|
So, actually came in here to ask a car related question: Hoping to make a trip to Japan next summer, possibly for as long as 4-5 weeks. I've previously spent a few years living there and have gotten back into Japanese study in the last year (passed a mock N3 a few months back and hoping to take a swing at N2 in July while I'm there). When I lived there, I owned my own car and motorbike, but knew a number of ALTs who had arrangements with their mechanics where the mechanic was still the owner on paper, and the ALT effectively leased the car from them. I did something kind of similar when I went back for a summer in 2015; bought a kei car and registered it in a resident ALT's name (since I was a tourist and couldn't do this myself), drove it for 5 weeks, and sold it to him for a cheap price when I left. We made sure the insurance covered me. I love road trips and especially enjoyed it with Japan's great driving infrastructure. A big part of the trip would be doing large format landscape photography, so having my own wheels would make a lot of sense as I know from experience it's a PITA to schlep all the kit around on trains, not to mention get out to the good scenery. Is anyone aware of places that might offer this kind of service to a tourist? I'd most likely be after a cheap, no-frills kei van, MT is fine and probably preferable. (I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least toying with the idea of getting something 25+ years old and exporting it back to the US if I like it enough...) Midjack posted:You can get an IDP in about 20 minutes at a AAA in the US, check their site for the forms and bring a couple of passport photos from the drugstore. Make sure you keep the driver's side to the inside of the lane (not the kerb) and you'll be fine. The JR pass is absolutely the way to go for your first or second trip, but I always spruik car hire for getting out and seeing stuff off the beaten path. If you've got two or more people it can even work out cheaper than the trains. I respectfully disagree on your point about speed limits in the abstract (they are kinda low, and so is enforcement...), but for the purposes of being a tourist and new to RHD driving, yeah, drive conservatively. edit: I was back last summer and was having intermittent issues with both my credit cards. When I turned up at the car rental place neither was working and we were at a bit of an impasse, with me thinking my trip was potentially about to get a *lot* more inconvenient. Knowing Japan, on a lark I asked if cash was OK and he immediately brightened and was like "yeah totally, why didn't you say so?!", so I explained why car rental places in the gaikoku would never let you rent a car/hotel room without a CC on file. Riptor posted:Mugicha rules, don't hate A cold pitcher of mugicha in the fridge is my summer jam thanks to living in SW Japan. I love it; low effort, no caffeine (more than 1 cup of coffee and I have trouble sleeping), no calories. Ethics_Gradient fucked around with this message at 21:06 on Nov 10, 2023 |
#
¿
Nov 10, 2023 20:51
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 3, 2024 20:38 |
|
|
peanut posted:I don't know for sure about renting as a tourist, but there are car places (usually "car/auto lease") that specialize in leases for business use, but also have rental options. I don't mind Shikoku if that's the go, actually me and another Japan goon did a big road trip there in my last pseudo-rental car. Rained like hell the whole time (thanks, July), saw the big sand coin and the towel museum tho. harperdc posted:Glad to see this finally underway I hadn't thought of that, will make a post! I have a Russian-speaking BiL now (who is also a bit of a petrolhead) so if Putin carks it and things de-fash, hoping to do the real trip someday. I have had... all manner of difficulties trying to buy a car in the US. It seems like everything is 2x the cost of Australia (and maybe 3x the cost of Japan at the current exchange rate) and everyone is just incredibly flakey and dishonest.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 11, 2023 05:31
|
|
|
AHH F/UGH posted:Even like 50 years ago Japan's summers were long and unbearably hot and humid, it's just that now it's like a week longer and 2% more unbearable Summer is a great time to visit Hokkaido, a mate and I did a motorcycle trip up there after I finished up my contract on JET. We stayed at Rider's Houses half the time and bush camped the rest, had an amazing time. Definitely a bit of a respite from the rest of Japanese summer, I nearly got heat stroke on the highway on my way up from Wakayama to meet him. Maybe it's because I grew up somewhere with a similar climate, or because my first trip to Japan was in summer, but it's always been my favourite time to be in Japan. Sure, it's hot and humid, but you are never far from a conbini or vending machine for something cold to drink, there's festivals/fireworks, etc. Ethics_Gradient fucked around with this message at 16:04 on Nov 12, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Nov 12, 2023 16:01
|
|
|
Revitalized posted:I got on an ANA domestic flight from Haneda to Fukuoka and holy poo poo those econ seats are small. I'm a big goon, and regular economy seats are normally fine but those had me squished for 2 hours jesus. Enjoy FUK! I don’t think I have any real recs to share that’d appeal to a tourist, although there’s a strip of p decent recycle shops across the street from Costco. Getting out there by public transport is basically impossible though IIRC. A friend and I walked from the nearest train station one time and it was… an adventure. There also is/was a sixth grade classroom izakaya somewhere but we never got around to going. One of my biggest regrets from living 3 years in Kyushu!
|
|
#
¿
Nov 17, 2023 14:29
|
|
|
There was a p cool write up on Reddit recently of a guy who told a taxi driver “omakase” in a not-touristy area and got a great tour/experience. I kinda wanna try it next time. roomtone posted:so june maybe not a good time Spring break? I only had MW classes so skipped one of each and made it a two week holiday my first year. I guess it depends how much stuff you wanna do in June is outdoors. It is rainy, but it’s not like the whole country is shut down. I am aiming for June/July personally, bring on the rain and heat baby.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 18, 2023 22:37
|
|
|
LyonsLions posted:The futons at nice ryokan are super thick and fluffy, not the ancient flat ones you get at your inlaws’ house or whatever. The ones you get for hard/Japanese sleeper class on the overnight ferries are little better than beach towels.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 20, 2023 14:46
|
|
|
slinkimalinki posted:Someone needs to bribe the mayor of Saga to let the complete shinkansen track be built. Saga shall remain pristine inaka.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 25, 2023 05:34
|
|
|
Riptor posted:you do not need a flashlight to go to japan One of my all-time favorite funny study abroad memories was an American guy on our trip bringing an actual desk lamp with him to China because he wasn't sure if they were going to have lights. He fobbed it off as a gift to one of the principals of the schools his group was visiting IIRC.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 10, 2023 20:32
|
|
|
I was having issues with my cards when I went last summer and was even able to pay for a rental car in cash. I was both surprised and not surprised that it was OK, lol.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 11, 2023 21:00
|
|
|
drhankmccoyphd posted:Probably a stupid question but is there a concierge/personal shopper like service that will find all the retro games I want at the super stores in akihabara and when my brother goes to tokyo he can just pick them up from the counter and pay and go? Yes I am aware yahoo auctions is a thing. I couldn't imagine it being cheaper than just using Buyee to hoover all that stuff up on Yahoo Auctions. They can send directly to you overseas (not sure if regular airmail is back, or if it's still EMS only) or to your brother's hotel in Japan.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 14, 2023 14:54
|
|
|
drhankmccoyphd posted:Hm, this seems like a viable option thanks. Is buyee relatively easy to use for an American? Just punch in my CC # and add the delivery address (mine or hotel)? Yeah it should be pretty straightforward, I set it up with my Australian account no dramas, IIRC they have Paypal support too. Honestly I'd probably still be using it if I was living in Japan, not sure if it's still the case but it used to be a huge PITA to get a Yahoo Auctions account as a foreigner because it required a Japanese credit card. With the delivery you'll just want to make sure your timing works if it's going to your brother. Buyee has to get the item shipped to their warehouse (they will also consolidate everything into a single box), then ship it to your address in Japan. I think they'll hold it for up to 30 days with no storage fees, so I'd recommend starting a month out and getting everything you want, then have it shipped to him. One really annoying thing to be aware of with Yahoo Auctions is that sellers have the ability to make it so the auction extends by a few minutes everytime a higher bid is received. This puts a damper on sniping and encourages buyers to get irrational, which can really drive up the price. Sometimes the "Prompt Decision" (Buy It Now) is the best way to go.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 14, 2023 15:39
|
|
|
socketwrencher posted:Is Sushi-Ro considered something that no self-respecting person should admit going to, let alone enjoying? It was one of the highlights of the trip for the younger folks (high school age to early 20s), partly because it provided an opportunity to interact with locals during the 1.5 hour wait times (yeah we went there twice, in Kyoto and Tokyo), practice a bit of Japanese, and exchange contact info (they made a lot of friends, and based on previous experience, Japanese folks tend to be great at keeping in touch). I do like the kaiten sushi experience but Sushiro is garbo tier in terms of the quality of food. I did enjoy it when I lived in Japan in my 20s as a social thing with friends (and trying to beat my record number of plates, I think 20 of the various 2-piece plates was the most I managed) but I went back last year on my own and thought "yeah, nah". For the record, I am not a foodie, it was just a pretty noticeable drop in quality compared to my usual converyer belt place back in Australia. TBF the Australian place was significantly more expensive than Sushiro, but it's kind of a "get what you pay for" thing. Never really thought of it as a Place To Meet People, but that's great if they enjoyed it! But you'd probably get (pitying) looks if you raved about the food. Ethics_Gradient fucked around with this message at 01:25 on Dec 19, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Dec 19, 2023 01:18
|
|
|
Shredder posted:got a good site for this? or just use ebay Buyee.jp is a proxy service (also consolidates packages and posts internationally) that you can use to buy from Yahoo Auctions, Mercari, Rakuten, and some others.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 26, 2023 19:30
|
|
|
some kinda jackal posted:I did a lot of old record shopping last May and if I'm being honest the best part of the trip for me was bookmarking every Hard Off I could find within 2 hours train ride of Tokyo and just taking four days travelling to each one after another. It sounds super weird to say that just some random nondescript town was captivating, but taking ten or twenty minute walks from the station to some random shop in the middle of nowhere was a lot of fun, relaxing, and it was nice to see a slice of how people live outside the big city. Even if the towns do basically just blur together after a while. Yeah, this is pretty fun. I used to just hop off at random stations and wander around. When I got a motorbike I'd just go out riding in the country and take whichever turn at the intersection looked most "wrong". I found all kinds of cool stuff: houses with traditional thatched roofs, a horse riding place, a "slow food" restaurant with an amazing view overlooking my town (owned by my one of my students' parents!), miscellaneous shrines, and cool forest roads. Re: recycle shops: I put リサイクルショップ or リサイクル店 into Google Maps to find 'em. There was a great mom and pop place out in the sticks I'd driven by many times when I lived there and not stopped in, they had a sick 60s Subaru with a 2 stroke motor out front, and a glass case with a stuffed tanuki smoking a pipe (among other things). I scored a really nice, seemingly unused carryon suitcase for 2k yen, they normally retail for more like 20,000. edit: had a couple pics   Teriyaki Koinku posted:What's the best time of year to visit Japan? I'm going to Thailand in February and thinking of doing Japan as my next trip after that. Ideally I'd like to go during one of the major Chinese holiday periods like the May Day holiday, summer vacation in July/August or National Day week in late Sept/early Oct, so one of those time slots would be best. Don't do early May, that's Japan's big holiday period too and stuff tends to get slammed. Personally I like summer best, but I grew up in a hot and humid place so maybe it doesn't bother me as much as other people. You are never far from a vending machine dispensing cool drinks, and if you have a car you can crank dat AC. Kakigori, fireworks, going to the beach, the roar of the cicadas... yeah I love summer in Japan  Jigokudani is best in winter when there's snow, not too far away is Shirakawa-go, which is a cool village with traditional architecture (also very picturesque in winter). That roadtrip was my first time driving in snow and it was an amazingly on-rails experience - roads are plowed regularly and cops will station themselves at turn-offs for bad roads and caution you to take a detour if your vehicle isn't appropriate for conditions. That late Sept/early Oct period is actually probably one of the best times overall to visit - just after the Silver Week holiday period and not too hot/cold. Ethics_Gradient fucked around with this message at 17:24 on Jan 4, 2024 |
|
#
¿
Jan 4, 2024 16:08
|
|
|
Miso soup is great for settling your stomach
|
|
#
¿
Jan 7, 2024 08:01
|
|
|
Buyee.jp should come with a warning label. I've spent $100 on used books (ostensibly good, for learning), and ofc this stupid thing followed me home too.  For 4,000 yen I couldn't afford not to! Riptor posted:Buy Felica I appreciate this post. Question Mark Mound posted:We had the whole rigmarole of getting Pasmo Passports for friends since it seemed an old physical Suica I had laying around from previous trips no longer worked. International iPhones can get the digital Suica just fine but we couldn't find any way to get it working for non-Japanese Android phones for some reason - even big brand flagship ones. I wanna say the Suica (I think?) card I got in 2022 was good for like ten years.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 9, 2024 05:12
|
|
|
Accipiter posted:Japan was my first ever international trip almost 20 years ago. Spent two weeks in and around Tokyo. It's been more than a decade since visiting anywhere in Asia, but I'm finally getting to go back soon. The bulk of my trip will be in South Korea, but I'm taking a day to spend in Fukuoka while I'm in the area since I've never been to the south of Japan. It's not much time, definitely don't do Nagasaki if you only have 24 hours. There's a big Gundam somewhere, that's probably worth a shash'.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 9, 2024 16:54
|
|
|
some kinda jackal posted:Looking at flights from Tokyo to Fukuoka just to see what prices are like. My trip isn't until November so I'm just trying to figure out what to budget for a flight, not actually book today. Just take the shinkansen. Time wise it's not even that bad by comparison when you factor in airport rigamarole (Japan's airports are actually quite efficient most of the time), you get nice views and acres of legroom, plus you don't have to worry about baggage weight, etc.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 10, 2024 18:52
|
|
|
QuasiQuack posted:And will it be too difficult to get around Tottori without a car? Tottori's a strong contender for the most rural prefecture in Japan - there are trains/busses but you'll probably have a better time and see more if you can hire a car.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 16, 2024 16:35
|
|
|
Thought this'd be the best place to ask: I bought a buncha books on Yahoo! Auctions for practicing reading Japanese (aiming for N2 later this year). All good except the Tears of the Kingdom Perfect Guide is... not bound? Like it's literally just a stack of individual pages, with a dust jacket that was packaged separately. Is this a thing for video games strategy guides, (some kind of poor man's way of getting it to lay flat) or was it owned by some kind of super-precise, book dissecting psychopath? It'd be pretty thick if it was bound, but it also came in two separate stacks/sections (one is more for the map/plot, the other is data on all the different items, etc) so I don't get why they didn't just do it that way.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 18, 2024 05:32
|
|
|
harperdc posted:
Well, this is disturbing. Thankfully bought through a proxy service so whatever freak did this thinks I live in a warehouse in Ota-ku. I always skip the insurance because lol at return shipping to Japan on a used book, so I guess I'll just go with it. On checking the auction, I now see that they mentioned it was cut using a machine (for digitization, allegedly). That's what I get for not reading the whole thing!
|
|
#
¿
Jan 18, 2024 06:12
|
|
|
Re: smoker chat, there are/were some amazingly pass-ag anti smoking PSA posters that had English as well as Japanese. Yep, here they are, just GIS'd "passive aggressive Japanese smoking" and got a trove of 'em! Mister Chief posted:I hope it was cheap. Lol, nope, cost the same as a non mutillated one and some sicko actually bid against me! Thinking back on it, I had several tabs open on different auctions of the same book, and I must have unwittingly gone to this one when it came time to put in my actual bid.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 18, 2024 14:45
|
|
|
Mr. Fix It posted:those are less anti-smoking than pro-smoking-etiquette. that's because they're put out by Japan Tabacco, the government founded tobacco corp. it's no longer a monopoly and govt only owns a third of it now, but still holds 2/3rds of the market. Hahaha, this makes sense and I had no idea Japan Tabacco was even a thing! I would love to see a Japanese version of Thank You For Smoking. I dug up this other one I snapped at a highway rest stop in Tohoku (go to your smoker jail) on our road trip almost ten years ago: 
|
|
#
¿
Jan 19, 2024 02:02
|
|
|
field balm posted:What stuff do y'all like in Tohoku? Are you able/willing to rent a car? There's a lot of cool stuff out there but not all of it is super convenient to trains. Some of my Aomori highlights were: Osore-zan, the Jesus grave place, and some abandoned coal miner dorms.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 2, 2024 18:16
|
|
|
field balm posted:I'm starting to consider it because the train routing seems like a lot unless I only go to like 3 places, but I think it might be pretty stressful - at least on the train I can chill. Thanks for the recs, I'll check those places out! Nah - driving in Japan is pretty chill, and if you're from the US/Canada just remember to keep the driver's side to the inside of the road and you'll be right. If you don't have much Japanese I think navigating one of the automated gas station kiosks might be a bit daunting, but with Google Lens you should be fine. Osore-zan is definitely the best of those three for photography, we saw a bear just up the road as we were leaving too
|
|
#
¿
Feb 3, 2024 15:19
|
|
|
peanut posted:I went to Nikko during obon (mid August), but in ridiculous heavy rain, and thanks to the rain it was empty, cool temperature, and not even the mosquitoes were able to fly. A+++ would deliberately choose rainy days. A highlight of my last trip to Nikko was getting absolutely bucketed on right when we started the iroha road (on motorcycles, and you can't turn around).
|
|
#
¿
Feb 13, 2024 05:38
|
|
|
History Comes Inside! posted:Excess baggage will be way, way more expensive than shipping it because airlines presume they’ve got you by the balls and gouge the gently caress out of you. Depends on the airline and article, but I wouldn't be surprised if an extra bag was cheaper. Airlines also treat musical instruments more leniently in terms of dimensions, etc.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 5, 2024 00:24
|
|
|
Anyone got any recs for a Japanese woodworking place that offers short courses? Anything from a few days to a few weeks would be good. Too early to say right now, but I'm hoping to spend as much of next summer in Japan as I can and that's one of my aims. I'm at around N2 atm and have bought some woodworking books to work on domain-specific vocab, so it doesn't need to be oriented towards foreigners. G-Mawwwwwww posted:I think I'll be fine by October but yeah, italian was WAY better. Yeah, Japanese is up there in the "hard" bracket for languages for native English speakers along with Arabic, Chinese, Korean, and Russian. IMO Japanese is probably the most difficult written language in the world; Chinese is at least pretty regular with readings since the characters were, you know, actually designed around the language (as opposed to duct-taped on like they are with Japanese).  (that list is non-comprehensive) Enjoy Kyushu! If you're at the end of October (early November, really) there is both Karatsu Kunchi and the Saga Hot Air Balloon Festival. Ethics_Gradient fucked around with this message at 20:15 on Apr 12, 2024 |
|
#
¿
Apr 12, 2024 20:10
|
|
|
Gabriel Grub posted:Being a tourist in Japan feels terrifying. It's fine, just don't forget your flashlight.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 15, 2024 21:16
|
|
|
some kinda jackal posted:You know what Japanese cash can get hosed? Anything less than a 100y coin. One of my favourite Japan stories is an American friend of mine who just threw every coin he got in a big jar for his year in Japan (this was in the 2000s) because he hated dealing with change. Took it to the bank when he went to leave and it was like USD$2k.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 18, 2024 04:02
|
|
|
Good Listener posted:It might sound lame as heck but do any of y'all know where to maybe look for cheaper sukajan like..maybe a particular Tokyo district? I dunno they look cool and I love the bomber jacket look A bomber jacket and a sukajan are pretty different; the former leather and have a fleece collar (and are reasonably heavy/warm), whereas a sukajan is more like a windbreaker. I found a cool, I'm pretty sure authentic WestPac '87 USS Midway one in my size at a recycle shop not far from a US Navy base with harper back when I lived in Kyushu. Still have it!
|
|
#
¿
Apr 19, 2024 15:09
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 3, 2024 20:38 |
|
|
root of all eval posted:We're putting together a plan for a few days in Kyushu with a rental car. We want to check out parks in Kagoshima area after an overnight stay and meander our way north. We have a free night before a ryokan stay near Mt Taisen. I don't have any recs for acommodation, but this moai park is a neat stop along the coast in Miyazaki. The road that it's on that follows the coast is a recommended scenic drive as well. Actually, I take that back about not having an acommo rec, have this dinosaur themed love hotel in Oita. My partner and I stayed at it back when we lived in Kyushu; I think only one of the rooms is still dino-themed, but the exterior decor was very Jurassic Park at least. Ethics_Gradient fucked around with this message at 22:02 on Apr 23, 2024 |
|
#
¿
Apr 23, 2024 21:50
|
|