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One thing that still seems a bit weird to me is the 1 Yen coin. It is small and made of aluminium, and seems to rapidly accumulate. Coming from a country that has discarded values below 5c, having a coin worth less than AUD$0.01 is very different.
The other important coin we have learned is the 100¥. Many machines will only take this coin, requiring changing other values to it to use them. In our hotel the washing machine only takes 100¥ and at the train station the lockers only take 100¥. From now on we will be trying to accumulate them rather than use them in transactions where another coin or note would do.
As viewers of our blog may have noticed, the server was down for most of the 26th. Apparently some critical networking component at my web hosting company failed, and it took a while to get a replacement.
On another technical I have been noticing my GPS was often giving false readings, way off course, or altitude. I have changed the way it gets the information to use the Windows driver rather than the programs own one. So far this seems to be more accurate, and even better it now gets fixes quicker (probably uses the QuickGPS program that downloads a data file of satellites positions)
There are no words I can use to describe the sheer number of bicycles over here. On the train station we pass multistorey bike car parks that must have tens of thousands of bikes in them. We constantly see them passing us on roads and foot paths. Most cyclists don’t wear helmets or flashing lights at night. We have to be aware when walking to make sure we don’t stop or turn rapidly as a bike may be passing us at that moment. When you consider the sheer size and population of Tokyo the bikes make sense, as they allow easy transportation to the nearest train station, and can be easily parked in large bays two levels high. There are multiple parking areas up to several blocks from the station, usually with different pricing schemes.
Some things we have seen involving bikes:
Occurred while cycling
Other things:
Well, it’s Friday afternoon – only eighteen-and-a-bit more hours until we’re on the plane and off to Japan… via a two-hour stopover at the Gold Coast, but we’ll get there. Suitcase and carry-on bag packed, unpacked, pruned of needless extras and re-packed, weighed, and sitting ready to be picked up and dragged out the door. Airfares and hotels booked, destinations and activities selected. Insurance has been insured, checklist has been checked, passport renewed, documents photocopied, printed, collated, collected. Currency acquired, validity of bank cards ensured. Been training my internal clock to wake me up earlier so we can get to the airport on time. Kindle loaded with books, iPod synced, phone charged. Wallet weeded of nonessential items, travel belt dug up and dusted off. Time off from work arranged.
I’d say I’m ready to go. =)
Who woulda thunk two weeks would require so much preparation?
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