Are you ready Starting November 20th 2007 Japan will start to fingerprint and photograph people entering Japan. The fingerprints, photographs and other biometric data of foreign visitors will be stored in a computer for cross-checking with a list of wanted criminals and people who have been deported in the past. Investigative authorities will have access to the data.
The prints will remain on record for 70 years. According to the new procedures, if requested, the Justice Ministry will turn over the data to the police and other government agencies.
This excludes ethnic Koreans and other permanent residents with special status, those under 16, those visiting Japan for diplomatic or official purposes, and those invited by the state.
Japan Times said an estimated 6-7 million foreigners entering Japan every year will be covered by the ordinance.
Hakone Kowakien Yunessun in Hakone Japan is offering just about every man’s dream, a kick ass beer bath! Until until December 31 you hit up the spa and enjoy a relaxing bath in a beer mug shaped tub full of beer. I recommend not asking for Miller Lite since it’s an import here and can be pretty pricey. The Yunessun also offers baths of coffee, tea, wine and Japanese sake.
Hakone, Japan is considered the most popular Onsen (aka Hot Springs) resort areas in Japan, and Yunessun takes full advantage of the abundance of high quality hot springs in Hakone. Here’s how you get there!
Read more about this at Google News
Wal-Mart is in Japan. I couldn’t believe it and recently I’ve spotted the “GreatValue” brand that’s owned by Wal-Mart in a few grocery stores here. Sure the brand is generic but they sure do rack the price up here in Japan vs. the United States GreatValue price (uber lame!). I just read that Wal-Mart got into the Japan market back in 2002 and owns 50.9% of the struggling Japanese copmany Seiyu. Wal-Mart said it would offer 140 yen per Seiyu common share with the goal of taking full ownership of this drowning company. That would be about $878 Million. Let’s convert to yen as of the current currency conversion rate…
878,000,000 in USD would be 100,495,879,196 Yen. That’s why the Yen is so cool when you’re an American… it sounds like a shit load of money. 10 dollars? Oh hellz no! 1,000 Yen! That’s where it’s at! Continue reading ‘Wal-Mart in Japan (aka Seiyu)’
I took United Airlines for my flight to Japan. I highly recommend them because of customer service and comfort. This was my first time taking this airline and it was my first choice because at the time it was the least expensive option. I’ve flown a few other airlines so I thought I’d give you a breakdown of what I thought of each one. I’ll rate each one on a 5 point scale overall based on my experiences. 1 being poor, 5 being excellent.
United Airlines - My rating: 5/5
I’ve flown with this airline one time.
Exit row gave me tons of leg room. Personal TV screen to watch movies was nice. Adjustable head rest was awesome! I was comfortable. I was not bored. Flight attendants were curtius and helpful. The ticket counter was friendly as well. Food was okay.
US Airways - My rating: 4/5
I’ve flown with this airline a few times.
Overall decent. First class seats are great. Leather, lots of room. Friendly staff.
Continue reading ‘Airline Review’
I just picked up a Living in Fukuoka guide book from the foreign registration office. It’s pretty sweet and talks about how certain things are different in Japan, where to take some Japanese language courses, how to sort your trash, what to do in case of an emergency, how to get a Japanese drivers license, and a ton of other things. I’ll definitely post some info from the guide book so others can get answers to their questions. Until then you can do some research on the Fukuoka Website.
WTF? “No personal handy telephone inside. Thank you.” When I saw this it made me laugh because I’ve never heard this before. I did some research to see if it was real or a messed up phrase and all I could find was information about a mobile network in China.
From Wikipedia:
The Personal Handy-phone System (PHS), also marketed as the Personal Access System (PAS) and known as Xiaolingtong (å°çµé€š) in China, is a mobile network system operating in the 1880-1930 MHz frequency band, used mainly in Japan, China, Taiwan and some other Asian countries.
Do you use this phrase in your country?
Sure sure you might be saying “Only in Tokyo” but you should be saying “Only in Japan” because there’s crazy stuff all over the place. Anyway there’s a restaurant in Tokyo that has created the ultimate ramen + desert in one package. Looks simple enough. Take some ramen, add some ice cream, and then eat as much as you can before puking. Nice! You can hit up this dish at a local ramen shop called “Kikuya” by taking a 15 minute walk north Kitasenjyu Station in Tokyo. If you want ramen it up and need to find Kikuya ASAP then memorize the name and these characters: èŠã‚„ To help you get lost I’ll include a map of Kitasenjyu Station (might not work) and I think this is a map showing where Kikuya is located.
That flavors can you expect? Vanilla Ice Cream Ramen, Chocolate Ramen, and every bodies favorite… Green Tea Ramen (LIKE WHOA!) Something to remember is that ice cream ramen could be a limtied summer time edition this year (like I heard it was last year) and if you show up too late in the season you might end up with some Coffee Ramen (a.k.a. kohii gyunyu ramen). Other items on the menu include white ramen (yogurt), red ramen (tomato), natto ramen, milk ramen, hot cocoa ramen, pork kimchi ramen, and other crazy combinations. Regular ramen is 500 Yen but if you choose that option I’m sure people will look at you funny.
Here’s a review if you can read Japanese (a friend gave me the link). I found out about this restaurant from this blog (it’s in Japanese too, which I cannot read). He seems to only visit strange restaurants so check it out. The pictures above are from his blog and ramen experience.
If you eat this, come back and let me know!
Today’s currency conversion rate is at ï¿¥114 to $1. Good thing I converted some money when the rate was 116 Yen per 1 US Dollar, and I almost made the 117 mark! The dollar is getting weaker (of course) and now the Yen is on the rise. Thank God I don’t live in Canada right now with that type of conversion ($1 USD = 0.96 CAD). I’m no financial expert but if the US Dollar keeps declining in value at this rate and Japan’s economy improves… well… this could mean that 100 Yen to $1 USD might be happening in the next year. That sucks for people getting paid in US Dollars. On top of that conversion rate I’m getting nailed with a 2% transaction fee. 1% from MasterCard and 1% from my Bank to convert money at stores, restaurants, atms, etc. I’m waiting to get the debit card from Capital One all squared away to lessen the fees I’m getting hit with but it’s going to take forever. (Side note: in this case forever means about one month)
I just read about the Yen’s 6 week high at Bloomberg.com Continue reading ‘The US Dollar sucks right now’
Awe shiznit!! Is your qmail queue out of control? Look no further! Here’s a quick and easy way to clear, clean, or empty your qmail queue.
This script should not remove anything it should not remove, and it should clear all e-mail from your qmail queue safely so you can start sending mail normally again. (This is for qmail only and not a solution for any other mail programs.) You’re going to need ssh access and an ssh program like putty or putty portable. Continue reading ‘Clear / clean / empty the qmail queue’
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