The X-Pat Files
March 2009
(Brought to you
by H&R Consultants)
The X-Pat
Files Community E-Newsletter provides a forum for the spread of
information useful for English speakers living in Aichi. You can use the
newsletter as an informational resource, and of course you can send in
information you would like to share.
This newsletter is a community service from
The Japan Real Estate and Relocation company, H&R Consultants (www.japanhomesearch.com), and is edited by Sue Conolly (http://web.mac.com/conolly).
Contents for This Edition
1. Toyoko Inn Chain Hotels
2. 5th Annual Nagoya
St. Patrick’s Day Parade
3. ETC Discount for Highway
Travel
4. Study Japan Program in Mie
5. Hard Times in Japan
6. 2009 HOPE Travel and Leisure
Auction
7. Meet and Greet
8. Sending Money Home
9. Nagoya Sight Seeing Bus
10. The Frog and the Willow
**************************************************
1. Toyoko
Inn Chain Hotels
Thank you to Maryann
Onishi for this submission
For the past few years when we travel we try
and use Toyoko Inn hotels as they are cheap and clean, although the rooms are a
little small. They are very convenient when travelling by train plus there are
some car parking spaces which are best reserved by phone.
Toyoko-Inn hotels are a chain of
budget/business hotels that are located within walking distance of main railway
stations all over Japan.
The web-site and on-line reservation is
available in English here; http://www.toyoko-inn.com/eng/
Room rates are about 5,000 yen for a single
and about 8,000 yen for a twin/double. Rates vary a little and are a bit more
expensive in the big cities. Twin rooms are the best value. There is also a “Cinderella
plan” which means if you check in after midnight the twin rate is only about
5,000 yen.
Young children sharing a bed are free. The
price includes a simple Japanese buffet breakfast including onigiri, soup and pickles. Some of the
twin rooms also have wheelchair access – these are the same price as a
regular twin but much more spacious. They have a single and a semi-double bed,
for those traveling with a co-sleeping young child it is adequate. The toilet
and bath are separate and have hand rails.
When you select a hotel on the website there
will be a map plus a list of what is available in the room (eg. yukata style sleepwear, trouser press,
tea making facilities, toothbrush, etc.).
Women get a separate pack including a
hair-band, face mask and nail varnish remover. As a side note, many of the
managers of Toyoko Inn are women.
There is free internet access in the rooms
plus you can use the computers and printers in the lobby for free. You
can also rent a car for about 6000 yen for 24 hours, but of course you have to
book this in advance. Also, when you book on-line you get a little present when
you check-in. A small thing, but the in-house magazine also has some articles
in English.
**************************************************
2. 5th
Annual Nagoya St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Thank you to Geri
White for this submission
5th Annual Nagoya St. Patrick's
Day Parade
Date: March 21st
* Live music and Irish
dancing from 12:00 at the Welcome Cat (Manekineko)
in Osu.
* Parade 14:00 from in
front of Osu Kannon Temple
Lots of entertainment for all the family,
young and old, the St. Patrick's Day Parade is Ireland's most celebrated
festival and one of the world's biggest international events. In Japan, parades
are held in locations as widespread as Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto, Ise and Sendai
every year, and this year Nagoya will host its fifth parade.
Not only Irish people, but people of all
nationalities, races and creeds are invited to join in the celebrations.
After event: from 16:00 at St
James's Gate Irish Pub in Sakae.
Website: www.stpatricksnagoya.com
Volunteers/musicians always welcome
email: info@stpatricksnagoya
**************************************************
3. ETC Discount for
Highway Travel
From approximately mid-March (date as yet
unreleased), highway companies all over Japan are planning to introduce an
unbelievable new discount that promises to make domestic car travel in rural areas
much more affordable.
The high cost of highway travel is rather famous
among expatriates in Japan, but from the middle of March, those with cars
fitted with an ETC (Electronic Collection Card) and who use the automatic toll
gates, will only pay a maximum of 1000 yen if traveling on a weekend or public
holiday. That's right, that's not 10,000 yen, but 1,000 yen, or the
equivalent of a couple of Starbucks Coffees - and you can drive the entire
length of Japan! Not only that, if you only travel a short distance on the
highway then the toll will be 50% off, so the MAXIMUM is 1000 yen, but in
reality it might be even less.
There are obviously conditions that apply to
this unbelievable discount.
* You must travel on a Saturday, Sunday, or
public holiday
* You must travel within one day - when the
clock ticks over, obviously you pay for another day
* You can only travel the highways in rural
Japan, so when you enter the highway zones of big cities like Tokyo, you'll
revert back to regular (or regular discounted) highway prices
* You must have your car fitted with an ETC
machine, and have applied for an ETC card, so that you can use the automatic
ETC gates
When ETC was first introduced a few years
ago, the only incentive to the driver was to avoid the long lines at the tollgate.
However, low sales soon encouraged discounts such as those listed below.
However, I think you'll agree that this latest development has weekend holiday
makers very excited about the possibilities!
Watch a video in English
about the ETC system to see what it’s all about. On this website you can also
learn how to
install ETC in your own car, and how to use ETC once
you’re at the tollgate.
Actual discounts are not outlined on the ETC
English website, but two other ETC discounts that are already in place are
outlined below, and include links to official explanations (in Japanese):
* Commuter Discount -
again, outside big cities, a maximum of 50% off travel between 6-9 and 5-8, maximum
of once per session, under 100km
* Earlybird/Midnight Discount
- certain highways offer a 50% discount if you get on the highway between 10pm
and 6am at night, under 100km
The “1000 yen Unlimited Distance” discount
is as yet unlisted on the official website, but it is the talk of the town, and
often on the news as being very worrying for ferry and train companies who will
undoubtedly lose revenue from this new discount as holiday makers take to the
roads. For more information, ask all of your Japanese colleagues, who will no
doubt be on the edge of their seats for the latest update!
**************************************************
4. Study Japan Program
in Mie
Abigail Lloyd
This is for anyone interested in improving
their Japanese through an intensive course.
Suzuka International University in Mie offers
two programs a year known as the "Study Japan Program (SJP)", for
non-native Japanese speakers hoping to take the next step with their Japanese
language skills.
The course in
spring/summer is for beginners, and autumn/winter for advanced. I took the autumn/winter
course almost four years ago, and I can really highly recommend this university
and the program.
The tuition is very reasonable and classes taught
by highly professional university teachers. The classes cover all aspects
of Japanese learning - reading, writing, grammar, listening, and there are cultural
activities every week for an afternoon.
The university is quite small and homely,
which is the perfect environment for studying and for getting to know other
students from the regular undergraduate or graduate programs. They offer
accommodation, which I used when I studied there, but it is also possible from
Nagoya to commute back and forth every day.
For more information, please follow this
link:
http://www.siucenter.org/SIU_Exchange_Centre/Beginner_Intermediate_SJP_Course.html
Good luck with your studies!
**************************************************
5. Hard Times in Japan
With the economy on everyone’s mind, it’s
good to know that there are things we all can do in Japan to tighten our belts.
We tend to think of Japan as an expensive place to live, but with just a few
minor adjustments to our lifestyle, we can save money and stop our hair from
going grey too quickly in these harsh economic times.
Eat Local
Yes, it’s nice to order your goodies from
home with great services like FBC, but
locally grown produce is much more healthy and a lot cheaper. There are of
course some exceptions to this rule – the giant tub of peanut butter from
Flying Pig is going to cost less than
the Japanese supermarket version, but by and large, learning to use your local
supermarket is the biggest favour you can do for your pocketbook.
Eat Out, but Eat Cheap
Of course it is always better to eat at
home, but if you must eat out, there are cheap options. The “king of the cheap”
in Japan is Yoshinoya, the beef bowl
haven where a bowl of beef on rice costs just 390 yen! That’s way cheaper than
McDonalds, and it’s (a bit) better for you too! Other shockingly cheap
restaurants include Coco-ichiban Curry
House, and Saizeriya.
Plan Nights Out Wisely
Don’t get caught paying taxi fares when you
could be paying the train fare, even if it means you have to start your evening
earlier. These days, overtime at work is being cut, cut, cut… so use the extra
time to get an early start in town and don’t ever get caught short. Also, the
traditional Japanese second-party, the nijikai,
can sometimes be as expensive as the first. Before you set out, plan to make
your second party the ramen shop. Ramen is cheap, there are no alcoholic drinks
to drive up the bill, and it’s so filling that all you’ll be able to do afterwards
is to roll home, early enough for that last train!
Don’t Buy Lunch
If you’ve got leftovers from the night
before, eat those instead of shelling out around 1000 yen in a restaurant. Some
companies subsidize your lunch at the company canteen, but if not then a bento lunch might be a lot cheaper, and
healthier. These days the humble lunch box comes in many forms – there
are special containers for soup, for donburi,
anything you want!
Shop Daily
Japanese housewives shop daily to get the
best specials of the day. This method of shopping also discourages
over-shopping – because you have in your mind what you specifically want
to purchase for just that night and the next breakfast. When you do get a
collection of “old” vegetables in the fridge (which sometimes happens when
you’ve over shopped or when neighbours have stopped by with a bag of farm
vegetables), make a “pauper’s soup” with Japanese dashi (stock), and any old thing you have in the fridge. Add a
little something from the supermarket like chicken, and you’ve got a delicious
and healthy meal that’s made from odds and ends that would otherwise have been
thrown out.
Budgeting Tricks
If you’ve got a part-time job, make THAT
money the money that buys your luxuries. A woman I know used her part-time job
money to buy meat, so kept her meat purchases to within that budget which made
her meals healthier and her purse strings tighter. Another idea is to have
different purses for different things – another woman I know puts 10,000
yen in the kitchen cupboard for those emergency purchases, and this money
builds up over months. Keep two bank accounts, transfer money to the
alternative bank account every month and put that ATM card away. Or the
ultimate money saver – send some of your money overseas every month where
you can’t get it.
No-Money Weekends
Not for every weekend, but this is a fun
thing for the whole family to do. Fill the car up before the weekend, and go
shopping for food on Friday. Then, try and survive on absolutely zero money for
the entire weekend. You can go on picnics, you can take your digital camera to
explore the streets of Japan. You can go on bike hikes, or drive to the beach.
The only rule is that you can’t spend money that weekend, so no highway, no
entry fees, and no food or drink purchases. So, remember to take your flask,
and enough food for the day. Everyone in the family is involved in making this
work, so let the individual “players” of the game come up with new and inventive
things to do.
Festivals and Flowers
There are a lot of traditionally Japanese
things to do that don’t cost a lot of money. Hanami
is free in the spring-time when all you need is something to drink in the park.
Festivals are free to attend in the summer. Shrines and temples are open all
year. The pottery lined streets of Tokoname never
close. The wonderful thing about living in a different and exotic country is
that just living here is interesting and exciting without ever having paid an
entry fee. It’s not all about Japanese culture, either – see the above
listing for St Paddy’s
Day!
The Cheaper
Alternatives
Low-Fat Milk (Teishibohnyu) is almost consistently cheaper than high fat. Happoshu (or Honnama) is the cheaper version of beer that does not attract the
beer tax because of a slight change in formula, undetectable to most palates.
Keeping plastic cups (spill-friendly ones) in the car pays off when you get one
of those refillable water bottles from the supermarket. The first time you go
on a drive and don’t have to stop at a convenience store to buy drinks for all
family members, you’ll have paid off the 500 yen you initially paid for the refillable
bottle of water at the shop. All subsequent refills are free and the water
tastes great!
Discount Travel
The X-Pat Files has in the past, outlined
several public transport discount options that are still valid today, but if
you are ever in doubt – ASK. Ask the man at the station whose job it is
to outline the options. Ask your Japanese speaking friends to go with you. Ask
your colleagues to help you make a booking the first time. And every time you
get a certain discount, write it down and try to get that discount again next
time. Some discounts are fairly random and have funny little rules, but once
you’ve had it once you’ll know what to aim for. For an example of a discount
travel option complete with rules, see the ETC highway travel special above!
And remember – if the train is looking
expensive, there is always the bus! Or an overnight ferry to Hokkaido –
for every destination there are always options.
Recycle Everything
Tell and Sell Japan is a
website where you can get recycled stuff for free, or very cheaply. The other
day there was a piano on there, free for the first person to pay for shipping! Bookmooch is another website where you can
give books away to get books from others. Give your kids gently-used clothes
away to younger kids, and accept the gifts of others. Make yourself known as a
recycler among your circle of friends and see what things you get.
Don’t Look a
Gift-Horse in the Mouth
Japan is the land of gifts – both the
kind that are prettily wrapped, and those that come wrapped in newspaper and a
plastic bag. I used to have a thousand of these unopened gifts lying around the
house just because they weren’t the exact thing I would normally use. A good example
of this is soap, which you always receive in bar-form, but which is often more
convenient in a pump pack. However, if you used all of the gift soap you had at
home, it would probably save you quite a bit in money you’d otherwise have
spent at the home center. Often neighbours will stop by with a shopping bag
full of dirty daikon radishes that
have just been dug up from a relative’s market garden. Learn what to do with
these vegetables and you’ll be expanding your horizons while tightening your
purse strings.
You Scratch My Back….
Japan can be a very symbiotic place to live.
If you want to learn Japanese, all you need do is to find someone who wants to
learn English and you can arrange an informal language exchange. I’ve also
heard of other instances where English lessons can be exchanged for other goods
and services in Japan. You will never be able to do your grocery shopping this
way, but in some cases you can get the things you want by barter. In the
States, a system called TimeBank is
spreading throughout the land whereby people (especially neighbours) help each
other out in various ways in exchange for Time Dollars which can then be cashed
in at a later time. I found a website
where this system is explained in various languages, including Japanese –
so why not start a TimeBank in your own community? Even without a formal
system, think about it – childcare swaps with friends, helping each other
out on the weekend to clean up the garden – these are all ways that you
can reduce the cost to yourself while raising your level of socialization
within the community.
Entertainment Today
Ditch the video store, and trade movies with
friends. Forego the cinema and make “movie night” at home with friends and
popcorn. Make “dinner out” a special event, and not a convenience. Think back
to how people lived in the depression (no, I am not trying to be gloomy!). In
those days people found happiness and enjoyment where they could get it, not
from the very latest Wii Machine or holiday to Jamaica. Next holiday, plan a “Staycation”
and stay at home avoiding highways and public transport to really enjoy a
relaxing holiday at your home-away-from-home in Japan. You don’t know what is
there in your neighbourhood until you have the vacation time to explore!
Overseas Calling
Shop around for the very best deal on your
overseas calling, and remember that Skype
is free! The purchase of a headset for your computer (about 1000 yen) will give
you sound quality, and unlimited time to talk to other Skype users, and it’s
not just Skype that has cornered the market. iChat for people
with Macs also works well, and is also a free service. Brastel is another telephone
service that has been recommended by readers on the X-Pat Files, and also each
internet provider offers its own VOIP service which will offer various rates to
the countries you most want to call. Many of these options were outlined in the
X-Pat
Files in June, 2008. When the editor of the X-Pat Files came to Japan, international
calls were a flat rate of 500 yen per minute – so count your lucky stars!
Home Swapping
I hesitate to suggest this one as I know
many of the readers of the X-Pat Files may be in rented premises, but if you do
own your own home then swapping your house with friends in a different part of
Japan, or even overseas, is a way of getting a holiday without paying a cent
for hotels. You can do this even with people you don’t know (as we did with
people in New York a couple of years ago), but it’s advisable to have a relationship
at least by e-mail first so that you can feel comfortable in the situation. We
put all the things we were not comfortable sharing in a little room which we
locked (there weren’t many things), cleaned up really well, changed the sheets
on the bed – and voila! Our guests had a home base for their travels in
Japan, and we had a home base in New York. You can list your home on commercial
sites like Home For Exchange, or
just look on Craig’s List, if you
don’t already have an idea for who you can swap with.
Quality Time for You
This morning I was in the office of a very
busy friend talking about a very important issue. In the middle of this very
important issue this very important and busy friend turned up the volume on his
computer and said “Listen to this!!!!”. It was a podcast put out by an American
author, satirist, and radio personality who reads poetry among other things,
and provides my friend with a few minutes of unfettered time per day. My favourite
podcast is Dr Karl on JJJ – he is a kind of brainiac Australian guy who
answers the random science questions of people who call in – and I love
it for the Australian accents and for the lovely Australian wit of Dr Karl
himself. I listen to this podcast on the train and for those moments I am
transported back home, I almost feel like I am wearing my slippers and sitting
on the sofa with a cup of tea. Quality time for you does not have to mean
technology, however. If you’re a closet artist then all you need is a pencil
and a piece of scrap paper. Many an amateur poem has been written on a Mister
Donuts napkin. And maybe your thing is just a nice hot bath – which you
can have at home, or if you’re wanting to get out of home, you can have at any
one of the super-sento (public baths)
that give you a choice of luxurious baths. The concept is always the same
– if you have time to get away from your problems, it’s always that much
easier to face them
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6. 2009 HOPE Travel
and Leisure Auction
Part
of HOPE at the Hilton Week, April 12th – April 19th
HOPE International
Development Agency and Hilton Hotels are proud to announce that the HOPE Travel
and Leisure Auction is back again this year, bringing you opportunities for fun
and travel and in the process bringing help to the poor around the world.
Items will be
viewable online from mid-March, and bidding will start on April 12th.
As well, come to the Nagoya Hilton during HOPE at the Hilton Week and view all
the items, place your bids, and take part in the many activities that will be
offered. As a bonus, every time you place a bid at the Hilton, you’ll be
entered into a raffle with the top prize consisting of two business class
tickets from Japan to the U.S. courtesy of United Airlines!
Events at the Hilton
include the Charity Cut (top stylists on hand!) and the Relax for Charity (who
doesn’t like a mid-week spa treatment?). More information is available at www.hope.or.jp, or check out next month’s
X-Pat Files for a more detailed list of prizes and activities.
**************************************************
7. Meet and Greet
Thank you to Joey Tan
for this submission
Are you new to town? Do you want to
get out and meet new people? Or do you just want a nice lunch in a quiet,
relaxing atmosphere where you can chat with new friends and old friends?
The Meet & Greet lunch is held on the second Tuesday of the month at Shooters Sports Bar and Grill in
Fushimi.
Date: Tuesday,
10th of March
Time: 11:30 am
Place: Shooters Sports
Bar and Grill, Fushimi http://www.shooters-nagoya.com/
Price: 1500 yen for
buffet lunch and a drink (Pay at the door on the way out)
Please RSVP by Sunday
the 8th of March. RSVP to Joey Tan by e-mail to joeywltan@gmail.com.
Shooters has a relaxed atmosphere and is
closed during the day except for our event, so we have the run of the place.
This means that it is a VERY easy event for mothers with babies or small
children. It also means, however, that I must ask for an RSVP so that
Shooters can cater for the correct number of people.
**************************************************
8. Sending Money Home
You can send money internationally from
pretty much any bank, but I have found the two following ways the best for me. The
first used to be the cheapest way to send small amounts of money (please check
this before you send), and the second is the easiest way to send money on a
regular basis.
The post office deals not only in mail, but
also with money. You might want to consider opening a postal account while
you're in Japan for various reasons, but even if you don't have an account with
the post office you can still send money home relatively easily. You will need
to be in line at the post office, which makes it more time consuming than the
second option below, but depending on the amount of money being sent it may be
a cost effective way of sending funds, and the forms are in English so it's
easy to do.
GoLloyds
is a service provided by Lloyds TSB Japan, by which you can remit funds
electronically to a set account from any bank in Japan, after which Lloyds will
send it automatically to a pre-set destination overseas. It takes some doing to
set up the accounts, but after the waiting period to set it up, it's an
extremely fast and very easy way of sending money to a pre-set destination. I
used it quite regularly when I was sending mortgage payments to Australia, and
I could send the money on a Tuesday afternoon and it would be in my Australian
bank account for open of business on Wednesday.
https://www.golloyds.com/en/index.php
Finally, on Tell and Sell Japan’s website
there is a page
that describes in detail many other ways of sending money and other things
within Japan and overseas. It is fantastic because it describes the pros and
cons of each method for each thing, or amount of money that you are sending.
**************************************************
9.
Nagoya Sight Seeing Bus
What do the world’s largest gold coin, the
home of Japan’s first actress, and Toyota’s very first production car have in
common? Why of course, they are features of the fabulous Nagoya Sight Seeing
Bus, Meguru, which
leaves from the yellow bus stop outside Nagoya Station every half-hour on
weekends, every hour on weekdays.
And while the “tour” may pale against the
Grey Line of New York and the open double-deckers of London, the buses are
undoubtedly the very cheapest way you will get to see some of Nagoya’s attractions
you never even knew existed.
Single ride tickets cost 200 yen (100 yen
for children) and a whole day pass costs 500 yen (250 yen for children). For
discounted admission into any of the attractions on the way, just show your day
pass.
From the main website for the
bus, you can see
ticket prices, timetable,
and information for each of the areas through which the bus will travel,
including entry fees and other information for each of the attractions.
The entire route takes 90 minutes for the
full circle, but you will want to be getting on and off to see what Nagoya has
to offer. Here is the bus route, along with links to websites in English to
tell you about the attractions.
Nagoya Station
Toyota Commemorative Museum of
Industry and Technology
Tokugawaen /
Tokugawa Art
Museum / Hosa
Library
Nagoya City Archives
Hirokoji - Sakae
Hirokoji – Fushimi
Toyota Commemorative Museum of
Industry and Technology
Nagoya Station
If all this sounds very good, except that
you crave that personal touch that only a personal volunteer guide who speaks
English can offer, then contact Aichi Goodwill
Guides Network
before you set out. You will be responsible for the
transport and meal costs of your guide, but a volunteer guide is not only a
cheap way to be shown the city, it’s often a memorable experience in itself to
connect with enthusiastic Nagoya locals who cannot wait to show you their city.
Apply to AGGN office by phone
((0561)75-6977) or e-mail (guide-desk@aggn.jp)
at least a week in advance.
**************************************************
10. The Frog
and the Willow
Sue Conolly
In the city where I live, in the Heian Era,
lived a famous calligrapher, Onono
Tofu who is considered one of the three fathers of Japanese calligraphy. In
his youth, he had no confidence in his work and could not find his own unique
style. One day he was walking around a pond, when he saw a little frog in
desperate pursuit of a goal. The frog was trying over and over, and over again
to try and jump onto one of the swaying branches of a weeping willow tree, on
which sat an insect that the frog wanted to eat. “Such foolishness!” thought
Onono Tofu, “Why spend so much time on such a fruitless pursuit?”. Eventually,
however, the frog landed on the willow tree, was able to grasp on to the
swaying branch long enough to claim his reward. Onono Tofu realized that it was
he who was foolish – giving up so easily on something so important to
him. He went on to develop his own style and become instrumental in the
Japanese style of calligraphy becoming distinct from the Chinese.
This story was told to me by a neighbour, as
I photographed her tatami floors for a book I am putting together. Little did
she know (or did she?) that my life at the moment closely mirrors that of the
frog, or more accurately, that of Onono Tofu before his encounter with the
frog. The book which never seems to be complete, the unexpected university
degree that’s usurping my sweet, unworried sleep, the new school at which my
girls struggle and thrive. I know that parents everywhere will understand the
concept of “struggle and thrive”. I suspect that inside every adult there is
always that little person who is still struggling to thrive, on a daily basis.
Some days I am able to focus on my willow
tree more clearly than others, when the wind seems to be blowing so hard that
it’s difficult to see that there is ever a hope. But if, like that frog, I can
just keep on jumping, keep on moving, perhaps I too will reach my goals.
**************************************************
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