What to bring...

[Cytrix]

Also make sure your credit card is still valid...I was a complete derp and forgot to check the expiry date...hence a rather awkward moment when I had to put down a first month deposit on my iphone. Whoops.

There are lots of awesome websites where you can order things and have them delivered to your door (and can pay at the door) so you won't be completely starved of the things you love here. Even if you live up on a tiny cliff on a mountain they'll deliver your purchases to you. Just off the top of my head you have Amazon, Tengu natural foods, The Meat Guy, Flying Pig, Rakuten, Nissen, Foreign Buyers Club, Strawberrynet etc. etc.

[bananallanah]

Also make sure your credit card is still valid...I was a complete derp and forgot to check the expiry date...hence a rather awkward moment when I had to put down a first month deposit on my iphone. Whoops.

There are lots of awesome websites where you can order things and have them delivered to your door (and can pay at the door) so you won't be completely starved of the things you love here. Even if you live up on a tiny cliff on a mountain they'll deliver your purchases to you. Just off the top of my head you have Amazon, Tengu natural foods, The Meat Guy, Flying Pig, Rakuten, Nissen, Foreign Buyers Club, Strawberrynet etc. etc.

Oh yeah I need to remember to get my debit renewed before I leave, Westpac better not charge me for it

[mattclough]

Just thought I would share about the nature of omiyage at school again. One of my teachers went to Hokkaido to visit his family and this is how he delivered the omiyage to the staff room. This is basically what every teacher does. It's like Halloween.



Now you got me all paranoid teabot

[teabot]

I agree Sooyong, some of those items don't seem absolutely necessary to have or bring but to someone else it is. On the same note I would hate for someone take those lists that we all compiled, treat it like it is set in stone, and pack everything on it.
I think I need to figure out a way to show the gray areas.

how about just smack a huge disclaimer on it. i would hope that most JETs would realize that "recommended" does not equal "required" but a lot of people are overly concerned about this sort of thing so maybe like...

COMPILED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES/ESID. USE YOUR COMMON SENSE AND PERSONAL NEEDS/TASTES WHEN DECIDING IF THINGS ARE NECESSARY FOR YOUR SITUATION (ALSO YOUR PRED'S ADVICE IF APPLICABLE.)


re: omiyage again, huge picture is huge. downsize pleaseee. (edit: nvm, but perhaps you should consider censoring your teacher's name. personal info an' all that...)
and i gave out my Ameri-yage from the trip i just got back from. one of my JTE's reactions: "do you remember my advice to not waste money on omiyage?" so there's that... lol (idk for some reason this particular JTE thinks Americans are spendthrifts in general, but has spent enough time in the states to realize that some aspects of Japanese culture are sort of unnecessary/irrelevant, and omiyage happens to be one of those in his mind. but i sort of enjoy it so whatever.)

[Cytrix]

It's all good saying 'use common sense' but then you have people who want to bring first aid kits/flashlights/seem to think Japan is a third world country.

[teabot]

It's all good saying 'use common sense' but then you have people who want to bring first aid kits/flashlights/seem to think Japan is a third world country.

yeah, but to be honest, if people do want to do that, who is it going to hurt? they're just gonna have a little less space for more important things/that's their own fault and they'll learn soon enough.

[Jax]

I just have a couple things to say....

If you have a laptop with a grounding plug, do not break off the 3rd prong. Just bring the plug adapter with you. Simple and cheap solution. Or maybe your pred will be a random plug/cables collector like mine was and will have a plug adapter in a box in the closet for you.

Don't even worry about omiyage now.

I also brought most of my jewelry and yes I wear it to school and no they don't have a problem with it.

[bananathursdays]

It's all good saying 'use common sense' but then you have people who want to bring first aid kits/flashlights/seem to think Japan is a third world country.

yeah, but to be honest, if people do want to do that, who is it going to hurt? they're just gonna have a little less space for more important things/that's their own fault and they'll learn soon enough.

+1
Agreed. Give advice, then let people make their own decisions. That's all you can do. If they find out if was a mistake, perhaps they'll learn from it. Who knows? Maybe they are really attached to their flashlight...(it's possible)

[losdutchmen]

Taking someone else's advice, and with lots of time on my hands as the school year winds down, I decided to beg for donations. Arizona has 4 major sports teams, Football, Baseball, Hockey, and Basketball. I wrote each a handwritten letter explaining that I was accepted by JET, an exchange teaching program, and that I would be leaving for Japan in July. I customized each letter, buttering up each team with flattery, and asked for small souvenirs that I could use to promote our state's sports culture. The results:

Phoenix Coyotes Hockey: doesn't accept non fundraising donation requests. Lots of legal mumbo jumbo. I didn't even send the letter. Too bad because of all of the teams, I like them the best.

Arizona Diamondbacks Baseball: I received a prompt reply in the form of a postcard, stating almost the same thing. They don't hand out donations to non-fundraising entities. Guess I could set up an auction in Japan....

Phoenix Suns Basketball: Received a package within a week of sending my letter. It was filled with pencils, sweatbands, bookmarks, and stickers, along with a personal note from their Community Relations person wishing me luck with teaching in Japan. COOL!

Arizona Cardinals: Haven't heard back from them yet.

So, for the price of four stamps, and a little time writing letters, I got some cool free stuff to dole out to little baskeball fans in Japan. Hopefully the Cardinals will come through also. If I had to guess, the Suns have the worst image right now, huge disappointment this season and probably gonna lose Steve Nash. So maybe they are looking to promote themselves anywhere. I'm trying to think of some other "local" businesses or standbys that I could hit up possibly. Some stereotypical AZ stuff.

[Anigi]

That is awesome!

[coop52]

If you want more free stuff to bring, call your local / state tourism board. They'll probably send you a literal ton of brochures and pamphlets. You might even luck out and get stickers or buttons or something.

[Cytrix]

Also seriously guys...DO NOT BOTHER.

I have a giant drawer FILLED with crap I brought over with me from home...I have had the opportunity to hand out 2 brochures total since I arrived here, and it is only now that I realise how much of a bad idea the whole 'MUST BRING ALL THE THINGS FROM NZ/AMERICA/AUSTRALIA/ENGLAND/ETC.ETC. TO SHOW EVERYONE ABOUT MY HOME LA LA LA'.

Here's a thread I made over on ITIL addressing this issue about bringing omiyage over with you, and with input from other current/past ALTs. There are lots of good suggestions on there of things that make EFFECTIVE omiyage

http://www.ithinkimlost.com/applying-jet/18116-deal-omiyage.html

[Kirari]

Here's a thread I made over on ITIL addressing this issue about bringing omiyage over with you, and with input from other current/past ALTs. There are lots of good suggestions on there of things that make EFFECTIVE omiyage

http://www.ithinkimlost.com/applying-jet/18116-deal-omiyage.html

Nice post Cytrix, thanks!

[Keshu]

Hey!

I'll go on a different trend with omiyage. If you bring some, bring only for the important people. They don't expect it, but will be pleased and it always looks better (being a suck-up in Japan is a good point when you wanna ask something like vacations). If you are moving to the inaka (countryside), you will probably meet the town's mayor, might be in the local newspaper and such. I recommend bringing a little something to your supervisor at the BOE or school (ask your pred if you can... I gave something to my BOE supervisor and it helped get conversation going... all in Japanese I have to say). Don't feel obliged to bring anything though. If you have no room in your luggage, they will understand. Do bring things from home but leave the pamphlets behind, you won't use them AT ALL. Keaychains, flags, local team things are good for introduction or prizes if you are in a single school.. but if you go around, you won't start to give stuff everywhere. Basically, even if you do bring stuff, keep it low and don't bring too much. Omiyage in Japan is usually food and with the heat in August, they don't really expect you to bring anything since it'll melt/go bad.

About hygiene stuff. There are some things that you can get in Japan. When you learn about your placement, check if you'll have a Costco relatively close to you (less than 3hrs is considered reasonable...). Costco carry some stuff you might want in limited choice (speed stick deodorant for example). Also Tokyo has pharmacy called "American pharmacy" where they have some imported hygiene products too. Mostly American brands, like Bufferin, Advil, Johnson&Johnson, and Benadryl, as well as health and beauty products that may be hard to find such as the Burt’s Bees range. http://www.sunnypages.jp/travel_guide/t ... y/1686/top

Don't overpack, send stuff ahead and leave some room for when you learn where you'll be. My recommendation, if you wanna have winter clothes/gear, ship them. You can buy some in Japan but it isn't as warm usually (or size is a problem for some). Schools aren't heated in winter usually so most teachers work with a coat on and sometimes small gloves. Most JET houses are also old and cold so unless your pred tells you your house is nice and warm, think that it'll be as warm inside as it is outside in winter (check the average weather on internet and you'll get a good idea). For example, in Hokkaido I had to drain the water pipes before going to bed otherwise they could freeze and burst... But places like Hokkaido has a lot more facility in buying warmer clothes than say, Osaka. Like I said, it depends where you land. Ask around... pred, other JETs around there... get in touch with people.

Last thing, about videogames. There are many that you can here for cheap. Check out the forum on gaijingamers.com . They list the games that have both English and Japanese on them as well as trade and sell games for cheap. You can get many games for PS3 or Xbox from overseas that people brought with them as well as Japanese games... It's worth checking out once in a while.

[Belle]

Hello fellow Canadians who may (or may not) be panicking over omiyage, my biggest piece of advice is wait to hear from your pred as they will be your best resource in preparing the quality/quantity you need!

Second piece of advice, maple flavoured anythings will be your best plan of attack, within one day of handing out cookies I think all of my coworkers will forever remember I am Canadian and not American lol! I also had several "special" omiyage ready for my principle, JTEs, etc. but for my other random coworkers who I have limited interaction with.....

A cheap and cute idea, I bought 3 boxes of maple cookies at my local grocery store (approx 30 cookies per pack) and then once I got to Japan I hit up the 100yen store for cute omiyage food baggies with twist ties (easy-peasy to find at ANY 100yen store in Japan thanks to the omiyage culture here, 1 package of 20 baggies = 100yen). Went home and put a few cookies in the baggies and then put those personal baggies all in a nice gift bag to bring with me to school and use to carry them around as I walk around the staffroom at lunch and hand them out TIP: bring all omiyage in a carry bag, many people will want to shake your hand and you don't want to have to juggle 20-30 other omiyage to do so lol.

Hope someone out there finds this useful, anyone else can do this too if there are special cookies from your home country not individually wrapped. My American friend did the same thing with lemon-creme cookies.