most of the hotel rooms are without wifi (only LAN) .. if not, i wouldnt ask abt it

Just check those wth WIFI. The hotel that I stayed also having LAN line to the room bcos WIFI only available ~ lobby area. From my past travel experiences, you will not use internet so often except after the end of the day. So just go down to the hotel lobby or the best.. asking room just within the lobby area

No point to get Wifi receiver in Japan...Because japan wifi spot = Zero ...and all Wifi need pay...no free wifi in Japan.

If want go online ...better rent Data roaming stuff like our Malaysia 4G USB stuff....best way rent a Phone or tablets with 4G inside.

what operator are you using? i know that maxis got (relatively) decent data roaming prices for a few countries, but not sure if Japan is one of them. For me when I went Japan, I used my SingTel $15/day unlimited data roaming, I think it was damn useful cos noneed to pay internet at hotel, go anywhere wanna change plans can google for directions, etc.

i got do homework on this
go get bmobile data plan
about 3k yen , myr 111 like tat
for more info
http://www.japanmobiletech.com/2011/06/com...obile-sims.html

i dun think tis is a wifi receiver that u mean... this is the 1 i am planning to rent..

Pocket WiFi device

I am using Digi.. n the data roaming is extremely expensive... ya, most important to have the internet access is to google for direction n whatsapp...

oh~ seems like kinda affordable.. i will look at it... thanks...

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Added on April 25, 2012, 2:02 pmoops... i mean most of the hotel i booked without wifi...

This post has been edited by illegaldragon87: Apr 25 2012, 02:02 PM

I alway ensure that the hotels I going to book having WIFI. I fno WIFI, I will search for one that having wifi & closer to public transport haha.

@RegentCid. No public free WIFI but hotel got mah haha. Otherwise I kenot report and send pictures & etc Live from Japan last time..

Becasue you already pay RM200 per night only can get wifi...if not cannot used also.

Sadly It is a reflection of the sorry state of the Japanese economy. The tsunami is deterring visitors but they have a lot of serious underlying issues with their economy that is becoming more apparent nowadays. It has never recovered from the property bubble burst in the late 90's. Growth is almost stagnant after that. Most of the economic indicators for Asia nowadays are quoted "Asia ex Japan". The US has relaxed their visa policy even more. Approval rate before the Lehman collapse used to be around 50% but now it is more than 80% from what Ive heard. Previously you need 100k to qualify for their visa but even junior executives that are not sponsored by their company got it. Previously these people can forget about it. These people probably have 10k in their account at most.

Japan eco are good...alot money. malaysia , Indo , plus alot other country all borrow money from Japan.


the interest rate enough to make Japan survive

That is very true during the heydays of the 90s. I am really sorry sir but the Japanese government debt is 200% of their GDP and it is one of the highest in the world, meaning that the money that they owe is twice the number of their economic output a year . The same figure for Italy is around 100% and investors are already knocking on their doors.

You may not understand Japan's situation correctly. True they have the highest per GDP capita debt in the world but unlike other countries, their debt is almost entirely owned by domestic concerns.
Chiefly Japan Post, pension and Japanese banks. Not the same with Italy at all. They can always print more money to cover obligations - so far looks like they can do it because inflation is not a concern(the opposite really), they want to soften the endaka and when you have no foreign holders of govt. securities, you can do what you want.

Japan borrows money using JGB bonds. Almost the entire tranche is placed out locally. The Japanese government adopted this aggressive borrowing to stimulate the local economy after the crash of the 90s e.g. building bridges to nowhere, mostly construction.

The measure of how rich a country is a combination of the size of its economy, its per capita GDP, size of reserves, assets under Japanese bank management and the market capitalization of its stock market. Japan is still very rich, by all these measures, richest in Asia. They've got lots of money.

They lend out strategically esp. Southeast Asia because that's one of the main foundations of Japanese foreign policy. Soft power.

Can't wait to depart next 2 weeks ! Guarantee rainstorm of photos . There are alot of must buy stuff in my checklist

This post has been edited by Breaktru: Apr 26 2012, 10:40 AM

Again, based on what you post above, you're mixing in some truths with a lot of misunderstood facts. Good to have a discussion but before you attempt that, perhaps a good idea to get a clear understanding of the facts.
1) Securities have *always" be quoted ex-Japan - that's because Japan dwarfs the rest of the exchanges and Japan's not emerging so has a different growth profile than rest of Asia.
2) Your understanding of US visa policy is completely wrong, sorry to say. What's that got to do with Japan anyhow?

To be clear, Japan has serious issues with domestic growth, asset deflation, population curve with a projected inverted tax curve, future obligations towards social security and health insurance that cannot be supported by decreasing tax base etc

What you said is nothing more than "nationalistic crap" by a daydreaming idiot. The market cap of Shenzhen and Shanghai exchanges combined is bigger than Japan and HK has not been included yet . Check your facts correctly. Do you even know what is "market capitalization"? The Nikkei was almost at 40000 during the heydays in the 90s but now it is struggling to break 10000. You call this "dwarf the rest of Asia". Securities are quoted "Asia ex Japan" for one very simple reason. Japan GDP growth in the last few years is lethargic and dismal compared to the rest of Asia . It is very very low by Asian standards. If it were to be included in Asia stats, it will distort the figure. Why dont you say that US should be excluded from Latin America stats because the economy is so disproportionately big? You dont even understand your own argument.

I do understand that Japan debt is mostly domestic owned but the assests that the banks carry are of questionable value anyway. Ive heard that some of the banks are still not done with writing down the bad debts from the property bubble burst. If Japan is so rich, why did the govt proposed to double the GST recently anyway? Becuase they will go bankrupt eventually if they dont. It is no longer the land of the rising sun, it is now a land of the sunset. haha maybe plead to your Uncle Sam to let you devalue the JPY. You kowtow to them during the plaza accord by letting the JPY rise although they do not hold any of your govt debt. You hold a lot of treasury bonds and its time to show them who is the boss.

This post has been edited by investmentbanker: Apr 27 2012, 01:04 AM

Ehhh... you all OT liao hor.. This is not arguement on current Japanese economy as compare to elsewhere but discussing and sharing of travel tips & travelogues hor..

Pls be reminded.

RM288 for 10 days for 42Mbps bandwidth up to 5 devices. would you consider that expensive? If you're travelling alone maybe but if you travel with 5 ppl and split it evenly. seems reasonable

Ikebukuro Station.....Picture taken around 5pm (Japan Time)

Picture no resize

This post has been edited by RegentCid: Apr 27 2012, 09:29 PM

Got my visa today.
The photo scanned in the visa is the ugliest photo of me in my entire life.
I dont think my father even recognize that's me.

Today morning news

Due to golden holiday, japan narita airport everyday passenger increase to 41,000 per day.. Extremely long custom check.