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Goon in Kobe checking in! Also, I have some experience dealing with food allergies (coeliac) while in Japan, if anyone reading the thread ever has any questions about that.
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Jun 22, 2012 07:07
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A coworker of mine lived in Japan for two years with a fish allergy, is that as much of a handicap as it seems?
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Jun 24, 2012 04:59
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Toussaint Louverture posted:A coworker of mine lived in Japan for two years with a fish allergy, is that as much of a handicap as it seems? I only rarely eat fish. Or at least that I know of. As long as you know what has fish in it and what doesn't. If you're mostly making food for yourself it wouldn't be too bad.
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Jun 24, 2012 05:19
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Hey team, I'm in the process of planning a 2-week trip to Japan, have read a bunch of guides (and the OP) and hatched what I think is a sensible plan but still have a raft of questions which I will now deluge you with in the hope that a charitable soul will help answer some of them. The Plan: Flying into Tokyo (Narita airport), staying in Shinjuku (about 8 minutes walk from the station according to Google Maps) then after a few days travelling to Kyoto (where we will stay) and from there doing day trips to Osaka, Hiroshima and Nara then going back to Tokyo for a few days before flying home. I think I have it worked out so I can buy a 1-week rail pass for the week in Kyoto and all the travelling and then just use a Suica card for the Tokyo period (the last day of the railcard will be used to go from Tokyo to see some snow monkeys in Nagano). Questions: To get us from airport to Shinjuku I'm planning on getting the Narita Express + Suica deal mentioned in the OP (and travelwiki), does this sound sensible or am I mugging myself as cheaper options are available? When I did the maths that deal seemed to be about the same cost as the limousine bus for a return trip and a little quicker. I want to go see a Baseball game (specifically the Giants vs the Swallows at the Tokyo Dome) but websites are in Japanese and confuse me. I've ended up getting in touch with [website name removed because they tracked me down and asked me nicely to do so as apparently this forum post is appearing in Google search results along with their name and words like 'hobo' and 'scammy'] who reckon they can get me tickets for the game for 3,100 yen each (cheap seats) - from what I can gather their business model is for me to 'reserve' the tickets and then they send a hobo out to wait in line for tickets when they go on sale. I have no idea how legit the website is, how shady this practice is or how much they're going to gouge me for my tickets but it's the best option I've found so far. If anyone wants to tell me I'm about to get scammed please do so as I've not actually paid for anything yet. I've also asked them for a quote on Sumo tickets for the Saturday before and they reckon 5,050 yen per ticket (again cheap seats). I got some sense of the mark-ups these guys add when they quoted me for Studio Ghibli Museum Tickets at 2,300 yen each when they cost 1,000 from the Museum's (only) official distributor in the UK (from whom I will be buying the Ghibli tickets and the rail pass) but I can't find any other options thus far. We're also keen on seeing some Kabuki theatre, the internet reckons the best ones are in Kyoto but I have no idea whatsoever about getting tickets for them - any ideas on that would be much appreciated (I could always ask buysumotickets.com they seem to be able to get anything). Cultural question: I'm a naive western buffoon unfamiliar with the ways of Japanese culture but I am aware that in public feet are regarded as somewhat 'icky' in terms of sitting with your shoe-soles facing people, taking shoes off being very important etc. so my question is, what's the Japanese attitude toward flip-flops? My girlfriend wore them around China when we were there last year and on at least a couple of occassions (especially outside of cities) people absolutely lost their poo poo laughing at the fact she was wearing them - that's fine but we wouldn't want to actually upset someone rather than just amuse with our backward ways them so thought I'd ask. Also if anyone wants to advise on stuff we should absolutely definitely do (or avoid) then please throw some suggestions in. We're definitely going to the Osaka aquarium because they have that giant whale shark and toward the end of the trip we'll probably end up at Tokyo Disney because we've already been to Disneyland, Dinsey World and Disneyland Paris so at this point it'd seem churlish not to visit. Thanks in advance for any/all help! Jeremys Iron fucked around with this message at 15:01 on Sep 28, 2012 |
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Jun 24, 2012 14:52
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I'll be spending 5.5 days / 5 nights in Japan begin January with the wife. I plan on being around 2, maybe 3 days in Tokyo. Is the skytree building nice or should I just go visit another high building ? Given the time of the year, are there specific things I should absolutely do / avoid ? Which other place besided Tokyo should we visit ? Note: I've been there before for business, but always around summer time.
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Jun 24, 2012 17:45
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So I'm going to be going to Saitama for 10 weeks, starting at the beginning of July, for an internship, and I'll be damned if I can't find any information about Saitama other than "it's a prefecture". So, is there anything interesting to see or do there? Or will I be taking the train to like Tokyo and Gunma and stuff on my weekends off? Also, I'll be in the Osaka area for 1.5 weeks after that. I don't need as much help finding stuff to do there, since I know Osaka to some degree, but if anyone knows anything cool that I may not have known about, then  .
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Jun 24, 2012 19:09
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mikeycp posted:So, is there anything interesting to see or do there? Not really Edit: Wait, does drinking yourself into a stupor count as interesting? This is important. LimburgLimbo fucked around with this message at 19:32 on Jun 24, 2012 |
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Jun 24, 2012 19:20
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I don't know that it's inherently interesting, but after the drunkenness has commenced I would think there is much potential for things to become interesting, so I am not opposed to this idea.
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Jun 24, 2012 19:43
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Jeremys Iron posted:Cultural question: I'm a naive western buffoon unfamiliar with the ways of Japanese culture but I am aware that in public feet are regarded as somewhat 'icky' in terms of sitting with your shoe-soles facing people, taking shoes off being very important etc. so my question is, what's the Japanese attitude toward flip-flops? My girlfriend wore them around China when we were there last year and on at least a couple of occassions (especially outside of cities) people absolutely lost their poo poo laughing at the fact she was wearing them - that's fine but we wouldn't want to actually upset someone rather than just amuse with our backward ways them so thought I'd ask. I have literally never seen flip flops here. You could get away with them because you are foreign and they assume you are an idiot, but people will probably think you are mental. As far as tickets go http://www.tokyo-dome.co.jp/dome/ticket/giants/fee.html is the Tokyo Dome's list of prices (in yen of course) so you can use that for comparison. The cheapest option is standing (ha) which is 1000 yen. If you want to actually sit then your cheapest option is 1700. DracoArgentum fucked around with this message at 22:59 on Jun 24, 2012 |
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Jun 24, 2012 22:57
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Flip-flops, Crocs, and all other sorts of hideous casual footwear are fine. They sell them pretty much everywhere in the summer and people wear them all the time, especially on vacation. Pretty nearly every grocery store and drug store has their flip-flop/knock-off Croc display set up right near the door now, so your girlfriend can even buy more if she wishes.
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Jun 25, 2012 00:14
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DracoArgentum posted:I have literally never seen flip flops here. You could get away with them because you are foreign and they assume you are an idiot, but people will probably think you are mental. Google Translate posted:Please list your desired purchase date column to start the day until 8:30 am Adv. Sequence to your customers, will be distributed one lottery ticket per person to reserve up to 8:30 am. Perform the purchase of lottery tickets in order to determine the order of the numbers in the lottery ticket spare. As for flip-flops they're either perfectly normal and common or people will think she's mental for wearing them - is this a regional thing?
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Jun 25, 2012 00:37
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DracoArgentum posted:I have literally never seen flip flops here. 
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Jun 25, 2012 00:47
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Jeremys Iron posted:As for flip-flops they're either perfectly normal and common or people will think she's mental for wearing them - is this a regional thing? Flip-flops bear a strong resemblence to traditional footwear like geta and zouri that people have been wearing for centuries. It's really not unusual. I don't know how you could avoid seeing flip-flops in Japan unless you never go outside or into a store in the summer at all.
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Jun 25, 2012 00:52
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Uber Kosh posted:Goon in Kobe checking in! I have a nut allergy, think I'll have problems with something like kaiseki or random washoku style breakfast? The last time I went, most of the small odd dishes I didn't recognize at a ryokan were some random mountain vegetable. Japanese breakfast is basically, fish, rice, miso soup and tofu, right? I honestly can't think of a whole lot that would give me problems, but this time I'm striking out on my own vs. a tour group. More general question for the thread: I'm thinking to stop by Eiheiji on the way to Kanazawa to see the temple and maybe stay in the town for the night. Is this a good idea? Is this a good idea, or is it better to just get back to Fukui for the night before I head to Kanazawa?
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Jun 25, 2012 02:01
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LyonsLions posted:Flip-flops bear a strong resemblence to traditional footwear like geta and zouri that people have been wearing for centuries. It's really not unusual. I don't know how you could avoid seeing flip-flops in Japan unless you never go outside or into a store in the summer at all. To the point that the actual word for flip-flops in New England is zori, and no one knows it is Japanese.
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Jun 25, 2012 05:32
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EVERYTHING I SAY ABOUT JAPAN OR LIVING IN JAPAN IS COMPLETELY WRONG, BUT YOU BETTER BELIEVE I'LL 
ABOUT IT.
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kapalama posted:To the point that the actual word for flip-flops in New England is zori, and no one knows it is Japanese. what
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Jun 25, 2012 05:48
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LimburgLimbo posted:what when Head Honcho also is not known to be Japanese, and used regularly. Lots of words came back from Japan after WWII. kapalama fucked around with this message at 06:07 on Jun 25, 2012 |
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Jun 25, 2012 06:04
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My whole family is from New England and I've never heard anyone from that area ever use the word "zori" instead of "flip-flops" or "sandals". 
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Jun 25, 2012 09:08
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The lack of flip flops may just be my area. I'm in the boonies of Tottori. They are starting to think crocs are a pretty cool new thing now, but they are still pretty rare. Even in summer I just see kids in those puffy sneakers or strappy sandals. This area is probably about 20 years behind the rest of the world though.
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Jun 25, 2012 09:32
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Cameron posted:My whole family is from New England and I've never heard anyone from that area ever use the word "zori" instead of "flip-flops" or "sandals". What do you call New England? How old is your family? Are there stairs in your house?
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Jun 25, 2012 09:39
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Jeremys Iron posted:Thanks for this, I'd found that page when searching myself but when I click the 'English' tab at the top it takes me to the front page and I can't for the life of me navigate to an English version of the tickets page. I've given Google Translate a go but the translation provided defeats me (it's some manner of lottery?): Lottery systems for tickets are not particularly unusual here. Especially for anything popular. Basically you put in a bid for the right to buy tickets. I've mostly heard of it with people trying to get tickets to see popular bands, but I see no reason why it wouldn't extend to baseball. From the website, though, it looks like the lottery may only be fore if you want season tickets. It mentions that they sell tickets at different convenience stores here, so that should be just a buy immediately. There is also a link to a website called esports for online sales, but you have to register to the site. http://eplus.jp/sys/T1U90P0101P006001P0050001P002051431P0030130
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Jun 25, 2012 09:44
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Nobody in New England calls sandals zori, what the gently caress. Kapalama I thought you lived in Hawaii.
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Jun 25, 2012 10:36
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LimburgLimbo posted:Nobody in New England calls sandals zori, what the gently caress. Kapalama I thought you lived in Hawaii. This man is a lobster man, and when I say that it's because he's half lobster. Also. Honestly after going to a sumo practice and seeing top tier dudes slam into each other and nearly crush me I don't see the point of going to a tournament unless you want the showman poo poo. Being ten feet away from buffalo charging at each other is intense. You can't talk and you keep your mouth shut for 3 hours but in exchange you get to see some intense poo poo from up close. If your like LOL SUMO FAT your hosed because these dudes are beast.
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Jun 25, 2012 13:15
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LimburgLimbo posted:Nobody in New England calls sandals zori, what the gently caress. Kapalama I thought you lived in Hawaii. Well a bunch of boat people (people who lived and traveled on boats) who claimed to be from Rhode Island and Connecticut called the things they wore on the boats Zoris, and I told them it was Japanese, and they said it was how they were referred to back there. They did not know it was a Japanese word Maybe it is a generational thing, because they all had older family members who served in the Pacific War, which is why they were in Hawaii,
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Jun 25, 2012 13:39
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kapalama posted:Well a bunch of boat people (people who lived and traveled on boats) who claimed to be from Rhode Island and Connecticut called the things they wore on the boats Zoris, and I told them it was Japanese, and they said it was how they were referred to back there. They did not know it was a Japanese word A community of people who live exclusively on boats are not really a good representation of the entirety of New England.
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Jun 25, 2012 13:57
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LimburgLimbo posted:A community of people who live exclusively on boats are not really a good representation of the entirety of New England. (Actually it was one extended family and their skin did have a slightly blue tinge.) I think you need to meet more New Englanders, and not be a New Englander yourself. Most of the ones I met insist any personal quirk is because of their New England ness. There seems more "I came from there" awareness in New Englanders than there is in Texans. Half the sentences people of a certain age from Connecticut say begin with "As a Connecticut Yankee,". Mark Twain even noticed it. Also I am not sure how certain New Englanders draw the boundaries. They seem to think that Boston is not part of New England, anytime Boston proves to be different from them. Maybe it divides for them on the Giants/Pats or Sox/Yanks split. I actually think it is probably an age thing though, where a certain generation used the term and then it disappeared. Random googling seems to support that view, and it may be I have just met more old New Englanders than old people from other places. Lots of WWII returnees introduced words from Japanese and the PI, some stuck, some didn't. I had no idea that Boonies/Boondocks came from the Tagalog word for hill. That one stuck is certain places, as did bento, which to this day I am convinced is not actually a Japanese word. Head Honcho also is a word that simply does not feel foreign to most. Zori does not feel foreign to people in Hawaii but then again we call soy sauce shoyu, and are surprised when we found out mainlanders don't know what shoyu is. (Well then what do you put on rice?) All pau.
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Jun 25, 2012 14:53
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kapalama posted:Well then what do you put on rice? Nothing! It is the most perfect food!
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Jun 25, 2012 16:57
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DracoArgentum posted:Lottery systems for tickets are not particularly unusual here. Especially for anything popular. Basically you put in a bid for the right to buy tickets. I've mostly heard of it with people trying to get tickets to see popular bands, but I see no reason why it wouldn't extend to baseball. From the website, though, it looks like the lottery may only be fore if you want season tickets. It mentions that they sell tickets at different convenience stores here, so that should be just a buy immediately. There is also a link to a website called esports for online sales, but you have to register to the site. http://eplus.jp/sys/T1U90P0101P006001P0050001P002051431P0030130 Anyone got any opinions on the Studio Ghibli museum? It's on my maybe list at the moment.
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Jun 25, 2012 19:08
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This kinda feels like I'm using the people in this thread, but I don't really know who else to ask. I had a friend of mine who lives in Japan come to my wedding and some friends of his (who met us and our friends on our trip a couple years ago to visit him) gave him this gift to give us. It's some kind of alcohol, but I'm not really sure what. It could just be sake, or maybe something else distilled from rice, I have no idea. Can anyone interpret this? I'm really looking for what % ABV it is and how I'm even supposed to drink it.    
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Jun 26, 2012 00:26
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It's sake. 15%. Drink it out of a glass. Or a bowl. Or a box.
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Jun 26, 2012 00:52
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The one with the black label is (rice) shochu. So probably 25-30%. Most people drink shochu on the rocks but you can also do water, oolong tea, soda water. zmcnulty fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Jun 26, 2012 |
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Jun 26, 2012 01:16
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Thanks a lot, I would have asked the friend who gave it to me but he lives in some crazy remote village and that on top of the time difference makes it hard to contact him.
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Jun 26, 2012 05:00
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mikeycp posted:So I'm going to be going to Saitama for 10 weeks, starting at the beginning of July, for an internship, and I'll be damned if I can't find any information about Saitama other than "it's a prefecture". So, is there anything interesting to see or do there? Or will I be taking the train to like Tokyo and Gunma and stuff on my weekends off? What part of Saitama? It varies quite a bit, the areas north of Tokyo are more or less just an expansion of the Tokyo urban zone, although it starts to get pretty rural once you go past Omiya. The areas to the west of Tokyo also seem to go rural much faster than in the north. There's some cool stuff to do there though, I really like cycling through Saitama and looking for interesting things. There are some beautiful parts to go through.
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Jun 27, 2012 09:50
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spankminister posted:I have a nut allergy, think I'll have problems with something like kaiseki or random washoku style breakfast? The last time I went, most of the small odd dishes I didn't recognize at a ryokan were some random mountain vegetable. Japanese breakfast is basically, fish, rice, miso soup and tofu, right? I honestly can't think of a whole lot that would give me problems, but this time I'm striking out on my own vs. a tour group. I don't want to say anything with 100% certainty, as what may be safe at one place may not be at another. What I can say is that generally those things are fine. If you want something 'Japanese' for breakfast, you could try to find an udon bar, random conbini bread*, or something similar. *This may not be the best idea, as there is often either 'stealth bacon' or 'stealth nuts' in a lot of bread stuff (this is anecdotal as I have no idea since I can't eat bread). If you are dead set on washoku breakfast, here's a handy phrase to ask if there are nuts in any meal you want: "natsu ga haite masu ka?". This can be followed by "natsu no arerugi ga aru kara desu" ("Are there nuts in this?" and "I have a nut allergy" respectively). Furthermore, Japan has started to include allergen information on a lot of packaged products, and sometimes in restaurants. So, if you look at the back of a packaged, right under the ingredient / dietary information will generally be a little message saying "May contain traces of X, Y, Z". This is still nowhere near as comprehensive as what you my find in the West. Just one example of this is for my allergy (gluten), a lot of products will simply say "starch". They will not specify what starch it is, so I have no idea if it is safe for me. Ymmv though. I have a friend with a nut allergy here at the moment, and I've asked them for more info, but they have yet to get back to me. If they do, I'll make another post. Hope that's helpful.
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Jun 27, 2012 11:58
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Uber Kosh posted:Just one example of this is for my allergy (gluten), a lot of products will simply say "starch". They will not specify what starch it is, so I have no idea if it is safe for me. Ymmv though. I have a friend with a nut allergy here at the moment, and I've asked them for more info, but they have yet to get back to me. If they do, I'll make another post. Because I am stupid, does that mean some Shoyu is out as well?
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Jun 27, 2012 14:38
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kapalama posted:Because I am stupid, does that mean some Shoyu is out as well? Edit: Uber Kosh posted:Uh, coeliac diesease is the 'true' gluten allergy. There are gluten-intolerant people, yes, but those who cannot eat gluten at all are coeliacs. There's no other name for it. wikipedia posted:While gluten is also the causative agent of Coeliac disease (CD), coeliac disease can be contrasted to gluten allergy by the involvement of different immune cells and antibody types vvv mystes fucked around with this message at 01:42 on Jun 28, 2012 |
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Jun 27, 2012 20:43
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mystes posted:I believe normal soy sauce does indeed contain gluten. This could make living in Japan quite problematic for someone with celiac desease or (probably worse) a true gluten allergy. On the other hand I guess if you can't eat gluten you're probably already really used to cooking for yourself all the time, so reading product labels carefully might be enough. I think they also make gluten-free soy sauce so it would be possible for someone with one of these conditions to eat rice with soy sauce like you crazy Hawaiians, for example. Uh, coeliac diesease is the 'true' gluten allergy. There are gluten-intolerant people, yes, but those who cannot eat gluten at all are coeliacs. There's no other name for it. And yes, shoyu and tamari are both out. There's possibly one or two brands that make a gluten-free tamari in Japan, but I have yet to find one. The easiest option is to get someone overseas to ship you your favourite brand.
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Jun 27, 2012 22:40
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Uber Kosh posted:And yes, shoyu and tamari are both out. There's possibly one or two brands that make a gluten-free tamari in Japan, but I have yet to find one. The easiest option is to get someone overseas to ship you your favourite brand. This is a local company that makes soy sauce from soramame for people with wheat and soy allergies. I've heard it's good, never tried it though. Here is a shitload of soy sauce-type products made from rice, millet, quinoa, and other things.
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Jun 28, 2012 00:41
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Original_Z posted:What part of Saitama? It varies quite a bit, the areas north of Tokyo are more or less just an expansion of the Tokyo urban zone, although it starts to get pretty rural once you go past Omiya. The areas to the west of Tokyo also seem to go rural much faster than in the north. I'll be in Otone-machi, which seems to be fairly northwest of Tokyo. As far as I can tell, it's the home I'm working at, then rice paddys for about 1km in any given direction.
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Jun 28, 2012 02:04
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Jeremys Iron posted:Questions: The Suica+N'EX pass is fantastic for getting to your hotel, not so great for returning to the airport. Suica+N'EX gives you a ticket from Narita to Shinjuku for effectively 1500Y, which for sheer convenience is pretty awesome. The return jacks it back up to 3000Y+, which is stupidly expensive. Travel options are basically: Limousine bus: 3000Y, easy, potentially slow, kinda expensive. Train: Local, change-once-at-nippori Keisei Line, at 1000Y, less if you buy a ticket at a ticket shop. Fast, change-once-at-nippori Keisei Access Line, at 1200Y, with a much more restrictive timetable. Faster, decent timetable Keisei OLD Skyliner, at uh 1600Y? which is basically indistinguishable from the Access line with a better timetable Fastest Keisei line, 2600Yish, 20ish mins to nippori then 30ish mins to Narita Easiest, expensive Narita Express which requires no changes from Shinjuku Station (but you still have to get your bags there!) at 3000Y and takes around 90mins.
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Jul 1, 2012 01:35
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