WELCOME BACK TO THE 3RD INSTALLMENT OF Stuff YOU Should Know, brought to you by APetGuppy...Today we will address more important issues which deal with our own desires.

!!!!!STUFF TO BUY!!!!!

We are going for shopping in Japan no doubt, but what do we buy? How much should we spend?!!

Well, since most of us are gonna think about clothes first, i'll start with that.

!!!!!CLOTHES!!!!!

Alot of clothes in Japan are expensive. But there is a chain of shops, called Uniqlo, which sells high quality nice looking clothes for very very cheap prices. Plus, its has a large chain of shops, so we'll most probably chance upon one. Also when shopping for clothes don't make decisions too fast. Take your time and look around, you may be able to find good deals hiding here and there! This is like free advertising for Uniqlo. They should pay me. Anyway there are also other cheap clothing lines, you just gotta explore. Don't stick to the brands you're familiar with. When shopping never rush, because if you rush you will always make the wrong choices. Think carefully when you buy stuff coz there's 5 days of Japan, we can't spurlge $150 on 1 shirt just because you have $500 on the first day. Unfamiliar shopping grounds are very good for developing your taste in clothing. Unfortunately I don't think you men like clothes that much...


WELL, LETS MOVE ON

!!!!!FOOD!!!!!

It is not recommended you buy food back from Japan to Singapore. Coz most stuff you see in Japan you can find at your local Ichiban Store. Well, if your really that curious you can buy local food like "wanton flavoured potato chips" for a mid night snack. =P It's a good place to explore with your taste buds and stomachs.

!!!!!!SOUVENIRS!!!!!!

Well, if you're looking for souvenirs, it's pretty simple. You can buy stuff like Green Tea, Kimonos, expensive cut glass pieces, chopsticks(those really pretty kind), UMAI-BO(literally "delicious bars" there are many flavours available and these things are devastatingly cheap.) Mizu-yokan (Soft azuki-bean jelly), which are confectionaries which come in many many flavours and are also devastatingly cheap. Try not to go for those fancy expensive stuff coz it's like, so common. The best souvenirs are always local things which no one back home as experienced before. Thats a real souvenirs, because its bringing back a part of the host country back home.


!!!!!!SO, HOW MUCH TO BRING!!!!!!

I would recommend bringing SGD$400 - SGD$500
This amount would be optimal in order for you to make yourself the happiest! However, please don't feel pressured by me to bring more =). Take what you need. Don't spend just because money is at hand. Anyway, I won't talk about the itinerary anymore because Mr Khoo told me that you guys already did it for a project. So, I'm glad you're finding out more about our destinations by yourselves =D.

Wah...So exciting...I want to board the plane nowwwwww...

Miyajima ,one of japan's three most scenic views, was a town located on the island of itsukushima in saeki district, hiroshima. It has been considered a holy place for most of Japanese history. Since ancient times the island itself has been worshipped as a god. In fact, the island's real name is Itsukushima, and Miyajima is just a popular nickname meaning "Shrine Island" It is famous for the floating trii (or gate), Itsukushima Shrine, Senjokaku (which means "1000 Mat Pavilion"),. And Daisho-in (a major Buddhist temple a short distance above Itsukushima Shrine).

As the island is one of the most scenic place in japan, we are going to film the beauty in the shrine and its one and only torii that stands in the ocean. If possible, we are going to film from the angle of a local deer or monkey…… or else it will be from the tour guide.

Most of us had been to a shrine before; this is a chance for us to understand the Japanese culture, tradition and religion. The most amazing thing is Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines have maintained a close relationship on the island!!! (like the indian temple in chinatown). As the island is described as a place where people and god live togother, I think we can teach a lot from the visit (our presentation).

This place is about the Disaster Reduction Museum, a part of the Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution, was opened in 2002 to commemorate the tragic event and to educate visitors about earthquakes and disaster prevention.

We will video about the effects of the earthquakes that ravage the country so serverly. We will also video the damages and effects of the worst earthquake that ever hit japan, the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake.

The interesting part of the museum is that it has a large screen theater with realistic images of the earthquake's destructiveness, a documentary film about the recovery process, lots of information about the earthquake and various interactive games about disaster prevention.

We are going to visit Nara Park which is 4km east to west and 2km north to south. We are going to do a feature on the 1,200 dears roaming the area. Which are regarded as messengers of God in the Shinto religion. Killing these deers are considered an offense and punishable by death until 1647.

James Wong/ Keith Ong

This place is about the other side of Japan, while urbanisation has been so popular, we must take some time to look at the flora of Japan. Arashiyama is a very nature oriented district, it is about the natural beauty of Japan's landscape, it is about peace and serenity, it is about getting away, it is about the delicacy & grace of Japan.

We will video from the perspective of the people in Arashiyama. We will see how they are affected by the mood and atmosphere of Arashiyama. The video will be done using a digital camera.

What's so interesting? Rarely are we able to capture nature working on people, but more often do we see people working on nature. This will be a new insight into the way we view nature, we will learn to view it as in entity with a spirit and soul, not just a soulless pretty picture.

Gion's Corner

A unique theatre in Kyoto which presents one hour shows of the seven traditional performing arts in Kyoto.

It is also a comprehensive introduction of Japanese performing arts. The one hour show combines with music, dancesand ancient comic plays.

Welcome back!!! Theres still more stuff YOU should know about Japan and our trip. Brought to you by APetGuppy, NOT Mr Leo hahahah. Victorians should visit blogs more....Anyway theres gonna be lotsa bus rides so PLEASE BRING ENTERTAINMENT.

CHOPSTICKS!!!!

It's not like in Singapore where you can use anything anyway you want lol.

Some of the most important chopstick rules are:

• Hold your chopsticks towards their end, and not in the middle or the front third.
• When you are not using your chopsticks and when you are finished eating, lay them down in front of you with the tip to left.
• Do not stick chopsticks into your food, especially not into rice. Only at funerals are chopsticks stuck into the rice that is put onto the altar.
• Do not pass food with your chopsticks directly to somebody else's chopsticks. Only at funerals are the bones of the cremated body given in that way from person to person.
• Do not spear food with your chopsticks.
• Do not point with your chopsticks to something or somebody.
• Do not move your chopsticks around in the air too much, nor play with them.
• Do not move around plates or bowls with chopsticks.
• To separate a piece of food into two pieces, exert controlled pressure on the chopsticks while moving them apart from each other. This needs much exercise.
• If you have already used your chopsticks, use the opposite end of your chopsticks in order to move food from a shared plate to your own plate.

Some Table Rules

Blowing your nose in public, and especially at the table, is considered bad manner.

It is considered good manner to empty your dishes to the last grain of rice.

Talking about toilet related and similarly disappetizing topics during or before a meal is not appreciated by most people.

Unlike in some other parts of East Asia, it is considered bad manner to burp.

After finishing eating, try to place all your dishes in the same way as they were at the start of the meal. This includes replacing the lid of dishes which came with a lid and replacing your chopsticks on the chopstick holder or into their paper slip, if applicable.
*Above information on chop sticks and table manners are taken from http://www.japan-guide.com/
!!!!!!PUBLIC TOILETS!!!!

Toilets are usually the same. But, sometimes you won't find toilet tissues.Therefore it is advised you bring a pack of tissues wherever you go. Hand dryers are not always provided too, so yea, bring tissues!! It shouldn't be too much of an issue though. This information is for "just-in-case".

!!!!!!!GIVING GIFTS!!!!!!

We're gonna be giving prezzies to our friends over there. So we need some info in the art of gift giving =P
Avoid giving gifts with relation to the number four.
The number four is considered inauspicious because it is pronounced the same as the word for death (shi). Therefore, one should not make presents that consist of four pieces, etc. In some hotels and hospitals the room number four is skipped.

!!!!!!!!!GREETINGS!!!!!!!!!!


Its not too difficult.If you are greeting someone superior to youm you gotta bow lower then he does. Usually they don't expect us to know this so like a nod of the head is enough. Hand shakes are uncommon unless they know your western tourists or so.

OK LETS MOVE ON TO THE ITINERARY

16TH NOV

WE VISIT KOBE EARTHQUAKE MUSEUM.

This place is pretty coool. Theres a nice big theater which should show us really cool stuff about earthquakes, haha sounds so fun! Its really an education place ya? They'll educate us on like earthquakes and safety and related stuff..

NARA PARK IS WHERE WE WILL GO.

I'm not sure what we'll be doing there but I know what we can look forward to, DEER!!! LOTSA DEER!!! Hahaha

SO CUTE



DOTONBORI STREET

Its pretty much a night place. Alot of neon lights. As in alot...Just lots of cool signs...
Its a very tourist place. Shopping, entertainment, food, yaa...

OUR NIGHT WILL BE SPENT AT BEST WESTERN JOYTEL

This hotel has LAN access...Yippee for our laptop users. Also, extra beds are not available...

17TH NOV

ARASHIYAMA



Its a fantastic place... Really great for photography. Scenery is spectacular especially this time of the year. The only shame is that we won't see cherry blossoms...I'm not sure if we'll see the bamboo groves, but they are certainly very pretty! Haha ok lah I don't spoil the excitement...May be quite packed around this time...This place is really old, and is almost totally made of wood! But you can see traces of concrete here and there these days.


GION CORNER

Thats were we will be in the night. Eh, hopefully we won't be doing the tea ceremony.. Coz that would take like a billion hours to complete... The itinerary says its "the" entertainment district, but Gion Corner is actually a preforming arts theater lol, song, dance, tea, yea...

Sleeping will be done at Best Western...

ok thats all for today!!!! MORE TOMORROW

Hi guys,

In Japan, you need to speak some basic Japanese to make life easier for yourself and your hosts. I have this website that offers some decent Japanese words and phrases which should be handy enough for you to survive in our trip next week.

Just remember certain points about pronounciation:

'a' is pronounced as 'ah'
'i' is pronounced as 'yi'
'u' is pronounced as 'woo'
'e' is pronounced as 'eh' or 'air' (low tone)
'o' is pronounced as 'oh'
'tsu' is pronounced as 'tse' (not silent t)

For example, 'no' in Japanese 'iie', it goes 'yi--eh'.

Another one, 'English' in Japanese is 'eigo', it goes 'eh-yi-go'.

So, nihongo wo narashimashyou! (Lets learn Japanese!)

Ki wo tsukete! (Take care!)

This will be a fun read for all japan-tripperz. Brought to you by APetGuppy, NOT Mr Leo hahahah. A deeper guide into Japan than on your itinerary/briefing paper...

!Basic Facts of JAPAN!

We're all tech-savvvvy individuals with the constant need for electrical plugs. Japan as all of us know does not use our kinda plugs. So this is what Japanese plugs look like. Coz just telling you is never enough. =D


Japan 3 pin Japan 2 pin ADAPTOR(IMPORTANT)



!Temperature!


Temperature will depend on where we are. All digits are in degrees celsius.


OSAKA ------------> 15 - 22
HIROSHIMA-------> 7 - 17
KOBE---------------> Same an Osaka...
KYOTO-------------> 4 - 17

!PRICES!

SHOPPING is what we must do. We all know that stuff in Japan is expensive, but HOW expensive most don't know.

First of all, SGD$1 = ¥79 (Conversion rate based on currency prices 3rd Nov 2007)

Well, since our meals are covered, I don't have to talk much about eating. Just to let you know, a cheap meal would cost around ¥500 - ¥1000? An average restaurant meal would cost ¥1000 - ¥3000? FOR ONE PERSON.

Btw you can get a haircut there from QB house for ¥1000... SGD13...

PHONE PRICES.

You can buy phonecards from kiosks or vending machines over there. And use them at public phones, which are enabled for international calls. Their public phones aren't as ugly and run-down as those in Singapore don't worry.

To use your handphone in Japan, you first need a 3G handset.
Well, most of us don't have 3G phones. You can rent 3G handsets from your operator

E.G FOR M1 SUBSCRIBERS,

Rental Period	Charges
1st – 5th week	$20 per week
6th – 11th week	$50 per week
Loss of phone / Late return after 11th week	$500 plus any rental charges incurred
Loss or damage of manual or adaptor	$20
Loss or damage of charger or battery	$100

Other subscribers go call your operator...
Thats just for your phone...

Most plans come with auto roaming...With a 3G set you can auto roam and use +65 and immediately call BUT BUT BUT, IT IS DEVASTATINGLY EXPENSIVE. DON'T TRY SMSING OR CALLING USING ROAMING...


I would suggest going over there, and buy a prepaid card. BUT watch out. There are two kinds of prepaid cards. One for overseas and another for within the country.
BUY THE RIGHT ONE.

After buying an overseas prepaid calling card, which works much like a SG one, slot the sim card which comes with the prepaid card into your phone, call some random number and you have calling credit! However you gotta use their sim card...The cost I won't go deeper into coz at the most we'll be making like 30 second calls...
!CLOTHES!

Are also very expensive. If you wanna buy super branded stuff be prepared to spend like ¥20k for 1 piece? Normal clothing which we not so rich people would buy would range around ¥3k - ¥9k a piece? Rarely goes below ¥4k..

Wow that was a whole lot about $$$$$$$$$$$$$. Lets move on.

JUST IN CASE we do visit a public bath, follow these steps to stay alive.

1)	Take off all your clothes in the changing room and place them into a basket together with your bath towel. Coin lockers for valuables are often available.

2)	Japanese hot springs are enjoyed naked. Swimming suits are not allowed in most places. However, it is the custom to bring a small towel into the bathing area, with which you can enhance your privacy while outside of the water. Once you enter the bath, keep the towel out of the water.

3)	Before entering the bath, rinse your body with water from either a tap or the bath using a washbowl provided in the bathing area. Just rinsing your body is usually sufficient unless you are excessively dirty, in which case you want to use soap.

4)	Enter the bath and soak for a while. Note that the bath water can be very hot (typical temperatures are 40 to 44 degrees). If it feels too hot, try to enter very slowly and move as little as possible.

5)

After soaking for a while, get out of the bath and wash your body with soap at a water tap, while sitting on a stool. Soap and shampoo are provided in some baths. Like in private Japanese bathrooms, make sure that no soap gets into the bath water. Tidy up your space after you finished cleaning your body.

6)	Re-enter the bath and soak some more.

7)	After you finished soaking, do not rinse your body with tap water, for the minerals to have full effect on your body.

Source: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2292_how.html

OK LETS MOVE ON TO THE SERIOUS STUFF.

OUR FIRST PLACE OF INTERESTINGNESS IS

Miyajima(Shrine Island) 14TH NOV

BEHAVE RESPECTFULLY AND CALMLY. THESE GUYS ARE SERIOUS.

Wear socks coz you gotta take off your shoes when you walk around in a temple/shrine or whatever.

Deer and monkeys move freely around the island. Pretty animals!
Most shrines allow cameras but do watch out for signs and notices about stuff...

"Oddly enough, Miyajima is well-known for its rice scoops (杓子 shakushi), spatulaesque wooden spoons used to serve cooked rice. You can buy scoops by the truckload in any gift shop, and even gaze on the World's Largest Spatula (well over 5m long), showcased along the main shopping street.

The sheer number of souvenir shops is mind-boggling. For the most part, they all sell the same items for the same prices, although the path returning to the port from Momijidani Park features a few statuaries and art dealers with appropriately awe-inspiring prices. "

GIANT RICE SPATULA!!!!!! HAHA!

• STUFF TO SEE
  Itsukushima Shrine (厳島神社), [2]. Miyajima's main sight, the shrine is a large, red-lacquered complex of halls and pathways on stilts, originally so built that commoners could visit without defiling the island with their footprints. Pricing is complex, but ¥300 will get you into the temple itself, or pay ¥500 for entry plus a glimpse at the shrine's treasures. Weddings are occasionally held there, but that doesn't bar visitors, and the priest's ceremonial dance is a memorable sight. The shrine was badly damaged by a typhoon in 2004, but repairs are largely complete and it is open again.

• The floating torii (or gate) of the shrine, standing in the bay in front of the shrine, is Miyajima's best known symbol. Note that whether the torii is "floating" or merely mired in mud depends on the tide.

• Senjokaku (千畳閣). The name means "1000 Mat Pavilion", a fairly apt description of this gigantic wooden hall which doesn't actually contain much other than empty space. It was originally built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1587. There's also a picturesque 5-story pagoda (五重塔 Gojuto) next door, and plenty of cherry trees if you are visiting in sakura season.

Above five paragraphs and photo from: http://wikitravel.org/en/Miyajima


For the night we will stay at Chisun Hotal Hiroshima. Its quite ok by the photos. The rooms have like flat screen tele's and high speed internet is available here. Yippee for the laptop users. =P


Peace Memorial Park 15th Nov

Ok this place is good... Theres really really alot here! If you wanna spoil the surprise then please go here http://wikitravel.org/en/Hiroshima
This day will be fantastic work for your cameras. Its really alot of memorials and museums around the place. But stuff I must mention is the museum.

"This heart-wrenching museum documents the bomb and its aftermath, complete with scale models of "before" and "after", melted children's tricycles and a harrowing recreation of a post-blast Hiroshima street. The first floor describes the events leading up to the bomb and attempts to give a sense of what Hiroshima was like before the war. The second floor contains a number of displays and artifacts related to the day of the bombing. Some of these are extremely graphic, evocative and - consequently - disturbing. The rest of the museum describes the post-war struggles of the hibakusha (bomb survivors) and the state of nuclear weapons in the world today. Entry costs a token ¥50, and audio guides are available for an additional donation. Be warned: a visit here, while by all means worthwhile, will ruin your day. Allow plenty of time afterward to decompress. "

Quoted region from http://wikitravel.org/en/Hiroshima


We go to Kobe from dinner and sleeping. The B Kobe is our rest spot. Once again we have sexy flat screen tv's and high speed internet access is available. Yippee for our laptop users!


THE REST WILL BE IN THE LATER POSTS!!!!!!1