So been in Japan for a week.

I am currently bumming around in Ibaraki not too far from the Tsukabu Circuit. I have been here a week and so far everything is being okay although there are a few things that have been different.

Aftershocks, basically every day (sometimes twice a day) there have been tremors, Ibaraki does seem to get quite a few of them and the epicentres of some quakes have been just a few kms away. There was a 5 last saturday which felt quite strong and the epicentre was not too far away.

Power Outages, so far there have not been any, although minor services like traffic lights have been switched off to save some power.

Lights, because of the threat of power shortages, most retail places have switched off at least 1/5th of their lighting to save power. Some have switched off half the lights and lights around fruit and vegetables have also been turned off. One hopes that even after the power shortage fades, that most places will still keep the lights off as it does show that most places are overlit and burning power for no good reason.

Food, most super markets are running as normal, only a few foods are very hard to get hold of, the ones that you hardly see include.

Natto - Most places seem to get a small amount and by 10am they have all sold out, I have had to battle with housewifes at store opening to buy the one packet (has 3 or 4 servings) that the shops will allow you to buy. Feels odd being the only gaijin doing this...
Yogurt - Due to power shortages in other places, it has affected the industry so it is becoming harder to find any type of yogurt. With a large empty fridge space where the pots should be.
Eggs - Although not in short supply, I noticed that most places have instead of at least 10 different brands and types, commonly only have one or two.

Street Lighting - A number of these were damaged (physically or though power issues), so for me to walk from where I am staying to anywhere at night will involve walking down some roads in complete darkness where there was lighting before.

ATMs - The late night post office ATMs seem to have shorter hours now, where as they used to be work until 7pm during the week and 5pm during the weekend , they have now been shortened to 6pm and 4pm respectively. I also had issues with using an ATM in 7-11 after 6pm too.

Mobile Phones - Service has been patchy in places, been regularly losing connections and have had people tell me that they can not get through to me (and the reverse has been true).

Apart from that life does seem to be going on as normal.

 

Yoghurt is insanely easy to make (you just need a little bit of yoghurt and plenty of milk) if you've got a source of low heat, which... if you're having electricity shortages and have an electric cooker is probably not appropriate. It does take a long time, I'm guessing that's what you mean when you say it's affected the industry.

I never understood the deal with ATMs on a timer. Not like an ATM machine has a wife and kids to go home to at 6PM sharp. What's the logic?

Pretty interesting post, anyway. Thanks.

 

Plain yogurt is not hard to find here. You want flavored shit? You're SOL... but, I've been just throwing my own fruit and honey in plain for a while now, so I'm good.

Join the club, and I've devoted 11 years of my 36 to this place.

 

Oh the good old Japanese ATM law. Yep, it's stupid. It's my money so why can't I have 24 hour access? What's really stupid is that the normal time for most shops to close it 8pm, some at 10pm or 12am. Yet only loan companies have their ATM machines on and they rape you arse with commission charges.

 

Most large banks in Tokyo have at least some 24 hour machines, and all the ones that are geared to white people do. That's Shinsei & Citibank, for those that don't know.

 

So now this makes no sense to me at all. There's no law prohibiting these machines from working all the time?

Who stands to benefit? Is there some historical reason why ATMs would shut down at night?

I don't mean to bang on about it, but it does seem like there must be an explanation, if convoluted or obscure.

 

At least we have freedom to buy drugs early in the morning . Nice to know the Japanese have to pay ermm extra 'fees'

 

Last year when 7/11 stopped taking foreign cards, I was SOL when I didn't carry enough cash on me at night. I would go out in Kyoto and before I could just go to 7/11 on Kiyamachi sanjo to take out more money, but since that wasn't possible anymore there was no way for me to take out money. Closest Citibank was atleast 20 mins walking(and I have never used it so no idea whether it is open 24h), no post office in Kyoto is open 24 hours a day (the Kyoto station one is open until 12, but after having learned the hard way all atm machines stop working at 11:45.. which I learned when I went there at 11:50) and unlike my Swedish friends I couldn't take out money at the Daily Yamazaki. Coming from a country where I never really carry more than 10 euros cash on me I wasn't used to always making sure I had a decent amount of cash on me. And most of the bars I went to didn't take my credit card either.

Thank God 7/11 started taking my card again.

 

Most things make no sense in Japan and when you as for an explanation you either don't get one or the lame ass excuse of "that's the Japanese way". Oh how I hate that shit.

 

Going back on topic, the other thing which annoyed me today was that fact that JR East have canceled a bugger load of trains on a number of lines so some lines only have 1/3rd of the service but on the english site they are fail to mention this. I ended up quite late meeting someone as the Hyperdia train times I got were well off.

 

how long you here for Jam

http://www.computerandvideogames.co...amicom-city/?cid=OTC-RSS&attr=CVG-General-RSS - have you been? i fancy checking it out

 

I am here until early June, two months of nothing except answering a few emails and writing some documents. Bliss

Do want to check out one of those places one day.

 

I was shocked when the Narita Express was still not running as of March 29th. WTF?!

 

Not that much of a hardship to go to Nippori or Ueno on the Skyliner and jump on the Yamanote line or is the short walk between platforms or stations to much for some americans

Still it seems that this week a lot of the Kanto based services in the Tokyo area are getting back to normal.

 

Considering I jog 20k a week, swim 5k a week, and do weight training twice a week, no. Lugging the 50k suitcase with my backpack filled w/ the remaining 5k that wasn't allowed in the suitcase along w/ my laptop, plus carrying another bag w/ a gift or two in it on the Yamanote line is irksome to say the least though. I think the NEX not running a month after the quake deserves a WTF.

 

Thats pretty hardcore Gaijinpunch
Im so lazy when it comes to the treadmill - I run 10 minutes twice a week at mach 10.0 on the machine (not much for outdoors running).
When I was playing futsal on sundays I was still struggling
If I run 20 mins twice a week i am good for futsal

 

Is Tsukuba Circuit open? I used to go there a lot on open track days. That and Sendai Hi-Land are my favorite tracks in Japan.

 

big one just now

 

Not getting any younger... and I can feel it. Only way I don't stress out is to be physically tired.

I hate the treadmill though. I do my jogging outside.

 

Since I'm hitting the Gym once a week and doing 2~3 times at home (95% wheights), I feel like replaced. As well I can see weekly improvments on my body.
It's not just about the training itself, but also about a better nutrition/diet which is accompanying the training.

I think if I continue like this over a whole year (now 4 month), I will be much fitter as I was back with 22. I just turned 36.