Several questions about Japan

As any red-blood gamer I wish someday I may be abble to visit the Meca of gaming, but meanwhile I have several doubts about the land of the rising sun (yeah I'm a poet)

Sooo, I know some guys here are currently there, so if anyone can clear me some things, go ahead.

*Are games cheaper there? obviously I mean jap games cuz I'm sure western imports aren't cheap at all.

*Since japan has a greater percentage of MAClovers than the rest of the world and most macs are made in china (and that is next to japan.....) are Mac cheaper on japan?

*What about jobs? Like, what kinds of jobs are best suited for a foreign in there?

*What about cars? I know those aren't that popular in japan, but on the other side I drive everytime and most japan-only models are pretty cool asweel.

*And real state, I know is pretty expensive (japan is famous for that) but I need some exact numbers if I'm going to live there.

Well, that all for the time being. I know most of my questions are about money and stuff, but you can't live just from dreams, and japan is famous for two things, and that's is gadgets and big ass prices.

 

JP games are cheaper in Japan, yes. Most of the time anyway. However, if you don't earn money in yen, they can still seem a little pricey. New games retail for 5800 yen or 6800 yen most of the time. Used games...well, range.

Not a MAC man, but computer stuff in general is slightly more expensive in Japan. It's not as bad as it was 7 or 8 years ago, but I still think there are much better bargains in the states. Again, this is all x86 based stuff I'm talking about.

There are other threads abotu this. In short, if you don't speak Japanese, English teaching is about all you can do until you gain some experience.

There are cars everywhere. Some of the worst traffic you could imagine.

Rent can cost you 50,000 yen for a very, very small room a good 40 to 80 minutes or so away from town, all the way up to 20 million yen for a 4 or 5 bedroom right in the middle of town.

 

K, I'm having troubles with the currency, anyways, I can always use Bittorrent:dance:

I would learn some japanese before going there, btw how much they pay for an english teacher? I also know french and spanish, do they pay more? or less?

What I meant with cars is if they are too costly or expensive to maintain. I just came from a test drive on the Honda Fit (is the same that in japan and europe, but there is called "Jaz" i think) and is pretty nice, but the guy didn't know the price in japan.

I don't think I would go to a big city like Tokyo or Kyoto, mostly cuz most people tell me is an ordeal in there. Anyways, and how much (in dollars or euro) for a 2 room flat?

 

I know that X86s where always expensive in japan (too bad, cuz they get everything first) that why I was curious if Macs were cheaper.

You know, because maybe that's why everybody loves them in japan...

 

Japan is generally behind on the PC scene -- in price, and often in product. Again, it's better than it used to be.

If you're going to live in the city (Tokyo or Osaka) don't bother with a car. It's a nuissance, and very expensive to keep up. Parking at your home will alone cost you about 30,000 yen a month.

Teaching English is best done by the hour. Minimum would be about 2500/hr, and 3500/hr isn't out of the question. Just don't go w/ one of these 8-hour a day for 250,000 yen a month places. Technically, to get a workign visa, your sponser has to agree to pay you a minimum of 250k a month... places like Nova will gladly do this, but make you teach 6-8 horus a day. Even 6 a day, is 120 per month. That's just a bit over 2000 yen per hour, when you could easily make 3000.

 

I can't sya the same about the PC scene, even top notch sites like TR get news of new stuff from akiba before anyone else.

Here we don't get the new intel Macs until next month, but there's a guy in japan that just gutted one and posted the photos.

Even some pro-gamer stuff like dual CPU cards and mini-ATX "yonah" compatible motherboards seem to appear in japan before anywhere else...

I see, anyways, do you know of any currency convertion programs?

 

www.xe.com

 

AFAIK the reason macs are popular in japan is their size rather than the cost.

 

yeah I would guess that too

 

Weird, since suttle cases and stuff are even smaller than macs...

 

The only mac larger than a shuttle is a Powermac G5.
iMac smaller than shuttle+screen
Mac Mini smaller than shuttle

Macs are generally just plain smaller and more stylish than any PC.

 

K, speaking of computers, how are the broadband prices in japan? like, how much for a 20mbps line?

 

Don't forget their aesthetic appeal.

Pretty cheap compared to the states. When I left, I had 30mb down/10mb up cable, along with basic cable television for about 7,000 yen a month. Before that, I had fibre, with no cable TV. I had 5 WAN IPs, 100mb down/10mb up for about 4000 yen a month.

I use Yahoo Finance for currency conversion.

 

100MBs for 34.59???! HOW? WHERE?

 

I got that for free + static ip
but that's b\c I'm temporarly living in a cheap student-apartment ^^ (I really need to move so I have some space for a arcade cabinet I'm waiting to buy =/)

 

Yeah I kno northern europe has some kickass broadband services

 

Back to the topic, what about food? I know beef and that kind os stuff is expensive, but in general, what I should expect?