Wireless and wired
Last night (about six hours ago) I had to send the budget off to the church office to get our cash advance, and I also wanted to figure out what to do about a "kei-tai denwa" (mobile phone). Feeling rather worn out, I decided to have a cup of tea. This usually doesn't do much, but it seemed to help.
But now I'm wired. I'm not sure it's the tea. Maybe it's all the thinking about getting to the TEAM center, navigating Tokyo station, etc.
But I'll tell you about reserving a phone. I've now heard from a couple of sources that the ubiquitous card-operated pay phones are disappearing from Japan, and our missionary partner recommends carrying a cell phone. So I google®d on cell rental narita and eventually got to this Q&A site, which referred me to http://www.rental-mobile.com/en/domestic/index.html, a friendly site written in English with bargain rates. Well, they're a bargain compared to the other cell phone rentals you can get at the airport. Part of the deal is that you can't just fly in and rent it; you have to make a reservation at least a day in advance.
So I clicked on the "apply online" link, accepted their conditions, and... a whole lot of nothing.
I tried the fill-in form to fax them back. Apparently I don't have the Japanese package for the Acrobat reader. (What?) If I had a lot more time (like if this were a weekend and I had nothing else to do) I'd probably try to figure that out, but I decided to just call them up and reserve by phone.
This proved a bit more of a challenge than I'd guessed. First, I couldn't remember how to say "9th" as in "We're arriving on the 9th". First I said "nanoka" -- conflating the 9 from nonagon (I guess that's Greek) with some vaguely-remembered word for "day of the month" from Japanese. Then I tried saying "kuu-nichi" which didn't work, because although you say "kuu-gatsu" for 9th month, you don't say "kuu-nichi" for 9th day. If you were going to say it that way, you'd say "kyuu-nichi" but I didn't even remember that. Nobody says "kyuu-nichi" anyway; they say some word that I couldn't remember. Gaaa! I apologized to them, saying that I'd forgotten my Japanese, but she didn't offer to help me out. Probably she thought I was drunk or something.
OK, so Japanese people say "kokonoka" when they mean the 9th of the month. Mystery solved. 250 yen a day, plus 100 yen for insurance. Usually I don't buy insurance on this sort of thing, but 350 is still cheaper than 500 (which is what others were charging -- one outfit was charging 1000 yen plus 500/day).
Sylvia is leaving this week, Carol's going Monday, and the rest of us are arriving on the 9th. From Narita we need to get to Mitaka station on the Chuo line and walk a few (?!) blocks to our lodging. Exactly how should one do that? The Narita Express is very comfortable, and we do have the budget for it, but you sign up for a hike... it's at least a half-mile from the N'Ex platform (and what feels like a half-dozen escalators, though I'm sure it's just 3 or 4) to the "normal" platforms -- where the chuo line, sobu-sen, yamanote-sen, etc. are. (At least it used to be.) N'Ex to Shinjuku might be better, but my memories of that are vague at best.
Maybe a local train. Hey, I wonder if we could do it without transferring? I'll have to ask a friendly (yeah, right) JR rep at Narita how to do that with minimum headache.
And about the other wireless thing... internet access so that we can stay in touch. Apparently there are two McDonald's branches in Mitaka-shi which have wireless access points provided by "boingo" so probably I'll sign up with them. It's like $22/month, of which I'll use about 1/3 of one month, but that's OK.
Anyway, now that I've decided what to do about the train and unloaded some of the rest, maybe I'll be able to get some sleep. There's a psalm about that, isn't there?
Yep, 127.2: In vain you rise early and stay up late
Better to be anxious for nothing, but in everything with prayer... with thanksgiving, let God know what you need. (Philippians 4.6)
And to lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
(Psalm 4.8)
But now I'm wired. I'm not sure it's the tea. Maybe it's all the thinking about getting to the TEAM center, navigating Tokyo station, etc.
But I'll tell you about reserving a phone. I've now heard from a couple of sources that the ubiquitous card-operated pay phones are disappearing from Japan, and our missionary partner recommends carrying a cell phone. So I google®d on cell rental narita and eventually got to this Q&A site, which referred me to http://www.rental-mobile.com/en/domestic/index.html, a friendly site written in English with bargain rates. Well, they're a bargain compared to the other cell phone rentals you can get at the airport. Part of the deal is that you can't just fly in and rent it; you have to make a reservation at least a day in advance.
So I clicked on the "apply online" link, accepted their conditions, and... a whole lot of nothing.
I tried the fill-in form to fax them back. Apparently I don't have the Japanese package for the Acrobat reader. (What?) If I had a lot more time (like if this were a weekend and I had nothing else to do) I'd probably try to figure that out, but I decided to just call them up and reserve by phone.
This proved a bit more of a challenge than I'd guessed. First, I couldn't remember how to say "9th" as in "We're arriving on the 9th". First I said "nanoka" -- conflating the 9 from nonagon (I guess that's Greek) with some vaguely-remembered word for "day of the month" from Japanese. Then I tried saying "kuu-nichi" which didn't work, because although you say "kuu-gatsu" for 9th month, you don't say "kuu-nichi" for 9th day. If you were going to say it that way, you'd say "kyuu-nichi" but I didn't even remember that. Nobody says "kyuu-nichi" anyway; they say some word that I couldn't remember. Gaaa! I apologized to them, saying that I'd forgotten my Japanese, but she didn't offer to help me out. Probably she thought I was drunk or something.
OK, so Japanese people say "kokonoka" when they mean the 9th of the month. Mystery solved. 250 yen a day, plus 100 yen for insurance. Usually I don't buy insurance on this sort of thing, but 350 is still cheaper than 500 (which is what others were charging -- one outfit was charging 1000 yen plus 500/day).
Sylvia is leaving this week, Carol's going Monday, and the rest of us are arriving on the 9th. From Narita we need to get to Mitaka station on the Chuo line and walk a few (?!) blocks to our lodging. Exactly how should one do that? The Narita Express is very comfortable, and we do have the budget for it, but you sign up for a hike... it's at least a half-mile from the N'Ex platform (and what feels like a half-dozen escalators, though I'm sure it's just 3 or 4) to the "normal" platforms -- where the chuo line, sobu-sen, yamanote-sen, etc. are. (At least it used to be.) N'Ex to Shinjuku might be better, but my memories of that are vague at best.
Maybe a local train. Hey, I wonder if we could do it without transferring? I'll have to ask a friendly (yeah, right) JR rep at Narita how to do that with minimum headache.
And about the other wireless thing... internet access so that we can stay in touch. Apparently there are two McDonald's branches in Mitaka-shi which have wireless access points provided by "boingo" so probably I'll sign up with them. It's like $22/month, of which I'll use about 1/3 of one month, but that's OK.
Anyway, now that I've decided what to do about the train and unloaded some of the rest, maybe I'll be able to get some sleep. There's a psalm about that, isn't there?
Yep, 127.2: In vain you rise early and stay up late
Better to be anxious for nothing, but in everything with prayer... with thanksgiving, let God know what you need. (Philippians 4.6)
And to lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
(Psalm 4.8)
posted by Collin at 3:37 AM
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