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[I'm an expert]

Noob question, but as a foreigner with a Japanese partner (if I remember correctly) do you use kanji or katakana for your hanko?

What do you mean by with a Japanese partner?

 

[Porcile]

Like, do you share a Japanese name with your partner? Can you use your partner's kanji in your hanko?

Edit- Sorry, I mean if you're married.

 

[I'm an expert]

I figured that's what you meant I just thought you'd have used spouse then.

Anyway, my personal situation, I obviously got my hanko before I was married and I'm a guy so I didn't change my name.

My seal is ateji of my first name (I dont have an 'english' name). My wife changed her's to the katakana of our last name.

 

[Jintor]

dude who wanted to know about star wars: there's, like, one or two lines of alien dialogue in the whole film and it's subtitled in both english and japanese.

 

[urfe]

dude who wanted to know about star wars: there's, like, one or two lines of alien dialogue in the whole film and it's subtitled in both english and japanese.

Came to say the same.

... and my hanko is my last name in katakana.

 

[data]

I just asked a girl with the name Haruka "Are you the spring?"

She didn't get it. So I said "Spring?"

She still didn't get it so I mentioned her name and she finally got it, but wasn't too impressed.

I was so overly proud of the pun for several hours before that ;_;

 

[urfe]

Are you the teaching assistant?

Genius, I know.

edit: this was in jest! I used to make bad puns too!

 

[mrklaw]

dude who wanted to know about star wars: there's, like, one or two lines of alien dialogue in the whole film and it's subtitled in both english and japanese.

Cheers

 

[Aizo]

You just said what her name means in English. Is there more context, or is it a terrible joke?
Here's an example of a classic pun: "A bicycle can't stand on its own because it is two-tired."

 

[EuricaeriS]

Hey all Does anyone know of a place in/near Tokyo that will be showing the Super Bowl in February? Thanks!

 

[m3r4]

Let me present you my best おやじギャグ:

階段をのぼるときに笑わないのはなぜでしょうか？

Answer:

Spoiler

くだらないから。

('ω')ノ

 

[Aizo]

Much better/more lame. More jokes like this, please.

 

[Fugu]

I did not realize that tomorrow is a national holiday. The tax offices will be closed, won't they?

 

[ThatCrazyGuy]

Will most things be closed tomorrow? Will the shopping centers be open?

 

[Gromph]

Will most things be closed tomorrow? Will the shopping centers be open?

Mostly companies

Shopping centers and shops should be open.

I did not realize that tomorrow is a national holiday. The tax offices will be closed, won't they?

Yes, will be closed.

 

[m3r4]

Well, once the old man kicks the bucket, it won't be a holiday anymore. Timing so close to the New Year is unfortunate to begin with... Really curious what the next era is going to be called, too!

 

[ponpo]

Well, once the old man kicks the bucket, it won't be a holiday anymore. Timing so close to the New Year is unfortunate to begin with... Really curious what the next era is going to be called, too!

I plan to become the first gaijin god emperor, so most likely ぽんぽ era.

 

[matt360]

Hey all Does anyone know of a place in/near Tokyo that will be showing the Super Bowl in February? Thanks!

Hooters maybe?

 

[Aizo]

I plan to become the first gaijin god emperor, so most likely ぽんぽ era.

You love saying that phrase, and I love reading it every time.

 

[Ayumi]

I plan to become the first gaijin god emperor, so most likely ぽんぽ era.

ぽんぴょん*

 

[ponpo]

My Softbank contract is done. Resign up for 2 years or switch to AU like everyone suggests?

I'm kind of lazy though, switching seems like a lot of work (._. )

 

[WhoaIsThatMars]

This may be a stupid question, but I'm having some trouble finding it online:

I'm moving to Japan in March and instead of bringing my PS4 with me, I'm just going to backup my data on an external HDD, sell my PS4, and buy another in Japan.

My question is: What's the msrp for PS4s over there? What's the most available storage size and how much are they typically? I have a 1TB in mine now and I'm debating selling it with the 1TB or taking it out and putting it in whatever PS4 I get over with.

I appreciate any info any of you could provide me as it would just be one less thing for me to think about as I get rid of all my crap before making the trip.

Thanks!

 

[maszu]

I'm just going to backup my data on an external HDD, sell my PS4, and buy another in Japan.

You mean like system restore? I think you can only restore your back up to a PS4 from which the data originates from. I know it's heavy, but I just feel selling your current one and buying a new one here is more trouble than it worth.

 

[I'm an expert]

actually, fuck it

 

[WhoaIsThatMars]

You mean like system restore? I think you can only restore your back up to a PS4 from which the data originates from. I know it's heavy, but I just feel selling your current one and buying a new one here is more trouble than it worth.

Hmmm, I've backed up and restored to different PS3 consoles so I assumed it worked the same for PS4 as long as you de-authorize the original. I'll have to look into this.

Regarding traveling with my PS4, my Wii U will be occupying the limited space I have because of Nintendo's silly region lock.

 

[maszu]

Hmmm, I've backed up and restored to different PS3 consoles so I assumed it worked the same for PS4 as long as you de-authorize the original. I'll have to look into this.

Sorry! I was thinking of directly inserting the drive into the new PS4. That results in a reformat. But with the backup/restore function you should be golden, sorry for the confusion.

My Softbank contract is done. Resign up for 2 years or switch to AU like everyone suggests?

I'm kind of lazy though, switching seems like a lot of work (._. )

Do you talk on the phone much? I found to save a lot of money using a data sim.

 

[DeliciousDoc]

Kind of off topic but has anyone been to hong kong to buy games? I'd like to check out some games (vita, ps3), maybe buy a ps4. Does anyone know the name of any shops or any areas I should check out? Thanks.

 

[Ayumi]

Europe is so cold... I miss Tokyo..!

 

[Gromph]

Europe is so cold... I miss Tokyo..!

Don't worry, Tokyo is also cold

 

[DCharlie]

no one actually jumped in on loaf of bread's question o_o

Maybe I should try to spur another conversation.. as some people might know.. I only recently started to dive into the ocean known as 'reddit'. One topic I saw on a subreddit that would relate to this one is that there were a lot of foreigners that didn't have or didn't use their inkan/hanko.

This blew my mind. Putting aside a lot of those responses might be from temporary visitors/alts, how is everyone else's experience?

I have used my hanko probably 1 trillion times, no exaggeration. There can be month-long stretches where I use it daily.

16 years in, never owned an inkan/hanko, never needed to use one. Mortage, bank stuff, and anything legal to date has simply not required it.

I mean I'm good at it, I have upwards of a 4.0. But I mean I look at where I want to go in life and even if I can make you know upwards of 100-150k, if it means I just live out the rest of my days going through the motions in suburban America its just not worth it to me. I mean yeah if I end up landing a job at a cool startup tech company in Seoul or Tokyo I'm probably not going to turn that down but I also don't want to be ran into the ground by work

Just as an aside, from my experience there has been a very significant downturn in wages for most roles in Tokyo. 100k-150k adjusted into yen would be 15m-18m range. Days of those wages are long long long over for Japan IT - unless you happen to a very experienced FPGA coder with trading system experience. Start up tech company wise - i'd guess will be in the 6m-9m range and , another thing that's becoming more prevalent, likely to be on a contract basis. But that's largely beside the point - if you think working life in Japan is not going to devolve down into the same "going through the motions" as in suburban America, UK etc then i think you might be in for a bit of a shock. Plus - the cost of living here soon racks up. As for being ran into the ground - haha, well, yeah ... the rumours of the work hours here will vary from person to person, but in my last two jobs i'm working hours you wouldn't believe.

 

[I'm an expert]

Makes no sense to me. All those things do 'require' it they're just letting you sign for it instead to not make you feel bad. Seriously. What the fuck.

 

[DCharlie]

Makes no sense to me. All those things do 'require' it they're just letting you sign for it instead to not make you feel bad. Seriously. What the fuck.

I doubt it's just "don't want to make you feel bad" - seems pretty clear that somewhere thre must be a "signature is acceptable" rule because, as you'll be aware, something that is outside of the rules simply -cannot- fly here.

But yes, simply have not needed one. Ironically, wife had to update hers to my surname when we got married... but i don't have it lol.

 

[I'm an expert]

I doubt it's just "don't want to make you feel bad" - seems pretty clear that somewhere thre must be a "signature is acceptable" rule because, as you'll be aware, something that is outside of the rules simply -cannot- fly here.

But yes, simply have not needed one. Ironically, wife had to update hers to my surname when we got married... but i don't have it lol.

Well I'm saying if you weren't a foreigner they'd be like wtf. Obviously the rule isn't 100%, that's why I put require in quotes, I've signed for stuff on the fly too, it's just.. why wouldn't you have one, ya know?

 

[Ayumi]

Don't worry, Tokyo is also cold

It's 10 more C than here, that's a lot! But even if the temperature is the same, it's super windy here so it feels far more cold.

Next year we'll just stay in Tokyo and throw some cozy traditions at home. Brrr...

 

[mrklaw]

Does anyone have purely mobile internet at home - like a plug in mobile router using cellular data? Wondering whether we could persuade my father in law to get wifi in his house, and I'm assuming a mobile setup would be simpler than getting ADSL or fibre installed.

Edit: tips for persuading an 82-year-old that Internet access is useful also welcome

 

[mrklaw]

Just watched an article on a morning show about mobile phone cashback schemes being abused - people buying 5/10/20 phones and getting huge wads of cash back, then selling the phones on to resellers to export to other countries.

But the article didn't discuss any downsides. Surely that cashback comes with snags? Eg you sign up to a more expensive monthly contract so over the term you're paying back the cash (like a loan). No such thing as a free lunch. What about contracts? Are those going to be cancelled and the phones risk being blacklisted?

And how were people buying so many phones? Don't Japanese retailers have limits on how many contracts you can have?

 

[DCharlie]

lol Japan - took a client out for a meal....

120k yen

... expenses better cover this or i'm all sorts of fuxxored lol

 

[I'm an expert]

Surely you know your company's meals and entertainment expense policy. You wouldn't be taking them out if you didn't.

 

[Ayumi]

What kind of meal could possibly cost 120k for 2 people?

 

[I'm an expert]

Very rarely does 'client' mean one person, at least in his industry. If it was, straight ballin'.

 

[BlazingDarkness]

lol Japan - took a client out for a meal....

120k yen

... expenses better cover this or i'm all sorts of fuxxored lol

Lol holy shit
My bf is here one a two week visit with 120k budget hahaha


Btw, what's everyone doing for new year celebrations?
I'm in Nagano atm, travelling down to Tokyo tomorrow

 

[HappyBivouac]

Japan GAF!

I'm in the Tokyo area for a while, and I'm a little bored. I've been to Tokyo before, and I'm not trying to spend every day like a tourist, so I'm not looking for travel advice as such; more just trying to take in the experience of life here while I float around between teaching jobs in China. Anyway, I guess I'm looking for friends and things to do at the moment, especially with New Year's Eve and no real plans yet. I like drinking, dancing like an idiot, attending nerd culture events, and really, whatever. This is basically just a sad, lonely cry for help. So if anyone's got any ideas, let me know!

Also my Line ID is zzzshoe, if that matters.

 

[urfe]

Lol holy shit
My bf is here one a two week visit with 120k budget hahaha


Btw, what's everyone doing for new year celebrations?
I'm in Nagano atm, travelling down to Tokyo tomorrow

Wife's parents' house from 31st to the 2nd. Fine by me as I've never been a big party guy for New Years.

 

[ponpo]

Who else spending new years in meguro eating a hamburger?

Also related, has anyone been to that Shake Shack that opened in Aoyama? Lines are too long (._. )

 

[Ayumi]

Hope you're all watching ガキつか。

 

[urfe]

I'm drunk as shit. In-laws are バダバタing about something.

I'll drink more.

 

[putarorex]

I'm drunk as shit. In-laws are バダバタing about something.

I'll drink more.

This will by my experience tomorrow at the in-laws. I just can't get excited by the newest ramen shop to open in town.

 

[urfe]

In my way to first hike of the year.

Fuji is in the background.

 

[TakumiTrueno]

Hello everyone,

My name is Alex. In July I will be moving to Japan for at least a year, maybe longer. I'm sure I will have plenty of questions later but for now I just have a few.And sorry if I ask what has already been said, its hard to filter through about 200 pages of the two Japan GAF threads.

What do you guys recommend for phone service? (I currently have ATT unlimited data plan)
Also do you guys have any experience with STA Travel or Student Universe for flights to Japan?

 

[urfe]

Hello everyone,

My name is Alex. In July I will be moving to Japan for at least a year, maybe longer. I'm sure I will have plenty of questions later but for now I just have a few.And sorry if I ask what has already been said, its hard to filter through about 200 pages of the two Japan GAF threads.

What do you guys recommend for phone service? (I currently have ATT unlimited data plan)
Also do you guys have any experience with STA Travel or Student Universe for flights to Japan?

Phone services (at least the big three) aren't really that different. What's most important is what the people around you use, as you can get free/cheap calls if they're on the same carrier. Honestly, I only call my wife though, as everything else is done through LINE.

My old company used STA Travel before, but I saw no reason why it did. Cheap flights are found by spending time on the Internet at various sites and having your card ready.

I came to Japan in 2005 "for a year".