Japan

Sep 12, 2022 · 6 min read

Packages

  • Wabunka - a Japanese cultural experience

Sleeping places

  • Wooden Homes - Wooden houses with service and it is available in many places in Japan

Food

Sushi

  • to eat

    • to pick a piece of sushi with hands, pick up on the sides but not on both ends
    • to pick a piece of sushi with chopsticks, the chopsticks should be parallel to rice and chopsticks do not touch the topping if possible
    • brush soy sauce with shoga (pickled ginger) onto the topping
    • shoga (pickled ginger) can be eaten to remove the aftertaste of fat
    • tea is drank to remove any aftertaste

  • to order

    • it is okay to let chef to know what you dislike beforehand and it is okay to mention the budget as well

  • sushi types

    • nigiri
    • gunkanmaki (battleship roll)
    • nori-maki (most of common form appear in supermarket)
      • te-maki (hand roll)

  • order types

    • omakase (chef’s choice)
    • okonomi (your choice)
    • okimari (set menu)

Ramen

Drink

Tea ceremony

The tea bowl has a 正面 (しょうめん) and often it is the beautiful side. It is side that the host presents the bowl to the guests. To honor the craftmanship, guest should avoid drinking from 正面 and, thus, rotate the bowl clockwise. Upon finishing drinking, the bowl should be rotated anti-clockwise until 正面 is facing the host. The bowl should be returned to the host in that way. Rotating the tea bowl is a gesture of respect and mindfulness.

茶の湯 (ちゃのゆ) connects to mindfulness through its Zen Buddishism. The ceremony emphazises being fully present and appreciating the moment, fostering traquility and introspection. Japnese has a concenpt of 一期一会 (いちごいちえ) where it emphasises the uniqueness and irreplaceable nature of each moment, encouraging individuals to be fully present and appreciative of their current experiences.

Making matcha

  1. Put matcha (about 2g) in a tea bowl
  2. Pour hot water into tea bowl (about 80ml)
  3. Stir with tea whisk

Making gyokuro

  1. Pour hot water (80ml) into a small tea cup and let the hot water cool down
  2. Put tea leaves into teapot (2 tablespoons or 10g)
  3. Pour the cooled water (40-50 degrees) from the small tea cup into a teapot
  4. Wait for about 90 seconds
  5. Pour all tea from the teapot (until the last drop is served)

Making sencha

  1. Put tea leaves into a teapot (2 tablespoons or 10g)
  2. Pour hot water (200ml, 70-80 degrees) from the teapot
  3. Wait for 30 seconds
  4. Pour all tea from the teapot (until the last drop is served)

Shopping

Books

Cameras

Shoes

Clothes

  • Brand Collect ブランドコレクト
    • second hand
    • mostly on luxury or higher end
    • stores in Tokyo only
  • Komehyo コメ兵
    • second hand
    • mostly on luxury or higher end
  • RAGTAG
    • second hand
    • mostly on luxury clothes with focus on street brands
  • 2nd Street
    • cheap basics
    • feel open to find anything that catches your eye
    • “any” jacket
    • “any” pair of sunglasses
    • “any” bags
    • “any” pants
  • Mercari (an online shop) メルカリ
    • seeking particular trendy outfits or something specific
    • on the younger side
    • allow to set notififcation based on search criteria
    • sellers often message you a lot (both when you buy an item and when they ship it)
    • you can try to haggle in the comments section
    • rate and review each seller once the items are received; transaction would not be finished, otherwise
  • UseLet ユーズレット
    • part of TreFac
    • cheaper than 2nd Street
    • only in Tokyo, Saitama, and Kanagawa
  • ZOZOUSED ゾゾウーズド
    • good new arrivals 新着 (しんちゃく)

Second-hand

  • Treasure Factory (TreFac) トリファク
    • furniture
    • appliances
    • clothes
    • outdoor gear
    • interior goods
    • hobby items
    • kitchen tools
    • electronics
    • musical instruments
    • booze
  • TreFac Sports トレファクスポーツ
  • TreFac Market トレファクマーケット
    • whole set of large furniture
  • TreFacStyle トレファクスタイル

Proxy services

Shipping

Entertainment

Football

Sports

  • JTB Sports different sports events such as marathon, cycling, triathlon, etc.

Work

Weather

Earthquake

  • 南海トラフ巨大地震
  • Rapid Earthquake Alerts - Japan
  • Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) Seismic Intensity Scale (Shindo Scale, 震度階級)
    • it is a measure of the intensity of shaking at a specific location
      • instead of measuring the energy released by an earthquake such as Richter scale
    • diagram
    • Shindo (震度)
      • 0
        • not felt by people but detectable by instruments.
      • 1
        • slightly noticeable to some people who are quiet indoors
      • 2
        • noticeable to many quiet people indoors; may wake a few
      • 3
        • felt by most indoors; some walking people notice; many awake
      • 4
        • startles most; felt by nearly everyone walking; wakes up most
      • 5弱
        • for human, frightens many; they may grab onto stable objects
        • for wooden houses, small cracks may appear in walls of low earthquake resistance houses
        • for concrete buildings, no significant effect
      • 5強
        • for human, movement is difficult without support
        • for wooden houses, walls may crack in low earthquake resistance houses
        • for concrete buildings, cracks may form in walls, beams, and pillars of low earthquake resistance buildings
      • 6弱
        • for human, standing is difficult
        • for wooden houses, for less resistant houses, walls crack more often; houses may lean or collapse; small cracks may form in walls of more resistant houses
        • for concrete buildings, for less resistant buildings, cracks occur more often; X-shaped cracks may develop; cracks may appear in structural elements of more resistant buildings
      • 6強
        • for human, standing or moving is only possible by crawling; people may be thrown through the air
        • for wooden houses, low earthquake resistance houses are likely to lean or collapse; larger cracks are possible in more resistant houses
        • for concrete buildings, ground-level pillars may break; collapse is possible for less resistant structures; for more resistant structures, cracks become more widespread; walls may slip
        • landsides are expected
      • 7
        • for human, standing or moving is only possible by crawling; people may be thrown through the air
        • for wooden houses, less resistant houses are highly likely to collapse; for more resistant houses, cracks are more frequent and leaning may occur
        • for concrete buildings, most or all buildings (even earthquake-resistant ones) suffer severe damage

Tsunami

  • communications
    • 大津波警報 (major tsunami warning)
      • 10m超 (expected above 10m)
      • 10m (expected 5-10m)
      • 5m (expected 3-5m)
    • 津波警報 (tsunami warning)
      • 3m (expected 1-3m)
    • 津波注意報 (tsunami advisory)
      • 1m (expected 0.2-1m)

Data SIM cards (Moshi Moshi via Airalo)

Days Data (GB) Price (USD)
30 20 26
30 3 8.5
15 2 6.5
7 1 4.5

Electrical sockets

Transportation

  • Car travel
  • Bicycle travel
    • map of cycling
    • everyone is mindful that spaces in pavements and roads shared with cyclists
    • Docomo bike share service
    • Hello Cycling
    • by law, bicycles should stay on the left side of the road whenever possible
      • to turn right, instead following car traffic, bicycles should cross the road straight ahead at a pedestrian crossing and then turn right (see this diagram from Unseen Japa
    • by law, helmets while cycling are now required but it does not carry a penalty for non-compliance
    • locks should be used although the theft rate is low
  • Bus travel

Interesting facts

  • Japan uses porous asphalt pavements, which not only reduce noise but also improve drainage and safety by reducing surface water during rain

Onsen

Yukata (浴衣)

  • steps to put on
    1. make sure your yukata fits your height
    2. wrap the yukata around your body, starting with the right side, then left
    3. for women, wrap your obi (帯) around your waist; for men, wrap it around your hips; leave enough length to tie a bow
    4. you can wear the bow at the front, or twist it around to the back

Changing room

Take off all of your clothes in the changing room. No underware or swimsuits are allowed in the onsens. If you like, you can take a small hand towel into the bath area to cover yourself, but please do not let it touch bath water.

News

Safty and security

Recycling

  • Aluminum cans (アルミカン)
    • ensure inside is washed and has nothing
  • tray (トレイ)
    • usually refers to plastic polystyrene tray (発泡スチロールトレイ)
    • ensure it is washed (with no oil) and dried
    • those carried cup noodles, natto (納豆), or mushroom (きのこ) should not be included
    • those transparent (透明) or translucent (半透明) should not be included
  • transparent tray (透明トレイ)
    • ensure it is washed (with no oil) and dried
    • those carried cup noodles, natto (納豆), or mushroom (きのこ) should not be included
  • paper carton (紙パック)
    • usually include those carried milk, juice, or soup
    • it could include aluminum foil (アルミき紙パック)
    • ensure it is washed and open flat
    • those carried cup noodles, natto (納豆), or mushroom (きのこ) should not be included
  • PET bottles (ペットボトル)
    • ensure it is washed and has nothing
    • ensure bottle cap be removed
    • ensure label wrapped around the bottle be removed
    • ensure it is as flat as possible
    • those carried sauce, detergent, shampoo or bottles not marked with PET 1 should not be included

TV channels

  • NHK
  • NNN (by Nippon TV)
  • JNN (by TBS)
  • FNN (by Fuji TV)
  • ANN (by TV Asahi)
  • TXN (by TV Tokyo)
  • BS11 (by Nippon BS Broadcasting, free-to-air satellite channel)

Real estate

Household

  • エアコン can warm a room as it is heat pump system by default

Locations

Tokyo

Food

Kansai

Weather

City Month High/Low (°C) Rain days
Osaka May 26/17 9
Wakayama May 26/17 9
  • Sunlight
    • Sunrise: 05:07am - 04:46am
    • Sunset: 06:46pm - 7:05pm

Timezone

Travel Visa

Money

Places

Food

Videos

Transportation

Sleeping places

Wild experience

Alex Ho
Authors
Alex Ho
Software Developer
Experienced software engineer with interests in web and cloud technologies