Street gundam

My husband and I took a non toll road to go to Hachinohe several times. this is Gundam that we saw on our way to Hachinohe. I am not sure if it is personal property or public ones but make sure to check out this cool stuff on the non toll road to Hachinohe.

New Starbucks_hachinohe,Japan

1. スターバックスコーヒー 八戸城下店
3. Cafe • 7.9 km
4. Japan, 〒031-0072 青森県八戸市 城下4丁目2-1
5. +81 178-72-3255
6. Open today · 7:00 am – 12:00 am

   
   

   The second starbucks is on the main street to Sega World. the paking lot is always packed with lots of customers. We sometimes park the car at the yakiniku place on behind of the starbucks then walk but this time there were several parking spot. This starbucks is always busy with lots of people that makes the trip more entertaining. 

Korekawa Archaeological Institution_Hachinohe, Japan

www.korekawa-jomon.jp/english/

Korekawa Archaeological Institution (Korekawa Jomon Kan)
Yokoyama-１ Korekawa, Hachinohe, Aomori, 031-0023, JAPAN
TEL：+81-(178)-38-9511
FAX：+81-(178)-96-5392

Open 9am to 5pm

This is a small museum which located near the old Starbucks. All the exhibits are placed on the second floor. There is no explonation in English. All the dolls and statues were great to see. We only wished there was some of English explonation of the statues so that we what they are all about. the cute museum has 3 different exhibition rooms that has all the findings around the area. the admission fee is only 250 yen for the adult so it's good place to try with kids. 

This statue was found at the redisential building. It is important and valueable becuase of the sitting clapping position. People believe that this pose means for praying and wishing something. the left leg were found after the all body then the statue was completed as the left leg were glued. 

Nitori furniture store in hachinohe

青森県八戸市沼館1丁目18-34

Address to nitori furniture store in hachinohe

After being disappointed about the furniture store on base, We were decide to head to hachinohe famous furniture store, Nitori. Instead of taking toll road, we went to the back way (non-toll road). The store was close to Uniqlo(symphony mall near the port). It was cool to see all the cement factory and the seaside.

Nitori was neat store which has almost everything about home products. the products shown at the store were the higher quality than what we have seen at home-mac. I took the pictures of couple of items at the store.



Kids' desk displayed with thin plastic cover of piano. almost every desks had plastic covered so I think it is usual to get those things on the desk. the chair was extremely small.




I actually liked this humidifier. it comes with LED light. It is very quite, has 2 different type depends on the capacity of water. this model on the picture is one that is smaller.



This fire place is actually kind of warm. it is little less than $100 but bit small. so I don't know how well this would work at home.




The duvet covers are pretty cool and the fabrics were soft and high quality. I can't say this is very high in quality but as far as the price, it's good. I don't know this would fit with american version of beddings.




This is the front of the store. there was a small park right next to the store.

A fruit store in Misawa JP

My awesome neighbor let us know the awesome fruit store around the base. We used to get apple at bx (cost about 5 dollars with appx 5 apples) or sometimes at Uniiverse. the price stays same wherever we got the apples. I was wondering why fruits are so much expensive even though Amorori area is known for producing apples. Lots of people recommended us 9 th market at veedols park (right next to the grocery store that has Daiso). the fruit store we were infomed is right before the train rail sells a box of apple for $20 ( prox 40 apples). 

First, drive to Max value, when you get to max value on the left side you come into the intersection, keep straight instead of take right turn to go to the base. when you drive about 5 min at super small laned road, you will see the fruit store on the left side right before the train cross. the owner doesn't mind people parking right in front of the store for the quick drop by. There is designated parking space on the back of the store so if a person plans to spend longer time at the shop, it is recommended to pack on the back side of the store. the way to get to the parking log is on the right side of the stop (super small space to get in). we boguth appx 40 apples for 1900 yen. there are different apples for the different flavors. (sour, sweet, bitter... etc). the shop owner said the price for the apples will be up next week since the apple season is almost over. the shop has many selections of fruits and vegetables so I recommend to shop at her store. she let us try all of the apples so that we can pick the right flavor of the apples. 

Iphone 6 in Japan - AU

Getting a contract with au,KDDI in Japan, I researched and learned about phone contact here in Japan  . I would like to share the information I have learned with whoever coming over to Japan. Like I mentioned previous post, I used the rental phone at au last year and actually thought about getting retal phone for the period time being in Japan since my experience of using rental filp phone wasn't that bad. the only problem using rental phone is probably that I don't get a data on the phone so I can reduce the texting and phone when I make a phone call or send a text to the other phone company holder such as Softbank and Docomo. It usually charged 43 yen (appox 43 cent) per minute when making a phone call is pretty ridiculous so getting a smart phone is actually reduces the phone bill (set a side the price for the phone). I found it is possible to navigate with the cordination of the location through either google navigation app or any navigation app that is available on the phone with the data that is provided by the phone company. the only problem would be that it is pretty hard to find the exact place and the naviation application might give a person the wrong place or a long list of the places in Japanses. so It is pretty important to know the exact cordination or the address (in japanese) before putting down the store name in English. Getting a smart phone with data makes life in overseas easy even in Misawa pretty small town in Japan.

Not like phone contract in the states, the phone contract in Japan is pretty simple. no matter what contract a person gets, the prices is pretty much set for $70 - $ 80 range. there is no such unlimited text, but there is unlimited phone call and data is pretty much unlimited in any options in the case of the contact at au. au advertised the price of the iphone becomes 0 yen when a person gets the 2-year contract with them. that was true about the 0 yen for a phone. the way at au on base povides little different option that is not like what is provided off base since people on base come and go often. au provides the option to pay the price for the phone 100% at one time and get the discounted price for the contract. without paying the price for the phone 100% upfront, a person end up payng double for the monthly fee. we choose to pay upfront since the yen conversion rate is okay right at the moment and we didn't want to think a lot about paying the price for the phone over time. the discount for the monthly fee is given only for 2 years so after 2 years of the contract, the monthly fee becomes double (about $70) then what a person has to pay after the phone price for 2 years. ($ 44 - iphone 6, 64G). the monthly contract is provided as 2 different ways, 1. 7gb data (LTE) and pay for the phone calls, and text that is made to different phone company or land line 2. chose the data that how much a person likes to have fast data and unlimited phone call to any phone companies or land line. I chose 2gb data and unlimited phone call since the price for making phoe call is pretty expensive here. WIFI is available at most of the areas on base so I thought that is a better contract for me. It is not like the data is limited to 2gb but the speed gets slower after 2 gb of usage. I don't play online games or watch videos when I am outside, therefore the 2gb speedy data and unlimited slow data is no big deal. when you getting a same contract what I have got, make sure to mention their campaign on new iphone. au is giving 1gb on the top of the data plan that a person has so i am actually receiving 3gb (2gb paid, 1gb for free) under the plan which helps to experience better internet service just in case.

I am not sure about Softbank. what I have heard about softbank is the receiption rate is pretty bad. the only good thing about softbank is a person can use unlocked phone which can be taken into any country and use most out of it. the phone that comes with softbank is not unlocked phone so it can't be use anywhere but Japan but there is a way to unlock the Softbank phone with somekind of special code that is sold in Ebay. Docomo provides the option that a person unloock the phone after the contract is over with few thousands yen. 

yen rate is depreciated with the Japanses government's new ecomony boost plan next year. the yen conversion rate is 112yen per 1 dollar which saved us almost $100 overall purchase of the Iphone. even though the currency rate helped us, I am pretty disapointed about how simplified the phone plan so the customers always loose this phone contract with the big company. I hope condition gets better for future so the Japanses phone company don't charge the customers so much and let us use unlocked phone from the states freely.

moved to the main base

we were moved to the main base due to the air conditioning installation on north side base. we have been enjoying living in north side for the nice scenery along the way to the area (the beautiful base beach). we mostly concerned about noise on the main base area before moving here. I can definitely say Misawa ab is the quietest base that We have ever been. There seems nobody at night even with pets and kids on the tower. It is almost unbelievable how quiet it is. We like the close location near the hosing area since I decided not to buy another car for myself. Sharing one car is not the problem. I can walk to the places failry easily. It only takes about 5 min to walk to the fitness. I know it will get harsh when the weather becomes super cold with lots of snow. I am pretty happy living on main base.

Get the phone in Japan @ Misawa AB

I can say it has been most stressful thing that I faced since I got to misawa is getting the phone and chose the phone currier here in Misawa. I have been researched through other people's experience and Japanese phone curriers websites. Even though we are PCSed last yest May, I didn't get a decent phone in Japan and I was not on 2-year contract. I used the rental phone that costed me about 3500yen per month.  I was scheduled to back to the states to finish up my Master's degree. Now I am back to misawa joining with my husnand and slowly setting up my life and career which means I need to get a phone to contact with people in local area. I actually maintained T-mobile phone which I used to use in the states. There has been no problem keeping a contact with hospital even here in Misawa or in Osan (Korea). I have been enjoyed free 'Global coverage' provided by T-mobile. I am paying only $10 for unlimited talk, call, and even data. I say the speed of data (supposely 3G) that I have experienced in Korea (at most of the city area) was faster then the speed of data (4G) in the states. I don't get the great speed of data in Japan but I still am able to listen to Spotify on base when I am out about, and able to talk through any type of messenger as well. I was planning to getting rid of T-mobile contract as soon as I get the any type of phone in Japan.

My choice was heading toward to I phone 6. After I hear that the Apple Japan is selling unlocked I phone I was very excited to get the contract free phone so I can take it with me back to the states. We're here only for couple of years and any smart phone that I have been used so far seemed working pretty decent after few years of heavy daily use. I wished to take it with me and use it like I kept my Galaxy s3 for so long. My dream has been crushed after facing few reality about the cell phone contract here in Japan.

I found out each companies provide the heavy discount on the smart phone contract. the heavy discount on the phone price (not even for the monthly fee) is applied. I phone is the most favorable phone in Japan so the companies are mostly likely to respond the popularity of the phone by providing the discount to the people to bring more subscribers on each phone companies. I have not researched deeply about getting the Soft bank since My husband is already on the 2-year contract with AU. Being on the same phone currier gives the privilege to have free text and phone. Therefore changing the phone service company for myself doesn't give us much of benefit at this moment. Sending the text to the different company costs about 45 cent which is ridiculously expensive. I can't even imagine how much I will have to pay for the text/call per month with that 45 cent text or call.

Softbank and NTT docomo allows people to use unlocked phone. The problem of using own phone occurs due to the heavy discount that is given to newly released I phone. the customer representative at Soft bank on base said it costs about 9000 yen to start the contract with then with unlocked phone but costs 8000 yen with their phone (with the price of the phone). So the people whoever wants to use I phone 6 in Japan is paying the price for the phone that is purchased from Apple store and monthly fee for use the smart phone in Japan. when people chose to purchase the phone at Soft Bank, actually not only don't have to buy the unlocked phone but also do receive the 1000 yen discount of the monthly fee. Soft bank has not been my option cause they charge way to much even with ridiculous monthly fee. their data coverage isn't that good which everyone knows that it is almost impossible to receive full coverage even on base.

Au KDDI was another option that is available on base. As far I found 2 Au stores around Misawa. one is located near McDonald (across from 100 shop) and another one is located little out toward highway to Hachinohe. I seriously thought about dropping by any different stores not on base but that doesn't mean anything cause those stores are actually deeply connected to each other. the one near the 100 yen shop dispatch their workers to on base and the workers travel between those 2 shops. I am not really sure about the one near pachinko but I don't see the valid reason why I should go there and make some kind of awkward moment. the reason why I consider to go off base is because of the price differences between the tables that was shown at the base Au and the price I saw online Au website.

Au, not like Softbank and docomo, use different system to communicate and that also use different SIM card. Au phone, even after the 2 year contract, becomes useless since it is not compatible with any communicate system in any country. also Au phone (just like any other Japanese phone) tide up on the country lock and sim lock which is impossible to use as a phone at different counties other them solely MP3 player. the base representative showed use the table which comes with 7gb data but nothing else. that costs us about 8000yen (4500 yen ; monthly fee, 3500 yen ; the price for I phone). the other option is we pay off the I phone up front which is about $900 (64gb) then pay solely monthly fee that is 4500yen.

I searched up the website and found this price simulation.

http://www.au.kddi.com/iphone/ryokin/charges-simulator.html

I could see how much discount toward the phone I get for I phone and actually have are providing the campaign to increase the 1gb data more whatever data I select for the phone service rather then just chose 7gb data every month.

http://www.au.kddi.com/iphone/campaign/iphone-data-extra.html?bid=we-ipo-2014-0025

So I found out that any Iphone 6 as with 16gb capacity becomes 0 yen with 2 year contract. there are 2 options for the 2 year contract with au. the first one is with unlimited talk to any other phone currier in Japan. 3 gb data (It becomes 4gb with campaign) and 64gb Iphone 6 costs 8316 yen a month and it comes with unlimited talk. the other option is paying the flat fee for the data and it costs each data the person use per month. I am not sure if that plan provides any free data cause LTE fee costs about 5700 yen, it might provide some or not. so choosing the second plan costs about 5000 yen and that doesn't provide any free call to different companies' phone other then Au.

My question is base really giving up the huge discount since the price is set for 7gb data. or we're just manipulated by Au due to we're foreigners in this county. (not providing any discount toward the price for the phone itself. so if i assume that I am using 2 year contract with au and pay upfront phone price then I should pay $900 (the upfront) then $45 (4300 yen about becomes $45) *24 = $1080, totaling $1,980 or $85 (8000yen per month without the upfront free) *24 = $2040.

the price when using the price plan advertised on the website is $88 (8316yen) *24 = $2112 (with unlimited talk and 5gb data without paying upfront fee) or $55 (5000 yen ) *24 = $1320 (without unlimited talk but LTE service on data). so I am going to try to get the last option and will see how much data they are going to provide with 2-year contract. I was mad to find out AU applies different charge or didn't even mention the campaign that currently on with Iphone contract. I made the reservation for the Iphone at Au and scheduled to receive and sign up the contract on this Saturday. I will update how the things go after getting the contract with Au.

McDonald App Coupon

Shows this coupon at Mcdonald then you will pay 190 yen for large french fries instead of 300 yen.

McDonald's in Misawa (How to see coupons)

The one and only (franchised) fast food restaurant in Misawa is McDonald's. It is located right across from the Coco's and is also near Happy Drug (It has a huge sign that you can't miss it.) After realizing McDonal's always has a coupon to use at their Mobile App. Each coupons has time period and has numbers so you have to either show the worker the number of the coupon or tell them a number.

Download the App here

I Phone  Android

Once you download the App,

Click the last menu on the menu bar. 'Send an empty email'

Make sure to slide the second menu so that the status becomes 'agree' then click 'send an email'

The email address that you are putting down here becomes your ID. After setting up the password, click the menu to register. (password needs to be 8 to 16 words with numbers)

when you see the pop-up after click the register menu, chose 'cancel' to browse the app first (Trial-member).  If you would like to register as a member (needs more steps), chose 'Ok'.

Log in with the email and password that you used to register. Now you can see some coupons as a trial member.

If you would like to see more coupons, then you have to register as a member.

Click 'My page'

Click 'member information'

Putting down the personal information. (that doesn't need to be accurate)

After putting down every information at the 'my page' you can register as a member (you can see every coupons at the app)

Japanese version of 'Anti fog spray'

If you're having a hard time driving when it snows because of the fog at the windows, I recommend to purchase anti fog spray. I bought this at shimoda mall. I didn't know where to get it so I asked a person at the infomation desk. The person who works at the auto department brought me a product. It cost about 500 yen. I simply sprayed on the inside of the front window in the car then wiped off the spray residual from the window. It works very well. I highly recommend. 

The name of the product is 'kumori do me'.

muji,無印良品-Japanese version of Ikea

This place is located at shimoda mall, 2nd floor near the escalator. I call this place as a Japanese version of Ikea because it has generic products (no brand name on the product and simple design). 

If you are the fan of India curry they have ready made curry which comes with various flavors. Nann mix is very convenient since you don't have to raise yeast to make Nann bread. The curry is pre-made   that only needs to be heated. It comes with some of pork and potatoes (like 2 pieces) I recommend adding more vegetable and chicken then pour the sauce on the sauce fan to heat it together.

Even though they don't have furniture like Ikea does ( I think it is because of not enough space for their shop) I think this store has some good products that I would like to try. The small sized family like me and my husband, we don't have to cook lots of food but would like to try various food, the food products that this store has the products that is interesting enough to satisfy our appetite. 

www.muji.net

Dragon Hill Lodge

Travelling in Seoul, My husband and I decided to stay in Dragon Hill Lodge that I located in Yongsan Army base. This hotel is great for those of people who would like to stay in Seoul and travel around the area since It is located in a central area of Seoul. I found some tips while I stay in Dragon Hill lodge and would like to share with you.

It was harder to book the hotel at Turumi Lodge (Osan AB) than Dragon Hill Lodge (Seoul), I think it is because Turumi is more of military facility (So It is used for training, exercise and ect..) So When I called to Turumi to book the hotel on February, I heard the hotel is totally booked for military training purposes. I had no problem of getting a room at Dragon Hill Lodge, and found out the hotel is also used for military and other purposes such as events held by U.S Government. 

You can reserve the hotel at,

http://www.dragonhilllodge.com/WP/

Dragon Hill Lodge :

Military from within Korea 738-2222

Commercial from within Korea 02-790-0016

Commercial from CONUS 011-82-2-790-0016

Reservations@DragonHillLodge.com

Since we were taking a train to go to Seoul, I thought I should get off at Yongsan station (train/subway). I recommend you to get off at Seoul station since Yongsan Army base is actually 2 stops away from Seoul station (train/subway). You will have to get off at Samgakji (Line #4) and exit at exit #1. When you walk toward Itaewon (the road is kind of going around to ward right direction) then you will see big statues on the left side and big building on the right side. there will be Korean MP on the street watching for their main gate. Walk takes about 15 minutes to get to the main gate. Dragon Hill Lodge is right inside of the gate #1. (Sign says 'Dragon Hill Lodge')

Resources

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/armybaseprofiles/ss/Casey_4.htm

No moivie theater until July 2014

Can't you believe there's no more movie theater in Misawa until July 2014?

It is the only one entertainment or place to go in Misawa to see movie that spoken English. It usually take couple months more to see recent movie in Japan and price for the ticket at local theater is about $18, not 3D or IMAX). Now the theater is gone until July.. It is very disappointed since winter is very very slow here. We literally have nothing to do.

Living in north tower

winter made so many things different about living in Japan. It snows pretty much everyday here in Misawa. Everyday.. the amount of snow is massive so It comes to few inches easily on the top of the car in few minutes. I can't recognize where is the line around the car in the parking lot since it is hard to plow the snow when the car is parked. shoveling doesn't come to north side until the main base job is done. Since north sides is not the priority of plowing, they take care of the snow at 4am - 5am. I am living in the tower that faces on two parking lots. I know when it snows and how much by the snound of the shoveling the parking lot. I am very sensitive to sounds and lights so I wake up pretty much 4am or 5am and move the room to sleep more. It is quite annoying. H style house is required to shovel by residences so I guess there is a good things and bad thing about living in tower and H style house.

North side is colder than the main base. it can be very dangerous when driving to main base from north side. but it is definitely quite place, can't find anyone is walking around at all. (Not just because of the winter weather) It's like dead city here. If you're fond of living in quite place and don't mind drive 10 min to go wherever, I recommend living in North side. But If you're close to people and live to go to the places relatively easier (as a spouse, it might have to use one vehicle with your husband) then definitely main base is the answer.