Ye Olde Japan Thread

[JC]

Awesome, dude! Before you know it...I didn't realize you were a '70s baby.

[Doc]

AWESOME dude!

[manuel]

Awesome, dude! Before you know it...I didn't realize you were a '70s baby.

Yeah, the 70s rocked.  I don't remember much of the 70s, though. 

Now that I have my visa, going to work in the morning is a pain in the a***. I just don't want to any more.  But I'll have to wait until May. Another 9 weeks and 6 days.

[manuel]

I started moving to Japan yesterday.
That means, I sent off 2 big boxes of 20kg each with clothes and gaming stuff to my new address in Japan by surface mail. I hope they arrive about the same time we do.
Another 4 boxes (for the time being) will follow in the next weeks.





The date is getting closer and closer.

[JC]

Awesome, dude. Must be neat. I've moved across the US, but never into another country.

Best of luck to your boxes! With surface, I hope you packed them securely. My brother moved from New York to the western US recently, and a couple of his boxes popped open in route. All the stuff inside was lost! Not securely packing the boxes cut his music collection in half; scattered on a mailroom floor somewhere.

[manuel]

I've never had a problem between Germany and Japan.
Maybe that is why I'm called the "packing master"... by myself.  

I pack my stuff very securely. I always put a plastic rope around the boxes so people can carry them around easier. Plus it seems to prevent customs clerks to open the package. Really. Every packet I put a rope around wasn't opened. I think they're just too lazy to open and pack it up again afterwards. 

Of course every time I send stuff I hope and pray that everything arrives without damage.
And if it was damaged I'd have them pay.  Every packet is insured for 800$ innately.

The next 2 packets waiting to be sent off will contain most of my gaming collection. If those get damaged I might consider killing somebody.

[manuel]

Update!
2 boxes of 20kgs each filled with video games reached their destination safely. At least according to DHL's tracking service.  I'll have the family abroad check that of course. I assume they'll send me an email.
But man, that was fast. 7 days with surface shipping. I don't think airmail would have been faster, only twice as expensive.

Exactly 4 weeks remaining now.
Today I almost forgot to check the mailbox, but when I looked into I found these!

Yay, got my tickets today.

Yesterday I picked up our son's passport. It's like a real passport, only cuter. My wife posted pics of it on her blog:
http://dillinger.blog13.fc2.com/blog-entry-360.html

... I can't wait!

[manuel]

Oh man oh man oh man. Only 2 days left.

[JC]

Holy shit...wow! That came fast. I expect regular updates...if you're not too busy settling in.

[nurd]

Yeah.

Take a picture of the bathroom.

[manuel]

I hope to post regular updates. Maybe not the first days. We'll be busy with administrative stuff.

And especially for nurd I'll post a pic of the bathroom. 

[Kuvio]

Wowza, I wish I could live in Japan for awhile. I wouldn't be able to right now though. This is my last year of high school, so I gotta get ready for college. I hope I will be able to do an exchange program with another university in Nippon. I mean, I do want to major in East Asian Studies.

Good Luck with everything manuel. That is a big leap, but you seem comfortable in how you are handling it.

[manuel]

You should definitely try to study a year abroad in Japan. It's a great experience.
I can recommend you the JTW program. I took part 5 years ago:

www.isc.kyushu-u.ac.jp/jtw/

[FamicomFreak]

Manuel I want to see a lot of photos of your home and Japan itself!! Man you are lucky to be moving there. How are you able to go live there? I heard it's hard.

[manuel]

Depends on who said it's hard. 
I don't think it's that difficult.

Pics: here in a few days.