I'm surprised people think the tech point is so off.
Go with the title for #5 in the very first place:
"Everything Is Frightfully Low-Tech"
Really?
Everything? Hah!
Japan is not a rural back woods, but I was surprised when I got here. The reputation of Japan, particularly in the 80's and 90's was of some Blade Runner type place crafted by Sony. Then I got here, and for every electric toilet, there was a bank machine that closed at 6 pm.
But things have changed. You can find 24-hr ATMs now. Plus, you can remove more than a mere $300 equivalent at one time.
More high tech of sorts:
bathtubs with circulating water
bathrooms/showers
car navi
electronic dictionaries
TVs
cell phones
since most of the office computers I've used in the last few years has Office 2003, not 1998 :/ It's a comedy article though.
2003????? Where is that anymore these days?
And the heating system here is poor to say the least. I need to get a fill up from the touyou man every month, or else I'll freeze... or rely on the electric rug.
Thanks for reminding me of more high tech...electric rugs and kotatsu.
The Japanese simply do not heat more than one or two places in the entire house -- they never have, and they aren't likely to start before you move here.
Sounds like energy saving and cost saving, doesn't it? Shockingly terrible.
Your only other option is a kerosene heater, which you can't really leave running overnight unless you're trying to burn and/or suffocate your family to death.
Connect it to the vent, *****. That's why it's there. You don't run kerosene heaters at night anyway because of the earthquake risk.
it's no guarantee you'll get to see a doctor, because outpatients are usually only admitted in the morning. If you don't get to the hospital quickly enough, you'll have to wait another day (oh, and good luck using all that personal time in a country where missing work is considered a form of light treason). Also, first-time patients can't make appointments at most medical facilities
Crock, crock, crock.
If you do manage to make it into a doctor's office, make sure that you bring someone with you who can speak Japanese, because not many doctors or nurses speak English.
Again, shocks galore! How many American doctors/nurses speak a second language fluently enough to communicate with patients? Non sequitur.
Without the language, you will barely be able to buy food or get around, let alone establish any kind of permanent living situation that doesn't involve keeping a bilingual girlfriend/boyfriend/hostage
Yet, foreigners live in the heart of Tokyo or in many rural areas without learning a single word of Japanese, and they manage to lead long productive lives here without living in a cardboard box.
And on and on and on...
The author of that "article" has a J wife and claims to have been coming to Japan for many years, yet the stories he writes are pretty lame and inaccurate, and most of all they smack of someone who couldn't adapt to Japan anyway. Is that why his J wife and him live away from the land of the rising sun? Stay that way, buddy.
