Blogger Ben: What to pack and not pack
Since my last post about travel insurance, I have decided to go with the basic emergency medical offered by Travel Cuts for $117, all in. So that’s dealt with, and paid for. I hope I won’t ever have to use it. Money well spent, perhaps? So now on to packing. I have 5 days left, [...]
Blogger Ben: Thoughts on travel insurance
Japan has a fairly comprehensive public health care system which individuals can join. You can read all about it in Wikipedia and the official government pages. However, for people like myself on a working holiday visa with permission to stay for at most a year, we are not eligible for said health benefits. Accidents do [...]
Blogger Ben: Going to Tokyo from Narita, with the help of the black cat
I’ve been looking at the different ways of getting into Tokyo City from NRT (Narita Airport) lately and the options seem quite overwhelming. You can take the train, the express train, the super express train, the limo bus or the taxi. That’s just crazy. My last visit to Japan, I remembered taking the super cheap [...]
Blogger Ben: Booking Your Flight to Japan
Finding an inexpensive/affordable flight to Japan from anywhere outside Asia is tough. The recent recession has pushed air fare down to unbelievably low prices, but face it, it’s still going to be in the neighbourhood of about USD/CAD $1000 after taxes and fees (depending on where you’re at). This post will probably be Canadian-centric but [...]
New SakuraBranch Blogger Ben: Going to Japan on a Working Holiday Visa
Hi I’m Ben. I came to this website not too long ago searching for information on how I can, as painlessly as possible, obtain a Japanese working holiday visa. I got some really good tips on how to prepare my application for the visa from this site, and it was approved by the examiner in mere minutes at the consulate, all thanks to Tim. Long story short, Tim asked if I would like to blog about my upcoming journey here. And of course, I said yes. So If you’re interested, stay tuned. If you want to know more about the working holiday visa, you read this site’s guide about it here.
How I financed my trip to Japan
Living in Japan is expensive, getting there costs a small fortune. How can anyone but the upper class afford to travel to the land of the rising sun? Here’s how I did it.
Going to Japan? Tips for Jet-Lag
時差ぼけ ・ じさぼけ ・ Jet Lag (a.k.a. desynchronosis) – Anyone who goes to Japan from America, Canada, the UK, etc. will undoubtedly have to deal with Jet Lag. The long-distance traveler’s nemesis can quickly ruin a would-be amazing trip abroad. Fortunately, there are many methods to both prevent and get over Jet Lag, and they can be found [...]
Review of GenkiJACS Japanese and Culture School
It has been basically 2 years since I attended GenkiJACS in Fukuoka, Japan to study Japanese full time for 3 months. To this day though, I still receive e-mails asking for my opinion and advice on GenkiJACS from would-be students who are looking at attending Genki for their studies. I still remember my time there very well though, as it was all-in-all a very enjoyable experience, and so I thoughts about GenkiJACS here for all to see.
The Ultimate Guide to Working Holiday Visa
One of the questions I most often get from people who were followers of my original blog is ‘How do I go about applying for a Working Holiday Visa?’ or more specific questions like ‘What should I write and what should I not write in my letter of intent or in other parts of the [...]
