Life in Japan - Pictures galore !! Arcades, Temples, Rainy days, etc

Some nice pictures you've taken there, ccovell. That poor Saturn ! Actually the one I use now was found in the street in the pouring rain 7 years ago. To this day its still going strong with use almost every day.

Yakumo

 

If I end up teaching in Japan, I guess it would be important to bring everything I might need clothes-wise before I arrive? I'm 6' 5". Is there anything else that should be considered (that might not be without having ever been to Japan) as a tall person before I leave the USA or UK? I guess shoes are another thing.

One of my friends that I knew in Greece told me westerners had trouble with condoms where she lived, because they are smaller than over here? I thought all that was a myth, but apparently not!


Edit - The Internet is ruining my English!

 

I agree, some really nice pics there ccovell

 

Yeah, great pics and a very nice site overall ccovell. I only just got round to checking out the rest of the site and there is a lot of good stuff there, I liked the look at your games party - very amusing.
I always love to hear people doing exactly what I want to do when I leave university - makes it sound all the more possible.

Taucius - I recently gave a quick lecture to undergrads about studying in Japan and had that exact question about condoms fired at me! Let me just put it this way - if you think you are bigger than your average westerner, then you probably can't use certain common brands. Where I lived there was a specialist store where you could get slightly "roomier" sizes. In other words, it is not a problem.

But you are quite right to be concerned about clothes, I never had too much of a problem. I am quite tall and slim and a friend of mine who was tall and "chubby" had a lot of problems with trousers. He just ended up with loose fits that were not loose at all. Other than that, maybe you might need to get a suit altered, but I have that problem in England because I am a little too tall for my waist. Shoes are only ever a problem if you have huge feet, I sometimes had trouble but I just went to a western brand (viv westwood - shinsaibashi = awesome shop) shop and got my shoes there.

Basically whether it be shoes, clothes or condoms it is not all that difficult, it just may require a bit of extra effort to find a shop. You just have to accept that not everything is going to fit, but it is not a huge problem. Oh and I find Japanese jeans fit me so much better.

However it is a whole different story if you are a girl. A friend of mine is tall with very broad shoulders and she could not find any womens clothes in Japan. She ended up buying men's t-shirts in the end.

 

Thanks for the info. I don't have a problem taking things with me but if I spent a couple of years there I'd want to be able to get new clothes and no doubt Japanese fashion is somewhat different to what is happening in old Blighty right now, or not as the case may be! It's nice to know there are indeed options for me.

 

Well, I'm getting fat these days (better start that running again) and am 6 foot tall. The main problem I have is getting jackets or shoes. japanese shoes aren't sized like western shoes either. THey go in cm. I'm a 28 but you'll find that many shops stock mostly to 26cm and only a few pairs over that. Jackets can be quite short in the sleve length or tight on the sholders. As for pants (trousers) you should be fine unless you're a fat bastard :lol: As for the whole comdom myth I found that the Japanese ones if you buy the larger size will fit (mostly). Maybe these days it's different since the birth of such shops as Comdom Mania but don't take my word on that. I haven't used one in 7 years.

Yakumo

 

OK, I'll chime in here then with some advice. ;-) Don't buy any condom with a little happy face on it. Try a more international brand like Benetton and you won't feel like a torniquet's been tied onto your knob. ;-D

 

Comdom with a little happy face?!? Where do you go shopping ? :lol: I agree with the beneton though. can't go wrong there. They are also the ones that you can find in the likes of 7 Eleven, Family Mart, AM PM and so on.

Yakumo

 

As you have seen and probably should know, I live in a bit of a rural area. Not many condom specialty shops around here, so I have to take what I can get from convenience stores.

NOT a comfortable brand...

 

"Smooth in Condom" - Classic! (I have never, ever seen that brand before - very rural ne)

Looks very girly and cute as well, I don't want some happy little blue "I'm gentle to girls" johnny sitting on my todger!

 

:lol: that is so funny that I just had to translate it for the none Japanese readers :lol: How on earth could you use one of them?



Yakumo

 

hahaha, wtf?! "lots of jelly!!"

 

I m having problems with finding the right condoms here in Europe, let alone Japan O_O never thought i'd have to stock-up before i visited heh

 

I guess they mean gel or lubricant but it actually says zerii (Jelly) as in the same stuff that you eat or jello for our American readers.

Yakumo

 

yakumo on your problem with the asf files you have 2 ways for solving it:

1st try to find a old version of virtualdub 1.3 or 1.4c both can open asf files but i believe the 1.4 was very rare and the 1.3 is more easier to find just google for it

2nd theres a program called asftools its freeware and has a option to convert asf files to avi files which should be opened without a problem in virtualdub normal

all that is only give if the asf files are real asf files and not wmv encoded with one of the newer codecs :shrug:

 

I think the "Captain Condom" condoms are more hillarious.
Especially the one with the text "I'm powerful man girl" on it

 

I have the virtual dub asf software but it can't open the asf files from the phone. Sharp have really F*cked about with it adding in protection. You can't even see the audio files on the SD card if you record them with the phone. Only the phone can read them, not a PC even though they are just standard MP4 audio. Probably all to do with that stupid data copy protection crap.

Yakumo

 

Could you post a sample up somewhere? I'd like to fiddle. There's got to be a way to convert it

 

ok, I'll just film something now from my TV then post that on my site. Don't forget you'll need the sharp codec for the audio.

Yakumo

EDIT - sent you the link to down load the file to your PM box

 

TMPEGEnc encoded it straight to MPEG-1 without any problems at all, once I'd got the JVCG726 audio codec.