Anybody living in Japan?

alainphoto wrote in post #12021585
Hello guys
I am safe and far from Tokyo
I am glad to hear from you and keep finger crossed for the coming days
Take care
Alain

Hey Alain, thanks for checking in.
I think everyone has been hoping to hear that all POTN-Japan members are safe and well.
Keep clear of the trouble.
Regards,
Simon
(Also a long way from Tokyo!!!)

Hope things are still going well for POTNers in Japan. Also, hope that things at Fukushima end up well.

Our tour to Japan in April has been cancelled. The Japan Tourist Bureau and the US organizer decided that there were too many uncertainties, especially since the tour would have started and ended in Tokyo. The tour may be rescheduled for this Fall.

Again, all my thoughts are with the people of Japan.

This time of year there is often only one westward 2-lane highway traversing the north-south spine of mountains between the prefectures/states of Fukushima and Niigata, and between Miyagi and Yamagata for 25 miles, the safest direction of travel away from the Fukushima plants....

....and with the half-million displaced people needing to be resettled during the reconstruction that will take 10 years, it is quite likely that there will be no hotel rooms available ANYwhere in Japan for quite some time as those hotels may be the only place to put so many people....

....once in hotels Japan will have to build "New Towns" to temporarily house these people who will want to return to their home towns that MAY be rebuilt....MAYbe rebuilt....

....I say MAY because it is very possible that no new towns/cities will be rebuilt in a designated tsunami zone established for miles in-land stretching along the coast....

Greetings - Just now processing some photos taken shortly after the disaster when my hospital was in full receiving mode. Among the most challenging were the airlifted chronic ventilator patients, who without stable power, clean water and medications surely would have died. I rarely shoot the action in the ER but felt the need to document some of our heroic staff.
Cheers,
John

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

john-in-japan wrote in post #12167619
Greetings - Just now processing some photos taken shortly after the disaster when my hospital was in full receiving mode. Among the most challenging were the airlifted chronic ventilator patients, who without stable power, clean water and medications surely would have died. I rarely shoot the action in the ER but felt the need to document some of our heroic staff.
Cheers,
John

Keep the shots coming John.
As you said, these need to be posted so that first-hand views are seen around the world.
Take care,
Simon

The human touch can be most reassuring:

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

Well... Springtime! These were taken in my back yard recently, most over the weekend. Cherry blossoms over Lake Mishima in Chiba on Saturday in the rain.
Cheers,
John

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

Beautiful shots, John.
Nice to see that nature can still please as well as punish, up north!

John, amazing work, nice captures of tragic times. Speaking of which, I will be swinging by in about two weeks. great macros!!! Loved those, nice to see something beautiful in contrast with the devastation we keep on seeing over there.

I'll be heading over to Japan next week and will be staying for one year to teach English. I hope to really capture the essence of Japanese culture and its beauty through the lens, much like how Alain is. If anyone is living in or near Tokyo, let me know! I'd love to meet fellow POTNers there.

XxDJCyberLoverxX wrote in post #12330383
I'll be heading over to Japan next week and will be staying for one year to teach English. I hope to really capture the essence of Japanese culture and its beauty through the lens, much like how Alain is. If anyone is living in or near Tokyo, let me know! I'd love to meet fellow POTNers there.

Good luck!
And (soon), WELCOME TO JAPAN....it's a crazy place!

XxDJCyberLoverxX wrote in post #12330383
I'll be heading over to Japan next week and will be staying for one year to teach English. I hope to really capture the essence of Japanese culture and its beauty through the lens, much like how Alain is. If anyone is living in or near Tokyo, let me know! I'd love to meet fellow POTNers there.

Enjoy enjoy...I spent 3 years there teaching English...back in the 90s...
Off the top of my head....

1. bring an extra pair of shoes...especially if you have big feet...and make them loafers since you'll be taking them off regularly

2. don't bring any towels...and when you bathe/shower use the THINNEST towel you can find to dry yourself off (wringing out the towel often)...a thick American towel will get mouldy before it gets dry! (btw...Japanese soap and rinse BEFORE getting in the bath...)

3. bring wash and wear fabrics as electric dryers are often not available...
You may have to hang clothes out to dry...

4. bring a large supply of asperin/ibuprofin if you use it...it's expensive there...as are prescription meds if you're not on national health.

5. bring an extra set of eye-glasses, and your prescription, in case you need replacement.

6. if you have any subscription media, try to change your address to forward them to Japan (if possible)...print media is expensive...or bring a kindle type reader...

7. consider getting a US smartphone program with overseas internet connections as Japanese service is/was once very expensive (charging by the LINE back then)...

8. consider a compact shortwave radio for international radio broadcast...

9. if you have a notebook that can record video you may want to take it to record tv...recordings make for a nice souvenir...renting DVDs is cheap so you can use you notebook for entertainment...don't know if netflix is available in Japan...

10...and don't forget to take the plunge in some public baths ('sento ofuroh")...and go to an "onsen" (hotspring, on the maps marked with a cauldron with steam rising)

11. Google the Japanese Inn Group for the cheapest hotels in Japan...often small, family owned ("ryokan")

12. Get an international drivers license so you can drive a car in Japan...it's fun

13. not last and not least...take time if you can to visit Korea and China...to see just how different Japan is from Asian countries (Japan is NOT Asia)

If I can think of any other little things like these I'll let post them...

again...enjoy...

14. the best deals on gear (photo and otherwise) are in neighborhood "recycle" (pawn/thrift) shops...

kitacanon wrote in post #12345122
Enjoy enjoy...I spent 3 years there teaching English...back in the 90s...
Off the top of my head....

[1~14 snipped....so look up there!]
Great list!
Here's my adaption:
1 - If you have big feet, yes, bring extra shoes, but if your feet are up to 30cm long, don't bother as we've lots of cheap shoes available.
2 - Agree!
3 - If you're body-size is "normal", bring as little clothing as possible, as you can buy plenty here, which is suited to the climate.
4 - Ibuprofen is now cheaply, and widely available. Haven't seen asperin though....
5 - Glasses are cheap and plentiful here now. And "made while you wait" is all the rage!
6 - If it were me, I'd cancel subscriptions.....and get into the Japanese stuff!
7 - A one year contract means exactly that here....so if you're going to leave in less than 366 days, yes, get a 'phone over there.
8 - Perhaps using the internet might be easier...?
9 - Again, internet gives us so much access these days....
10 - Onsen are great! Especially in remote areas.
11 - Online booking for hotels using a network called "Jalan" is by far the cheapest way I've found of using hotels. Your support team can help you with that.
12 - Driving here is great!!! Except for the slow speed limits, poorly maintained roads, badly signed towns and cities, non-named streets, weird rules of the road, overly strict police, drivers of custom cars, people riding scooters, people "aiming in the generally correct direction" any super-compact sized cars, coaches on the highways..........etc, etc....
13 - Japan is a great base of Asia and Australasia. Enjoy!!!!!!
14 - Agree!
Regards (again!),
Simon

Almost forgot...don't know HOW but I did...

Food
....the cheapest place to eat is in govertment buildings....they all have cafeterias for employees and the public...

2nd cheapest are tented "restaurants" that open on the street at night (they are locals who pull up in small scooters and pull out a restaurant out of the side car....they are like the TARDIS given how much goes in them...)

3rd....top floor of department stores...lots of small fast food joints to keep you in the store...and at the top of course to make you shop on your way down and out...

4th cheapest place to eat are izakayas...beer joints...mostly serving appetizers that will make you want to buy more beer

5th....Korean all you can eat bbq grills "bulgogi" is the dish of marinated beef...grilled often in the middle of your own table...

The most outrageous food...NATTO....pronou​nced "nahto"...if offered, ask for a Nahto-cheese sandwich...it is the only palatible way to eat it...most Japanese will agree...

...and never let a server at a bar pour your drink...it adds $100 to your tab

and of course...RAMAN joints...blue banners are Japanese...red banners are Chinese...if I recall correctly

If you're not adept with chopsticks (hahshi), order Japanese curry...it's the only dish served in Japan with a spoon!

kitacanon wrote in post #12366305
Almost forgot...don't know HOW but I did...

Food
....the cheapest place to eat is in govertment buildings....they all have cafeterias for employees and the public...

2nd cheapest are tented "restaurants" that open on the street at night (they are locals who pull up in small scooters and pull out a restaurant out of the side car....they are like the TARDIS given how much goes in them...)

3rd....top floor of department stores...lots of small fast food joints to keep you in the store...and at the top of course to make you shop on your way down and out...

4th cheapest place to eat are izakayas...beer joints...mostly serving appetizers that will make you want to buy more beer

5th....Korean all you can eat bbq grills "bulgogi" is the dish of marinated beef...grilled often in the middle of your own table...

The most outrageous food...NATTO....pronou​nced "nahto"...if offered, ask for a Nahto-cheese sandwich...it is the only palatible way to eat it...most Japanese will agree...

...and never let a server at a bar pour your drink...it adds $100 to your tab

and of course...RAMAN joints...blue banners are Japanese...red banners are Chinese...if I recall correctly

If you're not adept with chopsticks (hahshi), order Japanese curry...it's the only dish served in Japan with a spoon!

This is rather fun...."old" advice (mostly still valid!) and "new" advice, albeit from further south!
SO,
Eating....
Yes, it is a risky business if you've a "western" palette, but my advice is to try everything and get over your upbringing.
The traditional Japanese diet will add years to your life, is low fat, a little high in salt, and despite what you might think, does have plenty of flavour - but only within a narrow band of taste - you'll get what I mean after about 6 months here.
As to natto, it's the food-of-the-gods. If my wife would let me, I'd eat it 10 times a day, as is, off a spoon (which we have plenty of here!)
Oh, and it's pronounced na as in napkin, with a glotal-stop, and to as in top, but with the British English "o"...not the US "a".
And "chopsticks" are usually called "o-hashi" which is polite.
But with all the above, it'll make a lot more sense after a month or 3....
Cheers for now,
Simon