PacSec.jp Survival Guide Gai-Jin Crash Course in Japan-Savvyness By Dragos Ruiu (dr@kyx.net) (Or: "Ugoki dasanai kachiku no niku, arimasenka?" "Do you serve any completely dead domestic animals?" :-) Things to do before departing --------------------------------------------- Go to the conference main page at http://pacsec.jp. (link on the main pacsec.jp page). Print off THREE copies of the hotel and event hall map. Put fold and put two in your pocket and one in your carry on bag. The two in your pocket are to show taxi drivers (one to lose for the first driver who forgets to return it). Forget about the address, it is useless. Buildings are numbered in the order that they are built in Tokyo (yes!) - addresses are only meaningful to the postmen and the local police booth (which has huge maps of the neighborhoods, and can help you if you are lost, and are in general good resources if you for trouble). Taxi drivers certainly won't be able to do anything about this - more later. Store my cellphone number 080 4060 0253 into your phone. To dial internationally drop the leading zer and dial +81 80 4060 0253. B Write down the name of the closest major intersection for taxi drivers: "Kyu-Yamate-Dori etto Tamagawa-Dori" (Dori == Avenue). You can also describe your destination to a taxi driver as "Tokyu Stay Hotel, Shin-Sen-Cho" (shin sen cho is a nearby train station) Taxi drivers almost always have a nave system where they can find destinations by the the phone number. The hotel phone number is 03 3477 1091. (international +81 3 3477 1091, 03 is area code for tokyo, 080 and 090 are two different cellphone carriers, Softbank and NTT/DoCoMo respectively in case you care, the leading zero is dropped when dialing in internationally, and you can make an international number into a local one by dropping the 81 country code and replacing it with 0) Some taxis do not take credit cards so make sure you change some cash at the airport before you get on the bus. you will need 1000yen or less for the short taxi ride between hotels (about $10). The limousine bus ticket should be 3000 yen. Get the non toll free number to your cellphone provider (As it is very difficult to reach toll free numbers from Japan, not impossible, but usually complicated depending onyour carrier), and or arrange to have someone call them for you to forward your phone to your Japanese rental one if desired. Beware some carriers have been completely unable to do this because of technical limitations in their systems. Don't count on it if critical. Be careful with what you pack. Things Japanese customs doesn't like: foreign pornography, decongestants such as Dristan and other ephedrine based drugs as those are a scheduled narcotic here. (Oh and as I found out on a past trip to Tokyo, a non-expired passport helps avoid sitting in a room full of Sri Lankan farmers for eight hours :-) Arriving at Narita --------------------------------------------- Japanese customs uses a somewhat confusing customs entry form called an embarkation card. They split this form into two keep one (the embarkation part) and staple the other into your passport (disembarkation). Only fill in the portion in the bold line boxes. I always use "meeting" as the purpose of visit on cutoms forms - I haven't been strip searched at any customs in the last few years so I guess this is a good strategy (not wearing leather pants and dressing conservatively also seems to help ;-). If pressed say you are a attending a conference. I'm not counseling anyone to misrepresent anything, but I would omit the detail that you are presenting unless you are pressed on it. Work visas and such are intricate and difficult in Japan apparently. Go to the foreigner line at the right. Yes, the enormously long one. After immigration you pick up your bags (you have to squeeze the handle on the carts to release the brakes), and go through customs. In my experience, they usually pick one of your bags and have a cursory look as a matter of standard procedure but they don't really tear open your luggage in detail unless you are suspicious - but maybe I just look more suspicious :-). After you get out of customs, (assuming you left your South African diamonds, samurai swords, and Dristan at home) turn immediately to your right. You will see the next three places you want to visit: The currency exchange counter, the cell phone rental desk, and the bus ticket counter. Money --------------------------------------------- Even with the inroads that technology has made, tradition and conservative attitudes prevail in Japan. Only in the last few years have credit cards made major inroads, and even now you find many establishments that do not accept them. Tokyo is also expensive, on par with London so change some extra cash. Tokyo for it's size is an incredibly safe city - drunken brawlers and pickpockets are about the worst one can encounter normally (and that is a risk only in the "dangerous parts" :-). The average business man walks around with usd$1000 in his pocket without considering it unusual. So expect to pay cash. When you first get out of customs immediately to your right as you ar walking out you will see a little currency exchange window. Use it. You have to get a form (there is a form for everything in Japan) and fill it out at the table next to the window to indicate your hotel address, passport number, and amount. Put the form and the money/travelers cheques in the little tray and give it to the person in the window. (Most stores and other establishments have trays next to the register and it is customary to put payment in them, and receive your receipts and change.) To convert Yen prices to USD the simple rule of thumb is to drop the last two digits; As of this writing the yen->usd given at the banks is 105 yen for 1 usd. Yen bills come in 1000, 5000, 10000 denominations typically. Yen coins come in 1 (small aluminium silver), 5 (coppery with hole in middle), 10 (coppery), 50 (silver with hole in middle), 100 (silver), and 500 (big silver) denominations. The one and five yen coins are nearly useless and are typically not even accepted at vending machines (expect to have a pile of them when you return). Coins are more frequently used in payment here than in most nations so pack a change purse. Do NOT expect US cash to be commonly accepted like in some countries. You can change that into yen at banks, but typically you will have to go upstairs to a special floor for foreign exchange (there are signs typically). You CAN use north American and European bank cards at ATMs just not all of them. You have to find the ones with long lists of accepted network icons posted on them. You can find such a machine on the opposite side of the customs exit as the foreign exchange should you need one. Bank machines usually have a TV screen (often touch sensitive) and can look strange sometimes (resembling a photocopier or other industrial equipment). Put your card in and follow the instructions on the screen. Bank machines can also be found in phone booth like enclosures often too. At Narita there are several bank machines, and you have to go past the first one to find the one with international access - these machines are on the opposite side of the customs exit (your right as you come out). Just past the bank machines you will also find a phone card vending machine. In the city the best bet are Citibank machines which are bcoming increasingy common, or the post office network bank machines (they have a logo that resembles a green cloverleaf with one of the clovers removed).` Power --------------------------------------------- Japan uses two prong 100v/50Hz, most North American power supplies will accept this nominally without any conversion. The one caveat is that plug ins witha ground prong are difficult if not almost impossible to find so get a three to two adapter (they are easily found in the airport in Japan or we can get you one) and bring a north american power bar if you have a lot of three prong cords. Telephones --------------------------------------------- The Japanese cell phone systems are all different than anywhere else, or used to be, nowadays, most 3G phones work out of the box, but the roaming rates can be ridiculous, the cost for Cnadian carriers on data roaming for instance is $30,000.00 per gigabyte (yep you read that right). This is because of several factors - and yes political maneuvering by the strang and rich variety of manufacturers is a part of it - but the population density is also a factor. The density made other phone systems inadequate without the ability to support a larger number of subscribers per cell. The dominant system PHS (personal handyphone system) was rolled out by NTT (the worlds largest telephone company and a corporate sponsor of our conference) under the DoCoMo brand. It uses a much smaller cell size than the GSM or other systems - more smaller cells means more subscribers, lower power transmitters in the phones and numerous other benefits. (I know some things about this because I participated in the product marketing, sales effort and design of the HP analyzer that won the tender to produce a special ISDN protocol tester for their special message set and physical interfaces.) Payphones come in two varieties: the complicated ISDN units with English language menus card readers data ports and other features such as a cellular base station on top of it, and the generic green units. Not all payphones accept coins, but all accept cards (except some of the complicated units that only accept special reuseable cards and coins). You can find a phone card vending machine next to the bank machines at Narita. The phone cards are the same sytem used for the subways, a tough mylar card with a magnetic stripe that enocodes the amount. Typically the non-reusable phone cards come in 1000 yen denominations and the phones punch little holes in a little "meter" on the side of the card as the balance declines like the non-reusable. These cards come in two varieties: ones capable of being used for international and local calls and ones for domestic calls only. Every vending machine I have seen has these two kinds labeled clearly but YMMV. The cards usually have postcard like photos of national landmarks printed on them and make nice souvenirs. Payphone calls usually start at 100 yen and then add usage toll charges on top (so if using coins you have to feed the machine when it starts beeping and the balance has declined to zero on the led). Local calls have usage charges like most of Europe and unlike North America. You can also rent cell phones at Narita, at a counter just past the currency exchange window. They speak excellent English and provide English manuals for the nifty recent generation sony-ericsson units they rent (they are cool phones with cameras and many features). They take a $500 deposit, and have two kinds of units, local calls only and international capable phones. The international phones cost 4 yen a second independent of where you are calling, and inbound calls are free. You return them to a counter upstairs when you leave. It is difficult to rent phones in Tokyo itself so if you are planning to do this, do this at the airport when you arrive. There are also pay as you go units available from Softbank at outlets in the city. YMMV Getting To the Hotel Narita is several hours away from the center of Tokyo and the hotel. Taxis from the airport will be several hundreds of dollars and are probably not the right solution unless you are feeling wealthy. If you are feeling adventurous, the fast way to get to the hotel is to take the Japan Rail(JR) Narita Express(NEX) from the station on the lower level of Narita to Shinjuku then navigate the subway to the Yamanote line and get off at the Shibuya station and then take a taxi to the hotel. I DO NOT RECOMMEND this for first time visitors or anyone traveling with a lot of luggage. The subway system is complex and easy to get lost in. Subway stations are HUGE and contains malls department store and many other things (Shinjuku station for instance handles 4 million passengers a DAYi and Shibuya has 1.2 million every day). Take a look at the subway map site in the resources section of the pacsec.jp site to get a feel for this. The right solution to get to the hotel is to take a Limousine Bus (don't let the limousine part of the name fool you - it's just a bus) to the Cerrulean Tower Hotel in Shibuya and then a taxi 5 min to the hotel from there. Across from the bank machines you will find the ORANGE limousine bus ticket counter (Tickets are typically 3000 yen or so depending on your destination). The limousine bus is a scheduled bus sytem that stops off at a couple of hotels based upon destination - you need to ask for tickets to the cerrulean towers. They will tell you the number of the bus stop outside and the time for your bus. The bus departures are usually spaced 10-15 minutes apart, and there may be buses before yours at the stop, the staff will help you, and they will load and unload your baggage on the bus. you will have to carry your luggage about 10 meters from the bus drop off to the taxi depart point when you arrive at the Cerrulean Towers. They speak ok English at this counter and accept credit cards. From Cerrulean Towers Hotel take a taxi to the hotel. Show your taxi driver the map you printed out earlier to tell him where you are going. See Taxi section below. Oddly this short segment at the very end of your trip will be the most complicated, because as a rule the taxi drivers speak the elast amount of english you will Encounter in any Japanese folks, go figure. That's where the map comes into play. Remember if in trouble you can ask the English speaking hotel doorman to assist with the Taxi driver. A room should be waiting in your name. Give me a call when you land and when you arrive at the hotel. Call me if you get lost. If Dragos is unavailable try Tavis: Emergency Mobile Numbers: Dragos Ruiu 080 4060 0253 or +1 604 722 3993 My assistant Yuriko Kanamori at 090 1993 1901 Local organizer Gohsuke Takama at 080 3013 5906 Tavis Paquette is at 080 4167 6345 Conference Stuff for the Speakers --------------------------------------------- We are printing copies of your slides in binders for attendees in English and Japanese. You will get copies of your slides from the translator output to proof. Please proof them. The majority of the attendees will be Japanese so this is important. You will NOT have control of slide advancement, you will have to give verbal cues to an operator who will simultaneously advance the Japanese and English slides which will be projected side by side. This pausing will have a good effect of making sure you SLOW your presentation DOWN for the team of three interpreters who will be tag teaming simultaneously translating what you are saying to the people listening on FM headsets. There are some scheduled events: -Speaker/VIP dinner the evening before the conference -Shopping trip to Akihabara, Harajuku and Shibuya day after the conference. To help the interpreters be as effective as possible, I'd like to ask you to prepare a preliminary list of ANY technical term you think you are likely to use, so they can research the translation in advance. They CANNOT translate complicated terms on the fly effectively, so this is crucial to giving a good presentation. You will also be asked to bring a final term list to the meeting. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. You can assume that the interpreters are usually impressively technically savvy, but they do not know many special terms and must prepare. Basic Survival Japanese (Nihon-go) --------------------------------------------- The all purpose word (Excuse me, hey, sorry, move please, Waiter! Etc) - Sumimasen (Su-MI-mas-EN) Yes - Hai No - Iie (pronounced e-eh) Sorry - Gomenasai Please - Dozo, Kudasai Thank you - Arigato (or domo as slang) Thank You Very Much - Domo Arigato gozaimasu (pronounced gozaimas, the u is silent) I do not understand - Wa-kari-mas-en. Yes, I understand - Hai, wa-kari-mashita. I'm sorry (*also used to get past someone in a crowd) - Go-men-nasai Taxi directions: Left - hidari Right - migi Ahead - massugu Go straight ahead please - massugu itte kudasai Stop - Yameru or Tomeru Subway/Train Station - Eki Basic: How much does that cost - Ikura desu ka? (desu is pronounced des, the u is silent) My name is Dragos - Watashi wa Dragosu Zero - Rei One - Ichi Two - Ni Three - San Four - Shi or Yon Five - Go Six - Roku Seven - Nana or Shichi Eight - Hachi Nine - Kyu or Ku Ten - Ji Hundred - hyaku Thousand - Sen 2,345 - ni-sen san-sen yon-hyaku go Ten Thousand - Man 9.6 - kyu point roku Single item - hitotsu Couple of - futatsu Several of (3) - mittsu Several of (4) - yoyttsu Several of (5) - itsutsu Several of (6) - muttsu Several of (7) - nanatsu Several of (8) - yattsu Several of (9) - kokonotsu Several of (10) - too Two large draft beers please - Futatsu okii namae bieru kudasai Little - chotto Large - okii Small - chisai Bill of charges - kanjogaki Wait a little please - chotto-matte kudasai Japanese language - Nihon-go Sorry I only speak a a little Japanese - Gomen-nasai, chotto-Nihon-go Counting suffixes: Floors - kai Flat objects like pape stamps shirts - mai Machines - dai Round objects - ko Drink glasses - hai Minutes - fun Second floor - Ni-kai Thirty minutes - san-ju-fun Other: Time - ji What time is it - nan-ji des-ka What time do you close? - Nan-ji madde eigyoo shite imasu ka? What is that - kore wa desu ka What does that cost - kore wa ikura desu ka Good morning - ohayo gozaimasu (silent trainling u remember) Good night - oyasuminasai Misc: First - sai-sho Last - sai-go Chug it - ikki ikki :-) I am honored to meet you miss - Oaidekite koeidesu ojosama Which is you favorite poet - Dare ga suki desu ka? I happen to have an epic poem with me - Subarashi shio motte kitte imasu Come back to my hotel let me show you it - Hoteru ni iite issho ni yomi masenka What do we get with our drinks? - Ippai ni tsuki nani gat suite kuruno? How much is whisky/beer/sake - Uisuki/biru/sake wa ikura desu ka? Food: beef - gyuu niku chicken - tori niku pork - buta niku fish - sakana vegetables - yasai soy sauce - shooyu salt - shio tea - ocha A table for (two, three, four, five), please - (Ninin, Sannin, Yonin, Gonin) onegaishimasu. Do you have an English menu - Eigo no menyuu ga arimasu ka? Excuse Me (or hey_! Can I order please? - Chuumon shitai no desu ga. Draft beer please - Namae bieru kudasai. Does this have meat in it? - Nikku go haitte imasu ka? I cannot eat meat. - Niku go taberaremasen. This is delicious. - Kore wa oishii desu. Bon Appetit - Ittedakimasu. Shopping: Can I try this on? - Kore wo kite mo ii desu ka? (Note there will usually a reluctance to open packaging in Japan) Do you have this item in another color? - Kore to onaji mono de, hoka no iro wa arimasu ka? Do you accept credit cards? - Kurejitto kaado wa shiyou dekimasu ka? (most stores will apply 5% surcharge - and may not accept them on items ABOVE a certain price) I do not need a bag, thank you. - Fukuro wa kekokkou desu. Can I return this please? - Henpin shitai no desu ga? What is the discount on this item? - Kore wa nan paasento ofu desu ka? Is this item on sale? - Kore wa baagen hin desu ka? Which floor is the * on? - * wa nan-kai ni arimasu ka? Where is the * - * wa doko desu ka? Getting Out in Tokyo --------------------------------------------- Tokyo has pretty much everything; if you can find it. You will find Japanese people will go out of their way to extremes to help foreigners. "Difficult" is a code word for no. Most people speak a little English (except taxi drivers :-) and the younger folks are usually even better at English. You will be surprised at how nice people are to you. Beware though, some places do not let foreigners in - and older people will be helpful but wary of foreigners. The price you pay for the incredible hospitality and tolerance of foreigner ignorance aobut their customs is occasional discrimination. There is no formal last call, and most smaller establishments will stay open as long as customers are still purchasing beer, food or whatever - this is also definitely NOT true of the larger places. Most places close between Midnight and 2 a.m. - clubs close at 3-4 a.m. Rules in Japan are rarely flexible. Navigation --------------------------------------------- As noted earlier, addresses are useless, and you will note that all advertisements and directions feature maps from the nearest subway or train station which are the common navigational reference points. Tokyo is an easy city to navigate on foot. Very few people drive in Tokyo even if they have cars (to purchase a car here you have to prove you have a parking spot for it). Foot subway and train are the common transport for all. Unlike other major cities of this size you do not have to worry about any form of violent crime even at late hours - Tokyo is very safe. But usually it's not a good idea to mess with the black Mercedes-Benz cars with darlky tinted windows - this is a kind of signature trademark of the more organized crime elements. Trains --------------------------------------------- There are two parallel train systems in Tokyo, one above ground (JR) and one below (Subway). Each is intricate. The conference site reference section has links to web sites to help you navigate. The trains stop running at midnight or 1 am and resume at 6 am (the crowd of partiers in roppongi who have been up all night waiting for the first train is a funny sight). After this plan on a taxi. Taxis have special surcharges late at night on top of their normally expensive rates. To use the train system you have to find the station you want to go to on the color coded lines and navigate a course changing lines at the stations that overlap. Normally to use the train, you look on the large maps above the fare machines to get the prices to your destination station and then punch that price (inserting the appropriate bills or coins) and then you will get a magnetically coded ticket. Insert the ticket into the fare machine (which btw is one of the most sophisticated pieces of mechanical technology I've _ ever _ seen, contemplate the fact that it sorts reads recodes and punches multiple forms of tickets as it travels inside at a zillion miles per hour to shoot out the other end an wait for you to take it as you walk through and it display on the little screen details of your trip and fare) and retrieve it. The display on the front of the machines will indicate which machines are entrances and exits (they can be bidirectional and recode themselves to adjust for the traffic levels and directions at different times of day). You have to wait for the person in front of you to finish before inserting the ticket or card. Little metal teeth will prevent you from doing this until they are through.You do the same at your destination to exit the station only the machine will eat your ticket and you do not have to pick it up at the other side. If the machine buzzes beeps and the blocking flaps close something is wrong with your ticket (usually the wrong fare). Retrieve your ticket and card and go to the fare adjuster in the booth by the machines. Hand your ticket to him and he will tell you what to do or what you need to pay in addition. I recommend getting a non-reuseable card coded with 1000 or 3000 yen (like the phone cards - with a little meter with holes indicating the declining balance), which will save you from having to look up the prices for your destination and queuing up for the fare machines. You can just insert it at your origin, where it will deduct the minimum fare price, and when you exit at your destination it will accept your card and automatically calculate the amount to debit. If you have a card with a small balance left, you can insert two cards simultaneously and it will deduct from the bottom card first potentially bringing it to zero (nifty eh?). The JR line (with the important Yamanote circle line the goes around the major downtown centers) as recently deprecated their non-reusable IOcard to try to push people to use their new SUICA (Super Urban Intelligent CArd). The Suica card costs 2500 yen (500 card fee, 2000 transit charges useable) and is rechargeable at the fare machines with the suica logo (either a green square logo with Suica, or a little linuxxy penguin). You can purchase a suica card at the human teller booths in the stations - the same spot where you purchase tickets for long distance trains. To recharge it, put the card in, insert money and then press recharge value. To use the Suica card just place it in proximity of the Suica card replica printed on TOP of the subway fare machines. The screen at the end of the machine will show you the fare and the amount remaining on your card as you walk through. Suica is being pushed forward as a general electronic currency (to compete with the more popular Edy electronic wallet card) and is accepted at some stores near stations for payment for other goods besides transport. Taxis --------------------------------------------- Taxi drivers speak the least English of anyone I've encountered in Tokyo as a rule. Taxi drivers can also be counted on to not know street names or addresses except for major landmarks. Plan on getting written directions and or a map to go to any unusual location. Familiarity with the train system will go far here. Taxis do not accept credit cards. Cash! Things to do in Tokyo --------------------------------------------- There are many districts and a large variety of things to do. Some recommendations: Shibuya is a large area frequented by younger people with good shopping (it is next to the Aoyama University district and Harajuku Park and NHK headquarters). Wander around, check out the book section at Tower records on the seventh floor for good English books and a great Japan guidebook section. Go to Tokyu Hands - the Japanese equivalent of Home Hardware stores only with incredibly neat things. Your credit card will complain that I gave you this advice. Check out the Seibu Loft store for neat stuff. Harajuku Park - On Sunday the "elvises" come out (kids dressed up as greasers that dance in the park). Very nice shrine to visit there. Akihabara Electric Town - Computer and electronics mecca. Wander in through the warren like hallways filled with small vendors selling everything from radios to x.25 protocol analyzers and covert listenting devices. All the latest gadgets you can:t get anywhere else yet. Service depots for all the major laptop manufacturers in case of problems :-). Shinjuku - The area of Tokyo with the tallest buildings because the solid rock foundations let them build earthquake proof building better - the location of the twin Tokyo metropolitan government towers. I recommend an elevator ride up to the top of the sumitomo electric building and a look down the central shaft for a scene right out of star wars. Just walk in and look like you belong there. :-) Chek out Tokyu Hands in Takashimaya Times Square across from the south entrance, and Yodobashi Camera by the west entrance. East of the station is a night life/entertainment district with a slightly older crowd than Shibuya. Roppongi - Home of many night-clubs and bars, and a famous location for foreigners to party with a high concentration of gai-jin bars. The gai-jin and the opportunitiy to mingle are part of the appeal for locals. Ueno - the raunchier entertainment district with many hostess bars and other establishments Ginza - the upscale and expensive shopping and entertainment district. Cultural Tips and Etiquette --------------------------------------------- Do not point or blow your nose. It is rude. Do not lick your chpsticks unless you want to go to bed with the person you are dining with. Do not stick your chopsticks in rice, nd leave them there, as this is part of the funeral rites. This is allowed however if you want to inform someone that they are receiving a death threat. :-) The business card 'meishi' should be handed with both hands and the writing right side up for the receiver. Do not write on the card/meishi - it should be treated with the same respect as the person - so don't just stuff it into your pocket. It is customary to spend a little time and read it - or leave it on the table in a meeting. Bow after receiving the meishi. The deeper the bow the more respectful it its. Bows are not nods. Bow from the waist. At a formal dinner the way to stop drinking is to leave your glass full. Ie a Japanese a person waves his hand up and down it means come here not good bye. Waving your hand left or right or making an X sign with both hands means no. When a Japanese person points at their nose they are talking about themselves. Contrary to what you may have heard hostesses at a hostess bar are NOT prostitutes or strippers - they are there for company and to serve drinks (usually). The three beer rule is very much in effect here - drunk conversation are not suposed to be repeated at the office the next day. The star trek like panel next to the toilet is not for flushing look for the conventional flush knob. Usually those controls are for the seat heating thermostat and temperature of the bidet water and other such setting such as water pressure. No, there is no tampon remover button :-). The flush button goes in two directions for "little" and "big" flush - you can figure out the reason for these :-). There is more and I might send you guys a revised version; but this is enough to get you started. Cheers, --dr