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lamscott

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Was in Tokyo for the first time mid-August and the moment I stepped out of the plane it just felt like, wtf is this!!! But it wasn't too bad cause Japan is clean. Getting rained on during the heat wasn't as bad either as I had thought it would be, haha.

we need stories more interesting than getting rained on

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hey herpsky, just out of my own curiosity, are you full-on Japanese? American-born? ハーフ? And furthermore, do you hold US or Japanese citizenship? I don't mean to be intrusive, but I've been wondering for a little while :o
4973% japanese

can live in the us and japan indefinitely

but what do you look like? hahahah

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public smoking ban is in effect in so many places (from a little while back already). i mean there are signs and shit, but rarely does anyone enforce it except the anti smoking volunteers and the few cops that happen to b around (though alot of cops don't say shit anyway).

yeah the price will be something like that. starts next month!

The price of most cigarette brands will be raised by 60 yen (0.71 USD) to 140 yen (1.67 USD) per 20-cigarette pack, the highest increase ever. JT's major brand, Mild Seven, will be raised from 300 yen (3.57 USD) to 410 yen (4.88 USD), and Philip Morris Japan's Marlboro will go from 320 yen (3.81 USD) to 440 yen (5.24 USD).

i don't even usually buy cigs in japan, usually duty free, but when it's long night, i run out. so i kop.

zzzzzz thats terrible

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Anyone know the vending machine outside the record store in Shimokita selling the Save the Shimokita Ts? I'm looking for the kid playing the broom as a guitar in a L if anyone's seen it anywhere. (Machine was sold out when I was there)

Back in the States now after 2 weeks in Japland and fuck I miss Japan already. Fukuoka most underrated city ever.

Hit like 6 or 7 of the places in the transit guide and I don't want to blow up spots but fuck some of those places are AMAZING and pretty cheap.

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glad that guide was helpful

speaking of food, you can't sort tabelog restaurants based on ratings. you have to pay like 3 bucks / month now. kinda lame.

there's a givenchy shawl collar sweater i kinda wanna cop

is shawl collar sweater lame? i want something that's both jbeezy + cwg approved.

i can't ask in the main forum because it's turned into "jcrew official discussion" forum and a bunch of kids copying and pasting shit from various intarnet blogz

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Tabelog's mobile app is super confusing + the map on their website isn't exportable which is pretty annoying. I'm kinda surprised there aren't too many Japanese augmented reality mobile apps for finding shit while walking around.

sekai camera

http://sekaicamera.com/

really popular

too bad i don't have an iphone in japland

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Herpsky, glad to see you still running this thread. Almost 1 year ago, I was in Japan and your reco's were aces. Well, I'm coming back to Japan Oct. 30-Nov. 10. A few things I am looking for. What is the GAP/J. Crew equiv in Japan (Other than Uniqlo). I will be hitting Julius/Iseatan/Ragtag but would be interested in getting some quality stuff from Japan's mass market (ideally made in Japan too, but I bet that would be hard).

Also, any outdoor street fairs in Tokyo going on while I am there? Would love to go to some food or music fest.

We are going cross country to Karatsu City to hit some fish festival. You been? If so, any pointers?

Thanks

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Herpsky, glad to see you still running this thread. Almost 1 year ago, I was in Japan and your reco's were aces. Well, I'm coming back to Japan Oct. 30-Nov. 10. A few things I am looking for. What is the GAP/J. Crew equiv in Japan (Other than Uniqlo). I will be hitting Julius/Iseatan/Ragtag but would be interested in getting some quality stuff from Japan's mass market (ideally made in Japan too, but I bet that would be hard).

Also, any outdoor street fairs in Tokyo going on while I am there? Would love to go to some food or music fest.

We are going cross country to Karatsu City to hit some fish festival. You been? If so, any pointers?

Thanks

GAP / J. crew equivalent... Any house-label by select shops ala beams, and ships. They are more expensive than j. crew and GAP though. OIOI is another option. The stores with comparable price points = Hare and Rage blue.

Street fairs... Farmers market in Aoyama. Check out the event calendars for Yoyogi-koen (park). All the big (ethnic) street fairs are held there e.g. thai festival.

I've never been to karatsu. where the hell is that? is that near kyoto? i must be thinking of kusatsu...

if i get my iphone 4 unlocked (this itself might be a task..), can i buy a prepaid sim or equivalent in jp and use the iphone?

Rent a phone at the airport. There are no pre-paid SIM cards in Japan (technically, there are but you need to sign up far in advance and you have to be a japanese citizen). If you choose to do roaming, you will get hit with a ginormous phone bill and you'll totally regret it...

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I don't know how it works with iphone, but you can purchase cheaper phones (outdated models) and get prepaid SIM cards from softbank. I've done this several times, all it takes is an hour and a passport. Costs like 6-8000 to get a phone and a SIM card, then you need to charge it. Good for sending emails, drains money fast if you're making a lot of calls. Can't use any internet services though... Maybe I misunderstood you?

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GAP / J. crew equivalent... Any house-label by select shops ala beams, and ships.

Yeah, Beams and Ships are good recommendations for what you seems to be going for. More expensive, but much better made and generally somewhat more interesting. I guess you could check out Journal Standard as well?

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I don't know how it works with iphone, but you can purchase cheaper phones (outdated models) and get prepaid SIM cards from softbank. I've done this several times, all it takes is an hour and a passport. Costs like 6-8000 to get a phone and a SIM card, then you need to charge it. Good for sending emails, drains money fast if you're making a lot of calls. Can't use any internet services though... Maybe I misunderstood you?

This is something different, I think.

The OP is saying that he wants to use a prepaid SIM card and use his iPhone.

There is no pre-paid SIM cards that work universally with any phone.

The airport deal you mentioned requires you to get a softbank SIM + a softbank-branded cell phone. Since the phone itself is SIM-locked, it only accepts softbank SIMs. As far as I know, they don't just give you a SIM card without a phone.

In theory, if you had an unlocked phone and got the plan bonjin mentioned, you could use that softbank SIM card in your unlocked phone.

I doubt that it's a good idea since iphone will use a shit load of

data packets. You'll use up your balance in no time.

I have a regular non-smart phone in Tokyo. My internet usage is pretty low but I always max out my monthly data allowance. I'm using the proprietary internet thing (ezweb) and all i do is look up train schedules.

My recommendation is to do what bonjin said:

softbank rental phone + SIM card

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yeah, actually I think you're right. I just remembered I tried to get only a SIM card last time (since I already had a phone from some time back) and I couldn't do that - I had to buy a phone as well. Which I think is still worth it if you're staying for even just a short while. I think if you plan to return to Japan within 6 months after you stopped using it, you can keep using that same SIM card if you bring it with you.

I don't know the benefits of renting vs purchasing a phone - the cheap models are around 4000 yen or so to buy. You also don't have to do it at the airport, you can get one a softbank (if they have any in stock) or Donki, which is what I've done twice now. If you go to donki, you need to speak some japanese though, or bring someone who does, since they require you to fill out some papers and I haven't come across anyone who speaks english there.

The shitty thing is that you won't have access to any of the internet services - ie, you won't be able to look up train schedules on your phone, so you gotta know when those last trains run.

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There's definitely less free wifi than there used to be though. I can't live without internet so I typically just negotiate a data global package with AT&T and try to use the web for only necessary shit, aka no youtube, and can usually survive on about 50 MB per week. (Which is about $50)

Alternately, I've heard good things about JCR, and will probably try them out next time I'm there as I really hate having to "limit" my usage or raging over accidentally loading some blog with 100 embedded images.

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Anybody got any perspectives on the current state of english teaching specifically in Tokyo?

Got my BA, just about to start a TEFL course, and hope to cop some teaching experience in ldn before making the jump early next year. I hear flooded and super tight job market - what are my chances of finding a half decent position somewhere?

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Anybody got any perspectives on the current state of english teaching specifically in Tokyo?

Got my BA, just about to start a TEFL course, and hope to cop some teaching experience in ldn before making the jump early next year. I hear flooded and super tight job market - what are my chances of finding a half decent position somewhere?

Talking about public schools, with the bad economy now and the government taking in less tax revenue, some schools are cutting back on English teaching or cutting it entirely. Sure, middle schools and high schools need to teach English, but they don't need a native speaker to assist the English teachers.

As for teaching in Tokyo, it's going to be really hard to find a position since everyone wants to be there and non-native English speakers (Filipinos, Indians... basically people from non-white countries) are willing to work for less pay, making it more harder not to find a job but a good decent paying one. You would probably have to search hard, know people who can hook you up with the schools directly, or just be lucky. Again, this is all public schools.

I don't know about the eikaiwa business that well so I can't say about that.

If you want to increase your chances in finding a good paying job, you would have to search outside of Tokyo (Saitama, Gunma), be open to teach anyone from kids to adults, and to some extent, know some Japanese.

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Thinking about buying a car here.

Divided on getting something practical (cheap-ass kei car) or getting something I can't get in the states and want to drive badly.

Was looking into getting an old Mini Cooper, insurance is expensive (初心者 status) but they look really fun to drive.

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