Living in Tokyo - Wisdom please!

So soon I will be living in a one bedroom apartment in Tokyo for at least a year. Now while I have lived in Japan before, it was not right in a city, nor in Tokyo! + before I had a land lady who cooked and my apartment was all fully furnished and I had a cleaner who came in... So this time is going to be a little different.

Speak voices of experience.

So well just a bunch of questions -

How much to get the internet up a running? + how much a month? Is it a hassle (like BT)?

How much on average will I pay in utilities?

Bike in Tokyo - suicide?

How much would a cheap 19 inch-ish TV be? + Where would the best place be to get one sorted, akiba?

(BTW I am VERY vain) With that in mind as I will be there in the winter this time, anyone know a decent place with sun beds in tokyo and more importantly what is sun bed in Japanese?

And finally given I have spent lots of time in Japan and visited most of the obvious tourist places in Tokyo. Any good recommendations for tourist stuff, fashion and gaming?

 

1: Internet. I worked w/ a lady whose husband works for Itscomm. Twice now when I've moved, I've called him and he's speeded the process up. Like... next day. Otherwise, it's about a 3 week wait for them to come and hook it up. FYI -- cable is 1000x easier than ADSL. Get cable if you can. Mine is 30Mb/10Mb. I have Cable TV too and it's all under 10,000/mo. The internet part I think is only 4,000 if you get it on it's own. DSL still requires an NTT line, which still requires a "ken" (although these are going out the door, AFAIK). Just go w/ cable and thank me later.

Suicide? Bah. A necessity. I ride everywhere. Just buy a helmet even though nobody else other than gaijin wear them, and turn on your peripheral vision. Just remember that as a cyclist, you've got the best and worst of both worlds. You're exempt from traffic laws, but cars will not treat you as a car or a pedestrian. They barely break for you.

YJ. Get a Wega w/ AV-Multi (RGB). You'll have to make cables for everything other than PS/2, but it's worth it. I got a 28" off YJ for 10,000 yen.

Tipness in Shibuya (a famous gym) has one (runs 500 yen a shot on top of your membership) and there's at least one other indoor tanning salon I know of. I tried to use the one in Tipness before getting married. I went for 3 sessions, and didn't tan at all. Could barely smell the vitamin E when I got out. I've spent some time in indoor tanning beds.

Tourist Stuff: (near Tokyo) Nikko, Kamakura, Hakone, Shinjuku Gyoen, Meiji Shrine, Yoyogi Park, Asakusa if you're into really ugly shrines
Fashion: Omotesando if you have mad bank and don't mind spending 30,000 yen on a T-Shirt. On the cheaper side there's a Zara in Shibuya & one in Omotesando, both of which carry white people size.
Gaming: Akiba, Shinjuku & Shibuya to a small extent.

So will you be working or studying?

 

Awesome stuff - I was hoping you would chime in.

Just remembered perhaps the most important question - TV, when I was there before I had full cable TV and you know what, I kinda liked it. So if I get cable do I still have to pay NHK fees? I must confess this is something I know nothing about.

But anyway, defo up for 10000 yen a month for TV and internet. I have basically just lived for about 9 months in an apartment with no digital TV or internet. Liberating, but I have been missing it. I also want to get going with the PS3 network as that seems to be the only place games are being released at the moment.

Also just had a quick look on YJ for (RGB) TVs and it does seem the place to go. Question - do you know a good place for top class rgb cables now that the hospice has disapeared.

Just been checking out Tipness and it looks pretty cool, might get a shibuya only day time membership. Never can exercise at night anyway. But it it really busy in Shibuya?

So just a couple of questions still on my mind -

Sunbed in Japanese? Not 太陽のベッド !

Utilities in Tokyo - Electricity and water = how much?

As for me I will still be studying... It feels like it will never end! This time I am going to be doing an intensive year long Japanese course and regular Japanese student classes in Japanese literature (gulp) at Meiji university. But check this the scholorship gives me around 70000 a month cash +++++++ my rent is only 20000 a month and they pay the rest. Cashback!

But I will be doing a bit of "real" work, I have a bunch of interviews with Sumitomo and its subsideries, a bunch of chemical companys and one company which I still don't know what they do yet! So hopefully I will come away with some kind of offer for after I finish at uni. As well as the strong feeling that I am selling my soul to the man.

 

Technically, yes. I never do though. Just don't answer the door if you think it's NTT. Or, just slam it in his face.

No, damnit. I *JUST* got mine in time too, although I wanted one more. I wonder if he's ever going to open back up. I'm sure you could ask around though. I had a guy at shmups make me one from my A-VGA to 21-pin RGB. For PS/2, just get an AV-Multi cable off of YJ. For the rest, get someone to make an AV-Multi to 21-pin RGB converter, then buy each system's stock RGB cable.

At night, yes. Day time? Not at all. I'm not a member anymore, although I went regularly before. I generally run and excercise in the park. I figured I might as well get the most out of my inflated rent.

No clue. Would have to look around.

If you're not married to my wife, pretty cheap for water. 3,000 to 6,000 per month (you only get billed once every two months). Electricity can be painful, especially if you like things like heat and air conditioning. I've never had a bill less than 10,000 yen, and it's usually 15,000. That was in the old days, living alone. Much more now as we have to keep the house mild for the little guy.

Sounds like you've got a good gig. I've not taken a serious Japanese course in about... fuck me, 10 years now. Would be nice, but I don't think I can go back to being a student. I do better studying on my own.

 

Cheers you are a diamond! Much appreciated, just talking all this mundane stuff over has got me excited about going.

And yeah a Japanese mate said the same about NHK! Tell em to Eff off, looks like I will have to ask him about sunbeds. Bet it will be a horrible corruption like "hairmake". Just reminded me of this place in Osaka -



Classic. As for the gym I am really into the weights at the moment and there is so much you can only do at the gym. + I really appreciate an onsen type bath - after - exercise.

I'm guessing electricity was going to be my downfall, I really can't sleep without an aircon in the summer. However I may be jumping the gun here, meiji said it was furnished, but my apartment may not have aircon, nightmare...

To be honest I feel a bit bored of the student gig by now, I wasted so much time at Oxford uni learning stuff - I will NEVER use. So I can read classical and ancient Japanese, not going to get me a job. So it is only now near the end of my eductation that I learn the skills to have buisness or economics discussions in Japanese, that might be useful. Now I learn most of my Japanese through reading light novels or decent short storys in Japanese as well as hitting the ol RPGs. Still I ain't going to Japan just to study, gonna get my shmup and fighter levels back up and get involved with competition gaming.

 

Oh please, let me share some wisdom too.

For "sunbed" I have found 日焼けマシン which sounds like the word someone would use who doesn't know the real name and, who would have thought, サンベッド.

Telling from my observations that surprisingly many women walk around with arm gloves and parasols (or whatever you call the "sun umbrellas") and cremes that whiten (bleach) the skin are heavily advertised it doesn't seem that sunbeds are as popular as e.g. in Europe. That must have changed somehow with the "ganguro" though, at least in the metropolis area.

 

I thought maybe タンニングベッド but that only returned 1200 hits on Google, so I would think not. Come to think of it, google 日焼けサロン -- that's the name of the establishment. Don't know why that didn't come to me earlier.

Old women = 10,000 yen for whitening cream
High Schoolers = 10,000 yen for sunbeds

Nobody's happy.

Well, you'll most likely learn the Japanese that will get you a job, at one of your first jobs. The threshold for "bilingual" is pretty low. I got my first job on a help desk w/ zero IT experience, only b/c I could speak both languages. That was 1999, so my Japanese sucked, relatively speaking, although I had passed the JLPT-2. I know have the JLPT-1, and less confidence. Go figure.

@Excercise:
I'm off the weights. Something I've done for ages. Never got huge, but they definitely helped. Trying to keep the metabolism up and the waste down. Jogging/cycling is best for that. Having a kid is by far the worst for that.

 

Yeah, the thing about tanning and the Japanese is that it seems to be a bit of a rebellion to classic Japanese asthetics (bleached white skin etc). But a lot of my mates in Japan (gals + boys) who are pretty rough or fashionable tend to have a golden tan. If I flip through any of my Japanese fashion mags the vast majority of the guys considered cool have a tan. But where I lived near Osaka all the women wore gloves and carried parasols and it is defo a class thing. Posh women = gotta be pale. Actually my mother never gets in the sun, she is just worried about skin aging in the sun, which I am guessing is important for Japanese women as well.

But thanks chaps 日焼けマシーン, or 日焼けマシン seems to be the way to go, I mean the way I'm going on about makes it out to be a big deal! But you know it is just one of the things I like to do now and again. To be honest it is quite nice in Japan to have a bit of a tan and my big ChromeHearts sunglasses on, people stop staring, cept those who stare in a nice way!

As for exercise, I have never been "huge" on the weights, I just like to have the extra upper body strength and toning. I am pretty slim so I don't need to really hit the weights with dietry suplements to get a good shape.

At the moment I don't have JLPT-1, I did level 2 for my entrance to Meiji, and I did find level 2 quite hard, it felt like there were too many trick questions! I will probably have a shot at level 1 after a couple of months in Japan. I am really getting job conscious now.

 

If you thought 2 was tricky, stay the fuck away from 1. It's painful... like anal sex. I actually did fantastic on my reading & grammar part, and did ass on the first two parts, which should be easier.

Will you be staying near the campus? I spent my first 18 months in Japan living in Meidaimae. Best time of my life, worst living conditions by far. What a shithole that place was. I could almost touch Koushuukaidou (the big ass freeway right by the school) from my balcony. Couldn't dry clothes outside b/c they would turn black.

 

Yeah the JLPT 1 is hardcore no doubts about it, really needs understanding of clauses and native level understanding of meaning. But I think it is good that such a test exists, sorts the men from the boys. Still I know people with decent lives in Japan who have never done any of them. My basic problem at the moment is simply vocab and kanji compounds. I'm at the point where I get the meaning of most things, but how they are read or written, thats a bit different.

And I do not exactly where my apartment will be - that is what I am currently waiting in England to find out about. Then I can go down London get a visa sorted and get the fuck on over. What they have told me is -

no more than 30 mins away from campus on foot and train
( so that could be anywhere within the city centre or just outside it anywhere) Basically they go to a real estate agent on my behalf and find me somewhere.

But it is totally not negotiable, the idea is that they are doing me a favour ( which they are! ) so I'll take what I'm given. The list of locations they have had in the past includes places right on the outskirts of Shibuya and near Yoyogi kouen, so who knows I could really luck out.

Anyway they said they would tell me before the end of the month where I will be and when I can move in.

 

Yeah, in fact, I'm the only person I know here that has bothered to take it. Anyways, when you get serious about it, you really have to have the reading/grammar part down pat as it's half the test. And the reading isn't a test of your Japanese skills, it's a test of your skills to think deductively in Japanese. Tricky.

Hmm... depends on what direction they go. Meidaimae the station, and part of the surrounding area are Setagaya-ku. Once you cross the freeway, you're in Suginami-ku, AFAIK. I live right by Yoyogi Kouen, and I'm in Shibuya-ku. I could probably cycle to your campus in about 30 minutes. Sounds like they would put you in Komaba Toudaimae, which is convenient. No more than 30 minutes is fair. When I did my study abroad, they got you an "average" commute to school, which was 90 minutes for me (2 busses and a train).

 

Now that you're asking, I took the JLPT1 more than one year ago and somehow passed. Used on of those preparation text books for the grammar and it helped a lot. Sucked at kanji and vocabulary though.

The thing with such tests it that after some time everything is gone like the cherry blossoms in the wind. I mean as it's the last of the JLPTs a lot of stuff is asked that is hardly ever used in everyday life and is therefore easily forgotten. But even though I can't say from experience, from what I've heard it will help you to get a job and at least that's worth the trouble.

Not that your life depends on it though. Just do it for the fun. ;-)

 

Sage advice. I think the kicker about my test was I left knowing I had failed it...just like the other two times. In fact, I didn't study the last months b/c of complications with life (moving, kid coming, getting my balls chewed at work daily). Hard to study when you're on the window ledge. One less thing to worry about now! Although I should finish the books I started. Halfway through the vocab only, and I don't read too much now.

 

Update - just found out that I will be living right near Meidaimae, no surprises there.

Nice area? Can't confess that I "know" it for anything.

But anyway it is pretty central and I rate it should only be 20 mins from Shinjuku.

 

It's a convenient station. Shinjuku & Shibuya both are very accessible, although the Inokashira Line (the one going to Shibuya) is balls packed in the morning, and express don't start until 9... way past the time any normal human has to be at work. For that, I give them a gigantic WTF.

It was once home to one of the greatest arcades known to man, Game Inn Namiki. Many a super-play vid were made there. Other than that, it's just a college spot. The super markets (at least 8 years ago) lacked, but there were plenty of coffee shops, including a Starbucks. Lots of Pachinko as well. There were two used game shops, but one is definitely gone. The other was a chain, so who knows. It's a quick cycle to Shimokitazawa which is a trendy part of town. I think I'm too old to get in there now.

 

Just checked out Shimokitazawa and that looks like my kind of place. Vintage/cheap fashion gear - awesome.

As for Meidaimae, as long as I have a conbini and game center within 20 mins I am laughing. Anything else is a bonus.

 

Well, not sure about the Game Center situation anymore. As before, Namiki shut down. Shimo's got one, although not sure how good it is. If you want to play some Cave games you might have to go all the way to Shibuya or Shinjuku... both have plenty.

Of course if you're aiming for full on Cave Orgasm w/o taking off your pants, then you'll have to go to 2F of Hey in Akihabara.

 

Well yeah, Hey is always the place to go! Love it. Always a great vibe on the shooter floor. Always some high level playing going down. Still haven't played MuchiMuchi, going to hit that one hard. Just out of interest does Hey have Ibara Black Label? I want to get into that one a bit more, having only played it once.

Small arcades are ok for a quick guilty gear or KOF fight, but you need to go to Shinjuku or Akiba for a good fight. I like Taito in Akiba for relaxed but high level action.

 

The 50 yen arcade in Shibuya has a nice fighting floor (the smoke will kill you though, even if you're a smoker), as does Sportsland Shinjuku Nishiguchi (Battle Arena, or whatever they call it).

Hey! has the entire Cave library other than the rare as balls PCBs (Dodonpachi Campaign Version, Mushihime-sama v1.5, Mushihime-sama Futari Score Trial Version). Seeing as there's like 3 of each of the above in existence, it's a safe bet that you won't see them for a while. So, yeah, Ibara Black Label and Dodonpachi Black Label they've got in full swing.

Muchi Muchi is far more accessible than the other two Yagawa games. Not my thing, but pretty fun.

 

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