Miffbusterz - Japan

[Rezz]

I see there are a whole buch of people in the SAU J-forum contributing regularly now... it's phenominal to think that this forum was created to "kick me out of the General Discussion area" back in 2003 because of my ludicrous (sic) amount of posts regarding Japan... and now it's grown into something which - not suggesting anything here - could break away from SAU and become it's own site ( because it's so big).

So, now that we've got so many contributing, lets mythbust Japan

Ok, ok. Theres so much info on this forum that you can pretty much get an accurate picture of what you would get into if you decided to come to Japan. BUT... since I've been back in Australia, I've noticed theres still alot of people who cling onto old J-stereotypes and misinformation that could easily be explained away.

So go for it... name the myth (or misunderstanding) and say if it's true or false and give an explanation

------------------------------------------------

Myth: Skyline GT-Rs/Supras/Evos/NSXs etc are common in Japan.

FALSE. Apart from the fact that some of these cars (especially the Supra) are getting on in years now, in reality out of 100 cars that passed you in a big city center like Tokyo or Osaka, around 10 of them might be one of the cars mentioned above. There are alot of variables at play here, and depending on where you are, what time it is, and even the time of year affects how many Japanese sportscars you'll see on any given day.

One person I remember remarked how easy it was to spot 'Hashiriya' (car freaks or enthusiasts depending on if you ask a J-girl or J-guy) out in the country. Obviously the ratio of sportscar owners would be higher in the country, given that parking is often very cheap or even free, and that the proximity to race tracks and some larger tuning shops will attract car enthusiasts more. I know if I ever go back to Japan to live, I'll definatley check out some of the more regional centers.

--------------------------------------

Myth: All Japanese girls are attracted to foreigners

FALSE. Walk in to any foreigners bar in Japan and you'll walk away thinking that God made Japanese girls for over confident American/Aussie/Canadian University rejects... but you'd be dead wrong. Although it's common to hear Japanese women remark on how cute Japanese/foreign (usually caucasian) mixed babies look, but then J-girls think ALL babies/small animals/aliens/Kei cars/colorful hats look cute...

Getting back to foreigners though, the truth of the matter is that this myth stems from the English teaching industry, and it's probably fair to say that a great deal of Japanese girls study English because they like foreign guys over the local lads. Japanese guys do the same thing. But, if you leave the classroom and venture out into the REAL WORLD (ie: the beach, a theme park or other place where a big cross section of the population gather) the hot-shot foreigner becomes somewhat of a novelty token non-Japanese entity... and thats it. I even conducted experiments with a very eager foreign friend of mine on a couple of successive Saturday afternoons where we tried to pick up as many girls as we could (speaking Japanese of course). And out of the 40 - 50 girls we approached - all in their 20's - between 10 and 12 were genuinely interested, and we got 3 phone numbers!!! Ok, my ugliness might've been a factor but the results show that just being a foreigner isn't enough by a long shot outside of the classroom or foreigners bar.

------------------------------------------

Myth: Everything is so expensive in Japan

FALSE. I would go as far to say that a fair amount of goods are actually the same price or cheaper than anywhere in Australia/Canada (AU and Can have similar exchange rates). Obvious exceptions would be Houses, movie tickets, haircuts and local city rates and charges... and of course highway tolls, but things like airline tickets, mobile phones, cosmetics (I've been told this ), internet, electronic goods in general, alcohol and many more can be had at the same or even cheaper prices than what you're accustomed to if you a) know where to look and b ) make use of the 1000's of coupons and campaigns that are on offer in Japan daily.

The prices overall in Japan are coming down, and the old bubble economy stereotypes are finally fading into history. The only problem for the ex-pat resident really would be having to spend (quite a bit of) money to have a good time.

Please add to this!

[funkymonkey]

Rezz can you rationalise these statements as well please?

• Japanese people do not have a lot of places to drive to, therefore all japanese exports have low kms.
  
• Japanese sellers are honest people, they will never do anything dodgy.
  
• Soiled girls underwear is sold openly on the streets, and it is expensive to buy.
  

[CircusMonkey]

Only tuners in Japan can tune skylines(insert any car model).

Parts from Japan pisses all over other parts from the rest of the world.

[Rezz]

Rezz can you rationalise these statements as well please?

• Japanese people do not have a lot of places to drive to, therefore all japanese exports have low kms.
  
• Japanese sellers are honest people, they will never do anything dodgy.
  
• Soiled girls underwear is sold openly on the streets, and it is expensive to buy.
  

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Certainly

Myth: Japanese people do not have a lot of places to drive to, therefore all japanese exports have low kms.

FALSE. There are 2 things to keep in mind here, 1) Performance cars and 2) non-performance Passenger vehicles. As for performance cars, rarely will a **3 year old or older** genuine pristine low-kilometer example pop up at auction or at a dealer. They ARE out there, but they are definately the exeption. What you'd class as 'low kilometer' has a bearing too, and for arguments sake lets say less than 40,000km.

The truth of the matter is that enthusiasts buy the more expensive performance cars in Japan, they are not cheap to run or maintain, so they generally GET THEIR MONIES WORTH by driving them whenevr they can. This is a fact. Modified performance cars in Japan can almost be guaranteed that they would see 1,000s of Kilometers being clocked up on weekends and at night, with even the occaisional visit to the local cicuit... sounds not unlike an Aussie driver does it? I would go as far to say that Japanese performance car drivers would clock up similar amounts of K's that an Aussie or Canadian would.

The difference though is that not alot of these performance car owners would use there car as a daily driver - in the cities anyway. But that doesn't stop them from driving every other time. Such is the culture of Performance car ownership in Japan, you buy it to drive it like it was intended to.

Non-performance passenger cars on the other hand more often than not get 'limited use' compared to a driver in western countries, and trips are often made out of necessity or convenience, but probably not before considering public transport first. Low kilometer Toyota Kluger anyone?

Winding back odometers was one of the 'must-do' pasttimes in Japan before putting a used car on the market right up until 1996 or so, so buying a car before then would almost definately be wound back to some degree... whether interior wear supports it or not. And just to rub it in, odometer tampering still goes on today albeit not as much... and the fact that cars with digital odometers are the norm now.

"But Japanese people don't drive because the traffic is so bad..."

You gotta be kidding me. The REASON WHY the traffic is so bad is because too many people drive!!! Yep, come what may, Japan is one of the top automotive producing countries and they are gonna drive cars no matter how bad or expensive it is.

[totoro]

Kinda related to point from rezz's:

All Japanese girls are cute/good looking....

Owning a car is cheap...

Every city is futuristic megapolis extravaganza that never sleeps....

[drunkenmaster]

Every city is futuristic megapolis extravaganza that never sleeps....

hehe, come visit me in Toyota-city if you want proof of that

How about:

The roads are perfect - in a lot of australian car magazines they refer the superior roads in Japan as to why they can run stiff suspension etc. The residential roads in my experience are far from perfect and i am suprised there are not more accidents then there are.

Brand new electronics are super-cheap - sure there are some savings to be made, but this is a developed country and things arent dirt cheap. It is not China we are talking about here.

Akihabara - has to be the biggest load of hype I have ever seen. American tourist trap, worth a look but definitely shop around elsewhere as well. I have consistently gotten Y10,000's cheaper prices by bargaining at the local Yamada chain store in Nagoya.

[Rezz]

Myth: Japanese sellers are honest people, they will never do anything dodgy.

TRUE and FALSE... While Japanese society is stooped in tradition and Origami and Kimono's and cute stuffed animals, with salarymen bowing and apologizing uncontrollably in order not to offend, the reality of the matter is that they've made 'outward appearance' an artform, and can easily throw foreigners off. Japanese people are no different to anyone else when it comes to selling. They want to profit as much as possible from a sale just like anyone else. They'll sell things for as much as the public can or will pay.

Because a Japanese seller spews out "Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!" (kind regards or treat me kindly, depending on the situation) 10 times in the first 5 minutes doesn't mean you're in their best interests... it's one of the great ironies of Japanese language. And that 'bargain' priced immaculate S13 Silvia being sold by a shy 28 year old office lady doesn't mean it hasn't been thrashed within an inch of it's life by her boyfriend/husband the week before...

Appearnces, appearances...

Just getting back to the comment above off 'They'll sell things for as much as the public can or will pay', that pretty much sums up the 15 year old or older cars in Japan... they are shite. Everybody thinks they're shite. No one can sell a '93 R32 GTS-t for more than A$8 -9000 because they're not worth that much... literally. Nobody cares if it's got a sunroof or **electric windows all round!!!** (LOL @ used car dealers in Australia) or 4WS or a turbo. It's OLD. Therefore it's BUGGERED. Hence ZERO value.

Car ownership is viewed in Japan I guess as a luxury item, something that really, you can do without and if you do have one, it shouldn't impede on your lifestyle at all as far as maintenance is concerned. Bear in mind that this plays a big part in Used car prices in Japan, and hence a big part in percieved (constantly falling) value in Australia or wherever. Australia needs cars, Japan doesn't... well not as much. So this in turn affect the lengths that people selling cars will go to in trying to finalize a sale. If you're buying in Japan, just beware and GET THAT CAR CHECKED before purchasing!!!

[LANFOH]

Gday Rezz,

Firstly welcome back the land of Oz,

When I was working in Japan I found that alot of the Gaijin over there tend to stick together rather than mix alot with the locals, I suppose this is the same in most countries but the thing that got me most was that foreigners seem to get away with alot of shit over there with no intervention of the police and if the police did turn up they were really not useful in sorting out the problem. This was back in 99 and I was just wondering if this has changed, surely the Japanese would not put up with this behaviour on their soil.

Also I would like to say that all the J-girls that I worked with and played with all preffered Gaijin......... maybe I just got lucky or maybe I was just working in the right industry. Just my observations.

[Polski]

When I was working in Japan I found that alot of the Gaijin over there tend to stick together rather than mix alot with the locals, I suppose this is the same in most countries but the thing that got me most was that foreigners seem to get away with alot of shit over there with no intervention of the police and if the police did turn up they were really not useful in sorting out the problem. This was back in 99 and I was just wondering if this has changed, surely the Japanese would not put up with this behaviour on their soil.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i think us gaijin get away with a heap of small things but when it comes to something sizable we get deported! one of the guys in my prefecture didnt pay his taxi fare, then was caught by police and didnt show them his alien reg. card, was thrown in jail for two months and the local board of education asked him politely to resign from his job and leave japan! all this because he was drunk and just didnt think about paying the taxi at the time, and leaving his alien reg card at home.

[Streeter]

Id agree with Rezz on the people "using" their cars more here... interesting thing though is that Im doing roughly half the Kms in my silvia here than what I did in my 180 in Melbourne although I am practicing nearly twice as much. Main reason being to get anywhere thats far away requires really nasty expressway fees.

It obviously depends on the person and what they are doing but unless you are seriously loaded you are hard pressed to clock up the number of kms here that you can easily accumulate in Aus.

[West]

I see there are a whole buch of people in the SAU J-forum contributing regularly now... it's phenominal to think that this forum was created to "kick me out of the General Discussion area" back in 2003 because of my ludicrous (sic) amount of posts regarding Japan... and now it's grown into something which - not suggesting anything here - could break away from SAU and become it's own site ( because it's so big).

So, now that we've got so many contributing, lets mythbust Japan

Ok, ok. Theres so much info on this forum that you can pretty much get an accurate picture of what you would get into if you decided to come to Japan. BUT... since I've been back in Australia, I've noticed theres still alot of people who cling onto old J-stereotypes and misinformation that could easily be explained away.

So go for it... name the myth (or misunderstanding) and say if it's true or false and give an explanation

------------------------------------------------

Myth: Skyline GT-Rs/Supras/Evos/NSXs etc are common in Japan.

FALSE. Apart from the fact that some of these cars (especially the Supra) are getting on in years now, in reality out of 100 cars that passed you in a big city center like Tokyo or Osaka, around 10 of them might be one of the cars mentioned above. There are alot of variables at play here, and depending on where you are, what time it is, and even the time of year affects how many Japanese sportscars you'll see on any given day.

One person I remember remarked how easy it was to spot 'Hashiriya' (car freaks or enthusiasts depending on if you ask a J-girl or J-guy) out in the country. Obviously the ratio of sportscar owners would be higher in the country, given that parking is often very cheap or even free, and that the proximity to race tracks and some larger tuning shops will attract car enthusiasts more. I know if I ever go back to Japan to live, I'll definatley check out some of the more regional centers.

--------------------------------------

Myth: All Japanese girls are attracted to foreigners 

FALSE. Walk in to any foreigners bar in Japan and you'll walk away thinking that God made Japanese girls for over confident American/Aussie/Canadian University rejects... but you'd be dead wrong. Although it's common to hear Japanese women remark on how cute Japanese/foreign (usually caucasian) mixed babies look, but then J-girls think ALL babies/small animals/aliens/Kei cars/colorful hats look cute...

Getting back to foreigners though, the truth of the matter is that this myth stems from the English teaching industry, and it's probably fair to say that a great deal of Japanese girls study English because they like foreign guys over the local lads. Japanese guys do the same thing. But, if you leave the classroom and venture out into the REAL WORLD (ie: the beach, a theme park or other place where a big cross section of the population gather) the hot-shot foreigner becomes somewhat of a novelty token non-Japanese entity... and thats it. I even conducted experiments with a very eager foreign friend of mine on a couple of successive Saturday afternoons where we tried to pick up as many girls as we could (speaking Japanese of course). And out of the 40 - 50 girls we approached - all in their 20's - between 10 and 12 were genuinely interested, and we got 3 phone numbers!!! Ok, my ugliness might've been a factor but the results show that just being a foreigner isn't enough by a long shot outside of the classroom or foreigners bar.

------------------------------------------

Myth: Everything is so expensive in Japan

FALSE. I would go as far to say that a fair amount of goods are actually the same price or cheaper than anywhere in Australia/Canada (AU and Can have similar exchange rates). Obvious exceptions would be Houses, movie tickets, haircuts and local city rates and charges... and of course highway tolls, but things like airline tickets, mobile phones, cosmetics (I've been told this ), internet, electronic goods in general, alcohol and many more can be had at the same or even cheaper prices than what you're accustomed to if you a) know where to look and b ) make use of the 1000's of coupons and campaigns that are on offer in Japan daily.

The prices overall in Japan are coming down, and the old bubble economy stereotypes are finally fading into history. The only problem for the ex-pat resident really would be having to spend (quite a bit of) money to have a good time.

Please add to this!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeap, saying GTR is a cult car in Japan but awhile back i was wondering around OSAKA down town, did a bit a a survey myself and found out that 10/10 Japanese i met don't even know what the fcuk is a GTR LOL.

The only one that acctually know when i ask was this girl i sat next to while flying back to the states and she knew cos' her boyfriend drift Hachiroku in LA ( and she acctually started the conversation co's she saw i was reading HPI ).

Is japan expensive? To me its bloody is ( maybe i just hang around the wrong place ), cost me 10USD for a Oneway ticket on the train to downtown Osaka.

40USD for a bow of rice with gril eel, soup and a glass of spider in the hotel ( but the waitress was CUTE ).

Hope to come back during TAS.

[akeenan]

japan is cheaper than australia in a lot of cases mostly convenient store food. 600mls of coke 120円　chocolate 100円　packs of chips around １３０円. but when you start looking at things like real estate, gas electricity taxi/ train rides. thats when it starts to get expensive

[ChaserV]

Can you use mobiles from japan in australia? Or will all the software be in japanese/not work on GSM network?

Cheers

[Streeter]

Im far from a mobile phone buff but I know 99% wont work

apparently there are some vodaphone models that are international compatible?

[DeL]

i guess the phones would work, but only on a japanese network

[LANFOH]

Can you use mobiles from japan in australia? Or will all the software be in japanese/not work on GSM network?

Cheers

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I dont think any Jap phones use sim cards, when I was there I just used PHS which is a local area phone network from what I understand.

But Im sure you can call from a mobile from Japan to Australia, Hey Rezz do you know?

[Bart Japan]

THere are new phones available in japan that allow the japanese networks to work overseas but NO your foreign phone will not work on the japanese networks. Check your company info you will find that japan is not on their international roaming list

Some phones do use sims but I think they are different and from what I can tell of our phone here it can only work in japan. We are leaving in December anyone want a good so506ic ie 6 months old? you can get it on a pay as you go plan just like in australia.