midnightcharger2
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Posts posted by midnightcharger2
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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.
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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 looked at the previous shakkens done on my car I was shocked on what it cost the previous owner to do shakken through a dealer, Lots of unnecessary cash paid just to do visual checks and basic maintence items I.E. 4000 yen alone to fill up the engine oil to proper level (which was probably less then a liter. 6500yen to check turn signals,brake lights, reverse signal, etc.
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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 learned unexpectedly was by removing the rear seats since I used the space as cargo space and never have 4 people in the car at any given time, I changed the status of the car from a station wagon to a van status thus dropping down to a 400 plate vehicle. I own a suzuki Escudo which is like a jeep in size. By changing the 4people status to 2 it only cost me 8800 for the 2 year shakken inspection. This could work to benefit others also.
The major sting of the whole process is the paperwork and the JIBAISEKI HOKKEN (National insurance or what i call JCI Japanese Compusary Insurance) which is mandatory and costs 22000yen if the current insurance had expired during the time of the shakken
But as for the inspection, its fairly (80 percent) automated all that is needed is driving through the inspection lane. The machines measure the key points of the car and give a "O" or "X" for each test. So overall if the car is in good working order, tune-up and basic maintence done, its a good way to save some of those yen for more important things like lift tickets and beer. If the car fails for a particular item like mine did (headlights out of adjustment) then you can pay particular attention to that area only instead of getting lots of unnecessary work done to the car which dealer or mechanics will do. Take it back and retest and you should be good to go.
I would recommend going to the test center and veiwing the process to become familar with the process. They have a pedistrian lane to walk on and you can take notes on the particular tests (no video or pictures as I asked).
I was friendly with the inspection people so they helped me out more than if I was Japanese going though the test making sure I did the correct steps during the test. The one inspector I worked with was happy to speak in his heavily rusty English he knew probably back from H/S and it helped me out alot.
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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.
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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 / DEVICE MANAGER.
From there look at your USB devices and should be listed. UNINSTALL the US version driver (at this point your keyboard will be inop. Unplug the keyboard and replug it back. It should install the proper Japanese version driver.
If not there is still a trace of the driver in the windows C: drive that needs to be deleted.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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roughly 2 weeks here. company scheduled vacation time
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a intereting concept that is long overdue for gaming and pc aps.
Good video to show what possiblities with the wii remote can do.
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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.
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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.
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^ 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.
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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.
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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.
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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 checkup.
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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 first. This country can suck your funds dry in a month if your not properly prepared. Worry about the snowboarding after securing a job. But to answer your question, the closest mountain from my home is about 30min away with others in the vacinity of less then an hour to just over an hour away.
Nagano area is stacked with mountains, but the issues you would run into is that majority of the learners are Japanese. Foreigners that either visit or live here are usually accustomed to skiing and snowboarding. So once again, if you plan on trying to work for an outdoor rec. company, your Japanese should be at a conversational level in order to communicate instructions to whom your teaching.
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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. One thing to be cautious about is that many schools are just starting up the new year. Most likely many schools will have full staff in august due to everyone signing on with companies and fullfilling a years contract. This may or may not make your search for English teaching jobs slightly more difficult. Make sure your gf has her degree as many schools require some college background. Once again this is not 100 percent for all schools.
Try to start looking for the jobs from your location first. Some companies will pay for your expenses to come to Japan, setup your housing, and utilites prior to you arriving. Best of luck to you both though.
FRANK
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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.
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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.
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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 more then expected.
Tipping has gone completely out of hand in the states. Speaking mainly towards the food industry. I did not force that particular person to choose the job they did. They do it on their own free will.
In my firm belief, its the company that one works for job to satisfy the employees with proper wages, Not the customers. Just seems like a backwards system to me.
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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 countless sites where you get the tracker files) These are not the actual files that contain the I.E. American Idol video files. These 4kb files are a tracer file that finds the "x" amount of people that have the file your looking for and allows you to connect to their computer so you can get the file your looking for.
Just a quick tip. Most people share video files which are packed in a .rar file (usually a video file is broken down into multiple .rar files for easy sharing) You would need WINRAR program which can be downloaded for free from their site. The WINRAR program allows you to extract the actual video file from the .rar files.
Watch and enjoy.
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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 sites can become your best friend.
Anyone that would like help on what to do let me know, and I can help you out
FRANK
1man for car shakken How I did it
in General off-topic discussions
Posted
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 engine also. A technician took some measurements of the rear of the car for the cargo space and determined that the classification needed to be changed.
When I went back to claim my new shakken the lady at the counter had a wad of cash in her hand and said I was to be refunded 29000yen because of the plate number change. Major surpise to me.
So the actual shakken test cost me 8800yen+some paperwork that cost around 1600yen for processing fees. Along with 1600yen for the new license plates.
The only downfall to this is now that my shakken shows only 2 people for the vehicle. I technically should not carry 3-4 people in the vehicle anymore (in the event of an accident I would probably not be covered)
Other than that, I paid the mandatory JIBAISEKI HOKKEN, as prior mentioned. That is the National car insurance which is not to be confused with ones private insuruance carrier. that cost me 22000yen as mine was about to expire this week. I didnt consider this part of the shakken test price as this is insurance only.
Other vehicles I would recommend going to the station and asking what the user shakken for your number plate would cost.
(MR.Wiggles not sure on your situation but I do know that a HILUX weighs much more than that of my vehicle which prob cost more on your experience. Is yours a 500 plate??? If so, 4man for the inspection was the same as I would have paid if my plates didnt change, so sounds about right)
For the seat removal issue might be dependant of the vehicle. I would not assume fold down seats (or hidden fold down seats like the HILUX if I believe has) would be applicable as you can use them at liking. My seats were bolt mounted to the body prior to me removing them along with the rear seatbealt, thus turning it into cargo space only.
As for the actual inspection, and whats necessary, I have a very good understanding and can help if anyone has any questions, but as for prices, I can only speak for my account and assume from my experience what it should be for others. That issue is better left for the individual to seek out information at the station.