[nvmrfgopyy]

Well me and a mate at college decided Tokyo would be a fun place to go, we checked online for flight ticket prices and were pretty happy, but on Thursday on our way back from college we decided to see what the Travel Agents offer, and we managed to save £100 on the ticket prices, so we bought the tickets right there.

Going in September for 8 days. Can't wait [thumbup].

Funnily enough though, I got a letter from my bank today telling me that my card has been blocked. I also bought a top end PC the other day aswell, so maybe they blocked it due to the large amount of money leaving my account in a couple of days. Gotta get it sorted on Monday. Anyone ever had this happen to them??

[juptVatoSoito]

Sweetness! Have fun. I have always wanted to go to Japan. It is in my top 5 list of places I wanna go.

Im going to be going to Vancouver in the next 3 months. Just waiting on passports. Can't wait. Traveling is always fun!
Hopefully I can go to Haiti as well to help out down there for a week or so. Would be quiet the experience.



Have fun down across the lake! *edit* noticed your in UK. Don't get shot down in Russia or China. That would be no good. [no]
#1 think you gotta do over there is hook up with a sexy Japanese girl! [thumbup]



This what your going to be staying in?

[Adeniinteme]

Sounds like your with Barclays, they blocked my card just before christmas, nearly screwed me up totally.

I bought something on ebay, a new phone for my missus, was only £30, then I bought some things for work, waterproofs, goretex e-police bomber jacket, a torch and several other things, made about a dozen purchases in all, so Barclays stopped my card, so I phoned them up and spoke to some Indian guy with a really thick accent, couldn't understand a word he said, but asked him to unblock my card, so I could make a purchase through paypal, anyway the guy thought I was asking him to "block" the card and he promptly did. [cursing]

I then asked him to unblock it, but he said once a card was blocked on the system, he would have to send me out a new card etc. [cursing]

So I then had to make a bank transfer to pay for the item, instead of through paypal, which caused me a huge headache as it was only a few days before xmas, and the bank was closed, so I had to buy a item for my parents a week after xmas.

I wasn't a happy bunny.

Anyway, hope you get your new card before you go away.

Bet you'll have a great time in Tokyo, love to go there too, one day, I just love the culture and the women are hot.

Hope you have good circulation, cos apparently DVT is a big problem with long haul flights, sure Japan is something like 12 or 14 hours.

Just make sure you walk up and down the aisle now and again and wiggle your toes a lot, to keep the blood flowing, and cut back on the booze as it constricts blood vessels making the chances of getting DVT even more so.

[nvmrfgopyy]

Haha nah Reddog me and my mate decided we're going to stay away from capsule hotels, I wouldn't be able to get a good night sleep in one of those things haha.

And snoopy i'm actually with HSBC, but im going to go into the branch tomorrow rather than dealing with it over the phone.

And yeah a flight to japan is normally 12-14 hours, but me being the cheapskate student I am, we got the cheapest flights there was.

20 hours [rofl]

Stops off in Dubai for 3 hours though.

[juptVatoSoito]

Stops off in Dubai for 3 hours though.

Now that is cool. That is plenty of time to run out for a couple hours and see the place instead of just looking out the window.

[TughEmotteTug]

Cool choice of place to go I'm off back there for two weeks on the 15th March [thumbup]

[MannoFr]

Just remember mate, Tokyo women are not like the ones on the internet and porno's

[Slchtjgb]

Funnily enough though, I got a letter from my bank today telling me that my card has been blocked. I also bought a top end PC the other day aswell, so maybe they blocked it due to the large amount of money leaving my account in a couple of days. Gotta get it sorted on Monday. Anyone ever had this happen to them??

It might just be the tickets. Two days before I moved over here Barclays put a hold on my account because apparently buying tickets from American Airlines is suspicious. The system seems idiotic to me. I got them to take off the hold but then there was these charges on my account two separate charges from American Airlines for about 650 and then another unnamed pending for 1200 something. I asked them if they could cancel that charge since they thought something suspicious is going on? No they can't do that. Could they tell me who was trying to charge the money? No they won't be able to tell for 30 days and the money could come out at any time during those 30 days.

[vaalmerruutel]

Have fun in Tokyo, I try and go down a few times a month but haven't been for a while.

Remember if you have tattoos - don't show them, and you also won't be allowed into capsule hotels. If someone sees you with a tattoo in a capsule hotel you'll get thrown out.

Also, DON'T check out the Roppongi night life - that place is a dump, you should go to Shibuya or Shinjuku - those places are incredible.

Akihabara is the electric city - it's good if you know where you want to go and if you want to buy something, otherwise you'll end up getting lost in a shop full of gay manga (it's embarrassing).
You should fully revise where you want to go / what you want to do before hand so you make the most of your time. Tokyo is an incredible place with some much cool stuff to see so you should really try and make the most of it.
I'd also recommend jumping on the bullet train and going to Kyoto / Nara.

[bahrain41]

Remember if you have tattoos - don't show them, and you also won't be allowed into capsule hotels. If someone sees you with a tattoo in a capsule hotel you'll get thrown out.

What is this all about? What is the problem with tattoos?

[seawolferr]

Gangsters like the Yakuza have tatoos, so if people see you with a tatoo your trouble.

[Jffxljtw]

Just remember mate, Tokyo women are not like the ones on the internet and porno's

What ?
No Eels ?

[M1iFiNmC]

Now that is cool. That is plenty of time to run out for a couple hours and see the place instead of just looking out the window.

You don't get to leave the airport unfortunately.

[Adeniinteme]

If I remember correctly religious tattoos are fine though, although they might have to be one of the religions of Japan.

Probably best not to get any Tattoos whilst your there either, or you might come back with something across your arm that says "I'm a stupid Gaijin, who can't read Kanji".

Could be good for a laugh when you next go eat sushi.

[vaalmerruutel]

What is this all about? What is the problem with tattoos?

Do you have tattoos?
It's to do with the Yakuza, though they know foreigners have random (and sometimes pointless) tattoos - they can't make any exceptions.

[Adeniinteme]

Do you have tattoos?
It's to do with the Yakuza, though they know foreigners have random (and sometimes pointless) tattoos - they can't make any exceptions.

The correct name, Is not Tattoo, but is "Irezumi", when dealing with traditional Japanese body art.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irezumi

Traditionally, Ink is introduced under the skin using sharpened bamboo needles that are dipped routinely in the ink, One artwork over the back or chest might take months to complete.

Also, since it was the Samurai class that first had Irezumi, it was traditional for the family of a dead samurai to remove his skin after death and stretch it across a wooden frame so that the frame could be hung on a wall and the skin admired and the person remembered, much like we in the west, hang a nice painting on the wall.

Since Yakuza also have the Irezuma, I'm assuming the same practise is still performed in parts of Japan even today.

Also, another little bit of info for the interested parties here, Having any Religious tattoos in Japan could be considered Lucky (either of the Buddhism or Shinto religions or others too).

The Japanese can be especially superstitious, as they have a long history of believing in Demons, Ghosts etc, But anyway, During Feudal times, the Samurai when testing a Katana would often use a criminal for that very purpose, either cutting an arm, leg, torso or the head etc and only certain types of criminals could be used, those who had skin diseases were not considered as the samurai sword testers believed that any disease could be imparted into the sword and thus taint its "soul", others not considered were those who had religious irezumi on their bodies, since the samurai believed that cutting a person who had a religious symbol on his body might anger the God's and thus the sword would be cursed, equally as bad as cutting someone with the sword who had something like eczema.

There were other reasons too, but those 2 above are what I remember.

Since Yakuza laws and principles are based on the Samurai's way of life (roughly) then having a religious kanji symbol on your body, might just get you out of sh*t if you find yourself in the wrong part of town, The Yakuza's favourite weapon after the gun is either the Tanto or Wakazashi, so obviously cutting some random guy who has a religious symbol on his arm, hand etc, would be considered very bad luck, and like I said the Japanese are very superstitious at times.

Sure you'll keep yourself out of trouble, but it pays to know this stuff.



I've always wanted to go to Japan myself, only one place I ever wanted to visit, and that's here....... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iga_Province

Heard a lot about the place and someday, I will go.
Hopefully before I pop my clogs!

[vaalmerruutel]

The correct name, Is not Tattoo, but is "Irezumi", when dealing with traditional Japanese body art.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irezumi

Traditionally, Ink is introduced under the skin using sharpened bamboo needles that are dipped routinely in the ink, One artwork over the back or chest might take months to complete.

Also, since it was the Samurai class that first had Irezumi, it was traditional for the family of a dead samurai to remove his skin after death and stretch it across a wooden frame so that the frame could be hung on a wall and the skin admired and the person remembered, much like we in the west, hang a nice painting on the wall.

Since Yakuza also have the Irezuma, I'm assuming the same practise is still performed in parts of Japan even today.

Also, another little bit of info for the interested parties here, Having any Religious tattoos in Japan could be considered Lucky (either of the Buddhism or Shinto religions or others too).

The Japanese can be especially superstitious, as they have a long history of believing in Demons, Ghosts etc, But anyway, During Feudal times, the Samurai when testing a Katana would often use a criminal for that very purpose, either cutting an arm, leg, torso or the head etc and only certain types of criminals could be used, those who had skin diseases were not considered as the samurai sword testers believed that any disease could be imparted into the sword and thus taint its "soul", others not considered were those who had religious irezumi on their bodies, since the samurai believed that cutting a person who had a religious symbol on his body might anger the God's and thus the sword would be cursed, equally as bad as cutting someone with the sword who had something like eczema.

There were other reasons too, but those 2 above are what I remember.

Since Yakuza laws and principles are based on the Samurai's way of life (roughly) then having a religious kanji symbol on your body, might just get you out of sh*t if you find yourself in the wrong part of town, The Yakuza's favourite weapon after the gun is either the Tanto or Wakazashi, so obviously cutting some random guy who has a religious symbol on his arm, hand etc, would be considered very bad luck, and like I said the Japanese are very superstitious at times.

Sure you'll keep yourself out of trouble, but it pays to know this stuff.



I've always wanted to go to Japan myself, only one place I ever wanted to visit, and that's here....... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iga_Province

Heard a lot about the place and someday, I will go.
Hopefully before I pop my clogs!

Smart arse.

[Adeniinteme]

Smart arse.

Sorry bud!

Can't get it out of my system.

Spent nearly 5 years training in Togakure Ryu Ninjutsu with several years after and during that time, learning iaijutsu and kenjutsu and have been interested in the Japanese Culture and its superstitions, way before I ever stepped foot in a Dojo.

Truth be told, I believe in reincarnation, and once read a book on the Iga temples and after seeing the photos I had a very strong feeling of "deja vu", much stronger than anything I have ever felt before, so who knows, maybe I lived in Japan in a past life.

I absolutely love Akira Kurosawa films too, got quite a few in my collection. [thumbup]


Anyway, one day, I'll go, hopefully!

[vaalmerruutel]

Truth be told, I believe in reincarnation, and once read a book on the Iga temples and after seeing the photos I had a very strong feeling of "deja vu", much stronger than anything I have ever felt before, so who knows, maybe I lived in Japan in a past life.

Anyway, one day, I'll go, hopefully!

...... must ...... resist ......

[Adeniinteme]

...... must ...... resist ......

Come on then, fess up!

Is that why you went to Japan ?

Because of some strange overwhelming feeling that you were somehow connected to the place.