Friday, May 23, 2014

Tokyo Travel Guide 2014 (cont.)




Air Asia flight to Haneda Airport touch down at almost 11 pm. You may not able to catch train to Tokyo city center by the time you collected your luggage. The best option is to stay at the airport and catch train to Tokyo the next morning.

There are also prepaid shower rooms at the arrival hall. Reservation can be made at the reception counter. You can see the entrance from the picture above. The shower room is like a compact hotel room without bed. For YEN 4,000 (can't recall exactly how much I paid last Sept), you can use the room for 1 hour. Please take note... no room sharing allowed... not even with your spouse!!!  

Train from Haneda Airport to Tokyo center (e.g. Shinjuku) takes about 1 and half hour.


There are number of prepaid cards or also known as IC cards available in Japan. The cards can be used at many places, such as:

1. Train tickets (JR Lines and non-JR Lines)
2. Convenient stores
3. Vending machines

Just like Malaysian Touch n Go card, the cards are valid at places with these logos...depends on which card you have.




However, the cards only valid at specific regions. For example, SUICA Card for Tokyo, Nigata and Sendai areas.




SUICA and PASMO are very popular in Tokyo. You can purchase the card at any JR Office at the main railway stations and at the ticket vending machine. You can actually get your name printed on the card too...!

You can always top up the card value at the train ticket vending machines. I would best to budget for the amount you wish to top up into the card. However you still can get refund for the balance amount from the card.

More info about SUICA or PASMO here.
 

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Tokyo Travel Guide 2014

I would like to share some experience as guide for backpackers to travel to Japan.

As mentioned in my previous post, I went to Tokyo last March, 2014 via Nagoya because it was cheap. Haneda Airport for Air Asia or Narita Airport for Malaysia Airline would be more convenient of course if your destination is Tokyo.

Checked in LCCT at 5.30am...but you can see the long Q!!!



My AA flight departed from KL at 9.00 am (15 min delayed)


and arrived 15 minutes early at Nagoya Airport at 4.00 pm.



Another long Q at Nagoya Airport Immigration...took me about 30 min to I could "legalize" myself to enter Japan.
 

It is normal for immigration staff to help foreigners, to ensure the embarkation card and custom declaration card are correctly filled up before they reach the immigration counter.

Thanks to the Japanese Government. Now Nagoya Airport (and Haneda Airport as well), has a Prayer Room. At first, I thought it was a room for people to do their ritual regardless of their religion... but to my surprise, it was built for Muslim!!!



  
According to one airport staff, the surau was only 2 weeks old at that time. He asked for my comment about the symbol (signage). For me the symbol did not help but the wording gave good info. He was very happy when I praised the Japanese Government for being so thoughtful of Muslim needs.  

I met few Malaysian students there. Could not remember name of the universities...hehe...

Maghrib prayer was at 5.50pm. We took a train from the airport to Nagoya Station...Yen850 for one way...





I took the Shinkansen (bullet train) from Nagoya Station to Tokyo Station. At Yen10060 (about RM330), the train offered an amazing 270kmh speed and reached Tokyo in less than 2 hours...





Interior of the Shinkansen...



However, if you enter Japan via Narita Airport, you may take NEXT (Narita Express) from the airport to Tokyo. This applies to the Malaysian Airlines flights. Click Narita Airport for more info.

This map will be very helpful when you travel from the airport to Tokyo.






AirAsia aircrafts carry its passengers to Haneda Airport instead, which is closer to Tokyo. Normal express train will do.

You may get some info about Haneda Airport from here.
This map gives you a better picture of the route.



 

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Preparation for Tokyo...March 2014

Assalam and Good day...

My visit to Tokyo (via Nagoya Airport) was from 24th March to 28th March 2014. I had set my mind to snap as many pictures and videos as possible during the visit.

I managed to get Air Asia return ticket (Kuala Lumpur - Nagoya) at only RM870, inclusive of tax and meals. The amount shown on the Invoice was for 2 persons.



I stayed at Ikebukuro Royal Hotel... cheap and convenient... but don't mislead with the name...nothing Royal about this hotel... haha... only 2* for the room condition but 4* for others.

It stayed at the same hotel in September 2013, actually. I chose the hotel for these reasons...

1. Cheap...RM220 per night for twin bed.
2. Location... only 10 minutes walk from Ikebukuro Station.
3. Facilities... many convenient stores nearby (Family Mart, 7-E...)

This is the hotel...





Thursday, March 13, 2014

Pre-own original COACH from Tokyo

Assalam...

We have two pre-own original COACH items to offer at very good price. Purchased these from an outlet in Tokyo last year and never been used. The condition is 99% new.

Package price for 2 items... RM530 (negotiable for further discount).





Premium Crystal from Japan... @ discounted price!!!

My friend in Tokyo found very fine crystal to share with crystal fans in Malaysia...
Final price for each of the item will not change much.

The shipment will arrive around mid of April 2014, so please let me know if you wish to book any of the crystal glassware.  Further inquiries and nego are most welcomed.


1. Japan Hoya Crystal - Vintage Antique Ornate Bowl (RM180 - estimated price)




2. Japan Hoya Crystal - 5-pcs Vintage Bowl (RM180 - estimated price)



Friday, March 7, 2014

Ultraman Banned!?

I was really shocked!!! Why...!!???
I told to myself... I have to find the reason why HAM (Kementerian Dalam Negeri) found the comic was offensive to Malaysians, especially Muslim children...
So see for yourselves...

View image on Twitter

(source: http://twitter.com/empayarpemuda/status/441564028297437184/photo/1)

If you can speak and read Bahasa Melayu well, you should notice the grammar is totally out. Apparently, the comic was translated from other language. Perhaps, Japanese to English to Malay.

I bet the publishing company hired a translator from Google Translate Department to do the job. What a pity...

Why do I have to be so sensitive in this issue?

1.  You might have watched Ultraman Max, Ultraman Cosmos, Ultraman Brothers and other Ultraman movies on TV3 and ASTRO... to tell you the truth, I was the translator for most of the series. From Japanese to Malay. So Ultraman is like part of my life.

2. It is about ethic. A translator must observe certain rules. He or she can't simply translate a word not knowing the target audience. For example: for this situation, I would translate "God" as "Dewa" in Malay, instead of "Tuhan" or "Allah". Apparently the publisher did not even bother to check and to proof read the content...simple because it is a low cost comic book.


 Ultraman and Son Goku posed for their fans...location: on my table

Friday, February 14, 2014

Let's learn Japanese

The class started last December... with about 10 participants attended the introductory class.

Currently the participants are students and ex-students of MEBM (Master in Engineering Business Management) only. MEBM is a program under Razak School of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).

Ok, let's learn some simple Japanese phrases...

Start with greetings (please click on the Japanese words for pronunciation sampling):
note: the link goes to About.com web page; pronunciation by Japanese native speaker

* Good Morning - Ohayo
* Good Afternoon - Konnichiwa
* Good Evening - Konbanwa
* Good Night - Oyasumi nasai (before go to bed)

* Irasshaimase - Welcome (to greet customers)

* Congratulation - Omedetou Gozaimasu

* Happy Birthday - Otanjobi Omedetou Gozaimasu
* Happy New Year - Shinnen Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu

* Safe Journey! - Ki o tsukete kudasai

I will give example of how to pronounce it later...