The Japan Trip Resource Thread!

[dave heats]

Ive joined a gaijin football team. Full of English guys, with a few japanese lightning fast midfielders too
Playing sports over here is so difficult though. I usually play golf back home, but its impossible here, unless I go to a huge multi-storey driving range. Although having said that, prices here for a round are more reasonable than the area surrounding Tokyo. for example, one course here costs 14,000 a round. thats the cheapest ive seen

oh, and one more random fact that may be useful to some people. if youre feet are size 12 or bigger (30cm in Japan) then forget being able to buy shoes from normal stores. Big fashion labels such as Armani etc carry larger western sizes, but everywhere else only generally go up to 29cm. Just a warning incase any fellow big footed people planned on buying shoes here..

Ive had to have my predators posted over from the UK. >_<

Oh, and its Osaka's sakura soon. yay ^_^

[DCharlie]

Ive joined a gaijin football team. Full of English guys, with a few japanese lightning fast midfielders too

our company team entered the Tokyo sunday league set up - christ, the japanese university teams are monsterous! All 20 or so, all lightning quick... we actually plundered our way to promotion in the second season but as we'd gotten tanked handsomely by one of the lower teams in the division above, we decided to just bail out of the league. But we did beat Sony 6-0 with 8 men, which was fun!

Re: Osaka - i like it. It's a little rougher than Tokyo - it reminds me a lot of Liverpool - strange accents , slightly rougher life style, and (of course) the birth place of most comedians in Japan

Den Den , for me personally, is at least on a par with Aki. And the main think it has WAY over aki is the retro selection and , most importantly, the price of second hand games. Tokyopians are paying a premium on everything that Osakans simply aren't paying. Also - Osaka has awesome okonomiyaki, which is worht the trip alone !

[Kungfu]

Osaka-style Okonomiyaki is prepared like a pancake. The batter and other ingredients are spread and fried on both sides, using either a hot plate (teppan) or a pan. The finished product is then served with further toppings such as okonomiyaki sauce (similar to Worcestershire sauce but thicker and sweeter), nori, fish flakes, mayonnaise (optional), and ginger.

The things you learn eh?

[Jushin-Thunder-Liger]

Osaka-style Okonomiyaki is prepared like a pancake. The batter and other ingredients are spread and fried on both sides, using either a hot plate (teppan) or a pan. The finished product is then served with further toppings such as okonomiyaki sauce (similar to Worcestershire sauce but thicker and sweeter), nori, fish flakes, mayonnaise (optional), and ginger.

The things you learn eh?

Okonomiyaki is probably the only Japanese dish ive tasted that i dont like, more facts like this comming soon!

[Nobu]

Okay, this is another question which has nothing to do with the last couple of posts, but someone here might be able to answer this.

Turns out it's cheaper to get two round-trip tickets from Norway - Japan (that's to Japan and back to Norway - twice), than to buy a single round-trip ticket from Japan - Norway ('cause tickets in Japan are hella expensive, apparently). Which leads me to my question:

Would the airline possibly cancel the return-part of my ticket (from Japan to Norway) if I didn't use the first part of it (Norway - Japan, not used as I'm already in Japan)? After using only the return-part to go to Norway I'd then use the next round-trip ticket to go to Japan and back to Norway "as normal".

The reason for asking about this is that I'm getting the initial ticket to Japan supplied by the Japanese Embassy here in Norway, but that's a one-way fare. When it actually would pay off to buy two round-fare tickets Norway-Japan (with BA) rather than getting one round-fare with JAL Japan-Norway (it's all in the country of origin here), I'd much rather get two tickets with BA than one with JAL.

[DCharlie]

The reason for asking about this is that I'm getting the initial ticket to Japan supplied by the Japanese Embassy here in Norway, but that's a one-way fare.

expect a lot of questions on arrival in Japan with a one way ticket. A few friends did something similar and they were basically grilled at Narita. If you are a tourist, you are expected to arrive with a valid return stub - or to turn up with a damn good reason why you don't have a return flight.

[Richard.John]

Okonomiyaki? Urgh, no thanks. Japanese cuisine on the whole is superb but they need to get out of the habit of mixing seafood and meat in the same dish. It's surely the first rule of cooking, the two don't mix.

My other gripe is that they seem to think that all western food needs to be covered in some sort of sauce,usually demi glace, to make it tasty, but that's not the case at all. Less is defintely more, as far as I am concerned.

[Jushin-Thunder-Liger]

Okonomiyaki? Urgh, no thanks. Japanese cuisine on the whole is superb but they need to get out of the habit of mixing seafood and meat in the same dish. It's surely the first rule of cooking, the two don't mix.

My other gripe is that they seem to think that all western food needs to be covered in some sort of sauce,usually demi glace, to make it tasty, but that's not the case at all. Less is defintely more, as far as I am concerned.

And those sickly sweet "Indian" curry's, come on guys get a bit of spice in there!

The Iranian food is very nice in Tokyo isnt it? Give it a go, very aromatic but not spicy. Delicious

[Darwock]

expect a lot of questions on arrival in Japan with a one way ticket. A few friends did something similar and they were basically grilled at Narita. If you are a tourist, you are expected to arrive with a valid return stub - or to turn up with a damn good reason why you don't have a return flight.

He's not a tourist though, he's on some kind of scholarship at a Japanese Uni, I'm sure that won't cause any problems whatsoever.

[Nobu]

expect a lot of questions on arrival in Japan with a one way ticket. A few friends did something similar and they were basically grilled at Narita. If you are a tourist, you are expected to arrive with a valid return stub - or to turn up with a damn good reason why you don't have a return flight.

Edit: ..which is why I got the ticket from the embassy, btw.

[DCharlie]

oh cool! sorry - missed that part, then you should be totally fine then!

[Nobu]

Yeah, except for the bit about the tickets for going back and forth between Japan, after arriving. I reckon they wouldn't cancel the return part of the ticket, as that would mean the whole ticket is invalid if you miss your first flight to where you are going. I assume people still make it to their destinations if they really need to be there, and also are able to use the return part of their first ticket for going back. That's also how those last-minute ticket spaces open up, I figure..?

[Richard.John]

Nobu,

On the visa under entries it says 'single'. AFAIK, it means that if you leave and then return, prior to the expiry of the visa, you will have to purchase a re-entry visa, commonly known as the 'gaijin tax'. If not, your visa will be invalidated and you will have to re-apply or grovel to immigration at Narita.

Just be aware before you decide to go on your hols to Hawaii, LOL

[Nobu]

Nobu,

On the visa under entries it says 'single'. AFAIK, it means that if you leave and then return, prior to the expiry of the visa, you will have to purchase a re-entry visa, commonly known as the 'gaijin tax'. If not, your visa will be invalidated and you will have to re-apply or grovel to immigration at Narita.

Just be aware before you decide to go on your hols to Hawaii, LOL

Yeah, read about that. Will make sure to get a multiple re-entry permit as I'll be going back to Norway probably twice a year. Thanks for mentioning, also.

[Duk]

Booked my flights for the end of September, can't wait.

Virgin have currently got an offer on Premium Economy seats as well, but it expires today according to the website.

Was looking around for a hotel, the Century Hyatt in Shinjuku seems to be a nice hotel :-

http://tokyo.century.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp

Anyone stayed there before?