Living in Fukuoka Guide

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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.

No personal handy telephone inside

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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.

personal handy telephone

From Wikipedia:

The Personal Handy-phone System (PHS), also marketed as the Personal Access System (PAS) and known as Xiaolingtong (小灵通) 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?

Ice Cream Ramen

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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 (ラーメン), add some ice cream (アイスクリーム), 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! 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.

Address: 10-3 Senjuookawa-cho, Adachi-ku, Tokyo
Business Hours: 11:00-15:00, 17:00-20:00 Tuesday – Sunday (Closed Monday)

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). He seems to only visit strange restaurants and post about his past crazy experiences so check it out. Here’s a quick review taking from the blog about the restaurant.

変り種ラーメン満載！白汁ラーメン（ヨーグルト）、黄汁ラーメン（ウコン）、青汁ラーメン（ケール）、赤汁ラーメン（トマト）、納豆ラーメン、牛乳ラーメン、珈琲牛乳ラーメン、ココアラーメン、カルビラーメン、豚キムチラーメン、エビチリメン、アゲヤキメンなどがある。すべてを食べた人って店主だけなんじゃないの？ちなみに、アゲヤキメンとは固焼きそばのように、揚げた麺が入る。暇があると一生懸命、麺に体重を乗せて縮れさせていた。メニューの多さも努力の賜物なのか・・・。

ラーメン 注文品：ラーメン￥５００

変り種ラーメンをたくさん出すわりには悪くないが、ちょっとインスタントチック。しっかりと縮れた麺も茹で方が悪いのかかなりまずい。大きい海苔はスープがしみこんでも崩れないため、食べるときはちょっと大きさが気になった。チャーシューは柔らかく旨いね。

If you eat this, come back and let me know!

The US Dollar sucks right now

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Yen to US DollarToday’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 →

Newest family member

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We recently welcomed a new addition to our family member. Meet Lulu! She’s an 8 week old 1.5 pound chihuahua and kicks major ass. At first I was skeptical because she’s a tiny dog and I’m a tall guy but she’s a perfect fit. It’s amazing how much energy she has and how fast she can run. She loves to go full speed for 15 minutes, jumping over things, attacking random objects, and making cute squeaky noises. I envy her because she can pass out anywhere she wants when she’s tired. Here are a few pictures.

Lulu the Chihuahua 4 Lulu the Chihuahua 1
Lulu the Chihuahua 2 Lulu the Chihuahua 3

Flying to Japan

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The flight to Japan was an experience all in itself! This was my first time flying to Japan (from America) where I didn’t just stop and go in Tokyo. U.S. flights are easy and flying to Thailand was a piece of cake because a lot of people speak English. We took a flight from San Francisco and arrived in Japan in about 12 hours or so, I can’t recall right now but I did get 5,303 Award miles though! NICE! We went from San Francisco (SFO) to Nagoya (NGO) to Fukuoka (FUK). We flew on United Airlines and I highly recommend it. The customer service was great, the food was okay, and the seats were comfortable. They had a head rest that’s adjustable so you can easily sleep and you get your own personal vide screen to watch movies, TV shows, BBC News, or you can see where the plane is on a GPS type screen. All movies and shows were offered in English with and without Japanese subtitles, or Japanese voice over so everybody can enjoy the in flight entertainment instead of sitting there going “OMG! 10 hours remaining!”

Flying to Japan

** I highly recommend checking in online exactly 24 hours in advance. I was able to change my seat to an exit row which gave me plenty of leg room.

When we arrived at the Nagoya Airport we had to rush to catch out plane to Fukuoka. Here’s what you can expect…

  1. Go through immigration, hand them the completed form (Customs Declaration Form) that the airline had you fill out, and they’ll give you landing permission.
  2. Pick up your luggage, go through customs, answer questions, possibly get searched.
  3. Go to your connecting airline, go through a luggage security check point, check the luggage.
  4. Go through a personal security check point, and then go to your gate and you’re all set.

What happened to us? Well it wasn’t an easy 1,2,3,4.
Here’s the long story made short. We went through immigration first. Then we headed to our gate and when we asked for directions from the airline counter we found out our luggage does not follow us, we had to grab it and go through customs and Continue reading →

Welcome to Japan it UP!

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Hello world! Ah yes, that phrase reminds me of my days in college and the first programming task in just about every basic text book. Anyway, I hope you enjoy your time spent here at Japan it UP! After reading my blah blah blah you’re going to either like Japan or go “wtf is this guy talking about?” Either way some good times will be had. To quote my friend Chad… “Niiiiiiice!”

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