The Japan trip resource thread 2.

[briareos_kerensky]

Are they though? I never had to present any item at Japanese custom exiting the country, I did once and they said there's no need because everything is taken care of when you buy stuff and fill all the paperwork there.
In Singapore if you wanted money back you had to present items, but that wasn't for export control, it was for you to get a refund.

[Anpanman]

Are they though?

Strictly speaking yes though as I said in reality the system runs on a trust basis hence the lack of physical checks done.

This is from an Osaka travel site;

https://osaka-info.jp/en/page/duty-free

"At Customs at the airport, the tax-free purchased item will be checked and the form will be collected by the clerk. So, please keep both ready for inspection"

This is the official customs site;

http://www.customs.go.jp/english/summary/passenger.htm

Purchase of Tax-Free Articles
When you purchase articles at specified "tax-free" shops, consumption tax on those articles may be exempted on condition that they are taken out of Japan. When you purchase tax-free articles, you will be required to present your passport at the shop and you will receive a card entitled " Record of Purchase of Consumption-Tax-Exempt for Export, " which will be attached to your passport. Articles purchased tax free will be checked with the card by a Customs officer, who will collect the card at the time of your departure from Japan.

[Yakumo]

This is all new to me. Maybe because I'm a pernament resident of Japan but I've never had to hand in any receipts when leaving the country. Or even seen an area where this must be done. That's leaving via Fukuoka or Narita.
Maybe because I use the same gate as Japanese people? I don't know. Back in 1997 I was checked when leaving. I came to Japan to buy games. They stopped me with a case full of Saturn games. Man, that was a tough time. The guy asked what they were for and no matter how many times I said they were for me he kept pushing that I was going to resell them. There was no request for receipts back then or maybe the guy just didn't bother.

[Asura]

This is all new to me. Maybe because I'm a pernament resident of Japan but I've never had to hand in any receipts when leaving the country. Or even seen an area where this must be done. That's leaving via Fukuoka or Narita.

It only applies to tourists. In Tokyo, you can get tax discounts on purchases if you present a tourist visa, but Japan residents aren't eligible (even if they're foreign nationals) - you deal with different processes going in and out of the country.

[Yakumo]

It only applies to tourists. In Tokyo, you can get tax discounts on purchases if you present a tourist visa, but Japan residents aren't eligible (even if they're foreign nationals) - you deal with different processes going in and out of the country.

Ah, that would explain it.

[randombs]

Yeah, we're exempt. Enjoy your discounts, you heathens.

[cutmymilk]

If you also have a UK passport you could get discounts every time you buy some clothes in Uniqlo!

[teddymeow]

I know this and yet I've never taken advantage of the tax free shopping.

[kryss]

I've only visited once and really didn't have the patience to do the tax thing.

[Anpanman]

If you also have a UK passport you could get discounts every time you buy some clothes in Uniqlo!

There is a minimum spend though, you can't just buy a t-shirt for 500 yen and get it tax free it used to be over 10,000 yen so 10,001 and above.

That's where we normally get tax free shopping and did this year, it was over 30,000 yen we spent.

[Dogg Thang]

There is an event at the end of the year called Pixel Art Park in Tokyo that I’d like to go to. It is entirely about whether I can afford it so It may very well not happen but, if I go, I’ll need to be able to speak just a little Japanese - some pretty specific things mostly about work I do. So on the off chance that this trip happens, I have been trying to learn some Japanese phrases and at least get familiar with the sounds of the language. But it feels like it was rushed to market and will need a hefty patch before it’s ready. I mean, how can there be a word for shoe but not foot? And the word order is all over the place because it drops some of the key words in a sentence, like who we’re actually talking about. It’s not a user friendly language at all. I notice even on Terrace House with native speakers that they actually have to ask who they are talking about a bizarre amount of times. It’s a tough language.

So I’m struggling. Hoping in the next few months, they patch it so they stick to one alphabet and add support for inclusion of subjects in sentences. I don’t really want to buy any DLC but if they offer a word for foot at a decent price, I’ll probably take the plunge.

[saif]

Hi. I don't know about the software above, but the textbooks I would recommend from the past are "Minna No Nihongo".

The Japanese language is not so difficult in many ways (linguistically) - but Japanese culture makes it very difficult to get. Stick at it!

[kryss]

There is an event at the end of the year called Pixel Art Park in Tokyo that I’d like to go to. It is entirely about whether I can afford it so It may very well not happen but, if I go, I’ll need to be able to speak just a little Japanese - some pretty specific things mostly about work I do. So on the off chance that this trip happens, I have been trying to learn some Japanese phrases and at least get familiar with the sounds of the language. But it feels like it was rushed to market and will need a hefty patch before it’s ready. I mean, how can there be a word for shoe but not foot? And the word order is all over the place because it drops some of the key words in a sentence, like who we’re actually talking about. It’s not a user friendly language at all. I notice even on Terrace House with native speakers that they actually have to ask who they are talking about a bizarre amount of times. It’s a tough language.

So I’m struggling. Hoping in the next few months, they patch it so they stick to one alphabet and add support for inclusion of subjects in sentences. I don’t really want to buy any DLC but if they offer a word for foot at a decent price, I’ll probably take the plunge.

Chargeable spoiler tags, the new craze on BordersDown.
US$1:

->Open Spoiler<-

足

You can send the cheque to the usual address.

Could you do smooze randombs into interpreting for you if you go?

[Dogg Thang]

THAT’S THE WHOLE LEG!

Thanks for the textbook recommendation. I’m currently using a combo of Duolingo and JapanesePod101. Duolingo is great in some ways but it explains nothing and that’s a big problem with Japanese. It also struggles with kanji which can lead to mistakes. For example, it can teach you pronunciation of a word and asks you to make the word but then it pronounces the kanji as if it was on its own, which is different.

JapanesePod101 has generally been really good but there are so many lessons it’s almost overwhelming. Still, so far it’s a good resource. But I could probably do with a textbook to really help with the mechanics, especially sentence structure and why and when it changes.

And yes, maybe I could recruit randombs to assist!

[kryss]

For airfare and my body weight in Twiglets I would join you if he's not available.