Owner: Japan it UP! URL:http://www.japanitup.com/ Join Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 05:20:56 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: The adventures of a crazy American who visited Japan and decided to live there. See what it's like to go around Japan as a foreigner that can't read or speak Japanese. A great resource for people wanting visit or expats making the move to Japan. Site statistics:Click here
No personal handy telephone inside 2007-10-22 23:05:40 WTF? “No personal handy telephoneinside
. Thank you.” When I saw this it made me laugh because I’ve never heard this before. I did some research to see if it was real or a messed up phrase and all I could find was information about a mobile network in China.
From Wikipedia:
The Personal Handy-phone System (PHS), also marketed as the Personal Access System (PAS) and known as Xiaolingtong (小灵通) in China, is a mobile network system operating in the 1880-1930 MHz frequency band, used mainly in Japan, China, Taiwan and some other Asian countries.
Do you use this phrase in your country?
Ice Cream Ramen 2007-10-22 20:30:32 Sure sure you might be saying “Only in Tokyo” but you should be saying “Only in Japan” because there’s crazy stuff all over the place. Anyway there’s a restaurant in Tokyo that has created the ultimate ramen + desert in one package. Looks simple enough. Take some ramen, add some ice cream, and then eat as much as you can before puking. Nice! You can hit up this dish at a local ramen shop called “Kikuya” by taking a 15 minute walk north Kitasenjyu Station in Tokyo. If you want ramen it up and need to find Kikuya ASAP then memorize the name and these characters: 菊や To help you get lost I’ll include a map of Kitasenjyu Station and I think this is a map showing where Kikuya (菊や) is located.
That flavors can you expect? Vanilla Ice Cream
Ramen, Chocolate Ramen, and every bodies favorite… Green Tea Ramen (LIKE WHOA!) Something to remember is that ice cream ramen could be a limtied summer time edition this year (like I hea
The US Dollar sucks right now 2007-10-22 03:26:24 Today’s currency conversion rate is at ￥114 to $1. Good thing I converted some money when the rate was 116 Yen per 1 US Dollar
, and I almost made the 117 mark! The dollar is getting weaker (of course) and now the Yen is on the rise. Thank God I don’t live in Canada right now with that type of conversion ($1 USD = 0.96 CAD). I’m no financial expert but if the US Dollar keeps declining in value at this rate and Japan’s economy improves… well… this could mean that 100 Yen to $1 USD might be happening in the next year. That sucks
for people getting paid in US Dollars. On top of that conversion rate I’m getting nailed with a 2% transaction fee. 1% from MasterCard and 1% from my Bank to convert money at stores, restaurants, atms, etc. I’m waiting to get the debit card from Capital One all squared away to lessen the fees I’m getting hit with but it’s going to take forever. (Side note: in this case forever means about one month)
Newest family member 2007-10-21 23:00:22 We recently welcomed a new addition to our family member. Meet Lulu! She’s an 8 week old 1.5 pound chihuahua and kicks major ass. At first I was skeptical because she’s a tiny dog and I’m a tall guy but she’s a perfect fit. It’s amazing how much energy she has and how fast she can run. She loves to go full speed for 15 minutes, jumping over things, attacking random objects, and making cute squeaky noises. I envy her because she can pass out anywhere she wants when she’s tired. Here are a few pictures.
Clear / clean / empty the qmail queue 2007-10-21 22:34:10 Awe shiznit!! Is your qmail queue out of control? Look no further! Here’s a quick and easy way to clear, clean, or empty your qmail queue.
This script should not remove anything it should not remove, and it should clear all e-mail from your qmail queue safely so you can start sending mail normally again. (This is for qmail only and not a solution for any other mail programs.) You’re going to need ssh access and an ssh program like putty or putty portable. (more…) Read more:Clear
Welcome to Japan it UP! 2007-10-21 21:55:46 Hello world! Ah yes, that phrase reminds me of my days in college and the first programming task in just about every basic text book. Anyway, I hope you enjoy your time spent here at Japan
it UP! After reading my blah blah blah you’re going to either like Japan or go “wtf is this guy talking about?” Either way some good times will be had. To quote my friend Chad in New Mexico… “Niiiiiiice!” And since I just signed up… here’s my Technorati Profile Read more:Welcome
Flying to Japan 2007-10-21 06:01:36 The flight to Japan
was an experience all in itself! U.S. flights are easy and flying to Thailand was a piece of cake because a lot of people speak English. We took a flight from San Francisco and arrived in Japan in about 12 hours or so, I can’t recall right now but I did get 5,303 Award miles though! NICE! We went from San Francisco (SFO) to Nagoya (NGO) to Fukuoka (FUK). We flew on United Airlines and I highly recommend it. The customer service was great, the food was okay, and the seats were comfortable. They had a head rest that’s adjustable so you can easily sleep and you get your own personal vide screen to watch movies, TV shows, BBC News, or you can see where the plane is on a GPS type screen. All movies and shows were offered in English with and without Japanese subtitles, or Japanese voice over so everybody can enjoy the in flight entertainment instead of sitting there going “OMG! 10 hours remaining!”
** I highly recommend checking in online exactly Read more:Flying
Old School Legend of Zelda Commercial 2007-10-26 02:42:33 I was check out YouTube today and found an awesome commercial for the Legend
of Zelda
on the Super Famicom. First I watched the video and felt joy. Second I sat in front of my computer for about 30 seconds. Third I went “WTF is a Super Famicom?” Fourth I googled it and found out that it’s basically the same thing as the Super NES aka Super Nintendo. Nice!
Here’s the video:
Here’s some more info on wtf a Super Famicom is.
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System or Super NES (also called SNESa and Super Nintendo) was a 16-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia, and Brazil between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the Super Family Computer, Super Famicom (スーパーファミコン, Sūpā Famikon), or SFC for short. In South Korea, it is known as the Super Comboy and was distributed by Hyundai Electronics. Although each version is essentially the same, several forms of regional loc Read more:School
, Commercial
, Old School
Nova and Teaching English in Japan 2007-10-26 00:11:44 NOVA Corp is the Japan
’s largest English
conversation school chain. And for those who teach English in Japan and are employed by Nova I say… DOH! I read the news back in April of 2007 when Nova got busted for breaking the law (they refused to refund tuition fees to students who canceled their contracts.) And recently people have not been getting paid for their work. Today things have gotten worse and Nova has filed for protection from the courts.
I wonder what this means for current employees and their work visas. Not only that but if an employees income stops or is slowed it could mean trouble for their living expenses. Damn.
Check out the news from Yahoo
Nova Corp , the largest operator of English language schools in Japan, said on Friday that it has filed for court protection from creditors amid efforts to turn around its business.
Following the company’s announcement, the Jasdaq Securities Exchange said it would delist Nova’s shares on Nov. 27.
Nova, which
Happy Halloween 2007-10-25 23:01:08 Halloween is just around the corner! Lulu is ready to go door to door asking for some dog treats.
Read more:Happy
, Halloween
, Happy Halloween
Cool Japan Wallpaper 2007-10-25 08:51:39 A friend of mine sent me a link to some cool wallpaper pics taken here in Japan
. I thought I’d pass the link on to whoever was looking for the same. They come in two sizes - 1280×1024 and 1024×768
Page 1 - http://wallpaper.neonsight.com/
Page 2 - http://wallpaper.neonsight.com/page2005.php
Best Airplane Seats and Airline Information 2007-10-24 23:23:24 Some time ago I found the site SeatGuru.com. It helps you plan your trip by giving you the layout of each aircraft from numerous airlines. They help you know the difference between superior and substandard seats which is great when booking online. I’ve used this a few times while booking my flights, you should check it out!
(If you want to read about reviews with different airlines check out the topic Airline
Review.)
Using SeatGuru and checking online exactly 24 hours in advance could score you the ultimate seat at the regular price! I always set my alarm 24 hours in advance (even if it’s 4am…) to make sure I can change my seat if needed and this has definitely made my flights more pleasurable. (more…) Read more:Airplane
, Seats
Japan to fingerprint foreigners 2007-10-24 14:37:02 Are you ready Starting November 20th 2007 Japan
will start to fingerprint
and photograph people entering Japan. The fingerprints, photographs and other biometric data of foreign visitors will be stored in a computer for cross-checking with a list of wanted criminals and people who have been deported in the past. Investigative authorities will have access to the data.
The prints will remain on record for 70 years. According to the new procedures, if requested, the Justice Ministry will turn over the data to the police and other government agencies.
This excludes ethnic Koreans and other permanent residents with special status, those under 16, those visiting Japan for diplomatic or official purposes, and those invited by the state.
Japan Times said an estimated 6-7 million foreigners
entering Japan every year will be covered by the ordinance.
Beer Bath Action 2007-10-24 06:01:02 Hakone Kowakien Yunessun in Hakone Japan is offering just about every man’s dream, a kick ass beer bath! Until until December 31 you hit up the spa and enjoy a relaxing bath in a beer mug shaped tub full of beer. I recommend not asking for Miller Lite since it’s an import here and can be pretty pricey. The Yunessun also offers baths of coffee, tea, wine and Japanese sake.
Hakone, Japan is considered the most popular Onsen (aka Hot Springs) resort areas in Japan, and Yunessun takes full advantage of the abundance of high quality hot springs in Hakone. Here’s how you get there!
Read more about this at Google News Read more:Action
Wal-Mart in Japan (aka Seiyu 西友グループ) 2007-10-23 23:44:05 Wal-Mart is in Japan
. I couldn’t believe it and recently I’ve spotted the “GreatValue” brand that’s owned by Wal-Mart in a few grocery stores here. Sure the brand is generic but they sure do rack the price up here in Japan vs. the United States GreatValue price (uber lame!). I just read that Wal-Mart got into the Japan market back in 2002 and owns 50.9% of the struggling Japanese copmany Seiyu. Wal-Mart said it would offer 140 yen per Seiyu common share with the goal of taking full ownership of this drowning company. That would be about $878 Million. Let’s convert to yen as of the current currency conversion rate…
878,000,000 in USD would be 100,495,879,196 Yen. That’s why the Yen is so cool when you’re an American… it sounds like a shit load of money. 10 dollars? Oh hellz no! 1,000 Yen! That’s where it’s at! (more…)
Airline Review 2007-10-23 23:20:15 I took United Airline
s for my flight to Japan. I highly recommend them because of customer service and comfort. This was my first time taking this airline and it was my first choice because at the time it was the least expensive option. I’ve flown a few other airlines so I thought I’d give you a breakdown of what I thought of each one. I’ll rate each one on a 5 point scale overall based on my experiences. 1 being poor, 5 being excellent.
United Airlines - My rating: 5/5
I’ve flown with this airline one time.
Exit row gave me tons of leg room. Personal TV screen to watch movies was nice. Adjustable head rest was awesome! I was comfortable. I was not bored. Flight attendants were curtius and helpful. The ticket counter was friendly as well. Food was okay.
US Airways - My rating: 4/5
I’ve flown with this airline a few times.
Overall decent. First class seats are great. Leather, lots of room. Friendly staff.
(more…)
Living in Fukuoka Guide 2007-10-23 23:15:28 I just picked up a Living
in Fukuoka guide book from the foreign registration office. It’s pretty sweet and talks about how certain things are different in Japan, where to take some Japanese language courses, how to sort your trash, what to do in case of an emergency, how to get a Japanese drivers license, and a ton of other things. I’ll definitely post some info from the guide book so others can get answers to their questions. Until then you can do some research on the Fukuoka Website. Read more:Guide
Were you a Nova English teacher? 2007-11-01 01:12:26 Nova English
teacher = you’re screwed and that sucks. Over 4,000 teachers are out of a job! Over 400,000 students haven’t gotten a refund! Nova is bankrupt! This is all total shiznit! It looks like things have come to an end for Nova English teachers that are here on a work visa in hopes of some income and a cultural experience. You’re probably left with very few options such as… finding another job teaching english, or working at some short term job, or working at a bar/club frequented by English speaking Gaijin. (Here’s another job search related link) If you can’t find a job then you can always head back to your home country. For some of you it may not be possible due financial difficulty (aka not being paid by the man) which basically means you’re screwed. If I were in a situation of not being able to find a job replacement I’d either save the money I had to buy a ticket with (while spending the rest partying it up) or in the case I
Explore Tokyo 2007-10-31 23:44:05 This site is pretty sweet. Check it out if you’re on a broadband connection. You can explore parts of Tokyo
http://tokyo-vr.com/
I took a quick screenshot of what I was looking at:
Taken from their site:
About <Tokyo VR Project> … We have tried data-ization for the main area in Tokyo by QuickTimeVR. But it is the reckless project. A new information interface is proposed by connecting much QuickTimeVR movies, data-izing the space, rows of houses, and a building, and constituting false space. By our original know-how, execution of this project was attained only after becoming possible to carry out extensive creation of the QuickTimeVR quickly. By making scenery an interface as it is, the state with a house, a store, a park, a building, and the living information of a there could be sent. It will be useful to barrier-free, safety and the measure against crime prevention and information dispatch of an area and a walk, or an adventure. We are waiting for cooperation of
Wordpress in Japanese and English 2007-10-30 22:37:39 Problem: Can not write in Japanese
and English
using Wordpress
. Characters display as ? ?? ???
I was trying to figure out how to write in Japanese on my Wordpress blog. All Japanese characters were coming up as question marks, appearing like “????? ? ?? ???” instead of characters. I searched for a solution to this and found a few plugins that did a ton of unnecessary things, and some didn’t work. I tried out Gengo but I didn’t like it very much. However if you’re reading this for a solution on how to write Japanese and English or translate your page it might work well for you! Here’s the link to Gengo.
If you’re running Wordpress 2.2 or higher, then the Collation should be set correctly. Here’s a link to their documentation, and here’s an excerpt.
As of WordPress Version 2.2, DB_COLLATE was made available to allow designation of the database collation (i.e. the sort order of the character set). In most cases, this value should be l
Gmail’s “Sent on behalf of” message 2007-10-30 20:50:16 I’d like to get away from Microsoft Outlook and just use Gmail
for all of my email. I really like the hosted email service they currently have. My only complaint is that this is my personal gmail account and if I send a business related email it’s going to say: <me@gmailaccount.com>; on behalf of; BizName [bizemail@thatemail.com]
Let’s face it, the majority of business use some form or Outlook for the email client. And the two latest versions show the on behalf message which can look either suspicious or unprofessional. I did some looking into this and I found this
How do I customize the ‘From:’ address on outgoing mail?
Note: your Gmail address will still be included in your email headers in the sender field, to help prevent your mail from being marked as spam. Most email clients do not display the sender field, though some versions of Microsoft Outlook may display “From yourusername@gmail.com on behalf of customaddress@mydomain.com.”
T
Breakfast in Japan 2007-10-29 23:38:35 I know this might get long so before I start I’ll give you a summary so you don’t die of boredom. I’ll talk about what I’m eating, why I’m eating it, how things are different, oatmeal, and 15.7 Yen!
Breakfast
in Japan
is very different from what I’m used to in America. After arriving here when I ate breakfast it was usually a variety that changes daily. Sometimes it was toast… but huge pieces of bread aka ‘Texas Toast’. Other times it was a bakery breakfast sandwich that tastes more like lunch to me. Sometimes it was rice with mackerel. And sometimes a restaurant style breakfast which includes pancakes, eggs, and some bacon. When I ate breakfast alone and I was on my own I would to end up with some toast or some fruit (as a side note - bananas kick ass!) and some coffee.
What food am I used to in the United States? I would usually whip up some instant oatmeal (I’m a big fan of this), cream of wheat, cereal, or some toast with
1 Terabyte Hard Drive 2007-10-29 13:30:11 I saw this 1TB hard drive advertised today for $279.99 which made me a bit jealous of my friends in the U.S. They can pick one of these up at any time… but they won’t know what real ramen is like… booya! If you’re in the United States right now you should check this out.
BestBuy has the Hitachi 1TB DeskStar SATA Hard Drive with 32MB cache, retail box, $279.99, and free shipping. Nice. Here’s the link. Read more:Terabyte
Sea urchin cream soup 2007-10-28 23:09:08 I know after you see this you’ll be rushing down to the local coop to grab as much of this as you can! How does it taste you ask? Well… I haven’t tried it… but I did take a picture of it. This is the first time I’ve seen this and it’s pretty different. I’ve had sea urchin sushi (not very good) and I can just imagine what creamy sea urchin soup tastes like (bleh!)..
Not sure what a sea urchin is? Here’s a brief explanation. They’re tiny sea creatures in the shape of a ball with 1-3cm spines sticking out but they’re not that sharp. I’ve eaten it on sushi and it looks disgusting to me… brown ish… with a taste that I don’t care for.
From Wikipedia: Humans consume sea urchin (”roe”) either raw or briefly cooked. Sea urchin “roe” is not actually roe, but rather the organs that produce the roe (the gonads). Five strips of roe reside within the structure of the urchin, a yellowish or
Ramen and Izakaya in Fukuoka 2007-11-05 06:04:48 Today we did some searching on Google Maps (good luck, it’s in Japanese, I don’t know what’s going on there). Within walking distance of where I live there are approximately 1056 Izakayas (most offer ‘all you can drink’ specials) and 470 Ramen Shops (the food of awesomeness). Pretty crazy! I heard that an Izakaya is a great place to relax and practice speaking Japanese with people. I plan on doing that some day… when I can speak more than 10 words. Nice!
Estimated expenses:
At the Izakaya you’ll spend about 3,000 Yen for food + all you can drink. Some place have specials such as all you can drink for 2 hours for 1,500 Yen per person if you’re with a group.
At the ramen shop you can eat for 400-650 yen. You can get noodle refills in Fukuoka (just say “kae dama kudasai”) for 50-150 yen.
An izakaya is a type of Japanese drinking establishment which also serves food to accompany the drinks. The food is usually more substantial th
Wal-Mart, CIA, ExxonMobil Changed Wikipedia Entries 2007-11-05 00:23:28 Wal-Mart, CIA, ExxonMobil
Changed Wikipedia
Entries… I guess you can’t believe everything you read on the Internet
A new Web site built by an American technology student has uncovered the lengths that companies apparently go to improve their public image by tweaking their entries on Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that — famously — “anyone can edit.”
The WikiScanner site, developed by Virgil Griffith, a researcher at the California Institute of Technology, reveals changes to the online encyclopedia by linking edits back to the computers from which they emanate using each computer’s unique IP address.
Griffith, 24, says he created the site “to create minor public relations disasters for companies and organizations I dislike” — a mission he may well have succeeded in.
BCMLogon.dll Problem Resolved 2007-11-04 21:44:20 I thought I’d post about the BCMLogon.dll problem I had with my computer in case other people run into the same error. I had this BCMLogon.dll issue with my Dell Inspiron 9300 Laptop. Apparently it has something to do with the wireless card. I don’t know what happened to create the error and I don’t remember changing any settings recently. Here’s the error my computer gave me:
A recently installed program has disabled the Welcome screen and Fast User Switching. To restore these features, you must uninstall the program. The following file name might help you identify the program that made the change: C:WINDOWSsystem32BCMLogon.dll (more…) Read more:Problem
Investing in Love Hotels! 2007-11-03 12:05:23 Does this exist in other countries? I’m talking about Love Hotels
. There are different themed rooms to choose from, they make money (nearly 3 trillion yen in annual sales), but the downside is they’ve been associated with with gangs and red-light districts. Booooo
I read about Love Hotel investing today on Yahoo:
Japan’s secretive love hotels are opening up to European investors as one player in the sector prepares for a debut on London’s stock market this month.
Japan Leisure Hotels, which owns five love hotels worth some 21 million pounds ($43.68 million USD) in Japan, hopes to lure investors to its IPO with an 8 percent dividend and promises of fast growth — shedding light on a sector that is often associated with sleaze and organized crime.
Japan’s 25,000 or so love hotels have long provided discreet hideaways for couples, some featuring Karaoke machines or vibrating beds. Guernsey-based Japan Leisure Hotels rents out rooms for short stays last Read more:Investing
ATM Currency Conversion 2007-11-03 02:45:22 This might get long so I’m going to give you a breakdown of what I’ll be talking about: Today’s listed exchange rate, today’s Mastercard exchange rate, 2% currency conversion fee, adding this all up you’ll see my true conversion rate.
I know some people have been curious about the conversion rate when you withdrawal from an ATM using your Visa Debit Card or Mastercard Debit Card. MC and Visa are supposed to give you fair exchange rates from what I’ve heard. Today I used my Mastercard to withdrawl funds from my U.S. bank and here’s the breakdown of charges and rates.
Today’s USD to Yen rate from www.xe.com is
1 USD = 114. .735 JPY
The actual rate I received
1 USD = 114.23 JPY
Not bad! But then my bank charged me 1% to do the currency conversion and Mastercard (as well as Visa) charges a 1% fee. So if I withdrawal 11,000 Yen my account would reflect a $96.30 withdrawal amount, a bank fee of $0.96 and a Mastercard fee of $0.96. That means f Read more:Currency
, Conversion
Is Japan Expensive? 2007-11-02 06:35:50 Some people think that Japan
is an expensive place to live. From my experience it’s not that bad. Sure some things are more expensive than other countries, but other things are more affordable. Only Tokyo and Osaka made the top 50 list for the highest cost of living in 2007. Not bad!
1) MOSCOW, Russia
2) LONDON, United Kingdom
3) SEOUL, South Korea
4) TOKYO, Japan
5) HONG KONG, Hong Kong
6) COPENHAGEN, Denmark
7) GENEVA, Switzerland
8 ) OSAKA, Japan
9) ZURICH, Switzerland
10) OSLO, Norway
(Source: Mercer Human Resource Consulting)
If you’re looking for more information on this, you might want to check out Japan’s Statistics Bureau
(more…)
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