[ you might not see me from the nosebleeds ]
[ Sunday, February 28th, 9:58pm ]
matt and kim - lightspeedI've tried hard to avoid ATM fees when withdrawing money in Japan. Here's what I've learned so far.
My bank account is with Bank of America. They charge 1% of the amount withdrawn for an international transaction + $5 for a non-BoA ATM fee. Because of the $5 charge, I try to withdraw large amounts at once (about $500 at a time) which makes the each ATM trip cost about $10 in fees.
$10 in fees seems like a lot, so I decided to open a CitiBank account. They have ATMs in Tokyo, so that should avoid some fees. I got my ATM card a couple weeks ago and tried it. When I checked online, I was charged about $16 in fees. I talked to a CitiBank rep, they told me that all international transactions have a 3% fee, even when using a CitiBank ATM. Darn.
So I searched around a bit and found a list of credit card foreign transaction fees. Lucky for me, I have a Schwab Visa which has a 0% fee. I can't withdraw money from an ATM with it, but it's pretty good motivation to try to charge what I can. For cash, with the exception of opening an account with a Japanese bank, it seems like the best I can do is the ~10$ fee from BoA.
[ working late and losing lunch ]
[ Thursday, February 11th, 10:04pm ]
matt and kim - frankFeb 11th is National Foundation Day. It's a national holiday so I didn't have work. This year it happened to fall on a Thursday which means I had 3 days of work, a day off, work on Friday, then the weekend.
It's a different from most Japanese holidays in that it doesn't fall on a Monday or Friday. In the last decade, most Japanese holidays have been moved to Monday as part of the Happy Monday System. This isn't all that different from the US which has most holidays on Monday as well (MLK Jr day, President's day, Memorial day, Labor day, etc).
[ and now it's starting to make sense ]
[ Saturday, January 30th, 11:21am ]
matt and kim - no more long yearsSome more notes about phones.
When I got a phone last weekend, they let me pick the last 4 digits of my phone number. I picked 8669 (TONY), or if your browser supports the ruby tag: 8 6 6 9 .
I still have my android phone here and I'm able to get roaming service from NTT Docomo, but roaming prices are expensive, so I only use it as a wifi device. However, there's this awesome offline maps program, OruxMaps. You can use a desktop app to scrape tiles from a multitude of sources and copy the files to the phone for offline use. I can't search for places on the map, but I can annotate it before I go and use GPS when I get close.
[ would life itself stay or follow me? ]
[ Sunday, January 24th, 4:31pm ]
matt and kim - lightspeedKatherine and I got cell phones this weekend! I had waited on this because it sounds complicated or expensive. For a prepaid phone, I thought I needed my alien registration card (I pick mine up later this week), but it turns out all you need is a passport and an address. We got Softbank prepaid phones for only 5000円 per phone and 3000円 in prepaid service. The voice rates on the phone are kind of expensive, but it doesn't matter because unlimited email and SMS to other Softbank phones is a flat 300円/month. The prepaid service lasts for 2 months before you have to renew, so in practice this is unlimited email+SMS for 1500円/month.
I originally wanted phones so Katherine and I could communicate with each other when not in front of a computer, but the unlimited email also means I can post to flickr easily.
[ we played boxes like drums in the car ]
[ Monday, January 18th, 11:08pm ]
matt and kim - dash after dashSurprisingly, I don't carry any keys with me in Tokyo. My (serviced) apartment[1] uses a keycard for entry and I use my Suica card when I ride the train to work. To get into the offices at Cerulean Tower, I have a third key card and I carry my work badge to get to my desk.
In total, I have 4 cards to get to and from work.
[1] The place we're staying is something between a hotel and an apartment. It came fully furnished, which makes sense for a 6mo stay, but it also includes once a week housekeeping (replaces linens/towels, takes out the trash, sweep up a bit). The building also has free breakfast each morning consisting of rice, eggs, different veggies, soup and sometimes some small sausages.
[ I'm getting tied / I'm forgetting why ]
[ Sunday, January 17th, 10:37pm ]
the national - apartment storyI often forget that I have this blog.
It's a new year, and I'm living in Tokyo for 6mo with Katherine. We got here about 10 days ago and have been pretty busy since. I'm working in the Google Tokyo office, Katherine is taking Japanese language classes at The Naganuma School.
I have a back log of stuff to write about so I'll provide a list of stuff to expand on later:
- Mass transit is, of course, awesome. It's better than the last time (~3 years ago) I was here. You can get a Suica or PASMO card, put credit on it, and use it on pretty much any of the rail systems. It's like how TransLink is supposed to work, but doesn't.
- Odabia, Miraikan, Rainbow Bridge, Venus Fort, and Puppy the World.
- Denny's is everywhere and even shows up on Google Maps along side 7-11s and AM/PMs.
- IKEA
[ when the wind begins to swoon ]
[ Sunday, October 4th, 6:29pm ]
matt and kim - dash after dashI had jury duty summons a couple weeks ago. I spent about 2 days watching them select a jury of 12 plus 2 alternates. I fortunately didn't get picked because it was estimated to be about a month long trial-- an asbestos case.
I got a check in the mail from the city for compensation: $30 for my time plus $5 for transportation.
Discuss.
[ Tired and wired we ruin too easy ]
[ Thursday, September 17th, 9:58pm ]
the national - apartment storyA few months back, I opened a donor advised fund through Fidelity Charitable Gift. It seemed to make more sense than trying to do lots of individual donations in December. It also has the side benefit that I can pre-donate money and that money slowly grows. For example, it's already gained over 5% since I made the initial investment.
I made my first donation from the fund to Creative Commons. They sent me a reminder email today so I figured I'd try out the fund.
The name of my fund is the Green Bicycle Fund.
