midnightcharger2

I am not completely sure on the reason why my car got changed from a 500 plate to a 400. From my understanding it was that since the rear seats were considered permantly removed. The old shakken labeled my vehicle as a station wagon prior and then got changed to a van status due to the seat removal thus the drop in the number for the plate. This will also lighten my car tax fees next year as well as my private carrier insurance also. The weight of the vehicle stayed the same 1080kg as on my old shakken and the weight taken of the vehicle at the time of the test. I have a 1.6liter engi

yeah did that same deal with mine plugs filters and all. I know that 37800yen is for a 500 plate 8800yen for a 400 plate, so if you have a K car it might even be cheaper. One other thing to do which I found might help also is power washing the engine and underside. get off all the crude and oil as possible. Doing this the day of the test will keep any small oil leaks from popping up and being detected at the time of the test.

farquah, you just have to re-pay for the inspection sheet with the tax stamps which costs 1600yen. then you can go through the inspection line and the test will be identical (they do a full retest on all points) I returned after 24 hours since it was difficult finding a shop open at 430pm to adjust my headlights so had to do it the next day when dealerships were open again. I had the same concern as you do that I would have had to pay the full price again, but was glad to know that it was cheap to re-inspect. For all, Im glad this info has helped, im a shade tree mechanic and when I

Just finished my shakken and the actual test only cost me around 1man. I can say that I am driving close to a 20 year old car with 130k on the odometer so its no spring chicken. I found out that even though it is a bit of a time/paperwork hassle to do, there are local test centers where you can do "USER SHAKKEN" cheaper then a local dealer which many choose to do. These are the same centers that handle your license plates and registration. I started out with a 500 plate vehicle (which shakken would cost about 37800yen for the inspection at this test center. The trick that I

ooooohhhhh 1TB for 15000. Gotta get me one or two of those. HDD space depends on the individual. I can easily use up 2TB of space because the amount of music movies and home videos I have. Others will never come close to using more then 40-50gb. It has been my idea that the more space the better. You can never fit a gallon worth of water in a shot glass.

actually 1 is partially correct. It is an issue with the keyboard drivers when using a English based O/S with a Japanese keyboard. If you just unplug and replug it will still view it as a prior device that was previously installed and just go off the old settings. What needs to be done is. Download the proper driver for your keyboard in Japanese. Usually there is some kind of software easy install program that comes with the keyboard. Then you would need to un-install the previous driver from the computer. You can access it from CONTROL PANEL / SYSTEM and MAINTENCE / SYSTEM /

Dissapointed with Burton gloves. After one days riding last year on a new set, the outer rubber on the tips and palm started shredding. They dont bond it to the fabric just stitched down on the seams. For the price paid they should be of better quality. Still very useable but annoyed with the quality.

really depends on the mail from any country. Letter, package, oversized packages, along with customs (how fast they process the item). Your best bet is to ask the local post office.

Also the NON-BURNABLE garbage days, You can find some interesting finds if you are a scavenger. Other than that, A couple of cases of beer for that price to borrow a friends setup would work out for many people if your schedules dont conflict Hey wattiewatson, surprised to see you on the fourms, Hows everything going back home. You coming back to Nagano for the winter season??? FRANK

Played it (xbox 360 version) last night to the wee hours this morning, its fun, but my only gripe is that you have to slam into police cars for them to chase you. If you speed around them or do any other craziness they seem to ignore you. They should have worked on the police AI engine a bit more. But if you drive onto the airport tarmac, you get an automatic 4 star felony rating and have copters and swat on top of airport police chasing you around.

roughly 2 weeks here. company scheduled vacation time

a intereting concept that is long overdue for gaming and pc aps. Good video to show what possiblities with the wii remote can do.

tried out this at Xebio and its a bit tricky at first. Has anyone had any experience with the kicktail models. I ask this because it has a narrow waist to it and see it as being more suited for snowboarders. Correct me if I am wrong. I would like have better balance for next season along with playing in the park more. Looking at these boards to help out in the off season. For the snowboarders here what would be your reccomendations.

As in the news today, Zenkoji monks refused to host the relay at the temple due to security concerns. What a shame this whole issue has become and will continue to manifest into.

^ Ha Ha, thats a good one. I will have to print this post to take to my class as last week we were talking about puns and I need an intersting example. Besides I needed something to add in my lesson about Western / Japanes customs. Thanks TB, you saved the day.

Not really a bother here, as with my schedule with work, I usually only need to teach at a max 2-3 hours a day (split work scheduling), the rest of the time I am free to go and do what I want. Kinda like doing work at home when I am not at the schools, as I can work at what pace I decide. Also dont have to pretend to work when there is nothing to do.

The wii and 360 have been hacked in the past. The ps3 has not. So essentially you could play copied games on the wii and 360 for the price of a dvd-r (for the wii) or a dvd-r Dual layer (for the 360), but not the ps3 as it has a blue ray player in it and even if it could play backed-up games, it would cost a fortune for the blue ray burner and discs. I work on wii`s and the 360 along with other consoles. The wii is good for family fun, but more serious gamers would choose the 360 for the amount of titles available and graphics power.

That was the only immediate idea that could come to mind. It could just be a mental adjustment thing also. If you feel its not a safety issue, give yourself about a month on the spring tires. Other factors that could be mechanical (which should not be your case) depending on the age of your car would be low powersteering fluid or worn parts in the steering system. It would be hard to tell without seeing / or driving the car Like I mentioned if its not a safety issue give yourself some time to adjust. If its feels extremely sloppy when driving, take it to your dealer for a quick c

I myself, like probably 90 percent of the foreign community are english teachers. From my experience, there is no skill needed as a new teacher. The most important factor to most ET`s is being an entertainer while teaching English. Many schools will pick you up if they are hurting for a teacher without any problem, but your timing on coming here may leave you at a disadvantage as i previously posted. You have to be willing to work with kids as that is the vast majority of students that come through cram-schools (eikaiwas) I would recommend that you have your priorities in order

I have been out in the Nagano City area for about 3 years now. Nice little place, pretty close to about any mountain you would want to go to. There is Evergreen outdoor company which does year round sports. Not exactly sure but from stories of the place you would need some type of certification for different areas of expertise. Maybe some of the other regulars on this site can chime in on this. Some resorts do also require certification for ski/snowboard instructing, but this does not go for every place. Having strong Japanese skills may help also. Also for the teaching thing.

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx/?mkt=en-...4&wa=wsignin1.0 Video found on Msn a few min ago. basically a facebook version for relatives of the deceased. Sat scratching my head in confusion on this one. Some things make you wonder.

make sure you take it to a station and get the air checked, Low air pressure in the tires will give you a un-responsive feel. Considering that the tires have been sitting for over 4 months some pressure is bound to have escaped over time.

Actually this was a big issue on Msn.com a while back. There were would be customers and wait-staff battling it out on blogs and I could see the pros and cons of tipping. From my perspective, I am for the most part, against tipping unless the individual(s) service was greater then I expected. Having numberous different jobs that were lower pay then I would hope for, I still did the best job I could, and if a tip was given, I was grateful, but if I didnt, I knew it was just because I had a job like everyone else and knew that a tip was just that, A graitude for services rendered mor

Would love to but the issue is I would have to download them and then post up via youtube but they have a limit of 5min and usually dont allow copyrighted material to be used (Its a loose rule on their part but they sometimes enforce it.) Each episode is aprx 300mb in size also. Hence, the reason I mentioned using P2P for those interested. Dont know if linking sites are allowed so, the best to do is google search azureus (this is a bittorrent file manager and allows you to connect to other computers whom host the files one would be interested in. Isohunt (this is one of co

If anyone would like to get up with the time delay in Japan, the most popular way is through bittorrents. Basically any popular show, movie, program, etc. can be downloaded the same day its broadcasted in your (for my example USA) country. I have been keeping tabs on Lost and Prison break and been up to date on the series. I personally do not watch American Idol but can tell you that all episodes are currently available for this season. Its an easy system but slightly confusing for some to get started with. But after you learn some basics on how it works. Peer to Peer torrent sit