April 9, 2008

Safe Sex, a Shrine, and Love Hotel Hill

I take a look at Meiji Jingu, Shibuya's famous cross walk, love hotel hill, and finish in Ginza at a haircut shop. I crammed a lot into this videocast and edited it pretty tightly. I hope you enjoy it.

4 comments:

MasterXploder.com said...

Interesting! Love Hotels in Japan remind me of Vegas!

Owen said...

They might sound bad, especially with the option to pay for a short rest from 1~4 hours, but in actuality they can be classy (to a certain degree) establishments. The best part has to be some of the themes: subway car, roman villa, Scooby Doo van...

Max said...

Hey i was just wondering how you did it. Moved to japan and started a life well thats if you plan to stay. I want to do that when im like 25 get a working visa and stuff but im going to japan in 09 for 85days and im going to be touring Tokyo, Kyoto, osaka nagoya and hikeing from Kofu to fuji city
itle be fun. The main question i have is will cops just pick on you cause your a gaijin or will they leave you alone.

Owen said...

Striferitus,

I first went to Japan on a 2-month home stay as part of my language study through my university. I went again for a semester aboard, and I'll be returning this year as a member of the JET Program.
From what I've seen and heard, the best way to get there would probably be to get employed by a company in your home country that has offices in Japan. This option allows you to come into the country with a good and established salary, benefits, an ex-pat package, etc.. Another way is to apply for the JET Program. I recommend this as opposed to other language schools because it is run by the Japanese government (and thus a stable form of employment), housing, insurance, and other services are provided (you still have to pay for them), and there is a network of support to fall back on in case anything disastrous should happen. They also pay for your flight to and from Japan.
As for your second question, I have never been stopped and asked for my "gaijin" card or visa. Other people have been asked though. In my experience, the police have not gone out of their way to disrupt what I'm doing or question me, and I believe this is the case for the majority of visitors to Japan. No one is out to get you as long as you aren't doing anything illegal or trying to attract too much attention. As a general rule for traveling abroad or living abroad, you should always be on your best behavior best there may be certain laws and/or customs you are unaware of and you stand out more because you are quiet often more noticeable because you look/speak different. Finally, there really aren't that many police on patrol in Japan when compared to other countries.
I hope this helps, and remember to leave a couple extra days in your travel itinerary open in case you hear about a cool festival or town you hadn't planned on going to.

Gaijin Guide