Konnichiwa! Tips for Visiting Japan Part 3

Advantages: Successful communication feels like an achievement
Disadvantages: It pays to invest some time and effort

...English. Even though Japanese children learn English at school, the standard of English teaching is generally not particularly high and they tend to focus on written rather than spoken English. You may sometimes encounter a Japanese person who wants to practice his English with you (and I have actually had people approach me in the street or on a train and launch into a conversation straight out of an English language text book) but more often than not they are too shy or embarrassed about their linguistic ability to say anything in English. This sometimes means that even if they understand what you are saying in English they may pretend not to, so as to avoid having to reply in English. My advice to the gaijin visitor is that your experience in Japan will be greatly enhanced and considerably more enjoyable if you take the trouble to learn...

Mitsudan 25.02.2008 · Read review
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Review of General: Japan

Curious Customs: Tips for Visiting Japan, Part 2

Advantages: A great adventure
Disadvantages: Leave that handkerchief at home!

...Welcome to the second part of my top ten tips for visitors to Japan. As this follows on from Part 1 (surprisingly enough), I'll be kicking off with number 6. By the way, in case you haven't read Part 1 I'll just mention that gaijin is Japanese for foreigner. <6> ◄Eating in Japan► Japan is home to one of the one of the world's great cuisines and the Japanese are passionate about food; indeed it is a bigger topic of conversation in Japan than the weather is in Britain. Japanese food is a huge subject and as I'm only offering a few tips for travellers here I can only scratch the surface. I should perhaps mention that my Japanese friends have persuaded me to try just about every weird and wonderful culinary concoction imaginable and I've never suffered any ill effects. Often the things I could barely bring myself to put in...

Mitsudan 22.08.2007 · Read review
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Review of Customs (Japan)

Japan delivered to your door

Advantages: All things Japanese for the discerning British shopper
Disadvantages: In store labelling/signage isn't the best

....japancentre.com* The online portal for the Japan Centre is bright, cheerful and highly enjoyable to navigate around (perhaps more so than the store!) It's a colourful site, with plenty of explanatory icons and good descriptions for the products. Products are divided into eight categories on the homepage (Food, Drink and Sake, Instant, Cookware, Magazines, Books and Origami) and customers can access these by clicking on the icons in the centre of the page or the buttons on the module/menu at the left hand side. Some products are also available in wholesale quantities/prices and I really had to think about whether or not I needed 8kg of wasabi peas! Personally, I like to browse using the menus at the left hand side of the page, as clicking on them opens further sublevels which makes it very easy to browse products effectively. The site has very good search...

edinburgher 14.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Japan Centre

Kyoto, the OLD capital of Japan.

Advantages: Cheap area, gorgeous attractions and temples, good for short visits!
Disadvantages: Limited activity so best for -5 day visits.

...I visited Japan at the end of this July, and have only just returned. I must say it was the holiday of a lifetime. Flights cost £900 each via British Airways. We visited Kyoto for 3 days. We got there via Shinkansen from Tokyo, and stayed at the New Miyako hotel, just over the road from Kyoto station. Kyoto was absolutely gorgeous and very easy to navigate around. You can get just about anywhere you want to from Kyoto Station. There are buses, subway trains etc. 220 yen is all you need for a bus ride to anywhere along the Kyoto bus lines. That works out at around £1. You just hop on the bus and pay when you get off. We visited Toei movie land which was a bit of a dissapointment. www.eigamura30.com. Looking at brochures we expected amazing movie scenes etc but it left a lot to be desired. A lot of it was shut off, and most...

Jellypigs 18.08.2008 · Read review
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Review of Kyoto (Japan)

Recommended places to visit in Japan

Advantages: Great places to visit, many things to do, new technologies
Disadvantages: some things are pricey especially the latest technologies, jet lag

...I visited Japan last summer with a friend and we spent about a month there. We visited the following cities: Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima and Kyoto. ~Tokyo~ Tokyo is a lot like London. It's made up of a number of very distinct villages - each with their own character and often populated with a variety of characters - some of whom may only come out at night - and are not necessarily vampires! Most of the main areas in Tokyo are stops on the Yamanote Line - Tokyo's equivalent of the Circle Line (only more efficient!). Getting a day ticket to go round this line doesn't turn you into a train spotter. It is an ideal way to get your bearings and it provides a reasonable overview of the City. The streets of Tokyo are laid out in a grid pattern similar to those of New York and other larger cities. At first sight, each street not only looked...

rambo 01.05.2005 · Read review
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Review of General: Japan

Easy travel in Japan!

Advantages: easy to use, use as many time as you want during valid day
Disadvantages: limited location to exchange voucher

...Traveling in Japan is quite costly. So having a Japan Rail (JR) Pass is an excellent way for the foreigners to see Japan. However, you want to evaluate your situation before purchasing the JR pass as if you do not use it, there will be about 20% service fee for unused ticket refund or not getting full value for the money. Confusing? It could be... but it is fairly simple. JR pass: (quick overview) 1* pre-purchased Exchange Order (voucher) outside Japan for the foreign travelers on temporary visitor status (include nationals living in foreign country) 2* JR Pass allows you to travel free on any "Japan Railways" trains (but NOT private rail lines) including well famous Bullet Train (Shinkansen - Hikari and Kodama, NOT Nozomi). Also some JR bus systems. 3* 2 types of pass: GREEN and ORDINARY. Green is more costly than Ordinary...

mckey 21.01.2008 · Read review
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Review of Japan Rail Pass

Apple MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.5 GHz - 17" TFT

Advantages: nice screen, good battery life, fast specs
Disadvantages: large size (price?)

...Apple mac-books, where to start... ok, so to start, it is an apple, that means you get a solid quality product and on the whole very good customer are. this particualar apple is deffinatly more suited to being a media center than other laptops. At first glance you realise that it is a fairly large laptop, this allows for a big screen, which being an apple ffers clear vivid displays, unfortunatly the big screen increases the overal size and also uses more battery, however, the 4.5 hour yattery is still very good for an entertainment laptop. The laptops technical specs include a very fast 2.5 ghz dual core proccesor which is very fast, the dual core allows it to tackle multiple tasks quicly as well as increasing the overall speed of the laptop. The price is quite steep however, but i believe, if given the money, it is...

pieceofmind 29.04.2008 (30.04.2008) · Read review
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Review of Apple MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.5 GHz - 17" TFT

A Book Lover

Advantages: Well-drawn characters. Creative use of words.
Disadvantages: A little difficult to adjust to the changing style of writing

...The Book Thief written by Australian author Marcus Zusak was published in Australia in 2005 as an adult novel and in America in 2006 as a children?s novel. It finally came to the UK in 2007 published by Doubleday and Black Swan in both adult and teen-age versions. Though I have to admit, I do not know what the differences between the two versions are! My copy and the one I am reviewing is the adult version. The novel proved to be a triumphant success greeted by glowing accolades from a wide range of literary reviewers ? excerpts of which can be found in the book. The most apt from The Irish Examiner, ?A peculiar tale, whose deceptively plain language and cryptic style describe the most profound of human emotions and the most hideous of human actions . . . an unusual and compelling novel? Set in Nazi Germany during the Second World...

MAFARRIMOND 03.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

IBC Japan

Advantages: Excellent service, loads for pictures and honest infomation on cars.
Disadvantages: Some cars can be expensive.

...pictures as you want, an honest inspection with an homest report. Plus the service is amazing with 24/7 chat/phone/skype/e-mail. if you cant get in contact to voice a concern you must be a techonlogy virgin! If you want a car form Japan then IBC is perfect for buying your own personal car and also the auction offers dealers the best prices if you know enough about the cars you want to sell. I would highly reccomend IBC. check it out www.ibcjapan.co.jp...

importmad 03.04.2007 · Read review
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Review of IBC Japan Car Exporter

An introduction to bizarre Japan

Advantages: Despite things being bizarre they're strangely enjoyable
Disadvantages: Everyone else thinks you're weird for liking them

...Okay I have a theory. ALL JAPANESE PEOPLE ARE INSANE. I`m yet to be proven wrong. One advantage of this is though that they do create some of the most bizarre and wonderful things. So lets forget about the temples and castle these are the things you`ll really remember about Japan. 1.VENDING MACHINES Not bizarre in themselves but they are actually every where, millions of them. Most sell just drinks and cigarettes, some sell alcohol(now be honest would that work in Britain, can you imagine how many drunken 12 year olds there would be lying about on the streets). They get slowly more unusual and bizarre, newspapers, pot plants, fast food. The most bizarre are the legendary vending machines that sell used school girls knickers, having not seen one I can`t guarentee that they still exist. Strangely though I haven`t found a single one...

randymutley 29.06.2004 · Read review
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Review of General: Japan