What are /r/japan's favorite Products & Services?

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Looks like custom made plate from USA company. Found it from google image.

Here in Japan those are usually called 鉛筆ホルダー (ennpitsu horuda-, lit. "Pencil Holder"). I'm not sure of what specific brand yours is but Staedtler makes a really similar one. There is also this generic one I found that's pretty much identical to yours, except it's silver instead of black.

That is a soybean dip, called なめ味噌 (name miso; pronunciation "NOb MEtro MEEt SOAp"). I doubt you can find it in the US, but you can get the ingredients to make it yourself in the US. Homemade dip is better than store-bought dip anyway, IMHO.

You can purchase the following on Amazon:

• miso paste; example: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I33D544/
• mirin: example: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002YB210/

To make it, mix an equal amount of miso paste and sugar, and then heat it until it gets warm. Next, for the amount in the photo above, add about a (half?) tablespoon of mirin as well as finely chopped peppers, garlic, nuts, etc. according to your taste. Mix and heat until the texture is right.

You can experiment with flavors and variations until you find what you like. I prefer using sugarcane instead of granulated sugar, and I decrease the mount of sugar to make it less sweet. I really like a spicy dip with peppers, but perhaps my favorite has garlic and green onions, served with chilled cucumbers on a hot summer evening.

When linking to Amazon, cut out all text between .jp/ and /dp/##########

The text is unimportant and dropped by amazon's servers- the number is Amazon's AISN product ID number, which is all it needs to link to a product. The text, especially foreign language script or unexpected characters (ASCII "multiply" character), is difficult for Reddit's link recognizers to parse, so it has given you broken links.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00FJRZHD4

Here's a five year graph showing how many yen you get per dollar.

Spoiler: It's not super-cheap to visit Japan these days.

Google allows for people to upload pictures for the inside of businesses or down places which the streetcam car can't do. It's in conjunction with Google Business Photos.

Relevant: Comparison of this particular device vs. others

Stolen from the TRL discussion of this video: "I can't find much info on this DP802i device but it appears to be wildly inaccurate or you need to leave it there for a long time to get a proper reading. At the 1:50 mark you can see that the white radex geiger counter sitting on top of the thorium mantels is measuring ~2.1 uSv/h. The Dp802i sitting to the left and further away is measuring about 9.3 uSv/h. It is of course not possible to get such a higher reading from further away with less surface area. I think the algorithms of the device is over compensating for the rate of change or it needs a very long time to get a proper idea of dose."

I would like to see this same video from with the device allowed to sit longer in the dirt.

I think context is important. Japan was a developing country run by an authoritarian regime until quite recently. It still has quite a few artefacts/skeletons from that era.

Even developed countries have similar things of course (think Project MKUltra... https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra). People with disabilities are still getting fucked over today in multiple ways and there are circumstances where modern lawmakers will argue that (for example) people with Down syndrome should be sterilised to prevent them from having kids (on the basis thy can't look after them properly without support).

This kinda stuff is just the usual in places like China and Vietnam where people wouldn't even question it (similar to Japan back in the day)... you can only hope they too reach Japan's level of governance one day. However, most of the developing world focuses on growing economies rather than social progression.

>"you can't understand, you're not japanese".

Yeah, they fucking love that shit don't they? It is, of course, a complete load of horseshit by the way.

Honestly, I'd say the onus is on him - dating a frenchwoman in fucking France - to get with the program and learn your ways at the end of the day, because unless he goes and tracks down another fucking nihonjin he certainly isn't going to find someone less fucking french.

The fact that you're posting here, tells me that you're already a decent person who makes considerable effort to try and integrate with him and his cultural differences even though it's not entirely easy for you. And you're learning Japanese. In France.

Other people will give you more info on how to deconstruct the dear old Japanese (and I *do* recommend this book by the way which gives a little insight into some of the 'we Japanese' bollocks that is so ingrained. How does that expression go again? "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him regurgitate all that fucking kool-aid he's been drinking up?") but I think it's not your fault, and thus sentence to be burdened with his cultural frigidity.

Talk, talk and talk some more, but throw some of that onus back on his ass too.

I can't speak French, so good luck in whatever the hell that is in French. You got this.

Or get over sexism. according to japanization by william pesek, hiring women and keeping them in the work force would solve basically all of their worker shortage problems. This is echoed by Hiroshi Mikitani in The power to compete.

Japan has the ability to train women to do any job no matter the technical need. They simply push most women out of the workforce or they inhibit their ability to progress in their careers. Sexism stands in the way of Japan maintaining its top economy status.

I think it's much easier to hire people who speak native japanese, are just as capable as current workers (the men), and who are willing to work, than it is to bring in a large workforce of foreigners who don't know the language or the culture.

Tokyo won the games, not Yokohama or Japan as a whole. The primary stadium has always been in the city that actually won. Would kinda defeat the purpose if it wasn't.

Perhaps more importantly, the IOC want a shining jewel of a stadium at the centre of things, as a symbol of the games. They want something new(ly renovated) -- money's no object to them. (They're not the ones footing the bill, after all.) The fact they have a 7,000 page manual of a city's requirements should demonstrate just how strict they are about hosts bowing to their demands, and you'd have to imagine they're gonna be especially strict with the centrepiece. Plus it would mess with their narrative of a sporting legacy through investment in sporting facilities if a country to simply re-use something which is pretty much there already. The abandoned facilities of Athens et al are, by and large, overlooked; when they aren't, they tend to reflect worse on the host than the IOC. They have no reason to be pragmatic here.

Related article: Blind spot: How a hoax about eye licking went global.

/I thought the new trend might be Futago koude: The hot new fashion trend of Japanese women dressing like twins.

We have this one from Amazon:

Casual Kotatsu Japanese Heated Table 75x75 cm Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F2C31AM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_L76tCbVQ5YX8T

Works great. Have a regular full size comforter on it as the actual kotatsu ones are really expensive. Don't need a converter at all.

I read The Secrets of Mariko a few years back, where a female American journalist shadowed a Japanese housewife. The American journalist kept trying to push her agenda of "wouldn't you be happier with a career and in the workforce?" and the housewife kept telling her - "having a job doesn't necessarily mean being happy, and I'm happy with my role now." Your post reminded me of this book, and how entering the Japanese workforce isn't exactly a desirable option.

let's be honest, everyone knows shit is broken here in america. i mean, just for instance some australian dude is claiming to be satoshi nakamoto and says he owns the copyright for bitcoin. without any supporting evidence he can just claim that and our system allows it.

her claim will probably get rejected as i highly doubt that she is first to market.

"By no means do Japanese people dislike foreigners. This may not apply to everyone, but I certainly think it would be great if more foreigners would connect with Japanese people, rather than act as two completely separate groups."

Really? Doesn't the head of Honda's statement, when questioned by shareholders about why they were spending so much money on the Asimo robot project, tell a story of the bigger picture? To paraphrase what he said: "The population of Japan is in decline, who would you rather have looking after you in your old age, a robot or a foreigner?"

I think this article is either denialism, or the hopeful thoughts from a Japanese that the issue of being divided isn't her countrymen's fault, but rather... a foreign issue.

All that said, there are a whole lot of open-minded Japanese people, but due to political statistics (how many times has that racist Ishihara been re-elected?), I'd have to say that they aren't in the majority.

EDIT: two sources about nurses vs robots :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8687196.stm

http://gizmodo.com/5541040/elderly-japanese-would-rather-be-tended-to-by-robots-than-foreigners

Civilian citizens of an enemy country during wartime would face internment as enemy aliens. And would often be exchanged through the intervention of a intermediary like the Red Cross or the Swiss embassy. And that would include journalists.

During World War 2, war correspondents embedded with troops, like the famous Ernie Pyle had the honorary rank of Captain and wore Army uniforms so they were very much seen as targets for the enemy, reasonably enough.

In Japan it's common etiquette to carry your garbage with you and dispose of it at home.

More factors including recycling considerations here.

What you've described is literally the business model for some places in Kabukicho and Roppongi. Your friend may be sick for a while and need medical care.

There is little animosity between World War 2 veterans anymore, partially because so many of them are dead now.

This one episode of NCIS always got me because of the ending.

If anyone's curious - a very in-depth article about the in's and out's of this shoot - https://medium.com/matter/88aa8a185898

TL;DR: Optronis camera shooting at 56x slowed speed, and lots of post processing work to make it smooth.

> Google maps has gotten me lost 4 times

Really? I've never had issues... are you sure it's google's fault?

I'm guessing Navitime is one of the most accurate. I believe the bike interface even takes into account incline.

https://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/western-pacific/2016/Tropical-Storm-Mindulle?map=sat

Might have something to do with the tropical storm coming in.

The one that they've been talking about on TV for the last several days, and keep interrupting the Olympics to give updates on by showing pictures of waves.

Just a guess tho.

You probably need to contact a Japanese embassy or organization to assist you with this. More info here: https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-return-a-captured-WWII-Imperial-Army-flag-to-the-soldiers-family

The Kuro Toga is my favorite:

Japan Amazon

America Amazon

This is not exactly the same thing, but this should be worth trying, and closest one you can get on US (US Amazon)

If you were interested: as others mentioned, this reads "京 らー油 ふりかけ(Kyo Raa-yu Furikake)", meaning 1)Kyoto-style 2)Raa-yu flavored 3)rice seasoning. Raa-Yu is Chinese Chili oil used for hot Chinese dishes in Japan, like dumpling, ramen etc. (idk how it used in China)

Meanwhile what I put on the link above is "食べるラー油(Taberu Raa-yu)" which is not dried seasoning instead still oily and soaked in Raa-yu oil, but this also supposed to go on top of cooked rice. As a matter of fact, what you have is made from the concept of these oily seasoning. So it should taste 90% same.

edit: the product from the link says "Layu" and that's the "Raa-yu" I've put. It doesn't matter whether it's L/R so I left the way it is..

Yeah, what do these "Seismologists" and "Tectonic Geormorphology Professors" at this so-called "Tokyo University" and "Kobe University" think they know about this?

Todai is only the most respected university in the entire country, right? And what do Japanese researchers know about earthquakes, anyway?

And I mean, who are these guys, really? Above and beyond being respected experts with a publications list as long as your arm, both in journals in Japan and around the world?

Yup, complete hooey, and not even worth reading or thinking about for one second. I'll get all my information from government officials prone to taking golden parachute jobs with the power companies they're inspecting, thank you very much.

Here's an interview Miki Dezaki did a couple months after he put up the video. He talks about some of the fallout and negative reactions he got, in addition to his reasoning and whatnot.

Kodansha International's revenue had been dipping for a long time. The rest of Kodansha is fine, it's just this division that is being shut down and re-absorbed. Chances are the titles that did sell well will just be re-published under a different imprint.

Edit: More info and discussion here: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-03-03/kodansha-international-to-shut-down-by-april

Japan has a fairly good lost and found culture.

I read this recently after the March earthquake / tsunami, but Japanese have a fairly good reward system for finders. If an item is unclaimed after 3 months the finders get it.

The one picture of the "city hall" is actually of the Sakhalin Regional Museum in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (formerly Toyohara), which was never a city hall. Furthermore this city is neither located in the Kuril island chain or in the area claimed by Japan in regards to the Northern Territories, although it was indisputably Japanese territory until 1945.

>Traveling along the dirt roads of the islands and the shores, he rarely if ever met a soul.

Well, the same thing could be said for, say, the Falkland Islands, which actually is considerably less populated than the 3 larger islands in said Northern Territories. Either way, making this half-assed attempt at journalism the entire basis for the conclusion that the entire area is "abandoned and forgotten" is just being lazy.

Interesting thing about the guy who posted this video... it seems he's actually a self-described Japan hater.

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8374039

I wouldn't be surprised if the video was severely edited, like those crooked Breitbart videos.

You guys both need to check out classical Japan some more. In the Asuka/Nara period "civilised" Japan was fairly united / centralised, they were quite deeply involved in wider East Asian power politics, and there's a whole bunch of really interesting history involving ideas of magic and politics. Look up the Isshi incident for a taster.

e: Here's a good article about it

Also, Japan needs to start creating youths who are interested in making their own business.

Until the late 80's, Japan was the startup nation of Asia. Everyone wanted to be like the next Sony and you get really amazing tech companies like Squaresoft and SEGA. It was Japan's startup enthusiasm which influenced many in Silicon Valley.

Japan needs to bring that back, and thankfully i am quite optimistic about Onlab, one of the few japanese startup incubators:

http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/25/startup-japan-a-silicon-valley-entrepreneur-visits-onlab-a-young-japanese-incubator/

Hopefully in a few years we might see a revival of startup enterprising in Japan. Currently Singapore & Malaysia are dominating the Asian startup enterprise, and i'd like to see Japan challenging this.

airbnb has places like this one. Check it out, you might find some cheap places

EDIT: sorry, didn't notice that it wasn't in Nagasaki proper. But if you guys are early, then going a bit out of the way to save some cash might not be a bad idea (this place in Takeo is 15 dollars a night)

You are right that an opinion is different to a gaffe but they are not mutually exclusive. The international attention that this opinion is drawing certainly makes it count as a gaffe.

Anyway, this is of the same order as what he did when PM, so it doesn't really matter how we choose to define gaffe. I'm sorry if you cannot see the relevance.

Thanks for that. It's more reassuring to see the embassy's giving out similar information. The notes from the English embassy meeting last night are similar https://www.facebook.com/notes/paul-atkinson/japan-nuclear-update-british-embassy/10150111611771235

There are sociologists and writers that study the issue of poverty in Japan. A good starting point would be this video that gives a general overview about day laborers and doyagai. If you prefer books San'ya blues is a good read but kind of old and may not reflect todays situation accurately. There are a lot of youtube videos ranging from slumming for lulz to serious interest in the lives of the working poor and homeless. searching for 西成 (Nishinari) 釜ヶ崎 (Kamagasaki) or just Homeless in Japan will get you results.

Torrents have always been more heavily-regulated than regular HTTP transfers because the torrent protocol uploads stuff you've downloaded to your peers as you download, making you a distributor rather than just a downloader. It's very unwise to torrent without a P2P compatible VPN (- yes, that means you probably have to buy a VPN service subscription because most providers don't offer free P2P. I recommend Mullvad).

"Koran" used to be the main spelling, but it has increasingly been replaced by either "Qu'ran" or "Quran". You can see the historical usage play out here.

As this article mentions, the FDA (the Food and Drug Administration in the US) limit for milk is 4,700 picoCuries of iodine-131 in a liter of milk.

If we convert this we get 173.9 Bq.

So the FDA limit for milk is half that of their Japanese counterparts. While it's true that Japanese don't drink a lot of milk, it's not a critical part of the argument.

Personally, I drink a lot of milk (cereal, tea) and aim to continue to do so while living here in Japan.

Wolfram Alpha confirms your math.

Yeah, I guess I won't be drinking Fukushima milk for a while. Thankfully Iodine will go away pretty soon (well, as soon as our friendly Iodine fountain goes back to sleep) - it's the cesium that I'm worried about.

Hokkaido milk is looking rather attractive.

edit: current iodine levels in picocuries (729.7 pCi) : http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=27+becquerels+to+picocuries

This might help you make up your mind.

Debito (or someone claiming to be him,and the real Debito has not objected) publicly revealed what should probably be confidential info; the student's grade, attendance pattern, then accused the student of plagiarism, in attacking a student who criticized him at ratemyprofessor.com.

http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=2096601

>I remember this student (the only F I gave). Didn't take most quizzes, late to 7 classes & absent from 8 (out of 25), didn't show up for scheduled conferences for help from me, and copy-pasted in his essays whole sentences from internet articles. That's why the F. I like feedback, but suggest giving it in course evals, not online revenge ratings.

Even if it is all true, is that professional behavior for an academic?

You might ask your registrar if they can reveal to you how many people are flunked in his class. If the number is zero, proving the above is a lie, let debito know so he can notify ratemyprof to get rid of the impostor trying to make him look bad.

I'm sure you read this then:

English: https://www.airbnb.com/help/question/376

Japanese: https://www.airbnb.jp/help/question/376

TL;DR: "In many cities, you must register, get a permit, or obtain a license before you list your property or accept guests. … Penalties may include fines or other enforcement. … By accepting [airbnb's] Terms of Service and activating a listing, you certify that you will follow your local laws and regulations."

Though I've never really noticed what your are describing, it may be due to the lack of black frame separation in Japan. Though UK does have a black frame so it doesn't explain why you noticed it there as well.

http://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/1lqus8/serious_question_why_do_japanese_commercials_on/

Edit: this mythTV wiki states there is a silence requirement in UK advertisements.

https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Commercial_detection_in_the_UK#Silence_Detection

I'm not sure what you mean by "helped". You mean created some kind of synergy between Columbia and Tri-Star in Hollywood and Japanese content creators?

There is not a single Japanese person on SONY Pictures management team and nobody with any familiarity or experience in the Japanese entertainment industry.

When SONY was still making the Bravia TV they would sometimes offer SONY Pictures films in advance over the Bravia VOD system to Bravia owners and give away Blu-rays of SONY films to Bravia buyers but that doesn't do anything to support domestic entertainment workers in japan.

There is SONY Pictures Entertainment Japan but as you can see they produce only anime. They do have some kind of tie-up with Marvel but surprisingly, the characters in the Marvel Anime don't include Spiderman even though that is a SONY Pictures property. So, for some reason, they can't even synergize Spiderman from SONY in America to SONY in Japan.

And SONY has no stake in any of the big Japanese distributors that handle the release of Hollywood films in Japan (companies like Toho-Towa, Humax, Gaga, etc.) so SONY Pictures films don't get any preferential treatment by distributors here.

I'm thinking that this will turn out to be some Christian Dominionist kook trying to 'anoint' shrines and temples either with olive oil (although apparently Wesson will do in a pinch)

No that is near Shinbashi, bilding on the Left gives it away.

https://maps.google.com/?ll=35.666623,139.758775&spn=0.014905,0.016587&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=35.666452,139.758834&panoid=sBNuGocotNPjhXzowGQMNw&cbp=12,182.68,,0,-12.34

>how come your products are known worldwide for quality?

He says, as a major Japanese company files for bankruptcy following "the largest and most complex safety recall in U.S. history."

>japanese students have gruelling schedules compared to usa

And that has negative impacts, too - one of the highest suicide rates in the industrialized world, for example.

For every "good" thing you've heard about Japan, there's a flip side you often don't hear about.

Looking at the volcano on Google Maps, am I right to assume that this eruption is what caused the crater on the southeast side of the volcano?

There are places in the US that sell "kobe" beef, but I've heard it doesn't have to be 100% genetically kobe beef to be called kobe beef in the US. Also, of course, the feed and conditions in which it was raised would be different.

EDIT: Here's an importer... "We offer 100% Authentic Japanese Kobe Beef imported directly from Japan" ($315 for 2 lbs)

Also Costco.

Not Ameyoko (or maybe it's technically a part of it), but about 1 or 2 blocks off of it. Here's the area on google maps, but it feels a lot safer in daytime than it does at night. It's probably safe, but it feels sketchy. It's the combination of tattoo parlors, mizushobai, poor lighting, and lack of any ability to run off into Ameyoko if someone tries to chase after you.

It's probably safe, but it feels sketchy.

Young hoodlum, thug, etc. I'm not sure if kids unaffiliated with the yakuza (Japanese gangsters) can be called chinpira, but if they're in the organization it's at the lowest level.

There are bars everywhere! I'm not 100% familiar with Kyoto, as I live in Tokyo, but the times I've been there, I've had no trouble finding bars. They are usually smaller than in the US - the tendency here is for many small places.

Check out Wikitravel for Kyoto, there is a Drink section, and the Central Kyoto section lists individual bars: http://wikitravel.org/en/Kyoto#Drink

Sado Island. Getting there from Tokyo is roughly half a day (shinkansen 2h + boat 2h30). It is a very relaxed and scenic place, very different from Tokyo.

There is no night club scene. As far as I know, there is no night club anyway (a few pubs though). No cinemas either.

(sea)Food is gorgeous. Plenty of things to see, and not too touristy (not a lot of foreign visitors, that is).

If you can rent a car, you'll have a blast. Otherwise it is possible to enjoy the island on the few local buses or even on a bicycle.

I've been thinking about getting a VPN to Korea for $4/month. Should be plenty fast enough. http://www.supervpn.net/korea-vpn.html

I think it's the music industry cracking down, and I also think that Japan doesn't pay attention to torrents, but I'm going to wait to see how this all goes down, first.

I've been pretty satisfied with Hulu these past few months, but I'm gonna break at some point (Game of Thrones will land me in prison).

I actually have the announcements for the Yamanote line, they were on a 2007 CD called JR東日本 山手線車内 & 駅ホーム自動放送 完全オリジナル音源集. I could upload it if you're interested.

First of all, you should be more specific about what you actually have in terms of readers and cards.

If you want to play with FeliCa, you should get yourself an RC-S380 and use it with something like nfcpy: read the documentation at http://nfcpy.readthedocs.org/en/latest/topics/get-started.html#read-and-write-tags to get started.

You will also find NXP's TagInfo (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nxp.taginfolite&hl=en) helpful for dumping the contents of cards you want to examine.

For FeliCa cards, FeliCa Lite-S (RC-S966) can be bought in small quantities, and documentation is easily available without NDA.

If you want to do the "real stuff" (FeliCa Standard: mutual authentication, defining your own card formats, etc), go and buy the FeliCa Enterprise SDK.

If you want to clone a card, you should indicate what kind of card you want to clone, but in general the system is designed to resist this.

You don't need to install the apps. Once registered, you can connect via the browser, just like when you connect to a hotel's wifi.

http://flets.com/freewifi/step.html

But if you want to use an app and have Android phone, you can manage permission in Android easily (better than iPhone I'd say) using AppOps (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fr.slvn.appops&hl=en).

BK is Japan was also responsible for this

I had one of them, I couldn't finish it and my chest hurt afterward... No regrets.

Tell me about it. They (the news agencies) are doing precisely what they do best (being absolutely obnoxious) while providing nothing but a large dose of "everyone freak the fuck out" to everyone hoping for actual news. News being shit that is NEW, hence NEWs.

As for the obatarians (hilarious definition), they and everyone else concerned are taking things way too far and I agree that they are making things worse, especially for those who are working especially hard to keep shit afloat in Tokyo and can only afford the time to eat a small meal from the local コンビニ. I sincerely hope that the rescue effort is not being hindered because of this.

We feature our editors' and contributors' profiles prominently since part of our goal is sharing personal stories from the community and their connections to Japan. We're hoping to feature a mix of smaller things you wouldn't find elsewhere, and common Japan topics from different perspectives.

Always up for feedback, though. What kind of things do you think would be more interesting/useful to hear about? In past issues, we've talked about things like LCCs operating in Japan, the Japan Cricket Association, and street fashion. Do you think more practical info would be best? Or more blog-type stories of life in Japan?

Nope, I didn't try and comment.

Tokyo Radiation Levels (TRL) is a facebook group. The guy takes reading all over the area in many situations. He has traveled to hotspots and up to Fukushima. Granted its just one guy with 2 meters, but he's pretty knowledgeable and sober in his assessment, and was taking measurements before March 11th. He has spawned a couple of similar pages like TKR.

He has seemingly hundreds of measurements from every situation, ditches, foliage, etc.

The place to get official and free jailbreak tools is here: http://blog.iphone-dev.org/

Tethering is specifically forbidden by your softbank contract. Until now softbank hasn't really enforced this but that doesn't mean they won't in the future. I wouldn't go too overboard with downloads, just to be safe. Softbank's network is so frustratingly slow that you probably won't want to tether too much anyway...

Edit: If you want to read more about Softbank, smartphones, and general Japan carrier issues I suggest this blog.

True sounds fishy. I think they got the name of the TEP director wrong too.

But it seems that the Washington post have reported this information earlier; http://news.google.com/news/search?aq=f&pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=Akio+Komori+cries

the photo is from AP.

Washlets are available at Costco and WallMart.

I heard rumors that PASMO and suica will support Apple Pay in the future.
But they are just rumors.

There are many providers of international NFC technology in Japan. There is SMBC, Orico, NTT docomo iD, JACCS, American Express ExpressPay, and so forth.
※ iD only can use MasterCard PayPass.
And, the companies Square (スクエア) and Stripe (ストライプ) do business in Japan. In fact, Sumitomo-Mitsui purchased a $10-million stake in Square.
Line Pay and Pay.jp are competitors to Stripe.
I hope that international e-money becomes more widely used in Japan in the future.

I've done 10 days in Tokyo (food, subway fare, sightseeing, hostels, fun money for goign out + round trip flight from LAX) for a total of ~$1500

I definitely splurged a few times on food and nights out. If you ate ramen for every meal, skipped breakfast, walked a lot, etc. you could probably do it for less. Lot of free things to see like shrines/temples, tsukiji fish market, imperial palace, akihabara, architecture, so you don't have to spend money to get a dece experience. If you're really looking to pinch pennies, you and your friends could save some coin by giving urban camping a shot.

For the record I visited before and after March 11 - I thought it would be much cheaper the second time around, but the only significant difference was the flight fare ($1100 the first time, $800 the second time)

If you're patient and a little lucky, you can take advantage of this

I would highly suggest making an account at NicoNicoDouga. It's like the Japanese version of YouTube. There are various websites that will instruct you how to sign up (since it's in Japanese), and others that tell you how to navigate the site. The first link is Nico itself, the second is a facebook page with a few links that should help you.

http://www.nicovideo.jp

http://tinyurl.com/7y8369g

Now that is just for live stream mind you, not downloads. You can also pay for (some are free, but not as good) a VPN. This will allow you to access sites that aren't available to those outside of Japan. From there you can use the Gyao! service from Yahoo Japan. Tons of streaming videos there.

I can't help you with downloadable content, but hey, streaming is sometimes great on its own.

In tribute to /r/watchpeopledie. F

I did some research on the what will happen in a fall if jumper crash on you

Assuming 10 story is 33m and the boy weight 50kg

Average impact force is calculated at 161700 N

To put into perspective used this

https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/car-crash-force

For the poor girl, it would be the equivalent of driving about 60kmph in a car with no seatbelt and crash onto a tree in a dead stop scenario

If you're serious about learning kanji, it is a very good idea to learn to recognize which radicals (= elements) a kanji consists of. If you are able to recognize radicals, you can look up kanji by radical, which in my opinion is the fastest and most robust method, since you don't have to count strokes, or deal with handwriting recognition that fails more often than not, especially if you can't guess the correct stroke order yet.

I did a whois query on the domain linked in OP's rant, and it returned, er....

Domain Name: Registry Domain ID: 121246153_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN Registrar WHOIS Server: Registrar URL: Updated Date: 2019-03-31T06:15:34Z Creation Date: 2004-05-28T07:26:11Z Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2024-05-28T07:26:11Z Registrar: Network Solutions, LLC Registrar IANA ID: 2 Reseller: Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited Registry Registrant ID: Registrant Name: PERFECT PRIVACY, LLC

PERFECT PRIVACY, eh? Well, that's one hell of a red flag right off the block. If you're a business open to the public, why do you think your business details need to be concealed by an organization that calls themselves "Perfect Privacy"?

There are several Japanese undergarments known colloquially as "kimono underwear," though. Some of them are even shapewear, like the minimizer bras and waist padding that are often worn to give a good silhouette in kimono. If Kim Kardashian can trademark "kimono" in reference to underwear, could she prevent people from using the common English term "kimono underwear" when they're buying juban on Amazon? What about kimono-themed negligee with matching panties? Or the fundoshi-style underwear with kimono fabric patterns that you can buy on Etsy? "Kimono underwear" has an established history of multiple types of uses, some of which clearly overlap with Kim Kardashian's shapewear line.

If you want an extremely good VPN service for quasi-legal* uses (Netflix, Hulu, etc) then I suggest StrongVPN's $55/year package. They are one of the few providers that don't oversell their servers and bandwidth and you will get excellent speeds and great support.

* "Quasi-legal" because using Netflix, Hulu, and other similar services outside the US is against their TOS. StrongVPN is excellent for such uses. However StrongVPN is not the service to use for file sharing, for that you want a seedbox provider such as Feral Hosting.

This might be a more specific answer, from the company name "Little Buddy LLC" (found via Barnes & Noble comments below):

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/otedama?_requestid=27143

http://www.littlebuddytoys.com/

If anyone's looking, there are hiding here (brown building, second floor).

Nintendo HQ is in boring factory district of southern Kyoto and they do not offer any tours. It is just a (astonishingly) white building complex. That said, the HQ being close to the famous To-ji Temple, you can plan on visiting there after checking the temple if you really really want to see the HQ.

You'll need certification from the state to teach at the high school level. You should first target a state where you'd like to live and work, and then check some of the big, flagship universities in that state to see if they offer Foreign Language Education certificates. There may even be a type of accelerated or emergency certification option available.

The exception to that is private schools, where you can usually find work with a Master's degree (or, in some cases, a Bachelor's).

Poke around job ads online to see what common qualifications are: http://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Japanese+teacher&l=

You may also find work at colleges or language academies in the US, many of which will just require a B.A. I know the University of Pittsburgh, for example, will consider applicants with just a B.A. + teaching experience (they're fluent in Japanese, of course, being native Japanese speakers). Berlitz is also hiring: https://re12.ultipro.com/BER1010/JobBoard/JobDetails.aspx?__ID=*46BB51A7BDF46756&__jbsrc=96E3C105-2F99-43A4-B2C7-74B84630A3D6

LINE has replaced giving your phone number/email address/facebook for everyone I know in Tokyo who carries a smartphone. It's a great app and the numbers are skyrocketing globally -- they even just launched a LINE chat "sticker" character-themed anime in Japan! http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/07/line-offline/

My second hit was an article that referenced a government released PDF.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-07-17/japanese-government/streaming-not-illegal-under-new-law

A reddit search would have worked too

http://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/1mu20s/streaming_legality_in_japan/

>the CIA prevented a massive germany-style clean-out....and they made Kishi Nobusuke (class A war criminal) prime minister

Kishi was never indicted or tried as a class A war criminal. He was only held as a suspect. That doesn't make him a class A war criminal.

Also, are you claiming that the CIA ("they") were the ones who "made" Kishi the prime minister? I was under the impression that the Liberal Democratic Party selected him as Prime Minister, not the CIA or American government.

> can you imagine this happening in Germany? Not a chance

Kurt Georg Kiesinger, Chancellor of Germany in the 1960's, had been a member of the Nazi Part since the early 1930's until the very end of the war and had helped create Nazi propaganda during the war. Like Kishi, he was interned as a suspected war criminal after the war, but was released without being charged with any crime.

Heck, it was about that much when I came to Japan only five years ago. It's like I've been slowly getting a raise for the past five years, at least as far as sending money to the US goes.

If you can spare the time for a 3 hour bus trip, I recommend coming up to Gunma's Kusatsu. It's definitely up in the mountains, and snow is almost guaranteed that time of year. Bus leaves from Shinjuku station every hour or two (schedule).

No problem. I forgot openstreetmap has "cycling" map view as well.

https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=14/35.6921/139.8419&layers=C

The dashed blue lines are still cycle roads (or where people put bicycle=yes on a sidewalk or park path), and darker colored lines that are overlaid show regional routes. Tokyo is very incomplete in this regard because road cyclists leave tokyo on those regional paths out into the countryside. There should be a lot more "routes" with dark colored overlays in Tokyo, but no one is mapping them (right now).

/u/DK101010 is right. /r/LearnJapanese is the sub you need to use for future Japanese-language queries.

But you could have also figured this out using google or jisho.org: http://jisho.org/search/焼きはらう

Verbal Japanese: http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Early_Modern_Japanese

Written Japanese: http://www.geocities.jp/themusasi2g/gorin/g101.html (Gorin no Sho by Miyamoto Musashi, 1645. Original text on the left, modern Japanese on the right)

If a Japanese person has this tattoo, he or she is considered an antisocial force, shunned by others, and snubbed by family members.

We Japanese consider our bodies as a gift from our ancestors, and therefore, any action that disfigures our bodies, such as tattoos, is considered a violation of our ancestors.

In addition, tattoos are recognized as a symbol of YAKUZA, so most Japanese people avoid people with tattoos.

However, some of the younger generation of Japanese do get tattoos as a fashion statement, but they are limited to small ones and there is still some resistance to such large tattoos.

But many Japanese are tolerant of foreign cultures and customs, so if you have a large tattoo, we may just find it a bit startling and scary and won't stop accepting you.

However, you won't be able to go into a hot spring and it might be inconvenient in some way.

As for this tattoo, I personally find it frightening because I imagine a ghost or a grim reaper from a samurai's face.

​

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Sure! There's tons of surfers all along the coast of Iwaki. I know a few of the beaches they frequent. From what I heard, they were out there not long after 3.11, hitting the waves like it weren't no thing.

If you're interested in the surfing scene in Japan, most of the major spots are down south. This magazine had an interesting article on it.

If you like games, Ōkami touches quite a bit of Japanese mythology. Both stories and creatures are referenced. You'll probably need to know about, or read up on it on your own though, since it doesn't specifically explain the lore of it in game (Just partially). Here's an interview about the art.

In anime, xxxHOLiC (XXXホリック), Mushishi (蟲師), Mokke (もっけ) and Mouryou no Hako (魍魎の匣) are all good series.

Artist's page here. The image is smaller unless you are a member and can log in, so I didn't link directly to it in the OP.

For what it's worth, all the English language articles I could find on the subject (such as this) state that the public was outraged that the reporters failed to stop the killing. The lenient sentence they received might indicate that they had some sympathy, though.

Did you look at Wikitravel? There is an airport on the island with flights from Osaka, Fukuoka, and Kagoshima. There is also a ferry in Kagoshima City that can take you to the island.

I find Songkick works well in Japan for following more mainstream bands. Tokyo Gig Guide is up-to-date for most live houses in Tokyo I believe.

PollStar appears to list results for Japan. If it's a band on a world tour, it'll likely show up no matter where they go.

It was a firm retreat, and so I'm not actually sure (didn't have to pay, thankfully). It appears that the room prices start around 27,000 yen for a night and two days. Three of us stayed in the room, and it looked a lot like this one.

They had three different bath houses, which was fantastic- including one on the roof with a Mt. Fuji view.

Trip advisor reviews of the hotel

This video shows the light, but i apologize for him being incredibly annoying listening to. the light appears at about 1,30 in the video. http://www.frequency.com/video/breaking-new-video-74-earthquake-in/4348859

I'm not going to link to a torrent for the series, but I did find English subtitle files. https://subscene.com/subtitles/hideyoshi/english/2085291

Except all of those are Ryū, not Ryu, which I think is an important distinction to make since they are not homophones. 嶐 and 癃 are the few kanji I could find with a short "ryu" reading (the latter meaning "weakness/retention of urine" apparently). The dragon kanji are almost always pronounced with the long "ryū" reading.

Similarly, if you read it as "Riyu", like a lot of English speakers, then the meaning changes completely. Incidentally, "Riyu" shows up as a female name in this dictionary: http://jisho.org/search/riyu%20%23names

Reload my post if it didn't have the URL on there I added on edit. Here's jisho.org's list of things that match 'low table'; I don't know which is best: http://jisho.org/words?jap=&eng=low+table&dict=edict

I'd just pick some dimensions and go with it. I'm sure some googling can get you some averages for height or whatnot. You can just buy legs then and, if you must, cut the legs down even.

Okay, so, the context of this question is this. I was advising a friend of mine on something he wrote in Japanese. He said

たくさんしゅくだいがあります。おおきいなしけんがあります。ストレスがいっぱい。

I told him that the sentences should be linked with te-form, because as it is, it's unnecessarily choppy. He insisted that が would work better, and I was confused.

EDIT: I am aware of its use as introducing a contradictory clause. However, my friend insisted that が could be used as "and".

DOUBLE EDIT: He referred to this jisho.org definition as the reason for his use of が. Misinterpretation on his part?

> A step down transformer

Buying a step down transformer ($80~200+ USD) will cost more than buying a new US spec "Penni Press" sandwich maker for $20~50 USD.

Just use it as it is without a transformer and expect the "Hot Sand Maker^((sic)^)" to toast things faster and maybe wear-out slightly faster.

The first time you plug it in at 120V, I would put your Peanuts Sandwich Maker on a non-burnable surface. I doubt there is any real danger. I have used a lot of Japanese 100V devices in the US without any fires.