Sidekicked to the I.D.

[New phone acquired! - Sidekick I.D.]

As Mika left to Japan, I thought about finding a simple device that would allow me to keep in contact with her easily through email. In Japan, the email system is used among mobile devices, not text messaging. I didn’t want to have to go with another PPC (PocketPC) and have to troubleshoot it at times so I went with Sharp’s Sidekick. It’s a very good device and I recommend it to many. Many of my friends have the Sidekick 3 and now the LX but I have no reason to go with such a device since I only use it for text messaging and email. An extra mp3 player and camera isn’t needed. I have removed the thought of upgrading from my mind. It’s very stable and it looks very clean and sleek. I can comment on the data service and say it’s been connected 24/7 since I have gotten the phone about a week ago. I cannot commend on the phone service since I don’t use it as a phone. And mainly, it saves me money since it is 30$ a month and I was paying 15$ on my PPC phone for text messaging and 40$ for the data plan which only included internet usage. In my eyes, the Sidekick I.D. is a bargain, pricing at 99.99$ with a 50$ mail-in rebate. Can’t get much better than that!

Japanese Books

Today I visited Barnes and Nobles in search for some new readings. I wanted to grab a few new books to read in my little spare time. I decided to purchase some books about traveling in Japan since this was the main topic of my mind at the moment. I went through many good books. I remember seeing a few from Amazon.com where I had originally searched for these books before. I quickly popped open my sidekick and headed to amazon.com for ratings.

The first book I picked up was Lonely Planet’s Tokyo Encounter which has a full pull-out map. It’s a rather small book, good for on the go traveling. The book breaks it down into sections so you can easily find what your looking for as in what kind of place, what neighbourhood its in and as well as the exact location and phone number. It also tells you what is going on every month and good times to travel.
The second book I found was Barron’s Japanese Vocabulary. It has more than 6000 words and expressions with Japanese equivalents and pronunciation, divided into useful categories ranging from numbers, people, greets, good, travel, and more. It’s very small as well so it’s easy to toss in my bag on the go.

The third book I found was Larousse’s Japanese phrasebook. This one is extremely good for finding those unknown words that you need to express yourself. It breaks it down into situations and as a dictionary but with each translation and meaning, it gives you the sentence structure of how it can be used which is very helpful.

I will start with Lonely Planet’s Tokyo Encounter. I will be sure to post my thoughts when finished! Until then, safe travels. Time to do some reading~

Hotels galore.

[Hotel searching in Japan]

Recently I have been hotel hunting. There are so many hotels in Japan but I wanted to get the closest one to Mika’s house and a train station. The closest station to her is the JR Yamanote station. I have gone through about 15 different hotels and have decided on 3 of them. Rather than a hotel, we had originally planned to stay in a dormitory. As in, we have our room, but on the same floor there is a bathroom with shower that the entire floor uses. It was a good thought at first due to the pricing which is around 3,000yen per person. After looking through more hotels and dormitories, I thought a hotel would be the best choice. It mainly matters on the number of people arriving, I am not sure of this. A good hotel is about 12,000yen a night. That’s with 3-4 people and 2 twin beds with a private bathroom and internet access. It sounds so good! Mika is going to check hotels that she knows of or are close to her since we will be staying for about 15 days, we should be able to get a special rate. Onegaishimasu~ I spent a good 3hours looking through hotels. Planning is everything.

Welcome; again!

[Updates!] [News!]
[Trip confirmed!]

It’s official! I will be visiting Japan for 2 1/2 weeks! I will be arriving around May or June, I am not quite sure yet. Mika hasn’t told me which month is good for her yet. I will know in the upcoming week!

There are many things I need to get sorted! I have to create a travel guide and a personal check-list.

I will visiting with my good friend, Daryl-san!