<p>D is heading out for year abroad in Tokyo. Anyone have additional ideas of things to do/take particular to Japan?</p>
<p>We spent 2 weeks in Japan last summer.</p>
<p>Kyoto is fabulous. She can take a bullet train down there. If I ever went back would definitely spend more time there. We also went to Mt. Fuji via a tour. We did several day trips from Tokyo including a seaside town (can’t remember the name). Japan is very easy to get around because of their train system.</p>
<p>Some general observations about traveling through Japan (might not apply so much to her since she will living there):</p>
<p>1) Lots of places do not take credit cards. We used a lot more cash there than any other country we have visited.</p>
<p>2) The ladies rooms often have ‘squat’ toilets and no toilet paper. Need to carry a pack of tissues with you.</p>
<p>3) People were extremely nice and helpful. We really enjoyed our trip. We were often the only Caucasians around but there were always people eager to help us. Felt very safe traveling around.</p>
<p>Thanks–</p>
<p>I didn’t title my thread as well as I could have–she will be studying in Tokyo for the year and I am trying to think of all the things she needs as a student. She will be opening a local bank account. Did you have any trouble using an American credit card with a mag stripe? (When they took them…understand about the need for cash). She will be taking yen with her.</p>
<p>They may not take credit cards, but I’m sure her ATM card will work well.</p>
<p>When my kid went there to study, we learned that Citibank has lots of branches, which made it easy to get money (and to send money). The credit card worked fine - just be sure to let the issuer know she’ll be gone so that the issuer doesn’t question use abroad and freeze; she may want to take two cards, in case one is frozen, which happened to me even though I had advised the issuers in advance of my travels. A flashlight is useful in case of earthquakes, and if she doesn’t know “earthquake protocol,” she should look it up as the school didn’t tell the students what to do.</p>
<p>You don’t want to use US credit card abroad, not only they have bad exchange rate but also they might charge extra handling fees. Have her shop for a local credit card, she is going to open an account locally anyway. Yes, they accept megnatic strip credit cards in Japan, but only in the larger stores and hotels.</p>
<p>If she has a smartphone, there are a lot of good Kanji apps out there (that don’t require internet so won’t cost her $$$ to use). My favorite is ShinKanji (for the iPhone).</p>
<p>A good phrasebook is also very useful. I had one that was broken into sections like “at the office” and “at school.”</p>
<p>I would also take a supply of common medicines she might need (tylenol, cough drops, whatever). Having to go to the store, sick and miserable, and try to read complicated Kanji on every bottle is not a fun experience. (Though if your daughter can read fluent Japanese this may not be an issue). </p>
<p>I spent three months in Tokyo and never used a credit card. From what I could tell they aren’t as common there. Only larger stores will take them. 7-11s and post offices will take foreign ATM cards.</p>
<p>Speaking of OTC medication, there are many different kinds of medicin in Japan that are unfamiliar to the US and some time they are exortic. Japan is a fatastic country when comes to medicines, your D may want to explore it, by itself it is an experience. :)</p>
<p>Take preventative iodine. Talk to your doctor.</p>
<p>I live in Japan, and would be happy to answer any questions. Honestly, the only things that she’ll really need is personal items - everything else can easily be bought here.</p>
<p>As a biologist, I would advise against parent1986’s recommendation to take iodine. This is for a number of reasons 1) unless she is severely iodine depleted, it is unlikely she would take up significant amounts of radioactive iodine if it were present in the environment 2) radioactive iodine has a half-life of 8 days - as emissions from the reactors are very low now (yesterday reported in the newspaper as approximately 0.4 mSv per year (i.e. would have to be 250x higher to become even close to worrisome - and then only if she was camping outside, naked for a year in front of the reactor [a somewhat unlikley scenario, I hope you’ll agree])) so there is nearly no radioactive iodine out there, 3) she may have an allergic reaction to the iodine. There is far more chance she would have an allergic reaction than the possibility of radiation poisoning.</p>
<p>^^^
Reports are that the Japanese government hasn’t been truthful about the radiation. However, an M.D. here advised this to me.</p>
<p>I did tell her to talk with her M.D. Are you an M.D.?</p>
<p>^ So? What reports and by whom? And why would a US M.D. know more accurately about the radiation levels in Japan?</p>
<p>Thanks for the additional ideas and thoughts. We are keeping an eye on the State Dept. bulletins regarding radiation, but prob won’t consider preventative iodine. Any ideas about the best way to transfer funds to her Japanese bank account once it is set up? Best way for her to carry funds to set up the Japanese account? Stateside school and Japanese school have not been too clear about these logistics.</p>
<p>When we visited Europe, we found it is cheaper to exchange US dollar to local currenty in Europe. Those money changers in the US charged a lot of money to allow you to have the local currency before you go. In our case the difference was so small, it does not really matter.</p>
<p>Not sure if that is true in Japan. In any case, you should shop around if it is a large sum. Its cheaper to set up the Japanese account in one lump sum for the whole year, if you can afford it.</p>
<p>Traveler’s check would probably the best way to carry small amount of money abroad.</p>
<p>ATMs work so that’s good for emergency funds, but if she’s there for a year, she should probably get a local account. I was in Germany during the aftermath of Chernobyl. Radiation can vary a lot depending on which way the wind blew and when it rained. We were 600 miles away and the Geiger counters were going crazy the next morning. (The levels were worse outside than are allowed in a clean lab.) The Germans were scrupulous about reporting radiation levels including weekly reports on various foods (we didn’t eat venison or mushrooms for the next two years.) I don’t get the impression that the Japanese have been as forthcoming. Here’s a radiation map: [Japan</a> map of Japan Radiation Maximum by Prefecture by Do,Ken,To,Fu - TargetMap](<a href=“Félicitations ! Votre domaine a bien été créé chez OVHcloud !”>Félicitations ! Votre domaine a bien été créé chez OVHcloud !) I can’t imagine that Tokyo should be a serious issue, and the major tourist sites (Kyoto, Hiroshima are even further away.) </p>
<p>From my recollections the radioactive iodine is only an issue for the first six months or so. It’s the cesium that hangs around forever. At least in Germany, our only response to the radioactive iodine issue was not to drink fresh milk for six months. (We had a large store of ultra pasteurized we used instead.)</p>
<p>Just as an aside if your kid has a chance to visit the southern island - it’s well worth it.</p>
<p>If you are sophisticated enough on high finance you can buy and take delivery of spot or forward fx contracts on the market. Here is an explaination about it.</p>
<p>[HSBC</a> ? FX Spot and Forward Contracts](<a href=“http://www.hsbcnet.com/treasury/foreign-exchange/fx_spot_forward_contracts.html]HSBC”>http://www.hsbcnet.com/treasury/foreign-exchange/fx_spot_forward_contracts.html)</p>
<p>Parent1986,</p>
<p>The Japanese government has no choice but to tell the truth. Radiation levels are exceptionally easy to be measure, and are being measured by so many groups that any lie would be immediately recognised and identified. Do you think Greenpeace are in cahoots with the government now? And yet Greenpeace and everyone else who measures radiation get pretty much the same results.</p>
<p>I am not an MD. Why would I need to be? I have a PhD in science, I know a fair amount about radiation, and, well, I actually live here. Being an MD doesn’t make you an expert on everything, and you’d be crazy to think otherwise. How many people die yearly at the hands on incompetent MDs? Quite a few I reckon.</p>
<p>You can see the current radiation levels here
[August</a> 21, 2011 | Daily radiation levels in eastern Japan](<a href=“http://www.japantimes.co.jp/radiation-levels.html]August”>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/radiation-levels.html)</p>
<p>They would have to be hundreds of times higher to be a concern. Parent, a word to the wise - stress will kill you long before the radiation does. A whole Sievert of radiation increases your risk of cancer by about 0.1%. At the moment, levels are 1/10,000,000 of a Sievert per hour.</p>
<p>^^^^Matters not to me. I’m not visiting. As long as it is contained better than Chernobyl and doesn’t visit me, I wish Japan the best. Thanks for the chemistry lesson.</p>
<p>Oh my. Parent1986: if you are wrong, you could at least make an effort to thank biologyguy for correcting you on the matter at hand. No need to be bitter and act as if it didn’t matter to you all along. Just my two cents.</p>
<p>Oh, my Jiraiiya, I don’t think I am wrong, anyone can claim anything on the Internet, you don’t know my qualifications, and I did thank the man. Try rereading.</p>
<p>And try not to be one of those frequent posters on CC who spend their time correcting and bullying people ad nauseum. Be kind.</p>