REALITY of Living in Japan as a Foreigner: Pt 3

Getting a Mobile Phone in Japan

Facts to be aware of:

YOU WILL NOT be able to bring your phone from overseas and just get a SIM card. Phone companies just don't do it. SIM cards ALWAYS come with a phone. Yes, even prepaid.
If you go for a monthly payment plan at all (not prepaid), it's always a 24 month contract. You CAN break out of it but there are fees involved. The fees vary between companies and plans. From what I've heard, some of them can be quite reasonable.

What do you need?

• Alien Registration Card (ARC)
• Passport
• Japanese Bank Account Details
• A friend or co-worker who can translate between Japanese & English.

Get an iPhone!

Ok so I really mean to say get a smartphone... but out of the lot, I'd recommend the iPhone. Why? It's one of the few phones that can easily be set to work ENTIRELY in English. Also, getting apps for it is easy because you can buy prepaid iTunes cards in any convenience store in Japan. Buying apps for an android phone may require you to use a credit card - it's near impossible for a foreigner to get a credit card in Japan.
There are also plenty more apps available for the iPhone than for android phones. Look out for my next post where I discuss the top MUST HAVE apps for foreigners in Japan.

Second reason is this - it's great value for money. With a smartphone in general, you can get a plan with unlimited internet/data for a total all inclusive cost of around 5000-6000Yen per month. Usually any calls or messaging are charged separately in addition to your regular monthly payment. But with the unlimited data, you can use internet based apps like skype, facebook, line, whatsapp, viber to text and call, even video call for no extra cost.


Which Telco?

So for an iPhone, I could only choose between Softbank and AU. The other major provider is Docomo but they don't have iPhones. Softbank is about 1000Yen cheaper per month and also has more free wifi spots around (like in bars, restaurants, etc.).

I decided to go with AU because...

• I can use the iPhone overseas with another SIM card when I travel. The Softbank iPhone ONLY works with a Softbank SIM card. I'm sure it can be unlocked but I can't be bothered with all that.
• AU has a better network coverage around Japan.
• AU has a better insurance scheme for the phone. If somehow the phone becomes problematic, breaks or gets lost, I can get it replaced with a brand new phone up to 2 times over the 24month contract period. I think there is a small insurance claim fee but can't remember how much it was. With Softbank, they only cover 80% of the cost of either repairing or replacing the phone. Also because of where I live, the process of making an insurance claim is a bigger hassle with Softbank: the phone needs to be sent to their main office in Osaka.

REALITY of Living in Japan as a Foreigner: Pt 2

"I know hiragana and katakana, but not kanji." - BIG FRICKIN DEAL!

Knowing hiragana and katakana alone is a good start. But it's no achievement to feel proud of or to brag about. Learn 5 characters a day (15 mins a day) and you'll learn them all in about 1-2 months. You'll be able to read about 5-15% of everything you see. How much of it will you understand? About 5-10% at best, depending on how much Japanese you know. How much does that help? Not a whole lot.

EVERYTHING is in Japanese in Japan. EVERYTHING! Just to make sure I get my point across, let me say it again - EVERYTHING! That means KANJI! Any word that can be expressed in kanji WILL be so!

Just going to the supermarket to buy your usual groceries and maybe some personal care products will have you doing guess-work. You know all those highly technical English words that you'd think there is no Japanese translation for? Surprise surprise!

Pick up a cosmetic product and see if you can even figure out which part of it has the list of ingredients and chemicals. Pick up any packed food product and see if you can figure out what's in it or even what flavour it is. Go to a restaurant with no pictures in the menu and you're in trouble. Even navigating through a shop and figuring out which aisle to find things is all guess-work.

So what's my point? LEARN KANJI!!! In fact, just learning to recognise kanji and know the English meaning of the characters will be FAR MORE useful than just hiragana and katakana.

REALITY of Living in Japan as a Foreigner: Pt 1

Introduction

I just recently arrived in Japan (December 2012) and started work as an English teacher for a large private institution. I've been placed in a rural part of Kansai (about 2 hours by train from Osaka).

There are plenty blogs, forums, internet articles and Japanese lessons that try to help prepare aspiring "gaijins" for their move/visit to japan. NONE OF THEM adequately prepare you for the REAL everyday challenges that you will face.

Here's my attempt to do for others what I WISH others had done for me. I will be doing a series of short blog posts about the REAL everyday things that you need to be prepared for if you're planning a trip or visit to Japan.

Please feel free to comment or message. Please ask questions. Tell me what YOU want to know that isn't already spammed to bloody death on every other gaijin forum and blog.

Motorcycle Helmet Review: KBC VR2

Background

So in August 2011, I bought a 2000 Suzuki SV650 and some riding gear to go with it. All my purchasing decisions were heavily influenced by my tight budget. Got the bike simply because it was the best value bike I came across when shopping around and I'm very happy with it!

I used to ride a Honda CBR250RR with a KBC VR1 lid in 2006. The VR1 was a great full-faced helmet! Decent fit and finish, very comfortable, looked and felt like a quality product. Having personally crash tested it, I can fully recommend it.


Introducing the VR2

So this time, I bought the KBC VR2R in Matt Black: A new and improved version of the VR1 (supposedly), certified to meet SNELL, DOT, and AS1698 standards. For AU$280, the VR2 ticked all the boxes and was an excellent buy... or so it only seemed.

The KBC VR2 has been nothing but disappointment since the moment I unboxed it. Yes, it is certified to SNELL, DOT and AS1698 - meaning helmets of the same design have been tested and shown to provide satisfactory protection when subject to certain types of impact and stress. But that's about all it has going for it.


First impressions

The first thing I noticed when picking it up was it looked and felt CHEAP. The materials used look like they came out of a plastic recycle bin. The moulding of the plastic bits looks unprecise. The paintwork looks worse than a DIY rattle-can job. The fit and finish looks rushed and tacky. The VR1 and VR2 may as well have been made by two separate companies who have nothing to do with each other. The helmet screams a lot of things but "build quality" isn't one of them.



After 1 month

First thing I noticed when riding with it was that it is noisy. My SV650 is naked with no windshield. At speeds excess of 60kmph, the wind/air rushes into the helmet from underneath (passed my neck). This makes it extremely difficult to hear what's going on around me - all I hear is "woosh". I like to be able to hear other traffic around me as it helps my situational awareness when riding.

At most, the helmet would have seen 40 hours of riding time over the first month. In just 2 weeks, the helmet started to feel a little loose. When I first put it on, it felt a little tight (as it should) and I expected it to become nice and snug as it wore in. But instead, the helmet "wore out" in just a matter of weeks! If I wanted a loose and worn out helmet, I could just buy a second hand one for less than $200!


After 6 months

The helmet has spent the last 3 months just sitting in the garage while I was overseas. As you'd expect, I came back to it looking rather dusty. So when I tried to remove the face-shield to give it a clean, the release mechanism on the right side just broke apart! It was fine when I removed and replaced the face-shield just a week before going overseas, and a couple of times before that. In a way, I was not entirely surprised. It looks and feels like a poorly made product, so I sort of "half-expected" something to fail or break.

I lodged a warranty claim today. But even if it gets fixed, I'm still not going to be impressed. I am fully convinced that every aspect of its quality lives up my first impressions.


Recommended?

NO! DO NOT BUY! The helmet is certified to 3 well reputed safety standards so we know that it will protect your head in a crash. But that's all it will do. If all you want is a cheap and basic lid to protect your head, and you are willing to compromise on comfort, appearance and features, just get a second hand one that's in good condition. You'd be getting a better helmet for less money.

KBC once upon a time had my trust. But that trust has been shattered. It will take a LOT of coercing and persuasion for me to even consider a KBC product ever again.