Today we did some searching on Google Maps (good luck, it’s in Japanese, I don’t know what’s going on there). Within walking distance of where I live there are approximately 1056 Izakayas (most offer ‘all you can drink’ specials) and 470 Ramen Shops (the food of awesomeness). Pretty crazy! I heard that an Izakaya is a great place to relax and practice speaking Japanese with people. I plan on doing that some day… when I can speak more than 10 words. Nice!
Estimated expenses:
At the Izakaya you’ll spend about 3,000 Yen for food + all you can drink. Some place have specials such as all you can drink for 2 hours for 1,500 Yen per person if you’re with a group.
At the ramen shop you can eat for 400-650 yen. You can get noodle refills in Fukuoka (just say “kae dama kudasai”) for 50-150 yen.
An izakaya is a type of Japanese drinking establishment which also serves food to accompany the drinks. The food is usually more substantial than those offered in other types of drinking establishments in Japan such as bars or snacks. They are popular, casual and relatively cheap places for after-work drinking.
Ramen is a Japanese dish of noodles served in broth that originated in China. It tends to be served in a meat-based broth, and uses toppings such as sliced pork, dried seaweed, kamaboko, green onions, and even corn. Almost every locality or prefecture in Japan has its own variation of ramen, from the tonkotsu ramen of Kyushu to the miso ramen of Hokkaido.
Photo credits: izakaya-all-you-can-drink.jpg by w00kie http://flickr.com/photos/w00kie/1062155634/
A new Web site built by an American technology student has uncovered the lengths that companies apparently go to improve their public image by tweaking their entries on Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that - famously - “anyone can edit.”
The WikiScanner site, developed by Virgil Griffith, a researcher at the California Institute of Technology, reveals changes to the online encyclopedia by linking edits back to the computers from which they emanate using each computer’s unique IP address.
Griffith, 24, says he created the site “to create minor public relations disasters for companies and organizations I dislike” - a mission he may well have succeeded in.
I thought I’d post about the BCMLogon.dll problem I had with my computer in case other people run into the same error. I had this BCMLogon.dll issue with my Dell Inspiron 9300 Laptop. Apparently it has something to do with the wireless card. I don’t know what happened to create the error and I don’t remember changing any settings recently. Here’s the error my computer gave me:
A recently installed program has disabled the Welcome screen and Fast User Switching. To restore these features, you must uninstall the program. The following file name might help you identify the program that made the change: C:\WINDOWS\system32\BCMLogon.dllContinue reading ‘BCMLogon.dll Problem Resolved’
Does this exist in other countries? I’m talking about Love Hotels. There are different themed rooms to choose from, they make money (nearly 3 trillion yen in annual sales), but the downside is they’ve been associated with with gangs and red-light districts. Booooo
Japan’s secretive love hotels are opening up to European investors as one player in the sector prepares for a debut on London’s stock market this month.
Japan Leisure Hotels, which owns five love hotels worth some 21 million pounds ($43.68 million USD) in Japan, hopes to lure investors to its IPO with an 8 percent dividend and promises of fast growth — shedding light on a sector that is often associated with sleaze and organized crime.
Japan’s 25,000 or so love hotels have long provided discreet hideaways for couples, some featuring Karaoke machines or vibrating beds. Guernsey-based Japan Leisure Hotels rents out rooms for short stays lasting only a few hours, but the company’s director believes this system doesn’t just appeal to thrill-seekers…
This might get long so I’m going to give you a breakdown of what I’ll be talking about: Today’s listed exchange rate, today’s Mastercard exchange rate, 2% currency conversion fee, adding this all up you’ll see my true conversion rate.
I know some people have been curious about the conversion rate when you withdrawal from an ATM using your Visa Debit Card or Mastercard Debit Card. MC and Visa are supposed to give you fair exchange rates from what I’ve heard. Today I used my Mastercard to withdrawl funds from my U.S. bank and here’s the breakdown of charges and rates.
Today’s USD to Yen rate from www.xe.com is
1 USD = 114. .735 JPY
The actual rate I received
1 USD = 114.23 JPY
Not bad! But then my bank charged me 1% to do the currency conversion and Mastercard (as well as Visa) charges a 1% fee. So if I withdrawal 11,000 Yen my account would reflect a $96.30 withdrawal amount, a bank fee of $0.96 and a Mastercard fee of $0.96. That means for 11,000 Yen I was actually hit for $98.22 and in reality if you include the 2% in fees my true exchange rate from the ATM resulted in 112Yen per $1 USD.
Some people think that Japan is an expensive place to live. From my experience it’s not that bad. Sure some things are more expensive than other countries, but other things are more affordable. Only Tokyo and Osaka made the top 50 list for the highest cost of living in 2007. Not bad!
1) MOSCOW, Russia
2) LONDON, United Kingdom
3) SEOUL, South Korea
4) TOKYO, Japan
5) HONG KONG, Hong Kong
6) COPENHAGEN, Denmark
7) GENEVA, Switzerland
8 ) OSAKA, Japan
9) ZURICH, Switzerland
10) OSLO, Norway
One of the things I love about Japan >>> “Sonna no kankei nee! Sonna no kankei nee!” Oh hellz yeah! Yoshio Kojima (å°å³¶ よã—㊠from Wikipedia) is the guy that’s on TV a lot saying that and freaking out in a small bathing suit. Do I know what he’s talking about? Nope. Good times. Here’s a video I found and I don’t know how long it’ll work. Maybe forever, maybe for 1 hour.
Nova English teacher = you’re screwed and that sucks. Over 4,000 teachers are out of a job! Over 400,000 students haven’t gotten a refund! Nova is bankrupt! This is all total shiznit! It looks like things have come to an end for Nova English teachers that are here on a work visa in hopes of some income and a cultural experience. You’re probably left with very few options such as… finding another job teaching english, or working at some short term job, or working at a bar/club frequented by English speaking Gaijin. (Here’s another job search related link) If you can’t find a job then you can always head back to your home country. For some of you it may not be possible due financial difficulty (aka not being paid by the man) which basically means you’re screwed. If I were in a situation of not being able to find a job replacement I’d either save the money I had to buy a ticket with (while spending the rest partying it up) or in the case I had $0 I’d have my friends/family wire me some money or buy an e-ticket for me to get the hell out of dodge! If you plan on getting a plane ticket you should act soon because after December 20th the rates go up due to the holiday season. If you wait longer than that you’ll just be super screwed. By the way I can’t imagine having a family and working for Nova and not getting paid. Nova carries a debt worth 40 billion Yen. They might have to refund students before paying out salaries and who knows when that could happen. It could be six months or longer.
I read in many places about emergency loans this, emergency loans that, hoping to get an emergency loan from the Embassy blah blah blah. Good luck with that! I can’t find any information on the web regarding this type of loan. The U.S. Embassy website (tokyo.usembassy.gov) mentions nothing about a loan or emergency funds for people employed by Nova. They do say this:
If you require financial assistance, you could request that your family wire funds through the U.S. Department of State here or purchase an e-ticket on your behalf.
This site is pretty sweet. Check it out if you’re on a broadband connection. You can explore parts of Tokyo http://tokyo-vr.com/
I took a quick screenshot of what I was looking at:
Taken from their site:
About <Tokyo VR Project> … We have tried data-ization for the main area in Tokyo by QuickTimeVR. But it is the reckless project. A new information interface is proposed by connecting much QuickTimeVR movies, data-izing the space, rows of houses, and a building, and constituting false space. By our original know-how, execution of this project was attained only after becoming possible to carry out extensive creation of the QuickTimeVR quickly. By making scenery an interface as it is, the state with a house, a store, a park, a building, and the living information of a there could be sent. It will be useful to barrier-free, safety and the measure against crime prevention and information dispatch of an area and a walk, or an adventure. We are waiting for cooperation of those who can consent to our trial from the heart.
Today we did some searching on Google Maps (good luck, it’s in Japanese, I don’t know what’s going on there). Within walking distance of where I live there are approximately 1056 Izakayas (most offer ‘all you can drink’ specials) and 470 Ramen Shops (the food of awesomeness). Pretty crazy! I heard that an Izakaya is a great place to relax and practice speaking Japanese with people. I plan on doing that some day… when I can speak more than 10 words. Nice!
I thought I’d post about the BCMLogon.dll problem I had with my computer in case other people run into the same error. I had this BCMLogon.dll issue with my Dell Inspiron 9300 Laptop. Apparently it has something to do with the wireless card. I don’t know what happened to create the error and I don’t remember changing any settings recently. Here’s the error my computer gave me:
This might get long so I’m going to give you a breakdown of what I’ll be talking about: Today’s listed exchange rate, today’s Mastercard exchange rate, 2% currency conversion fee, adding this all up you’ll see my true conversion rate.
Nova English teacher = you’re screwed and that sucks. Over 4,000 teachers are out of a job! Over 400,000 students haven’t gotten a refund! Nova is bankrupt! This is all total shiznit! It looks like things have come to an end for Nova English teachers that are here on a work visa in hopes of some income and a cultural experience. You’re probably left with very few options such as… finding 
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