The Japan Trip Resource Thread!

[Darwock]

One thing Osaka definitely has going for it is this place called the 7 coins bar. Every drink was 350 yen, and like it said on the backs of their shirts "staffs is all girls. They are always smiley and lively". Felt something like a hostess bar only we didn't pay for their company, they just chatted to us anyway. Lovely place!

[smallvillex]

not sure man, ill have a check for you. (i still need to go look for your other things) free time has been hard to find lately. tomorrow though i'll make time.

you wanna buy a 360 now too?! lol

Well it's a definite possibility...

[dave heats]

We got that ad over here too Dave, Waterloo station has loads of dino heads all over the main throughfare

ah thanks man! you saved me the embarrassment of whipping a camera out on the train . ****ing bizarre advert for the UK! You kind of expect it here i guess.

Japjac im from Bristol. So im not sure if youd classify that as a heaving metropolis? i probably wouldnt but i love city life. the people have made osaka more enjoyable for me, so damn friendly. it was funny today actually...i saw an old geezer laying on some stairs, and people were just walking past him ignoring him...so i was like...i cant let him just lay there, even if hes a drunk, he could have fallen or something.
so i walked up to him, asked if he was ok, and heaved the old fella up. looked at his face and knew he was ****ed off his face.he thanked me, i said dont mention it and walked off. next thing i know, the old dude has somehow managed to run (wtf?!!) after me, tapped me on the shoulder, grabbed my hand and shook it so vigorously, his face looked like it was christmas or something. and he said, quite bizarrely in english "no problem!".

even the drunks are great! ^_^

[Duk]

Ebookers do BA enhanced economy flights from Heathrow to Tokyo for ?750. If you're checking for flights, always try a few different periods. Like try 14th-28th, 13th-27th, 15th-29th, etc., as the prices can change a heck of a lot with just one or two days difference.

Thanks for pointing out the cheap Ebookers flights, was looking at the BA website and the premium economy flights are ?1200.

I was also thinking about going around TGS time.

Forum meetup at the TGS maybe?

[smallvillex]

Forum meetup at the TGS maybe?

Definitely fella...

[mementoman]

Definitely fella...

I will definitely be there - to aid any people meeting up you may want to look into hiring a mobile while you are out there (western ones do not work).

Have a look on here : http://www.japantravel.co.uk/06-00mobileHire.htm.

That website is a good one to look on as it has lots of useful info and details of special deals on flights etc.

[smallvillex]

Cheers Mementoman. Are you sure my mobile won't work, as i do have world roaming?

[EJG1980]

Nah, Japan have a totally different system to Europe, America, etc., 100% not compatible. Awkward buggers

[smallvillex]

Nah, Japan have a totally different system to Europe, America, etc., 100% not compatible.

....oh well....looks like i'll be hiring one then...

[Duk]

If you have a 3G phone a lot of them can now be used in Japan, so I'd check with your network to see if they have Japan coverage.

[smallvillex]

Damn it....i don't...

[Ben-K]

It turns out that the three network have coverage in croatia and the vatican, but not in Japan or America.

Or my bedroom as it happens. I h8 3.

[segages]

Eh... I'm just back and my '3' 6630 (monthly pay) roamed fine on Vodafone JP. Only time I lost connection for a few minutes was going up Koyasan.

http://www.three.co.uk/explore/coverage/intCountry.omp?cid=31510&plantype=PayMonthly

And as for Osaka, I quite liked it. Certainly not somewhere I'd tell people to avoid. Felt like the people were alot more down to earth than Tokyo.

Edit: Street price for a Premium 360 was around Y38,000 (?185) IIRC, Cores were around ?150 which was also a 2nd hand Premium price. Games were lower than here, mostly around ?30 each. Ridge was something daft like ?15 in places. Hardly any floor space though from what I saw and it wasn't grabbing much attention even with Ninety Nine Nights being pushed. The whole software line-up looked wrong to me looking at the shelves. Full of EA stuff with the odd JPN only title thrown in as a token gesture.

[EJG1980]

Eh... I'm just back and my '3' 6630 (monthly pay) roamed fine on Vodafone JP. Only time I lost connection for a few minutes was going up Koyasan.

Hmm, I'm probably getting a 3G card for my laptop so I might take it with me when I go and see if I can get a connection.

The whole software line-up looked wrong to me looking at the shelves.

Yeah it really doesn't have a very japanese feel to it at all. If they'd really wanted to make a success of it they should have had mostly Japanese games with token EA games thrown in, not the other way around

[Ben-K]

Eh... I'm just back and my '3' 6630 (monthly pay) roamed fine on Vodafone JP.

Ah, so that's why the website asked me if I was pay monthly or pay as you go.....bastards....