2 Questions (couldn't find answer elsewhere)

[diablotf]

I am planning to going in 2006 with JET, just have two questions:

1) I am 6ft 4, so finding clothes (especially jeans / trousers) is more difficult at the best of times. I know the average height in Japan is a lot smaller, so will it be virtually impossible to find clothes to buy there for a tall lad like me ? (even in the cities)

2) Do all residents / dorms / apartments have internet connections. Reason i would like to know that is becuase i have a large website, which is also a source of income for me, so need to keep an eye on it.

Thanks for your help.

[Invictus]

Short version:

1 - Yes.

2 - No.

In more detail:

1 - I, a lad of a rather modest five feet eight inches tall, am at the "large" end of the spectrum. The standard large sizes are just about perfect for me, if a tiny smidgen too small (particularly the sleeves). You can get just about anything in Tokyo, but you may have to do a lot of searching, and expect to pay through the nose for it (especially shoes for somebody of your size!).

Also (not sure how to put this delicately), if you're of the heavier-than-average variety, you'll almost assuredly find it nigh-impossible to get decent clothes. Honestly, just bring clothes in sufficiently good repair to last a year, and if you need more, buy 'em on a return trip or have relatives send 'em to you.

2 - Especially in extremely rural areas, you may find it difficult to get a better connection than dialup (which is HORRIFICALLY expensive). If you're assigned to a good-sized city, chances are you can avail yourself of this nation's wonderfully efficient DSL. You will, of course, have to pay for it, but prices are reasonable. I would not recommend cable internet in Japan at the present time, as it's expensive and doesn't offer a significant speed increase over DSL.

[diablotf]

thanks for the fast response :)

I am quite slim at present only 12.5 stones (85 - 90kg) (175 pounds). I actually go america for clothes shopping one a year, since its so damn cheap (compared to UK). So the airfare is free pretty much + they have great sizes. My shoe size is 10 (uk) 28.5 (Japan) i am guessing thats gonna be a pain too. Well all the more reason to request a more urban place.

As for the internet, I am guessing from your "HORRIFICALLY expensive" , they still have pay per minute dial up -__-. So yeah i am royally screwed there.

[Kustom]

Well, another thing to consider when getting DSL is time. It took 3 full months to KDDI to set up my DSL connection in the middle of Tokyo. I couldn't believe it. I was especially unlucky, but it is not uncommon to have to wait more than a month for a connection.

Just getting a phone line is horrendously expensive (50 000 yens, about 500 dollars. No, that extra zero isn't a typo), so you usually must rent one from another company.

This means you have to deal with:
- NTT (landline company)
- The company you rent the phone line from
- The internet company,
before you can set your connection up.
When things go wrong they get really, really awful (3 layers of incompetence here...)

[Invictus]

I strongly recommend DSL if you want to go the Internet route. As a JET, you'll be able to afford it. I personally use Yahoo! BB, which has an absolutely sterling reputation amongst the JET crowd. If your command of Japanese is less-than-perfect, they even help you apply for an NTT line and the like. You will, however, probably need to get your gaijin card before you can apply.

Expect an absolute minimum of two weeks before you get connected. You'll need at least a day or two after you arrive to get your bearings, after which you need to apply and wait for NTT's connection (usually takes a few days). Yahoo! BB service starts eight days after your NTT connection.

[Dana]

I live in a relatively small town that doesnt have Yahoo BB so I went with the NTT Hikaru Flets service through Asahi net, and I gotta say, I love them. I am going to miss getting speed like this when I go home. I bet if you end up in a smaller town (though not the sticks) you will have MORE luck getting internet as the service will probably be faster. It took about 5 business days from the day I called NTT and Asahi to get my service going until I got my connection, it was very fast.

On a side note, its no longer really expensive to get a land line. Mine cost about 5000 yen contract fee and after that I pay 1900 yen a month (local calls only) and then the flets service is 2300 a month (I think). Very cheap me thinks ^__~

[Jess]

I'm a 5'8" woman, and COULD NOT find clothes or shoes for women. I was able to buy the largest widely available men's size of shoes. I'm of...er...generous....proportions, and was barely able to find men's shirts that fit. Never found any women's clothes that fit. Ever.

DO NOT buy items over the internet and have them sent to your address in Japan. Send them to someone else, and have them forward the items to you as a gift. I bought some clothes online and had them sent over, and was charged a 25% import tax because I might try to retail sell them. So...yeah. Don't do that.

I lived in the middle of nowhere, and was only able to purchase very poor dial-up. You can never be sure where you will be placed, there are places where NO internet is available, or where you'll have to pay by the minute access fees. Even at school, there were only two computers for the entire staff at to share that had internet access.

[atomiton]

internet's expensive compared to US/Canada... but remember, he's from UK.

UK's High Speed internet prices are more expensive.

[Pierrot le Fou]

Assuming you have relatively thin legs, pants will be no problem. I have a 36 inch waist (90cm), and can buy the largest size jeans at my local (city of 80,000) Uniqlo shop that fit my waist. The problem? Damned thighs are too thin for my massive thighs. Regardless, if you go to a Gap in a city, you will be able to find American sized pants, which you say fit you, so I wouldn't worry about it. You will be able to find clothes, though not as easily as back home.

Shoes, at 28.5cm, will be a slight problem, but not a biggie. Big stores carry up to size 30. 27 tends to be the highest for smaller stores. I have a 32. I've found one pair of shoes that's fit me in a year, so I gave up looking in the second year.

Internet doesn't require a phone line anymore. If you just get DSL, you can get an analog light line or somesuch from the phone company which costs 500 a month but you can't make calls through it, and presto, DSL. You can make calls through the IP phone. In more rural areas, you may not have access to DSL, but you'd have to be buttfuck rural for that.

[Hira-Kata to Sawa]

JET motto, pal... every situation is different. I'm in one of the ruralest of rurals, with an ADSL service set up by my predecessor. Runs about $40 USD a month. Not bad considering that if you're in the sticks internet is a lifesaver.

[Antinomia]

hmm, good question about those clothes. In Tokyo, and also Kyoto, can i go for clothes (shirts/sweaters) shopping easily??? I am a male, 178 cm length and normal weight. I also wonder about the price i should expect for a normal XL size shirt.

[stsparky]

Oddly enough I found the Levis store in Fukuoka had a size 42x32 501 button fly that was only twice as expensive ... and the US store didn't have them.

There are big and tall shops in the larger cities.