Comments by "redfish337" (@redfish337) on "Life Where I'm From" channel.

  1. You don't need anything for Japan either. But you save yourself time and money if you know what you're doing.
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  2. A lot of people don't like to depend fully on youtube revenue, since they can change terms of service and demonetize things at their own discretion. At the quality level of this channel, they make about 2 videos a month and get a huge range of views. At the high range, they are doing quite well, but at the low range, it maybe pays for 1-2 day of living per video, despite costs of filming and hours filming, compiling and editing- that's not very sustainable. And it depends a lot on the algorithm. It's a crapshoot. Patreon gives them regular income. In return, their subscribers get some behind the scenes stuff or whatever.
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  3. It's 7-Eleven. "Seven & I" is the corporation group name, which is often used in signage. The "I" is for the other major store in the corporation group, Ito-Yokado.
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  4. Even before covid, if you saw someone with a mask, you didn't think "oh that person is sick". The MIGHT be sick, but frankly, probably not. They wore them for a whole bunch of different reasons. Probably number 1 was to stop allergens, which is probably the best reason to wear a mask. (to quickly rebuild after the war, they chose a tree that seemed best for the job, but many of them ended up being allergic to the pollen) But even just stuff like they wanted to go to the convenience store but don't want to do all their makeup.
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  5. No. $30 for a $30 melon. (Probably) Fruit is more expensive in Japan, so sure, there are situations where it's $8-12 for a $3-4 container of strawberries. Triple price isn't that uncommon... But when you actually get to the premium stuff, it doesn't actually compare with anything available... where I'm from anyway. It's specially bred and is its own thing. So it's not like buying it in some other country at a low price is actually getting the same product. And I said probably because a $30 isn't actually super premium, ~$10 is regular, and something like $130 is super premium. While a $10 one is probably paying triple for something you could get for $3.50, the $30 one may be something that just isn't available at a lower price.
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  6. It's Japan... the water is safe.
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  7. For what? Spending money? Long distance travel? Hotels? Hostels? Plane? Just for basic daily local travel, food and spending money, I recommend about 50-70 USD / day plus a 200 USD buffer. So that's 550-700 USD. Note that Japan is a place where, while things aren't cheap per se, you can get by reasonably. Or spend a fortune in a day. It depends on your interest. Note that if your interests are cheap (eg, national museums, parks, shrines, people watching, window shopping, free public performances, hiking) then 25 USD/day is certainly possible. Then 50-70 USD estimate just assumes most people will have cheap days and expensive days that average out to 50-70. So your total is plane ticket + long distance travel + lodging + 700 USD. On only a 1 week trip, long distance travel within the country probably isn't recommended. If you REALLY want to Kyoto, etc, then try to clear 10-12 days total for your trip. Lodging, you can get a capsule at a hostel for about 25-35 USD/night. It's overall probably most economical if going alone. If going with one or more other people then getting a room will get you better amenities for 30-70 USD per person. Lodging can be done for 200 USD. If you want more than a hostel it may run closer to 150-250% of that. Airfare, depends on where you are, so I can't even make a guess. But prices around here are normally about 800-1000 USD, but can drop to 500-600 USD or so. Waiting for a deal is one of the easier ways to keep the price of the trip down. So, cost is potentially as low as airfare + 500 USD, but something around airfare + 1000 USD is a safer estimate, and again, the sky is the limit in Tokyo, and expensive tastes can burn through 1000 USD in a few hours.
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  8. 1) You can just use cash if you like. 2) You can buy the bus ticket at the airport in Japan when you arrive. I'm not sure which is better- I always take train. 3) Yes, but free wifi isn't that common since everyone has wifi connected to their phone plans... and your hotel probably offers it anyway to plan the next day and talk with family and post stuff. The main point in buying wi-fi is you're buying an active map... active train schedule, translation, etc. Hungry? Check the restaurant reviews nearby... and check which days of the week and hours they're closed while you're at it. All tied to the internet and not relying on what you have downloaded. It's helping you get where you want to go. Hunting down wi-fi when lost is a huge bother- the main point of the wi-fi is to keep things going smoothly... and you can just follow your position and walk to your pre-marked stars on google maps if you have internet access. 4) Yes, but even though some people have basically moved in there, by wary of waiting for the last moment to secure housing. Manga kissa are last minute housing, so they can fill. It can be a fun experience, but may be a bit of trouble to try to do all the time. Especially since it pretty much means you're stuck hauling any luggage around all the time. Personally, it may make sense for 2-3 days of your trip but I'd secure other housing for the rest. 5) You can walk, bus, taxi... bicycle in some cases (can be a hassle in downtown areas where you can't just leave it anywhere). But in general metro is the best option. My rule of thumb is I'll walk 2 stations (JR is farther apart so sometimes only 1 there). Most people are willing to walk 1. But after that you tend to want to take a train. Generally, you'd take the metro to the general area you want to see... then walk around. That may be multiple stations of distance... Akihabara to Sky Tree is about 3 miles/5km. But note that you probably aren't walking straight... you're winding around each district so it's probably more like 12+km on the day. Then you take metro back from there- cuz that's probably 10km back to your hotel or whatever. 12 km on the day is one thing... adding in 20 more just to walk to and from the district you want to see is getting to marathon distances.
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  9. Just because you can have faith in a chair doesn't mean you should jump up and down on it. CAN you use your wallet to save your space? Probably. Should you? No. Even if the Japanese were 100% trustworthy- and they are not, there are millions of foreign tourists there every year. Just because Japan is extremely safe doesn't mean it is 100% safe. Living there for years, I became aware of some incidents of theft. However, I will always say that Japan is a great place to travel solo, as crime is extremely minimal. You can use backpacks or bags behind you without any real fear if being ripped off. You don't have to worry about someone rummaging in your bags while you get your wallet to pay. If you ask someone for directions, or look at a map, or otherwise be distracted, you are extremely unlikely to be taken advantage of. But you're still not 100% safe. Don't tempt fate.
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  10. There's always a sink. Soap and paper towels... depends. Frankly, in Tokyo, there's always a free fancy-schmancy toilet available. You just have to be willing to take the time to go to 4th floor or whatever of a department store sort of place. Usually... it's a waste of time doing all those escalators/elevators. You just use the low end ones at the stations since you're there anyway, and some other easy to access ones in a pinch.
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