of that kind of setup or living with a partner. However, getting into one is similar to apartments and would require a resident visa to lock down. So not an option for visitors. There was rumor of Japan opening up proper “digital nomad” visas soon, but until such a time, I wouldn’t recommend doing it on a tourist visa, as mentioned.
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Oct 11, 2023 11:46
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There are a lot of coworking spaces now that aren't too bad. Japan has tax treaties with a lot of countries including the US that allow a non-resident to do work in Japan tax free for up to 183 days as long as you are being paid by a non-Japanese employer and not working at a permanent establishment in Japan of that employer. The 90 visa free entry allows you to work in Japan as long as you are not earning money in Japan or from a Japanese employer (otherwise business trips would be impossible for people from visa free countries). Also, immigration hasn't shown much interest in the live streamers who literally broadcast themselves earning money in Japan.
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Oct 11, 2023 11:54
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mobby_6kl posted:*You can bump into travelers anywhere of course, like a bus/train stop, but the best has usually been hostels or guesthouses since you'd be spending a bit more time there together. Super easy to chat people up about their travel plans over breakfast for example and come up with something together. I'm not 40 yet but definitely on the higher end in such places and I've ran into plenty people over 40 traveling by themselves. Thanks, that's reassuring. I've been in hostels in a couple places in Japan back in the early 2010s and they have a guesthouse-like vibe, and some have private rooms. I'd have to be a bit lucky to find one I wouldn't mind staying in for a while, though it's probably just a matter of trawling online. I'd appreciate any recommendations if people have ones they like. For late-night working I might consider renting space in a shared office so as not to disturb people. harperdc posted:Guesthouses are a Thing, but they’re more common for people trying to stretch budgets while living in Tokyo - especially younger people in their 20s. This is because having roommates is fairly uncommon outside of that kind of setup or living with a partner. Good to know, thanks for the info. Gabriel Grub posted:Japan has tax treaties with a lot of countries including the US that allow a non-resident to do work in Japan tax free for up to 183 days as long as you are being paid by a non-Japanese employer and not working at a permanent establishment in Japan of that employer. The 90 visa free entry allows you to work in Japan as long as you are not earning money in Japan or from a Japanese employer (otherwise business trips would be impossible for people from visa free countries). This is why I like this place. It's great to know that I'm in the clear visa-wise for this sort of work. (I'm a US citizen and my employer is not based in Japan.) The Gay Bean fucked around with this message at 12:36 on Oct 11, 2023 |
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Oct 11, 2023 12:17
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Unknown in Kyoto is a hostel with private rooms that has a coworking space downstairs. If you could find more places like that that seems like that could work well.
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Oct 11, 2023 13:20
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The Gay Bean posted:This is why I like this place. It's great to know that I'm in the clear visa-wise for this sort of work. (I'm a US citizen and my employer is not based in Japan.) But yeah someone's personal experience is extremely helpful. Same with those trains - I would've assumed you can take a cheap regular train between big cities 250km away but nope. Would've taken me forever to figure it out myself.
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Oct 11, 2023 13:58
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mobby_6kl posted:Don't take legal advice from a comedy forum! This kind of stuff is my job, but also I have no way of proving that here.
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Oct 11, 2023 15:25
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I stayed in a bunch of hostels recently and they've all been pretty nice (some nicer than others) but overall I could see myself working in most of them with a few caveats: 1 meetings will be difficult if you want privacy for sensitive information. 2 some (especially smaller ones) are not always open during the day, usually for a few hours 3 if you need to work at off hours, which you very well may with time zone considerations, it could very much not be convenient, though common areas are generally far enough removes from guest areas that you could probably still work there On an unrelated note, I was out late and returning to my hostel at like, 1 am. This was in shimonoseki so the streets were absolutely empty. Except for one girl that was walking a hundred meters in front of me or so. We walk and we walk and I'm slowly gaining on her but I'm almost at my hostel and wouldn't have gotten that close by the time I got there so I didn't think too much of it. Then she starts to slow down a lot. And then stop. In front of the hostel. And I, too, stop. I front of the hostel. Right behind her. She looks at me and I desperately grabbed my key card out of my pocket to show her that, contrary to what it very probably appeared, it was in fact actually a coincidence.
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Oct 11, 2023 16:18
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The Gay Bean posted:I just did 10 days in Japan and enjoyed it a lot. I've been several times before, but it was my first major vacation since 2019 (for a reason I'm sure you all can guess). If rural Kyushu is on your radar, this is a great place to stay in Takachiho: https://shonenjitemplelodge.com/en/ If you tell them what you are looking for as far as language study and practice, they can probably help you find what you need. The family that runs the temple is lovely.
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Oct 11, 2023 16:44
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If your goal is forcing yourself to use Japanese, rural Kyushu is probably the best bet. Tokyo is going to be very very easy to just use English all the time unless you make an effort. Fukuoka won't be all that different. Rural Japan though, you'll be using Japanese because you're not going to have a choice. E: Not to say you can't do Japanese immersion anywhere, you can. It's just easy to not when you're in a big city with lots of English. One other thing to consider is Kyushu has its own dialect that is not standard Japanese. Up to you if that matters. Grand Fromage fucked around with this message at 16:58 on Oct 11, 2023 |
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Oct 11, 2023 16:52
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He's going to come out of kyushu and be unable to communicate in Japanese with anyone in Tokyo. He's going to be frustrated with his Japanese language progress and wonder what the problem is. Turns out, he's just learned Japanese with an extremely heavy kyushu accent/dialect.
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Oct 11, 2023 19:11
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I learned Korean in Gyeongsan and moved to Seoul, and my expectation was that it'd be a change of the same magnitude. But after reading up on it, it seems like the differences are a bit greater between Japanese dialects. This is a pretty strong point in favor of Tokyo or at least nearby. No need to make it harder on myself than I need to. It's a shame though, because Kyushu is one of the most pleasant places I've ever visited.
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Oct 12, 2023 05:09
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The Gay Bean posted:I learned Korean in Gyeongsan and moved to Seoul, and my expectation was that it'd be a change of the same magnitude. But after reading up on it, it seems like the differences are a bit greater between Japanese dialects. You're not going to become fluent in a month anyway, so you should probably try to enjoy yourself as much as possible. Saying you learned a bit of a weird dialect of Japanese is maybe a better story. And people still speak "standard" Japanese a lot in daily life even in regions with strong dialects.
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Oct 12, 2023 05:21
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Zettace posted:Pasmo only expires after 10 years of inactivity. Those temporary cards were made in preparation for the olympics which ended up having no visitors so they have a massive overstock. That's why they can still offer those temporary cards when they can't offer the permanent cards anymore. Whoa, yeah forgot about the Olympics during covid. When I made the itinerary for this trip I was telling my friends 'Yall can shrine and temple all you want, I'll find somewhere to chill on the way'. After a weekend in Tokyo just doing the city stuff we hit Osaka and they are already asking me to edit the list down. We are down to just one or two main things a day and if the mood strikes stuff that's just close by and very easy. Thank God. My friend got his Japanese steel genuine replica sword and a knife from a tourist shop, and I'm no better going around and cranking away at the gashapon machines. Only thing on my personal list left to do is USJ and toy shopping on the way back out of Tokyo for home.
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Oct 12, 2023 05:34
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The Gay Bean posted:I learned Korean in Gyeongsan and moved to Seoul, and my expectation was that it'd be a change of the same magnitude. But after reading up on it, it seems like the differences are a bit greater between Japanese dialects. You're way overthinking this. You won't even be able to distinguish between dialects without a decent command of the various verb conjugations and endings, which you're not really going to get in a month. Also, unless people are like in their 90s, they grew up with TV and are perfectly capable of speaking standard Japanese. I wouldn't worry about it.
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Oct 12, 2023 05:34
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Fair points all around. My completely uninformed guess here is that in Fukuoka a lot of what I would hear around me would be close to standard Japanese, and that would be less true in rural Kyushu. My study materials will be standard Japanese anyway so my sentences will be standard Japanese, and I'm sure everyone can understand that. I'm also guessing that when locals hear someone speak standard Japanese they tend to fall back on more standard phrasing and vocabulary. My goals are pretty modest - it's not my first rodeo and my talent for languages is pretty average and I'll only have a few hours a day to study anyway. I'd be pretty happy if by the end I could talk to service workers in Japanese when shopping, make small talk with curious people about where I'm from, etc.. and mostly understand basic signs posted in public. I don't imagine this will be influenced much by dialect, since people who deal with the public are good at making themselves understood. Anyway, yeah, I am overthinking it a bit, mainly it's a fun thing to plan. I think like 2 weeks in Fukuoka and 2 weeks in rural Kyushu is probably a good balance, since that's what I really want to do anyway, although I'm actually leaning toward just a full month in Fukuoka with maybe a weekend trip or two. Done. Thanks for putting up with my stream of consciousness here, it's been helpful.
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Oct 12, 2023 05:46
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The Gay Bean posted:Fair points all around. you might hear a couple phrases punctuating things that are local, but you’re over-thinking it. Source: spent three years in a town of 10,000 people in Kyushu and a decade more in Tokyo area. Also it’ll take more than a month to even really pick up those fine details, as mentioned. Fukuoka is a fine compromise between “Tokyo is too English-heavy” and “super rural inaka life with no other foreigners to be found.”
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Oct 12, 2023 05:59
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I mean if your intent is learning to Japanese, a school is probably your best bet. It's where you'll actually be forced to listen and speak, most other places you won't. Living in Japan or visiting and staying at a hotel or hostel, if your pattern is 1. Leave house/hotel 2. Go to convenience store 3. Put items on counter and put money on money tray 4. Say "aizaimasu" and go home? Well, you're probably not going to get much practice. This applies to rural kyushu as well, your time there can be exactly the same if that's just how you do it. Don't expect "immersion" to be a silver bullet because for a lot of people they're not really immersed. In the "real world" or whatever in every country you barely speak to most people you see. Not to mention, and this should be obvious, if you're not in a school and instead just walk around trying to chat up strangers like a Yakuza game you're going to weird most people out. At least at a language school you'll be forced to have conversations and have structure. Aside from that, just osmosis-ing the signs and sounds around you and whatnot is actually pretty useful but without living there long term you probably won't ever need to write or speak the kanji for "酒" or whatever anyways so it probably will just fall out of your head as soon as you fly home.
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Oct 12, 2023 06:05
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Never underestimate the ability for Japanese learners and weebs to overthink things. I have been to bumfuck nowhere Kyushu and the most common dialect people speak there is Tokyo dialect. So yeah.
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Oct 12, 2023 06:48
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Yeah, sorry if this has gotten a bit spread random. I'm trying to avoid over disclosing and telling you folks a bunch of irrelevant stuff that you have no reason to care about. As such, most people should probably just ignore this boring post about a random dude. Here goes. I am intermediate-advanced in the Korean language. One thing I find while reading novels a lot is that it's hard to memorize heaps and heaps of Sino-Korean words. And it's also hard to motivate myself to sit down and study Chinese characters when the script does not use them. I've always studied Korean through Hanja implicitly - it's kinda like how an English speaker begins to recognize Latin and Greek word roots without formally trying it. But now I'm beginning the formal process of doing it intentionally. As a side-project I put together a flash card program to help me study here: https://hanja-graph.github.io/hanja-graph/index.html. So the next phase of my Korean study is to actually intentionally try to memorize the Hanja word roots and always relate new words I learn to words I know, systematically. While visiting Japan and learning words, I noticed that there are a heap of cognates between Korean and Japanese that basically just have different pronunciation. So a big part of this is to be immersed in an area where I'm surrounded by Chinese characters while I take up my Hanja study. Learning a little bit of conversational Japanese is mainly because I want to - I enjoy studying a language and slowly improving my basis to understand the people around me. I also find it fun to search for cognates in the language and gain "free" vocabulary words. I agree that doing an immersion course up front is more efficient. But real life is getting in the way. Unfortunately I'm in the middle of my career in tech and it's really hard to step away from work for a long length of time. I might be able to swing a night class that's like 1-2 hours a few days a week, which I'm considering, but it's also possible to make slow progress without doing that. Also Japan is a very cheap and short flight away and I might be back to do the same thing again. Hell, maybe for an immersion course. My place in life is more or less fixed at this point, learning another language is unlikely to benefit me, so I'm not looking for the most efficient way to become a a fluent Japanese speaker. I'm just kinda doing what I did with Korean - study casually, practice opportunistically, and then maybe do formal study if I like it enough to stick with it. (This strategy actually got me to the point where I tested out of the first 3 months of my Korean immersion program, so it's actually not the worst strategy.)
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Oct 12, 2023 06:48
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