WATMM travel thread

  On 8/28/2014 at 8:42 AM, modey said:

I figure I can just get $500 in JPY cash and then chuck $1000 or so on a card

was thinking roughly the same.

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(which apparently has no fees after the initial exchange rate).

whoa. the Commbank one has fees for every withdrawal and loading of cash onto the card (apart from the first load)! who are you with?

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I think the more people I talk to about it, the more I get paranoid, because people are giving me conflicting reports. I just want a card that I can use at post office/711/whatever!

fuck it, I think I'm going to roll with it anyway. if there are any problems, you can always just withdraw from an atm.

Yeah, and try loading onto a travelcard online during a Tokyo spending spree. There are charges to load it, and a daily limit, and all sorts of money laundering protection rules and crap.

I spend about $3400 in Tokyo in 2 weeks due to taking an empty suitcase and filling it up and had to spend a lot of time in a bank one day sending myself sterling, which then needed to be converted into dollars then yen or some shit, it was rubbish.

It's not that expensive there or anything I just went on a couple of shopping sprees and fine dining extravaganzas that cost lots of yen while other days I stayed near my hostel, drank from vending machines, ate cheaply and spent way less than a normal day in London.

The 7/11 ATMs always worked with my VISA

usagi: I'm with bendigo bank. I think there is a fee to load money on to the card, but no withdrawal fees.

My budget is approx. $1000 on top of whatever I'd usually spend at home over 12 days of extravagant living, so realistically I'll probably have around $2000 total. I figured that'd be more than enough unless I end up buying a guitar or a synth or something..

edit: there's a 7-11 pretty close to the hostel I'm staying at and I think my bank's travel card is a mastercard (at least, my main aus card is mastercard debit)

Yeh it'll be fine, don't go synth shopping, I bought so much stuff I didn't expect home with me, the shops are totally off the hook.

Visa Electron debit card worked fine in Japanese post offices when I was there but that was like 10 years ago.

Internationally card use has improved megafold in the last few years, quite rightly, too. The chances of an atm not playing ball are slim nowadays whether you're visa or mastercard, i think they fucked of maestro and visa electron a few years back.

It's important to tell your bank you are going abroad though.

Yeah, I'm gonna go into my bank next week and sort it out. Thanks for the tips!

a friend told me metrobank was cheapest for him (this was last year)

https://www.metrobankonline.co.uk/Personal/Using-your-Debit-or-Credit-Card-abroad/

Also, can anyone point me in a good direction for experimental/noise/interesting gigs in Tokyo? Or even just indie rock gigs or something, heh. I really want to check out the live music scene while I'm there, beyond the chip festival and the Ben Frost gig..

I went into record shops and found some really good flyers for gigs that were on during my spell there.

Oh! Good point. I suppose I can ask the few people I know who live there as well.. although they're mostly chip fans..

  On 8/28/2014 at 1:55 PM, modey said:

Also, can anyone point me in a good direction for experimental/noise/interesting gigs in Tokyo? Or even just indie rock gigs or something, heh. I really want to check out the live music scene while I'm there, beyond the chip festival and the Ben Frost gig..

Superdeluxe (if its still around).

  On 8/28/2014 at 10:42 AM, fenton said:

Yeh it'll be fine, don't go synth shopping, I bought so much stuff I didn't expect home with me, the shops are totally off the hook.

did you have to pay import duty for the synths? (not that i'm going anywhere, but i'm curious)

*i think* you can mark them as 'being fixed' and worth pennies

just went through a special brown person scanner at the airport. totally randomly, of course.

I am in Tokyo and it is exactly as ridiculous as I expected. The chip gigs have been amazing so far!

think i'm going to go to berlin next, some time over the winter. any recommendations on where to visit?

I recommend going in summer, it's freezing cold in winter

  On 8/28/2014 at 1:55 PM, modey said:

Also, can anyone point me in a good direction for experimental/noise/interesting gigs in Tokyo? Or even just indie rock gigs or something, heh. I really want to check out the live music scene while I'm there, beyond the chip festival and the Ben Frost gig..

Dream Theater is coming to Tokyo, but that's Oct 20... As noted-- if you go to Tower Records in Shibuya, there's flyers all over the place. Like on the electronic floor and in front of the bathrooms, etc. There are booklets also that have upcoming events.

Also, http://www.tokyo-club.net/ has Tokyo clubs, and you can sort by area... ...just go out dancing or whatever to some random electronic dudes, etc.

Yeah sounds great. A friend of mine is DJing on thursday and he said there are some bands afterwards so I might hit that up.. as long as I can figure out how to get back to my hostel afterwards.

Also, I played to an amazingly receptive audience lastnight. Tiny little room but it was packed with people dancing to my ridiculous hyperactive drum'n'bass. Hooray!

hey guys i made a map of the synth shops in tokyo

click for full map

and some of the record shops

  On 9/29/2014 at 11:37 AM, MadameChaos said:

think i'm going to go to berlin next, some time over the winter. any recommendations on where to visit?

just stay in town friedrichshain / Kreutzberg / prenzlauer berg

do some of the graffiti tours, check out some war stuff and check out a LOT of music

drink lots of cheap beer :)

  On 9/30/2014 at 5:48 AM, Luka said:

hey guys i made a map of the synth shops in tokyo

 

click for full map

 

 

and some of the record shops

 

my bags were full of records on my way home (and toys) :)

cant wait to go back again

  On 9/30/2014 at 9:05 AM, Luka said:

my bags were full of records on my way home (and toys) :)

 

cant wait to go back again

Are you luka magnotta?