Free Wifi and Data Sim cards in Japan

Nowadays most people rely on online access during their travels. Japan's restrictive rules on sim cards for voice calls and Wifi access make free internet quite confusing to use. However, prepaid data sim are available for tourists and non-permanent-residents alike and might be the most convenient ways to stay online during your trip

A. Free Wifi that I mainly used was

1. Japan Free Wifi

You virtually download an app for Android or iPhone and register with an SNS account: Facebook, Twitter or Google+
https://japanfreewifi.com/

Connections tend to be rather slow and as with other free wifi access points in Japan, you have to be quite close to the hotspot. Sometimes you might not be able to connect in front of a shop that serves as a hotspot. Once you are connected, it might work within some more metres around the entrance though.

2. Free Wifi with Premium Code (Kobe free Wifi)

At the tourist information in Kobe (should be also available in other big cities) I could get a Premium code for Wi2 Premium hotspots. I got a 7 day free usage and could access to Wi2 club, premium and other secured networks. These tend to work better and have faster speeds. SSID passwords are given in a booklet handed to you, you just show the information staff your passport. Most other free wifi access points are the same as in Japan Free Wifi (see 1.). More info on the flyer below.

3. Japan Connected Free Wifi

This app is quite helpful, as you do not need to register every time for free wifi spots at for example convenience stores (Lawson, FamilyMart, 7 Eleven etc.). First the registration is with your SNS account.

Google Play app link

4. Free Wi-Fi Passport (not tested)

Softbank allows 14 day usage (after expiration, just register again) at their free wifi spots. As I encountered lots of places with Softbank hotspots, you should consider register with them. However, you need to have a phone contract that allows roaming in Japan. Otherwise you will not be able to do the registration process. I have a prepaid Sim in my home country, so in case you cannot make a call from your roaming SIM, you would not be able to use it (IMO to exclude any Japanese subscribers).

Also check out Japan guide for more info on Wifi and internet access in general

B. Prepaid DATA SIM

There are plenty of options, especially if you are able to order at Amazon Japan. However if you need internet on the spot after your arrival, there are less options available that are satisfying.

My experience so far: So-Net are sold at vending machines at Kansai International. They have reasonable plans up to 60 days. If you need to stay longer IIJMio or Japan Travel SIM 90 days (also IIJMio) are cheaper online. However, you might not be able to use them right away after landing. Softbank Travel Sim 1 GB 31 days had good speed, however it is not cheap as 1 GB is gone within a short time frame and registration took up to 1 hour (upload passport page on a website that can be only be accessed when the data sim card is already in your smartphone). So-Net registration on Docomo network is far better from that point of view.

C. SIM and Pocket Wifi rental

Pocket Wifi or SIM rental can also be an option if you want to be on air as soon as you are through immigration and baggage claim. Next time I might try Sakura Mobile (new blog entry covering internet access comparison recently, of course praising their own product for some extent). Google reviews were all positive though. CDJapan also offer SIM rentals. Both companies offer pick-up at the airport post office. So check if your arrival is during post office hours - hotel delivery is a safe bet, if your flight is late or too early, but you will not be online after your hotel check-in. Daily cap might be a limitation, especially if you share your pocket wifi, but Sakura mobile internet can still be accessed with a throttled speed.

Have a nice stay!

Best coffee in Firenze?

Before travelling to Firenze, I googled around what place would serve the best Cappucino for more picky customers. When reading other blogs, Italian seem to have another philosophy for drinking coffee than the third wave coffee culture, where taste and flavour is everything. Nowadays still a cup of coffee in Italy is a drink that everyone should be able to afford. The barista has to be fast and customers usually only stand at the coffee bar for their 5 minutes breakfast or break sipping their coffee. Noone there will walk around with a take out Starbucks or whatever paper coffee cup around the streets except he or she is not Italian.

Back to my actual topic: I found my personal best coffee in Firenze at an unexpected place. It was on the second floor of el mercato, the city's market. The place is quite new with lots of reasonably priced food stalls, free toilet and fresh food. Eataly selling souvenirs from Tuscany like olive oil, soap or pasta is also inside. The cappucino was only 1.5 euro from a rarely in Italy seen La Marzocco (can be found in any Vienna's third wave coffee shops now) machine and the taste was fantastic. You can also buy some bread or pastries from the bakery opposite and enjoy the food together without cover charges! Apart from that I had the best caprese on another day at the cheese stall there. Everything is fresh and even the steak is reasonably priced. When I go back to Firenze, I will definitely visit the venue again. It's clean and reasonably priced. Dinner starts at 7 pm though, so if you are hungry before that time, try it with cheese or bread. Breakfast is really recommended too. I did not try the ice-cream, although someone on tripadvisor gave a good review.

Another cheap and good coffee was at the library near the Duomo that is often frequented by the students there. You get a great photo angle of Duomo from the cafe terrace too.

Enjoy your trip!

Update, just found this page: http://sprudge.com/ditta-artiginale-specialty-coffee-florence-italy.html

Ditta Artiginale seems to be the place to go for good coffee. ;)

Usage of Carta Agile in Firenze (one person only)

If you ever wondered, if and how the Carta Agile in Firenze for the ATAF bus system can be used by two or more passengers simultaneously in year 2014, the answer is no, you cannot do that.

The official website ATAF.net will only give you this information:

Prezzo: €10.00

Carta AGILE € 10.00 is an ATAF electronic card with a memory of 10 90-minute tickets (€1,00/ticket). To validate the ticket simply PLACE Carta Agile in front of the zone indicated ON THE MACHINE and the journey is instantly charged up to you: the operation is quick and simple. To see when the card runs out, or the number of journeys left on it, simply PRESS a BUTTON and PLACE the card in front of the validating machine: the screen will supply all the desired information. The Carta Agile can be used on the routes served by ATAF&LI-NEA and on the tramway, not to travel on other routes or services outside the city. Cards expiry 12 months after their first validation.

However a ticket inspector with perfect English (!) explained to me that since September 2013, Carta agile can only be used by one person at a time, as the validating machine activates the journey when you approach it with your Carta AGILE and cannot be used simultaneously by other persons when once activated for 90 min. He asked me for the webpage where I found the info, but I did not remember. Now I googled again and found it on the ATAF site, even though not linked to the actual HTML page. I would not have bought a 20€ with 21 rides if I knew that, but 2x10€ for 2 persons instead. Since the staff at SMN Novella station did not explain anything or give out any information folders during our purchase and we do not ask explicitly for it, do not trust older website information that is given on the internet including this outdated PDF on the ATAF site http://www.ataf.net/System/files/FOLDER%20TARIFFE.pdf (if still online as by 30 Oct 2014) or Tripadvisor forums. If you are only in Firenze for a few days, I would suggest to buy the 4x single tickets for 4,70 € anyway as most sights are in walkable distance and we only used the bus to get back to our hotel in the evening.

Hope this information helps some traveller. Some people used the card unknowingly that it cannot be used for two or more passengers at the same time.

Always validate your tickets, because ticket checks occur frequently and stick to the official website. Also consider the family ticket for 6 € for a fair price. The ATAF tickets can be used for the tramvia 1 too.

Information about our trip to Suganuma and Shirakawago

Even though online resources in Japanese and English were helpful to plan our trip to Shirakawago on our own, I want to provide some details that I could not find online and might be helpful to others.

Route

We took the route Kyoto-Kanazawa(hotel)-Suganuma/Gassho no Sato-Shirakawago-Takayama(hotel)-Nagoya

Kyoto-Kanazawa: JR Thunderbird (2hrs)

Kanazawa-Suganuma: Nohi Bus (1hr, highway)

Suganuma-Shirakawago: Local bus (30 min., Kaetsuno bus company)

Shirakawago-Takayama: Nohi Bus (50 min., highway)

Most buses from Kanazawa station (bus stop Nr. 3) will not stop at Suganuma and will go straight to Shirakawago. However if you enjoy walking less crowded and peaceful smaller villages of Suganuma or even plan to go further into the mountain to the village of Ainokura, getting off is recommended.

We got the highway ticket reservations online: http://www.nouhibus.co.jp/english/

Kanazawa-Shirakawago-Takayama route: http://www.nouhibus.co.jp/english/shirakawago_kanazawa.html

We paid and got our tickets at a convenience store, which might be difficult to handle without Japanese knowledge. However, credit card payment is available and you should be able to get tickets at Kanazawa station (watch the opening hours).

Highway main routes map

Details about Suganuma and Gassho no Sato village(s)

Suganuma village and Gassho no Sato have two bus stops. At the eastern end of Suganuma the local bus (Kaetsuno bus company, Shuraku Mae bus stop) will stop and you will only see the bus stop sign of one direction in front of a waiting hut. So if you want to go to Shirakawago you have to move to the opposite side of the road (no bus sign). 1 hour is more than enough to explore the small village. We left our luggage at the information desk (no lockers here) for free and the ojiisan there gave us a small map and the Kaetsuno bus schedule. We were surprised to see that the local bus was almost empty all along the way (one local only) and even though they put effort in annoucing the stops in different languages (Korean, Chinese, English) noone bothered to ride the bus.

Highway buses from Toyama (or Johana) by Kaetsuno bus company and Nohi buses from Kanazawa (arrival 10:00 am) will stop at the parking lot between Gassho no sato and Suganuma village. You can enjoy the view and pass the local bus stop or you take the elevator from the parking lot going down to the tunnel. In the tunnel you can either walk to Gassho no sato on the left or Suganuma village on the right. Preparing for the trip, the Japan-Guide site was quite useful, but I wanted to provide more in detail, as the tunnel’s entrance coming from Suganuma village was not depicted very well. The sign leading to the elevator is actually leading to the tunnel which might be confusing without further knowledge.

Left to Gassho no Sato, right to Suganuma if you take the elevator down to the tunnel from the parking lot where highway buses stop

The tunnel connecting Gassho no Sato with Sugnuma village (and the parking lot)

Local bus stop in Suganuma (Shuraku Mae)

 

Local bus stop in Suganuma (Shuraku Mae)

Details about Shirakawago

All Kaetsuno and Nohi highway buses stop at the Shirakawa-go bus terminal, where lockers and tourist information are located. When we got there, only limited numbers of medium and big size lockers were available and our luggage (cabin size) would not fit in (a few cm too large). We asked at the information desk and they kindly stored it for us for 300 yen only (cheaper than medium 400 yen and large size locker 600 yen). Of course we had to be back at 17:00 at latest, because information AND the public toilet close at that time. Their last highway buses without reservations leave at 17:00, those with at 17:20 to Takayama and 17:30 to Kanazawa. However, most souvenir shops and restaurants at Shirakawago were already closed at 16:30, so there is not much to do in town except for strolling around or walking up to the observation viewpoint. Even if you have lunch, 3 hours is usually enough to visit. I personally preferred the Kanda house to the Wada house that you can enter for a small fee of 300 yen. Kanda has been opened to the public rather recently and is an impressive Gassho no tsukuri house. They maintain a fireplace on ground level that should protect the house from insects that might damage the wooden structure and offer free herbal tea. Sit and relax while enjoying the atmosphere.

The Kanda house with its roof construction and fireplace

Shuttle bus to the observation desk

We paid 200 yen for a one-way trip with the shuttle bus from Shirakawago bus center. Recommended for uphill (downhill is an easy walk anyway).

Local buses (Kaetsuno line bus) stop in the center of Shirakawago (Ogimachi bus stop and Ogimachi shrine Bus stop), which is quite close to the shuttle-bus stop. However as we transferred from Suganuma with the local bus, we had to walk over the new bridge to the highway bus terminal to stow our luggage. It’s about a 5 min walk.

View from the observation desk

For visitors going from Takaoka or transfer between Gokayama (Suganuma, Ainokura etc.) and Shirakawago:

Some might ask, why bother and go via Johana station as shown in the PDF. Many foreigners will have the JR Rail Pass and even though it is not the most comfortable way to travel, going via JR Johana station is cheaper because you can use your pass until that station and transfer to the bus from there. We decided to save time and go by bus via Kanazawa while enjoying the full cherry blossom in Kenrokuen Gardens.

Resources

Map and overview also in English: http://www.kaetsunou.co.jp/bus/sekaiisan-kippu.pdf

Suganuma Japan-Guide details: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5954.html

Tour packages are also available, but they usually start and end in Takayama:

http://www.isitetakayama.com/

http://www.nouhibus.co.jp/english/

For visitors from Toyama or transfer between Gokayama (Suganuma, Ainokura etc.) and Shirakawago:

http://www.kaetsunou.co.jp/(Kaetsuno bus, Japanese only)

http://www.kaetsunou.co.jp/nori/201404-11.html (Shirakawago Local bus, Japanese only)

http://shirakawa-go.org/wp-content/uploads/kankouinfo20131009_01.pdf (Kaetsuno world heritage bus, Japanese only, connecting Toyama with Shirakawago via Johana). PDF also includes local bus schedule.

Translations for the Shirakawago local bus PDF:

4 local buses/day on weekdays

1 local bus/day on Sat/Sun/holidays

高岡駅前②番のりば Takaoka Station, Bus platform 2

城端駅前 Johana station

相倉口 Ainokura

菅沼 Suganuma

荻町合掌集落 Ogimachi Gassho Shuraku (Shirakawago)

SIXT car rental review

Friends were visiting Austria last summer and if the car company SIXT had not been so disappointing, I would not write a review about them here.

When they got to the airport to pick up the car, their credit card was not accepted as a deposit because the limit was too low, even though they used it to pay the rental fee online during the reservation. So I had to get there to use mine as a deposit... what a pain in the a**. Other rental car companies accept cash deposits though.

For heaven's sake nothing happened during their trip and the car was returned at an unmanned SIXT car park at Wien Westbahnhof (Vienna West station). As strange as it sounds, they did not get any receipt or proof that the car was returned properly. After inquiry by e-mail they got an invoice by e-mail without any text in the message. Still, this was no proof for whatsoever.

So they happily returned to their home country and we thought that the SIXT episode was over. Around 2 months later SIXT sent us another e-mail. I cannot remember the exact wording, but my friends were accused of breaking several parts of the car (damaged doors, back side of the car etc.) without any proof and demanded more than 200 euros as far as I can remember. This was more than a third of the rental fee by the way. Doing some research on the internet I found similar cases of SIXT customers from Germany. According to a customer staff at SIXT try to gain some money by sending a fake damage report to the last 6 customers. Maybe one "dumb" guy would pay it. Anyway, I wrote an English letter for the friends that there are enough witnesses who can testify that the car was returned in proper condition and any charging of the credit card would lead to legal actions from my friends' side. Since that we have never heard from SIXT again.

From this experience, I will never go to SIXT to rent a car and cannot recommend it to anyone anymore. I just cannot trust them.

Unzip files from compressed ZIP archives with Chinese or Japanese file names under non-Chinese / non-Japanese Windows XP UPDATE

There has been an update on the 7 zip software. As stated on the website:

7-Zip 4.58 beta 2008-05-05
# Speed optimizations
# Unicode support for .ZIP acrhives

Beta versions of 7-Zip v. 4.58 and newer support Unicode characters.

I have tried the current beta version 4.60 beta on MS Windows XP Pro German and it worked fine with a ZIP archive including Traditional Chinese file names.

Why don't you give it a try? It is much easier than using the AppLocale workaround, if this works for you.

Unzip files from compressed ZIP archives with Chinese or Japanese file names under non-Chinese / non-Japanese Windows XP

Some might have experienced problems with unzipping ZIP archives that contain file names with double-byte Chinese or Japanese characters. I have not found any sites explaining how to preserve Chinese file names while uncompressing the files on a PC running Windows XP.

Here is a solution that I have found out by trial-and-error.

You need:

• Microsoft AppLocale (download it from the Microsoft homepage)
• An archiving software that uncompresses your ZIP-File (i.e. freeware 7-Zip)
• Microsoft Windows XP (should work with Microsoft Windows 2000 too though)

In this example we use a German Windows XP Professional, German AppLocale and 7-Zip archiving software.

1. Download and install AppLocale

2. Download and install archiving software (i.e. 7-Zip)

3. Start AppLocale and browse for the executable (.exe) file


Fig. 1 Starting AppLocale from the Start menu


Fig. 2 Browse for the archive utility. In case of 7Zip it is 7zFM in C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7zFM.exe or the like

4. Choose the desired language in AppLocale

Choose Chinese or Japanese, respectively.


Fig. 3 Choose desired language （中文繁體 for Traditional Chinese, 日本語 for Japanese)

5. Creating a link

You can create a link (recommended) that you can use every time you need to handle compressed ZIP archives with Chinese or Japanese file names. Choose a good name for the link i.e. the application name and the language you set before.


Fig. 4 Adding a link to the Microsoft AppLocale start menu

The link will be placed into the Microsoft AppLocale folder and your application will start with the desired language.

6. How to start the application after the first time

Start 7-Zip from the start menu.


Fig. 5 Starting the archive application in i.e. Chinese.


Fig. 6 Viewing the files with Chinese file names in 7-Zip

You should be able to read Chinese file names inside the application too.
Attention: Do not use Drag and Drop to uncompress your files. The file names will not remain Chinese characters.
Mark the files you need to uncompress and press the "Extract" (Blue minus sign) button.
Specify your destination folder to copy the files to it.


Fig. 7 Uncompressed file

Your uncompressed files with your Chinese file names should be on your hard drive now.

As for MacOS X Leopard users: Choose the Chinese language for your system and logout. Login again and start the uncompressing procedure with any archive software (Zipeg etc.)