Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2004 02:52:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: David Chien <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Pupuru & good spots in Tokyo - My list...
> That's not so bad. I have a prepaid tuka phone a resident got for me, and it
> is 10 yen / 6 seconds...roughly a dollar a minute, although incoming is
> free. No bargain. And you can only put credit on it if you are in Japan, so
> I have to keep mailing it to my friend, when I am not there for some time,
> to put another 3000 yen into it. A pain.
Oh, that's their pre-paid card rental. They have two types - executive
rental which requires a credit card and a pre-paid where they simply have you
pay for the rental up front, then you buy as many pre-paid cards in 3000 yen
denominations as you want.
The pre-paid phones are regular bar phones, and the minute prices range in
the $1 / minute, very bad IMO. The executive phones charge you in one bill
after the rental for all phone charges (you still pay for the rental upfront).
The minute rates are about $0.50 / minute, and you can add features like iMode
internet (you can then email directly from the phone, check web pages, see
weather, news, etc. and find places on a zoomable map in Japanese if you know
the zip code, phone, address, or name of a place - very handy to navigate Tokyo
if you can get at least the phone number -- I:m assuming you won't be able to
enter Japanese for most of you to get the place name or address in.)
Ack! Oops, I mean for me, it's about $120-140 + calling charges for the 3
weeks... They price things per day, so you're rental charge is actually
calculated PER DAY.
Thus, rental phone fee of about $27 + $4 / day of rental. That said, it's
actuall pretty cheap for everyone. A week will run about $50-60 + calling
charges.
But for longer stays like I'm doing here in Tokyo for 3 weeks, it makes a lot
of sense to do the executive plan,and quite a bargain for the period of time
I'm spending here. The phones for the exec. plan are nicer, so I get a nice
NTT Docomo i504 flip-phone with iMode and camera. Not the very latest with
built-in TV =( =( =( =(, but hey, we're on vacation, right? <grin>
anyways, www.pupuru.com
nihonbashi shoko bldg
2-5-3 nihonbashi chuo-ku tokyo
03-3231-8551 telephone
M-F 9-6
they're the cheapest I've seen of the phone sharks at Narita (very pricey,
usually $1+/minute) and the bargain of the lot for having a nice office and
nice to deal with personnel (Julie).
anyways, I've been calling back and forth quite a bit and iMode-ing to see
what it's all about - see NTT Docomo shops for the English guide to iMode - and
it's like the service offered by AT&T, etc. in America for WAP service - news,
weather, email, internet.
> not ever come west. If it does, it will be cheaper, for sure. It is always a
> good souvenir, anyway!
Just found a great souvenir spot today - Asakusa, Sensoji Temple, and head
south from the temple. The entire street for many, many blocks will be lined
with lots of trinklet shops and you can pick up lots of great bargains from
clothing to food to charms and so forth to bring back to friends at home.
temple is well worth the trip, and so many food vendors, you'll be stuffed
before you know it!
---
Okay, my hot spots for today for anyone visiting Tokyo-
1) Ryokan - traditional inn in Tokyo. Homeikan - search on Yahoo! It's not
the highest-class spot, but nice, cheery, and decent for what it provides. 2nd
floor, middle rooms in Morikawa annex is very nice for the view and daily
sunrise, and where I was until today. Avoid if you hate smokers - lots of
smokers in Tokyo, and the staff does now and then. Otherwise, friendly staff,
and close to Hongo-Sanchome and Todaimae subway lines. Hongo-sanchome is my
fav because it is close to many places, but quiet at night so you can have a
peaceful sleep.
2) Todai/Tokyo University. Thank goodness I'm right across from Todai! Very
nice because you get the usual coin washing machines right across to the west
of Todai, and you can easily walk up and down the street and get free WiFI!
Just jump on any of the YahooBB! spots your laptop or PDA picks up, and just
sit on the street railings to surf. better with PDA since it doesn:t look too
wierd, but even a small Libretto is easy to do w/o too much attention.
3) AP factory. Tokyo station, Marunouchi side, travel center walkway tunnel.
03-5220-3460. One of the nicest side-shops in Tokyo subway because it is off a
very quite hallway that looks gray and business and right next to the am pm
shop. full service internet, printing, copying, etc. shop like Kinkos and the
two PC and one mac terminals have flash card, zip drive, MO, and DVD burner
drive access. this is where I'm at right now, and I'd go with the two faster
IBM PCs. Very nice, bright, cheery, good music and a nice place to burn all of
those digital camera images to CD-R like I'm doing. (Yes, backing up to
Libretto as well, but sadly, hard drives do break easier than CD-R discs when
dropped, so I'm careful to make another backup to discs.)
4) Marunouchi side to the Yaesu side at Tokyo train station to get to the
Yaesu underground shopping center. Towards the Yaesu central exit, 2nd floor,
and you'll face a bookstore to the left of that exit. stand towards the center
facing the central exit, turn left, and head on over to the cell phone and
computer shops located there.
They've got two quick flash card photo printers for those quick prints of
the digital photos (AP factory above also has one), so-so quality, but that's
all any of these minute printers can do.
Past the cell phones to the computer & digicam & laptop & accessories and
radio and electronics store. You can find 4 Sony CD-Rs in a 10mm thick flip
case for sale for about $3.99 and nice if you don't want to buy the $2.99 per
disc at AP factory. Also, slim case holds lots of photos in a small case. You
can also burn DVDs as well, so buy a DVD+R for AP factories computers (believe
the mac requires DVD-R).
You can also see lots of the latest computers , cameras, and electronics in
this small shop, and it'll keep a newbie busy for an hour or two. Sad to say,
I've returned a few times already =(
Good and easy place to fuel up on any accessories you forgot to bring.
5) Tokyo station. When you're tired at night, lazy, and have noplace to go,
Tokyo station. Drop the bags into a coin locker for $3, then walk on over to
the underground Tokyo and Yaesu side shopping center shops where lots of yummy
foods, restaurants, supermarket, and just about anything you'll need can be
bought. my frequent 'nightly' stop for dinner and to rest and burn images to
CDs. Honestly, all of the other stations PALE in comparision, and this baby
will take you days to explore if you want to see all of the Tokyo, Yaesu,
Daimaru, Marunouchi and other shopping sections.
DO bring a GPS or try to leave cookie trails because this monster of an
underground shopping center is SO VAST and confusion, it even took me several
days to start to grasp just where I am. (and I'm very good at navigation
usually)
=====
adorable toshiba libretto
The latest news and information for the Toshiba Libretto owner.
http://www.silverace.com/libretto/
_______________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Declare Yourself - Register online to vote today!
http://vote.yahoo.com
