*LOACH*

I was on TV (I think it was NHK but cant remember) last night competing in a how much you can eat competition but I didnt know it was being aired so I didnt get to see it. Anyone know how I can get a recording of Japanese TV programs that have been aired?

okonamiyaki is delicious and what about your local speciality - Hiroshimayaki - okonomiyaki with yaki soba inside.....yummm

Yodabashi?? havent heard of that one? any around Gifu/Nagoya? Forgot about BIC, thanks mate, might head there today actually as I will be passing through Nagoya station. I tried Goodwill and Eiden but they are more expensive and have less stuff than Ofiiceworks in Australia. Thanks heaps for the info about the 10% discount too. Maybe I should take my shoes off before walking into the shop and say Nihongo wakaranai to complete the - I dont live here - illusion.

As I have said in other posts I have an ASUS 701SD EEPC with a 500GB portable HDD which I have been really happy with. I have now filled the HDD and am considering a few options. One is to get a new EEEPC and replace the standard HDD with a 1TB drive (I cant do it to my current EEEPC as it has flash memory hence the external drive). Then reload Linux. My questions are; Is this a stupid idea? How do I reload Linux when netbooks dont have CD drives? Which Linux should I use? Other questions to be installed at a later date Thanks in advance.

Thanks guys, information most appreciated. From your suggestions and my circumstances it looks like a 2.5 inch drive in a generic external case will do the trick although now I am thinking about another option too but I will create a new thread as it isnt directly related. Thanks again.

mmm nabe, mmm mochi and even better ..... mmm nabe with mochi in it. Why did I have to leave my nabe pot in Aichi. I want to wear my nabe pot as a hat so all day I can smell the kimochi goodness.....Where are you now my beloved nabe pot?

At the moment I have a 500Gb WD 2.5inch portable HDD and I have been exceptionally happy with it. Now I have pretty much filled it up so I need an upgrade. The only larger all in one 2.5inch HDDs I can find in shops are 640Gb but what I really want is at least 1TB. I would prefer to keep the 2.5inch size as it is a lot easier for travelling (no power cable or extra USB port required- my EEEPC has only 3 USBs). So I am guessing my only other option is to get a notebook 1TB 2.5inch HDD and an external case. Is there another option which wont cost a fortune? If not what are peoples experiences with 2.5inch HDDs in external cases? reliability? Thanks in advance.

I have got an ASUS EEEPC which has its own version of Linux. It is my only PC with me in Japan and although it is a stuff around to get anything new working with it, it has been working fantastically so far. Stability, above all else, is just amazing compared to Windows. For a machine that was only a few hundred bucks, is tiny and will do most anything, besides games, a desktop will do I couldnt be happier. The only exceptions are; Cant get it to play some WAV files (Mp3s,WMAs even lossless, DIVxs and others all work fine after dling codecs etc) Cant get it to run my Lexmark printer/scanner which is a big pain.

If I owned it I would probably pull the 253 and stick a kei car 660cc turbo donk in the battery tray of the ute. Be just as powerful as a 253 and you can rent the rest of the engine bay out as a 1k apartment in Tokyo. Actually it is a bit sad to see the state of some of the old cars left in parking spots in Japan. Saw a 70s Corvette in Nagoya a couple of weeks ago on four flat tyres with completely faded paint. There is a 50s Chev about 10mins walk away from my place in Gifu in a similar but even worse condition. I hope those ones Elrodeo was talking about have been kept better than that.

Any owner in Japan would be proud to have a fine example of advanced automotive technology such as this. You will probably need a degree in computers to get the most out of the electronics though. http://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/139747713

Thanks mate will look into it now that I have a JP account to link it to.

Would love it but I am in the process of moving to Gifu and starting a new job so money is really tight at the moment. It is a shame as its a damn fine looking machine with good mods and lots of Shaken.

Have a look at the two intake manifolds (20 on the left), the RB20 is much closer to the M30 than the RB25. The M30 has the throttle position etc reversed from the other RB20 but apart from that there isnt much difference. Its gotta be a 20.

I dont think the RB25 was being produced when they made the M30, I am pretty sure it is a green top RB20/30. Check this site http://www.banpei.net/blog/flyrat-tommy-kaira-m30 and this pic from that website of an M30 bay

Pretty sure: I have seen an M30 for sale in a magazine in Japan and wikipedia has it listed under RB30DE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_RB_engine

I dont really have any necessity at the moment to send more than 400/500k yen at a time and I think the post office maximum is well in excess of that (1mil to 3 mil or something) so post office seems ok. I had a look at a JP bank account and it seems pretty good, no minimum amount in bank required, no account keeping fees, can use with keitai accounts, as cheap if not cheaper than doing cash international remittances, can use as a Visa or others (free first year and free forever if linked to a keitai), no ATM fees if using a post office ATM, fees not to expensive if using a conbini ATM. The only problem I have found so far is that a Japanese friend said that some companies will not direct deposit pay into JP bank accounts because it was originally a National owned bank the system is different to most of the others. Has any one heard of problems getting pay into JP bank accounts? Any other problems with JP bank? Thanks heaps for your help guys, even if it doesnt seem like I am taking advice your comments are definitely helping me in the right direction.

In terms of doing an education degree have a look at some of the jobs advertised, I have pulled a few to show what I am talking about: Early Learning or Kindergarten/Elementary teaching qualification is strongly preferred ¥265,000 ~ ¥295,000/Month Early Childhood Education or Elementary Education ¥260,000 ~ ¥300,000/Month University Degree in Education. ¥275,000 ~ ¥350,000/Month Compare these to the sorts of pay you can expect to get without an education degree and I think you are lucky if you are getting anything over 250k a month. I would love to be proven wrong, especially if proving me wrong involves getting me a higher paid job using my immensly helpful Music degree. MX6 - yeah I guess I was "lucky" in that my first car was a Datto Pulsar so the MX6 felt like a rocketship in comparison and the FWD certainly felt a lot sportier than the only RWD car I had driven by then - the family Toyota Tarago. Still the MX6 was a mile ahead of the CA18 auto 180sx I owned. MX6 is definitely worthy of some love and if I wasnt on a Skyline forum I would say stop saving for an R33 and spend your dollars on the MX6, women and alcohol. And the alcohol aint that important....come to think of it women can be an unworthy money pit too

Tommy Kaira M30 was pretty cool wasnt it? It had an RB20/30. The 177kw aint fantastic but almost 300nm of torque in a relatively light car is pretty awesome considering it was NA. I certainly wouldnt say no to an M30 if for no other reason than the investment value.

I havent got nearly as much experience teaching English in Japan as many others on these forums but I definately agree with Amayama. You can probably get away with being a clown most of the time but if you work in Eikaiwa the chances are you going to have at least one adult (I have about half a dozen at the moment in this category) student who has been studying English for many years and probably knows an awful lot more than most native speakers about the rules of grammar, implementing those rules and incorporating them into everyday speech is another matter. But when you are asked whether a specific idiom should be treated as a causative verb or about word order in relative clauses using because or therefore and the student expects an answer straight away you begin to appreciate just how much effort and years of experience it takes to become a truly good English teacher. Having said that there are plently of opportunites to play dodgeball with 9 year olds and being happy that they can string any sort of sentence together.

As a fellow VL owner I believe your opinions to be not only valid but worthy of international recognition. Perhaps even carved in stone tablets and kept in a museum for future generations to appreciate and learn from. As for 32 vs 33 vs 34 aesthetics I couldnt really care much less because at the end of the day it is what the owner does with them that makes them look great or not. With the right bodykit, wheels and paint anything can look great. As for RB25 vs 20, both make great donor heads for RB30 powered VLs

You own an MX6 Turbo!!! thats awesome, I loved my MX6 turbz, USC bodykit,18 wheels and a 2.5 exhaust. All that torque in such a light car. Still love my VL wagz more though. Oh yeah and in response to your post, if you are looking for a degree which will be good for Japan do an education degree. Any degree is needed to get a visa but if you work as a teacher an education degree will give you access to the 300k+ yen a month jobs that are advertised instead of the up to 250k yen that any other degree allows you to go for.

Thanks guys, most appreciated. Yeah I checked the rates for Citibanks International Remittance and they are actually higher (even when done online) than the post office so I guess I will keep using that. I want it for savings transfers, although Adams idea is fantastic, I dont know anyone one in Australia who wants to buy anything from here. Would be the best way to do it though. I have to get an account as my new job requires pay to go into it (no more cash pay unfortunately) so I guess I will just go with the cheapest one for monthly and ATM fees. Thanks again everyone.

Hi, Anyone know a Japanese bank account which is good for transferring money to Australian bank accounts. At the moment when I need to send money back to Australia I use the post office which costs about $50. Thanks in advance.

Thanks funkymonkey, most appreciated.

Hi, I posted a thread in the this forum (Japan) about peoples advice regarding ALT or Eikaiwa work and it was deleted. Can someone tell me why? (I tried posting in the Ideas/Feedback & Bugs forum to see why it was deleted but I received no replies).