Japan

[swvic]

You know, it wasn't weird, it was just where I lived. Kids are pretty flexible

Yeah, of course. More simple than I was thinking

In grade 5 and 6, I'd get on the train and go into Melb to watch a movie or down to Luna Park in St Kilda with a mate. I also started doing a morning paper round when I was 9. Nothing bad ever happened. Many parents are a bit too worried about nothing these day. Although, not being a parent, it's easy for me to say that

Guy I went to trade school with spent his mid teens in a SE Asian country I can't recall. His dad was in the military. Pocket money was enough to pay for sex so he often did. He also often got crabs and reckons Mortein worked well

[ctd]

root any Japanese babes?

At 11 years old? It wasn't the North coast hinterland.

Movies had no ratings so I could see anything, although publishing displays of pubic hair was illegal, so playboy et al had big black circles in all the photos. Like Qld I gather. Not sure how that rule would have worked with today's downstairs hair fashion, but it was the 1970s so wasn't an issue.

[swvic]

Cheers, dongss, but if you'd read my 1st post, you'd be aware that I'm not going to surf which takes care of your 1st point. Had you read any further, you'd have also discovered we'll probably not be spending much time in the cities which covers your 2nd point

[ctd]

Jetstar is having a sale to Japan atm

[swvic]

A mate sent me a link to it a few days ago, but alas none of the dates quite fit our rigid schedule

[alakaboo]

Hey swivel I haven't forgotten. Maybe tomorrow.

[swvic]

No worries, 'boo. At your convenience is fine

[swvic]

Ok, it's definitely Japan. For 3 weeks in 2 weeks. Got a fair bit sorted already. Itinerary is very loose - it's usually how we go

One thing I'm finding particularly tedious is gathering useful phone/internet info. I'd like to take my own phone and buy a local SIM to use for calls and data. Seems they don't really allow that though, but you can apparently rent a SIM with or without phone

I think my phone will work on the local frequencies, but not 100% sure. Local frequencies are apparently WCDMA2100/ UMTS2100/ HSDPA2100. My Moto G (2nd Gen, pet) runs on;

UMTS: 850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz
HSPA+ DL 21.1Mbps (Cat 14) / UL 5.76Mbps (Cat 6)
UMTS/HSPA+ (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)

There's also some shit about devices complying with the Radio Law of Japan. Is that a barrier?

One mob of cnuts (aussie sim) could supply a card, but data would cost $23 per fcuking MB. I thought it was a mistake so I asked for clarification - surely it was $23 per GB? No, per MB was correct

Any info would be most welcome

[alakaboo]

There's WiFi everywhere, in trains and hotels, I didn't bother.

Your phone should work, but it is much cheaper to rent one at the airport when you land if you need data and phone calls.

[alakaboo]

Have you got your rail pass sorted? They take a while to arrive

[swvic]

Cheers 'boo. Rent it is. Have a 14 day JR Pass that I expect to arrive this week. Will grab a Suica or Pasmo to use until we activate it - plan to spend 5 or so days in and around Tokyo first so a 21 day JR Pass would be of limited value

Is the WiFi free or if not, easy to pay for?

[alakaboo]

Free in hotels and public places. Have to pay on the train, easy to do with a credit card. Normally free on buses I think.

Suica worked better for us but there is not much in it.

[swvic]

I'm back. It was fcuken great. Over a few posts I'll give a brief account of what we did

Arrived in the morning after a night flight. No sleep at all which is usual for me on a plane. Mrs swvic also didn't sleep. On top of that she had a migraine and spewed a couple of times. Needless to say, we arrived not feeling all that great

Got into Tokyo from the airport on the train and had to sort out phone/internet and find accommodation I’d booked through Airbnb. Accomm was in/near Shinjuku so I went to a Bic Camera store and bought a SIM. With that I set up a Skype account with a Japanese number so I could be contacted. I then called the owner of our accommodation for direction. He barely spoke a word of English and, as ‘boo, smn and Legion can all probably attest, addresses aren’t necessarily easy to find in Japan. We did manage to glean that his place was in Takadanobaba – 2 stops away on the main Tokyo loop. There we were helped out by a young couple who managed to find the place. That was most of the day gone so it was into bed pretty early

Woke up still not feeling too great so decided to make a cruisy day of getting on a train to Kamakura to check out a temple with a statue of a giant Buddha which survived a tsunami a few hundred years ago. After that, we thought we’d walk along a trail up the hill to a few other temples and shrines in the area

[ctd]

great photo. My trip got postponed due to family issues so will be reading with interest for tips

[swvic]

Yeah, I was intrigued by the paradox of statue, traditional dress and mobile phone, particularly the selfie. The photos I post will just be snaps I've taken with my phone (mrs swvic is the piccy taker). I tried to limit myself to just one per day which I mostly adhered to. I'll be posting a few more

Almost forgot to mention the journey to Kamakura. We had to take a local train from where we were staying. Morning peak. Squashed in like never before. Mrs swvic shoved a woman's bag up into her face to help create some room and was thanked for it

Hope your family issues are soon resolved satisfactorily. Don't be too concerned about tips. I probably was and am very grateful to everyone (particularly 'boo) who provided them, but it's a very easy place to be. The only accommodation we had booked was where we first stayed. Other than that it was on the fly using booking.com and agoda. Mostly we stayed at places for just one or 2 nights. Kyoto was the exception at 3 nights and we did return there for another night a bit later on

Moving around so much doesn't eat too much into your capacity to see and do stuff because Shinkansen are so fcuking fast. I saw a kid with a T-shirt depicting the new E5, E6 & E7 models and wanted one for myself (yeah, I know). Hunted them down to a store at Tokyo station, but only in kid sizes. Gutted. It's Japan ffs. Why they don't make bullet train shirts in adult sizes is a real mystery

[offshore1]

That is adult size silly

[Drailed]

Blessing in disguise swivic.

#geek

[swvic]

Nah, harness the inner geek. When you take a Shinkansen, you'll just know