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Howard Phillips posted:Any tips on furniture shopping in Japan? I was told by my housing agent that while Ikea is cheaper they don't do free delivery or assembly. Nitori was recommended but I'm wondering whether it will be difficult to figure out delivery time and address etc... without any Japanese. My apartment will be near Yokohama station. Personally I think Nitori charges way too much for lovely particle board furniture, but then that's to cover the cost of the 'free' delivery. Ikea furniture+delivery cost will still be cheaper for a lot of things. It's probably going to be pretty hit or miss arranging delivery at either store without Japanese, but you'll probably be fine. Ikea usually has a handful of foreigners working there too, or at least the one in Kobe does.
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Jul 14, 2012 01:52
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On the note of Ikea, out of curiosity, do the Ikea in Japan have food courts like the ones in America? And by that I really mean do they have Swedish meatballs?
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Jul 14, 2012 02:09
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mikeycp posted:On the note of Ikea, out of curiosity, do the Ikea in Japan have food courts like the ones in America? And by that I really mean do they have Swedish meatballs? Yep! It's pretty much identical to Ikea in the US.
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Jul 14, 2012 02:26
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Well. I guess it's time for me to find an Ikea in or close to Da-Saitama.
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Jul 14, 2012 03:05
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mikeycp posted:Well. I guess it's time for me to find an Ikea in or close to Da-Saitama. I'm not sure what you mean by "Da", but there's an Ikea in Shin-Misato.
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Jul 14, 2012 03:18
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I've been in Japan for a while now, and probably the most irritating thing at this point in time is that I can't do any online shopping. At all. I did notify my bank that I'd be heading to Japan, and they unlocked it or whatever the hell it is they do. My card works in person (restaurants, shops, etc) but not online. Is there anyway to get a prepaid Visa or Mastercard or anything like that here?
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Jul 14, 2012 03:38
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Rafzakael posted:I've been in Japan for a while now, and probably the most irritating thing at this point in time is that I can't do any online shopping. At all. I did notify my bank that I'd be heading to Japan, and they unlocked it or whatever the hell it is they do. My card works in person (restaurants, shops, etc) but not online. I don't see how it wouldn't work online? Even Amazon Japan doesn't work?
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Jul 14, 2012 04:11
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LimburgLimbo posted:I don't see how it wouldn't work online? Even Amazon Japan doesn't work? Nope. Tried to buy an avatar here, nothing. Tried to get a peripheral through Playonline for FFXI, nothing. All the sites I've tried have instantly declined my card (and I know I have funds on the card). It's absolutely weird, happened in the winter too (but I circumvented it using Teamviewer and making the purchases through my brother's computer, which was in America). Can't do that this time, I'm afraid.
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Jul 14, 2012 04:23
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Rafzakael posted:Nope. Tried to buy an avatar here, nothing. Tried to get a peripheral through Playonline for FFXI, nothing. All the sites I've tried have instantly declined my card (and I know I have funds on the card). It's absolutely weird, happened in the winter too (but I circumvented it using Teamviewer and making the purchases through my brother's computer, which was in America). Can't do that this time, I'm afraid. Try going through TOR and setting your location to the US?
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Jul 14, 2012 08:37
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Ned posted:Try going through TOR and setting your location to the US? Worked like a charm. Thanks!
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Jul 14, 2012 09:42
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Well if Nitori quality is more or less the same as Ikea then do you guys have suggestions for higher end furniture? For certain pieces I don't mind spending more to be able to use over a longer period of time.
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Jul 14, 2012 14:51
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Check out some recycle shops. They have decent furniture and deliver.
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Jul 14, 2012 16:13
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Howard Phillips posted:Well if Nitori quality is more or less the same as Ikea then do you guys have suggestions for higher end furniture? For certain pieces I don't mind spending more to be able to use over a longer period of time. I quite like Muji, simple, plain but really nice and stylish.
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Jul 15, 2012 03:53
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So I have around 2 weeks before I finally depart for Japan and I'm starting to realise the groups organising my trip haven't really given me a lot of information at all. I've received e-mail receipts for hotels and flights, but nobody has said a word about how I get my visa. I've only had a month to organise all my paperwork for my trip so my passport and police check are still in the mail (checked earlier today and found out my passport comes this week) but given how close I'm cutting it with my paperwork, I'm suddenly worrying about the visa application. When exactly does the visa deal go down? Right before I depart for Japan or something? I know Australian residents are able to enter without one, but I'm worried that because I'm going as a volunteer and not a tourist, things might be different. I've googled my rear end off and spent most of the day on hold trying to get through to various relevant numbers I found online (No luck, will try again tomorrow) but absolutely nowhere can I find confirmation of what I need to do as an Australian volunteer in Japan. I guess the real big worry is if I need a Visa, is it too late to sort that out with 2 weeks until departure?
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Jul 16, 2012 11:43
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You don't need a visa to go to Japan for 90 days or less. How long will you stay there?
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Jul 16, 2012 13:19
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hitension posted:You don't need a visa to go to Japan for 90 days or less. How long will you stay there? Depending. One key is to always say tourism unless one is sure of their visa situation. If you say business, or even relief worker, things can change. And also depending on the country of origin.
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Jul 17, 2012 02:07
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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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Can anyone translate this for me? It's from a sushi knife.
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Jul 18, 2012 01:39
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Ned, did you wanna meet up on Saturday or Sunday? We will arrive and probably have all of our things settled at the Hakata station hotel by about 7-8 PM, is that too late to meet up and do something? I really wanna go to that Chibo restaurant, but if Sunday is better (or worse) then let me know.
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Jul 18, 2012 04:38
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Saturday is fine. 7-8 is early for a Saturday!
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Jul 18, 2012 05:31
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Samnit posted:Can anyone translate this for me? It's from a sushi knife. Looks like a whole bunch of gibberish to me, and I'd be willing to put money on it.
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Jul 18, 2012 08:29
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Yep. Looks like pretty random scratches.
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Jul 18, 2012 08:35
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Samnit posted:Can anyone translate this for me? It's from a sushi knife. My wife says its sakaikorin (堺光琳) but wasn't able to read the first character correctly. Which seems to be a knife brand, well the Korin bit. Or meaning made in Osaka. But its not very clear. Wibbleman fucked around with this message at 08:47 on Jul 18, 2012 |
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Jul 18, 2012 08:44
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What do you know. Apparently you only get decent engraving on the $500+ knives.
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Jul 18, 2012 14:01
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Wibbleman posted:My wife says its sakaikorin (堺光琳) but wasn't able to read the first character correctly. Which seems to be a knife brand, well the Korin bit. Or meaning made in Osaka. But its not very clear. That's what I figured. It's a Korin sushi knife that I'd got for my brother since he's now at the point where he really needs a better knife. It's certainly not high end at $300 (including an almost 50% premium for being a lefty  ) but I was curious. Thank your wife for me!
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Jul 19, 2012 03:43
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zgrowler2 fucked around with this message at 10:33 on Jul 21, 2012 |
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Jul 21, 2012 07:02
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You can add me to the list of Okinawa goons. Moved here in May. It's been a blast so far.
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Jul 21, 2012 09:01
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I think I've now got all my tickets for Tokyo Dome Baseball, Kyoto Kabuki, Tokyo Sumo and the Studio Ghibli museum sorted after finally finding a legit-seeming UK company that could help me out (these guys in case anyone's curious) even managed to negotiate a discount on their processing fees because I organised a bunch of stuff through them at once. My next question is about music. Is there any Japanese music anyone recommend I pick up? I have a really broad (or as some see it no) taste in music and generally like to pick up things you can't get outside of the country I'm visiting. For example when I was in Iceland I didn't buy any Bjork or Sigur Ros because you can get that anywwhere but instead took a punt on some icelandic hip-hop. Anything uniquely Japanese or notably odd I should look into? ...I'm vaguely familiar with King Giddra in terms of Japanese rap and my hometown has a couple of Japanese punk bands but that's about it for my knowledge of Japanese contemporary music.
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Jul 22, 2012 14:12
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Here's a couple of starting points. Also this because it wouldn't be Japan without terrible pop music.
Sheep fucked around with this message at 23:02 on Jul 22, 2012 |
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Jul 22, 2012 22:51
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Sheep posted:Here's a couple of starting points. Also this because it wouldn't be Japan without terrible pop music. Thanks for these - that last one sounds way more like 90s European dance trash than I was expecting.
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Jul 23, 2012 11:38
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Jeremys Iron posted:Thanks for these - that last one sounds way more like 90s European dance trash than I was expecting. It is European dance trash. There is a reason Japanese music doesn't make it outside of Japan - most of it is absolute poo poo. That isn't to say it is terrible music and you wouldn't enjoy it but a lot of the really popular stuff is about the same level as really popular pop music in America. There are certainly great Japanese groups with nice vocals and quality instrumental work but you should be able to find that outside of Japan anyway. If anything Japan is probably good at very hard rock. But I don't listen to Japanese music at all so please don't take my opinion too seriously.
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Jul 23, 2012 15:30
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Hey Ned, send me an e-mail at cambutler at gmail and we can figure out where/when to meet up and other details. Cool?
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Jul 23, 2012 16:03
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OK so now I have places to stay, cities to visit and things to do my next stop is food. I'll mostly be in cities - Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Nagano and Hiroshima are the current itinerary and I have a couple of questions. 1) Are there any foods that I should be particularly seeking out to try, either generally in Japan or that are specific to these cities? 2) What are the chances of my sissy British stomach getting upset by food I buy in Japan? Are street-stalls generally OK or to be avoided? Should I be sticking to restaurants or am I OK to be relatively adventurous in trying stuff? 3) What kind of budgets am I looking at for different foods? I went to a couple of Yoshinoyas in Beijing which did a pretty good job of being both tasty and dirt cheap so I'm hoping that can be a good back-up for when I inevitably run out of money (though I appreciate that China's generally cheaper than Japan) but I don't mind spending some more cash to try anything particularly unique and tasty that people might recommend. 4) The main place we'll be staying for a while is Shinjuku in Tokyo - anyone want to point me to some particularly good restaurants in the blocks around the station? (Hotel looks to be about an 8 minute walk north east from it). We'll also be staying in Kyoto (near the Sanjo station if that means anything to anyone) so any recommendations there would also be awesome. Also I'm going to be there for two weeks and while I'll have the linguistic basics of hello, goodbye, excuse me, sorry and please down I doubt I'll master much else before I get there. My intention is to do what I always do in foreign countries where I don't understand what's going on and just be generally enthusiastic and polite - are Japanese people going to be OK with that? I'm sure I'll commit some manner of cultural faux-pas at some point but I'm hoping they'll be able to play it off as my being an uncultured western idiot. Am I going to be able to approach people when I'm lost in Shinjuku station or are they going to run a mile from me? *EDIT* Bonus Question: Am I right in thinking that the Suica card will not only work on the Tokyo Metro but also in Kyoto, Osaka and Hiroshima? Wikipedia seems to think that those cities cards are interoperable but I wanted to check. Jeremys Iron fucked around with this message at 19:41 on Jul 23, 2012 |
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Jul 23, 2012 18:26
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Jeremys Iron posted:*EDIT* Bonus Question: Am I right in thinking that the Suica card will not only work on the Tokyo Metro but also in Kyoto, Osaka and Hiroshima? Wikipedia seems to think that those cities cards are interoperable but I wanted to check. Suica will work on JR lines wherever you go, but it will not work on local lines once you get a certain distance away from Tokyo. In Osaka, for example, you won't be able to use the subways, nor ride the Hankyu or Keihan lines with it. You'll either have to buy tickets to ride those, or you can get the local card (Osaka/Kyoto use Icoca).
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Jul 23, 2012 23:09
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Jeremys Iron posted:1) Are there any foods that I should be particularly seeking out to try, either generally in Japan or that are specific to these cities? 1. I'm sure people will disagree with me here, but I'd say no. Depends where you are from, I guess. Coming from America, there isn't much here I can't get back home. Typical answers would be Sushi from Tsukiji in Tokyo, Okonomiyaki from Osaka. Maybe Kobe/Wagyu beef, Raw horse, whale, ramen... 2. Japan is not China. It's a 1st world country and you won't have any problems with the food anywhere. 3. Really hard to answer. Yoshinoya is pretty bottom of the line, but if you thought it was tasty, more power to you. I don't think it gets too much cheaper than that at a sit-down restaurant. You can always get cheap food and the convenience stores when you are broke. Otherwise, cheap Japanese food - ramen, udon, curry, sushi-go-round can be had for around 1,000yen ($12). A "regular" dinner costs me around 2,000 yen, or 3-4,000 if I include alcohol. Sky's the limit if you want something fancy, of course. You'll be fine with the culture stuff, I wouldn't sweat it. I'd say most random people will tend to ignore you if you try to ask them for help, but eventually you'll find someone who will be overly nice and probably end up walking you to your destination. Obviously helps if you have a map you can point at. Official people should be helpful (police, station attendants, Africans in Roppongi)
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Jul 24, 2012 04:18
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I encourage you to budget about 1500 yen for lunch per day. No more, no less. Yes you can get fast food/Yoshinoya for cheaper, but by budgeting more you expand your options tenfold. You can get awesome lunches of tonkatsu, sushi, beef bowl, ramen, grilled fish, tempura, Japanese curry, whatever Japanese-y foods you want with this kind of budget. With just 500 yen, you're really limited. By the same token, don't spend more than 1500 yen on lunch, since past that price point, the cost/benefit ratio goes down the shitter. If you want to splurge, do it at night.
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Jul 24, 2012 04:29
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Just found this thread(s) and wish I'd known about it three years ago. You can put me down for Nagoya. I have a question about travel. I've got a 4 night trip planned to Nagasaki city for the first weekend in August. I'm not really sure what to check out apart from old favourites like Dejima and Gunkanjima, and maybe a trip up to Sasebo for a burger. Any suggestion, especially for night life, would be appreciated.
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Jul 24, 2012 04:35
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Is there anyplace near Tokyo that I can get a Noh mask? My sister wants one.
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Jul 24, 2012 05:48
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MediumWellDone posted:Just found this thread(s) and wish I'd known about it three years ago. You can put me down for Nagoya. If you mean you're living in Japan, you may also be interested in this thread: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3484341 As for 4 nights in Nagasaki, my serious recommendation is to spend at least one of those nights visiting Ned up in Fukuoka. He will show you a good time.
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Jul 24, 2012 08:21
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Did my furniture shopping at Ikea, delivery charge was not too bad considering the convenience factor. Does au have a bandwidth limit?
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Jul 24, 2012 11:31
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Howard Phillips posted:Does au have a bandwidth limit? ... for what? You should check your contract and bills and/or compare them to the services listed in whatever pamphlets you got or au's website to figure out where you sit. Long story short if you don't have some sort of unlimited internet thing on your plan (you'd know) then prepare to get ruined if you're not careful.
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Jul 24, 2012 12:28
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