Going to Japan


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I dont want to go into the maths but if standard of living is high minimum wage has to be high to reflect it.

When i was there, society seemed pretty instensive and free at the same time.
I mean didnt anyone see the orderly lines when walking the street. I called it the penguin effect, it was quite weird. But it was also refreshing how children were riding the trains at 11pm on a schoolnight. That kinda freedom can only come from a well organised crime free society.

But their society explains why anime/manga and crap are dominated by fantasies of rebellion/violence/questionable pedophelia. It all serves as a release for something they would never comtemplate doing in real life.
 
Well I didn't want to sound like an expert on what I said earlier. I mean, that's what I think happens in situations like these, otherwise there would be too much poverty.

And the fact that children ride the trains that late is something that would NEVER happen here. Sometimes I really envy the low crime rates of other countries...people are killed here in broad daylight all the time, and at night? The United States could learn a thing or two from the Japanese, which makes me want to visit Japan even more x3
 
well i am planing on going myself next yr or year after not really sure but i am going
 
If you do go out there, make sure you have enough time to do everything you want to. IMO 5 days is not enough for tokyo and fuji (if you're climbing it that is), so I would say two weeks at least if you want to bounce outside the city and check out some other areas (up north for the snowboarders, ryuukuu (sp?) islands, osaka, some of the outer cities for castles, etc).

Crime and things of that nature are everywhere, just less prevalent in some places than other. Comes down to parenting and that sort of thing. Anyway, if anyone else is planning to go please do make it happen, is really quite a blast!
 
I'd kill for the chance, I love travelling. Only problems I can forsee with me going to Japan are the cost and the fact that my Japanese is terrible these days (even worse than it used to be) so I'd need an interpreter...wonder if I can convince Emi or Warita to come along with me
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QUOTE (hkdmz @ Aug 13 2009, 04:20 PM) That was my first assumption as well. The salary of a Japanese citizen in comparison to their economy must be adjusted the same way our jobs in the States pay a reasonable salary for our area.

It's like how homes in the Southeast US are cheaper than those on the West coast; people are paid more to compensate for the cost.
Indeed. Saying Japan's salary is higher than our countries would over-generalized. Salary level are different in different area in Japan (same as our countires). Jobs in London is much higher than the city I'm living in in the UK, and it make sense since expenses in London is higher (even the rent is more expensive, but I guess that goes without saying).
 
QUOTE (Marine-RX179 @ Aug 14 2009, 06:33 AM) Indeed. Saying Japan's salary is higher than our countries would over-generalized. Salary level are different in different area in Japan (same as our countires). Jobs in London is much higher than the city I'm living in in the UK, and it make sense since expenses in London is higher (even the rent is more expensive, but I guess that goes without saying).
Oh ok I see thanks for clearing that up; i didn't mean to cause a fuss ._.

But yes I understand that regions have different salary rates I'm just thinking that as a whole Japan pays higher in certain areas so that the people can at least live there comfortably. Others areas I have no idea...
 
I have a quick question for those people who have already visited Japan. Considering that my understanding of kanji is basically non-existent and the average toddler can speak better Japanese than me, what do you think my chances of survival would be if I spent a week over there on my own?
 
QUOTE (Gustav1976 @ Aug 29 2009, 08:42 AM) I have a quick question for those people who have already visited Japan. Considering that my understanding of kanji is basically non-existent and the average toddler can speak better Japanese than me, what do you think my chances of survival would be if I spent a week over there on my own?
It really depends on how traveled you are or rather, how well you can communicate in general. If you can do fine in foreign countries that don't speak your language, then I could expect that you would do fine in Japan. There is enough English to get around and a week seems just long enough to provide for a generally humorous experience. A lot of the times, you can luck out with just using some gesturing and broken English. Go with a friend; in my experience, it makes everything twice as entertaining.

"Hmm... (looks at the menu) I think she's asking you to pick one of these .... they appear to be sauces.... clearly this one says BBQ .... I think this one says ... ga....ru....ri...ku.... and the other one says... de...mi...gu...ra...zu? I think the first one says garlic but I have no idea what the second one is." (In case you didn't guess it, demigurazu = demi-glaze)

Just be careful. If you speak a little Japanese, they'll think you can really speak Japanese. I made a habit to speak some English first, just so they knew that I was a foreigner.
 
Well you wont really have a problem with kanji since they have english and japanese translations for important stuff like train stations and stuff so that wont be a problem.

I really advise anyone who is going japan to learn basic phrases. Many people in Tokyo speak english or will try to speak to english to accomodate you. Dont be afraid to ask people for help, like this woman who helped me buy some dragonball volume books. Japanese people are very accomodating and tolerant. If your going outside like Osaka and stuff the language barrier will become a bigger obstacle.

Me and my friends were lucky because we had a friend who had been living out there for a year and spoke fluent japanese by the time we came, so he helped us out alot.

If you can, bring a companion, its alway harder travelling to a different culture alone.
 
hi guys..
i dream of going to japan someday but the things is I don't know how to speak kanji or niponggo..
for those who've been in japan already, can you help me how to speak in kanji? i really, really love to know and also to write in kanji.
 
QUOTE (shut_me_up @ Nov 25 2009, 05:04 AM)hi guys..
i dream of going to japan someday but the things is I don't know how to speak kanji or niponggo..
You can't speak in kanji it's a writing system. You speak in Japanese (nihongo). If you only want to get by speaking to people it's probably best to sign up to some course which concentrates on conversational Japanese. Learning the kanji writing system with hundreds or even thousands of characters will take a massive amount of effort which will be largely wasted if you simply want to communicate with people on holiday.

For conversational Japanese you're probably best off learning via the romaji system (ie. western alphabet) to save having to learn a new alphabet etc, however if you want to learn written Japanese then most people recommend the Japanese hiragana/katakana phonetic systems instead, working up to kanji as you go along.
Bear in mind though that learning Japanese takes three times as long as learning a European language (assuming you natively speak a European language to start with), so don't waste time on things you don't need.
 
QUOTE (Hiroyuki @ Nov 25 2009, 02:47 PM) You can't speak in kanji it's a writing system. You speak in Japanese (nihongo). If you only want to get by speaking to people it's probably best to sign up to some course which concentrates on conversational Japanese. Learning the kanji writing system with hundreds or even thousands of characters will take a massive amount of effort which will be largely wasted if you simply want to communicate with people on holiday.

For conversational Japanese you're probably best off learning via the romaji system (ie. western alphabet) to save having to learn a new alphabet etc, however if you want to learn written Japanese then most people recommend the Japanese hiragana/katakana phonetic systems instead, working up to kanji as you go along.
Bear in mind though that learning Japanese takes three times as long as learning a European language (assuming you natively speak a European language to start with), so don't waste time on things you don't need.
hmmm
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now i get it...so i guess, it's possible for me to learn to speak in japanese or write in just a short period of time..
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anyway, thanks a lot for the info...
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The big problem is that you have only one week, if you had two you'd have time to get around japan and rest a bit. Besides since you only have so little time you might have a hard time choosing were you want to travel if you plan to.

Anyway I don't know much about japan, I just know there's mountains of places to visit, so sorry this was just a comment.

BTW: I remember a similar thread inside AtlusUSA's forums, i think it was in its SMT forums?, can't remember if it was a question about where Masakado's grave was, or what places he should visit + the grave thingy, but if you are interested you should check it out (sorry for not providing a link but its easy enough to find anyway)
 
I would love to see a Japanese recycling manual. Any would be fine. But, Japan has some of the best recycling programs in the world. I am trying to start a recycling project for an island and think that Japan's tough system may be an excellent model to follow.
 
QUOTE (warita200 @ Apr 18 2010, 06:09 PM)Wari-chan will be traveling to Tokyo in july..... I am very much looking forward to that.

In july?? I'm going to be in Tokyo in august. The first week i'll be in Tokyo. After that i'm going along the south coast of Honshu starting in Yokohama and ending in Osaka around the 23th of august.
How long are you going to stay?
What to visit in Japan? It depends on what you want to see...
High tech: Tokyo, Fukuoka, Osaka, Yokohama.
Temples: Kyoto, Nikko, Nara, Tsuwano, Izumo, Ise, Kumamoto, Nagasaki.
Nature: Aso, Beppu, Tsumago, mount Fuji, Hodaka, Miyajima.
Old style towns: Tsumago (and surrounding post towns on the old road from Kyoto to Tokyo), Kyoto, Nagiso, Ogimachi, Hagi.
I hope it helps with the places.

@snorky2k: maybe an idea: why don't you try sending a message to the Tokyo Governmental Board? Maybe they can supply you with a manual?
 
@ warita ooooh how long are you going to stay? Are you going to update us on a blog or something?
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So many people going to Japan, two of my friends are at an exchange project right now, one for a year and one for 5 months. And a few more going for exchange and whatnot.

I myself am probably going during winter, as it'd be cheaper and less humid XD Also, LUCKY BAGS
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Anyone going during winter as well?
 
QUOTE (Noshi @ Apr 18 2010, 03:59 PM) @ warita ooooh how long are you going to stay? Are you going to update us on a blog or something?
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So many people going to Japan, two of my friends are at an exchange project right now, one for a year and one for 5 months. And a few more going for exchange and whatnot.

I myself am probably going during winter, as it'd be cheaper and less humid XD Also, LUCKY BAGS
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Anyone going during winter as well?
Hello Noshi-chan, I am going to stay almost a month. I will only be in Tokyo as I dont have that much money for traveling around. But I do plan on going to the beach. I saw somebody recommend the Oidaba beach, which is directly in the Tokyo bay, but turns out the water is so poluted it is forbidden to swim or enter the water. So I will probably head out to the Yokohama beach, I saw some pics and looks decent enough. I would also want to visit a hot spring, but I read there very few of them near Tokyo, so I am not sure if I get to do that.... but I want to.

As for the blog, yes I was thinking of making one. I am very much looking forward to making a very looooong and exhausting travel report for all those, who cant actually go to japan yet. I was also thinking about making videos, I have seen lots of videos on youtube, but I dont know if I can make a decent enough video for youtube. I will probably also need help with editing and encoding or whatever you do to get it online, as I have never done that before.

As for winter.... tickets are surely cheaper and all..... but it is damn cold in winter. Also I dont know about hotels, it might be, that hotels have heated rooms for unaccustomed tourists, but japanese houses (in tokyo anyway) are not only poorly insulated, but also lack central heating. Japanese people use the air conditioning for both heating and chilling the air, depending on the time of the year, but lets just say that the airconditioner manages to prevent the water from freezing in your glas. OK, I am exagerating, but I wouldnt expect temperatures higher than 10-11 degrees celsius inside a hostal, if that is where want to be staying at. So it gets really cold in Tokyo in winter. I mean seriously cold!!!! So I guess it depends on where you want to be staying, but in case you want to sleep at a hostal, prepare for syberian conditions!
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PS: thanks everybody for your recommendations, I have looked up some info on all the things mentioned and I am including it into my plans.
 
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