Japanese Mobile Phone

Our Japanese cell phone from SoftBank.

It doesn't seem anyone has an authoritative answer on cell phones in Japan. Zine looked in Thai and I searched in English for how cell phones work, where we could get one and how much it would cost. No one seemed to know. Luckily a friend of ours has been studying Japanese language in Fukuoka and has a resident card.

Resident card? Yes, apparently cell phones are only available to people registered to live in Japan. I read about renting a phone but couldn't find enough information to feel comfortable doing so. Our friend got us a phone and 3,000 yen of pre-paid credit from Softbank.

I'm still a little confused about what happened that day but the phone works…

Update; May 18, 2013: Now that the trip is over and I'm back in Thailand, I don’t think getting a phone was the best use of money. I only used it a few times and it would have been just as convenient to use the house phone at our host or hotel or to use a public phone. If you’re worried about getting a phone in Japan, don't be.

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Seishun 18 Train Ticket Japan

Brad on a Japanese train.

Knowing that we've got a few longer leg trips and being as money is more of a concern then speed and being as were in Japan during the spring, we thought we’d try the Seishun 18 train ticket. It’s a special promotion that’s run three times per year. One ticket costs 11,500 yen and allows travel for five days, no matter how far or how many trains are taken during that day. The ticket can also be split between friends allowing two people to use one ticket — they'll just stamp it for each person traveling that day.

We used Hyperdia to check timetables. After entering your station information, click “SearchDetails” and unselect the Airplane, Airport Shuttle Bus, Bullet Train (SHINKANSEN), NOZOMI / MIZUHO / HAYABUSA (SHINKANSEN), Limited Express and Express options.

If you decide to get lunch or otherwise get off schedule, just ask the conductor on the train. They'll walk through the train periodically and have a book with timetables.

Sleeping on a Japanese train.

We took the train from Osaka to Fukuoka — things were not as I expected. First, let it be known that I love trains and overall the experience was good. But there are some things I wish I’d have known before leaving. I assumed that there would be assigned seating like trains I've taken in the US and Thailand but these were commuter trains (think subway trains), there were toilets on the train but no food. I didn't know which station to stop for dinner and chose Iwakuni since we were changing trains there. There was one restaurant within walking distance of the station …it wasn't great.

If you're going to use the Seishun 18 ticket, know your timetable and plan better than I did for meals.

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Arriving In Japan

The Raizon hotel in Osaka.

Since we're trying to make this trip as cheap as possible we flew Air Asia. The tickets were 13,395 baht per person from Bangkok to Osaka. Of course Air Asia being a budget airline we paid extra for luggage, food and seat selection, bringing the total cost to 16,750 baht. Still a better deal than the full service carriers.

We connected in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and the only thing worth mentioning about this is the LCCT international terminal doesn’t have much for dining. If you're coming through and think you might be hungry plan ahead, there’s not much waiting for you.

The flight arrived at Kansai airport around 10:30 PM and we caught the train into Osaka. To my ear all Japanese train station names sound the same and unless I see it written, I have a hard time understanding. The trains don’t have the Romanized name on a marquee as I was expecting so we had to keep asking people on the train if we were at our stop.

The turnstiles are a bit odd — there’s nothing stopping you from walking through them. Not understanding where to use the tickets, I walked though thinking "if they want me to stop, they'll put something in the way to stop me." The alarm went off and Zine ran my ticket for me.

Inside our Raizon hotel room.

We finally made it to the station and after a short walk were at the Mikado Hotel where I'd made reservations via hostleworld.com. Hostelworld must not have told Mikado to expect us and they were overbooked. The staff was very nice, called a hotel 100 yards away to inquire if they had a room and walked us over. The new place was called Raizon. It was nice enough and cost 3,780 yen per night for a room with two beds.

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Packing For WWOOF Japan

The clothes I packed for WWOOFing in Japan

My biggest concern going to Japan during the spring is the temperature difference between there and Thailand. Bangkok is about 32 ºC (90 ºF) year-a-round and a comfortable temperature for me. Japan is about 10-15 ºC (50-59 ºF) in the spring and a very unpleasant temperature for me.

When I lived in the US, I had winter coats, scarfs, gloves, etc. but didn't bring any of that to Thailand. I could have it shipped but is that really a better option to buying something locally?

Zine found me a jacket with removable lining, similar to the one I’ve got in the States for 1,400 baht. I found a pair of gloves in my closet I bought in Chiang Mai a few years ago and a skull cap (or boggin or whatever they're called) at the market for 250 baht. A few long-john bottoms and some cloths Zine brought from Phranakorn and I’m feeling better about those temperatures.

After a few weeks in Japan or once I've returned, I can make comment on whether this was sufficient. But for now, here’s the packing list:

10 pair of socks
8 pair of underwear
2 pair of jeans
4 track suit bottoms
3 long-john bottoms
2 long-sleeve shirts
5 short-sleeve shirts
1 pair pajamas (top & bottom)
1 hoodie
1 winter coat with removable lining
1 fleece jacket
1 pair shoes
1 umbrella
1 towel
1 extractable hanger (for the towel)
1 laptop
1 camera
1 smart phone
1 journal
1 kindle
1 electric razor
1 LAN cable (just in case someone has internet but no Wi-Fi)
5 WWOOF permits
1 inflatable neck pillow

All of the above will be carried in one rolly suit-case and one day-size backpack.

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How to Contact WWOOF Hosts

Signing up with WWOOFJapan.com is an exersise in blind faith. They have no person behind the website as I can tell, no blog and no attempt to comfort someone parting with $60 (which I think is a bit steep, but that’s another post). Reading that others have gone through the sign-up process and stayed on farms, I felt if it worked for them, it should work for me.

After going through the sign-up process I filled out a profile with skills I think hosts might like and pictures to show I’d done some agricultural work before and started looking through the listings for farms that I thought would be a good match.

After contacting a few hosts and being turned down by all of them, I knew something must be wrong on my end. A friend was also doing WWOOF in Japan and had already been accepted by the first host he contacted, Zine emailed him and asked to see the email he’d sent to the host. It made sense to me that the emails should be short and only include our interest in coming WWOOF numbers and dates, but our friend had sent a long email recounting everything already in his profile.

In the beginning we were worried we wouldn't have enough places to stay to fill the whole 10 weeks. After seeing what our friend had done we sent longer emails and started getting accepted. I’m not sure if the Japanese farmers don’t know how to check the profile or if they just consider it bad form to not introduce yourself via email.

In any event, we've got some farms to start and have other requests pending.

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