What to bring...

[cookiehearts]

If you are in the UK, there is a special deal where you can send an extra suitcase for about 120 pounds for air, and maybe sea was about 80 pounds? You will get more info on it at orientation.

You know what you should bring? Decent stain removal products! Like Tide to Go and other good stain removal sprays. Washing machines in Japan are 90% crap, and usually only wash your clothes in cold water.

[molzam]

I have spent the last while searching up the debates about not bringing my laptop and only bringing an iPad. I read all sorts of answers saying that you need a laptop to watch dvd's or movies, or for work ( and some saying that you can't bring them into work), but I would like to know if it is possible to get by without a laptop. I have spent the last 2 years of University using only an iPad with no laptop, and I have gotten by fine with movies/music, skyping friends/family, writing papers/schoolwork, transferring and editing pictures, reading textbooks/books. Other than this, are there any other good reasons to have a laptop?

[teabot]

I have spent the last while searching up the debates about not bringing my laptop and only bringing an iPad. I read all sorts of answers saying that you need a laptop to watch dvd's or movies, or for work ( and some saying that you can't bring them into work), but I would like to know if it is possible to get by without a laptop. I have spent the last 2 years of University using only an iPad with no laptop, and I have gotten by fine with movies/music, skyping friends/family, writing papers/schoolwork, transferring and editing pictures, reading textbooks/books. Other than this, are there any other good reasons to have a laptop?

it comes down to personal preference, mainly.

living and working here hasn't really been that different from home in terms of technology for me.

i'm technically not supposed to bring/use my laptop at work, but my current school permits it/a JTE asked/assumed i would bring it to use for work. some schools have given me school laptops to work on, and others i've only been able to use one of the 1-2 communal desktops.

basically if you can create worksheets one your ipad and have some way to print those files without connecting to the school network, then you should be golden. ask your pred for more details on your specific school(s), of course, but even if you come with just the ipad and want a laptop later, you can totally buy one here (though depending on brand/OS preferences, you may run into limitations. Macs are easiest to deal with internationally, i think...)

[doughnut_nips_moore]

Hey, sorry if this has been covered, I'm a bit late to game of JET forums!

I don't know whether I should bring my PS3 and Xbox with me and pay for an extra bag, get them shipped later or leave them in the UK altogether? I go mad without my consoles when I've got nothing to do at home and no sports/gym, and working in the gaming industry has paid for my last four years of university and my and my other half will end up co-oping online to try and preserve some sort of normality after I leave.
I don't want to risk blowing my Xbox as it's a limited edition one so I'm a bit worried about finding the right converter as well.
I'm tempted to get rid of my PS3 (back up all the game saves) and get a Vita to tide me over until I figure out what to do but I don't know if it's worth losing the bluray player, like, what are the chances of getting a tv as I'm definitely not bringing mine lol!

Any help in deciding would be awesome!

[Daichi]

Hey, sorry if this has been covered, I'm a bit late to game of JET forums!

I don't know whether I should bring my PS3 and Xbox with me and pay for an extra bag, get them shipped later or leave them in the UK altogether? I go mad without my consoles when I've got nothing to do at home and no sports/gym, and working in the gaming industry has paid for my last four years of university and my and my other half will end up co-oping online to try and preserve some sort of normality after I leave.
I don't want to risk blowing my Xbox as it's a limited edition one so I'm a bit worried about finding the right converter as well.
I'm tempted to get rid of my PS3 (back up all the game saves) and get a Vita to tide me over until I figure out what to do but I don't know if it's worth losing the bluray player, like, what are the chances of getting a tv as I'm definitely not bringing mine lol!

Any help in deciding would be awesome!

We brought our Wii and it's been great. I would check the power adapter of your xbox, if it says anywhere on the plug or the machine 100 - 240v 50/60 you don't need a converter. And most electronics in past decade are built like this.

[zerowolf87]

Hey, sorry if this has been covered, I'm a bit late to game of JET forums!

I don't know whether I should bring my PS3 and Xbox with me and pay for an extra bag, get them shipped later or leave them in the UK altogether? I go mad without my consoles when I've got nothing to do at home and no sports/gym, and working in the gaming industry has paid for my last four years of university and my and my other half will end up co-oping online to try and preserve some sort of normality after I leave.
I don't want to risk blowing my Xbox as it's a limited edition one so I'm a bit worried about finding the right converter as well.
I'm tempted to get rid of my PS3 (back up all the game saves) and get a Vita to tide me over until I figure out what to do but I don't know if it's worth losing the bluray player, like, what are the chances of getting a tv as I'm definitely not bringing mine lol!

Any help in deciding would be awesome!

We brought our Wii and it's been great. I would check the power adapter of your xbox, if it says anywhere on the plug or the machine 100 - 240v 50/60 you don't need a converter. And most electronics in past decade are built like this.

Like the above person said, check the converter, but either way the converters are easy to find on amazon.jp or amazon.com. I would also like to point out that the Xbox is used way less in Japan than in America and therefore sometimes the amount of games are less. Also, unlike a PS3 and Xbox 360 is not 100% region free so you may have trouble playing games bought in Japan.

[Gizmotech]

Hey, sorry if this has been covered, I'm a bit late to game of JET forums!

I don't know whether I should bring my PS3 and Xbox with me and pay for an extra bag, get them shipped later or leave them in the UK altogether? I go mad without my consoles when I've got nothing to do at home and no sports/gym, and working in the gaming industry has paid for my last four years of university and my and my other half will end up co-oping online to try and preserve some sort of normality after I leave.
I don't want to risk blowing my Xbox as it's a limited edition one so I'm a bit worried about finding the right converter as well.
I'm tempted to get rid of my PS3 (back up all the game saves) and get a Vita to tide me over until I figure out what to do but I don't know if it's worth losing the bluray player, like, what are the chances of getting a tv as I'm definitely not bringing mine lol!

Any help in deciding would be awesome!

You will most likely need a US style power brick for you 360 (unless things have changed in the last 2 years of production). The UK adapter a friend brought wasn't voltage compatible with the Japanese power grid.

Do not bring your ps3. Just bring your games, as the PS3 is not region locked for games, and buy a used one when you get here (There are tons of them in used stores). It's not worth the hassle of bringing it over, and wasting all that valuable storage space.

[coop52]

If you do decide to bring your console, don't try packing it in your suitcase since it'll take up too much space. It should be fine to send later. Just wrap it up in some clothes. And it should work here as long as your cord is the brick style that accepts a range of voltages.

[johnny]

If I can just buy a PS3 in Japan and have it work with my North American games, I'll just buy the system in Japan...unless I can't change the language setting...

[Gizmotech]

If I can just buy a PS3 in Japan and have it work with my North American games, I'll just buy the system in Japan...unless I can't change the language setting...

You can change the language, but it will be in Japanese when it boots up. You kinda need to change a bunch of system language options to get it to behave like a (insert region here) console, but it's not bad once you've got the main OS behaving in English. You can also use your PSN account from where ever you are, but they do do IP blocking on certain things.

[thedocumentarian]

The great thing about PS3s is that Blu-ray discs do not have region coding. With DVD players, some regions cannot be played. With computers, only a certain amount of times can the region be changed before being locked.

[Gizmotech]

The great thing about PS3s is that Blu-ray discs do not have region coding. With DVD players, some regions cannot be played. With computers, only a certain amount of times can the region be changed before being locked.

NOT TRUE.

PS3 Game discs are region free (except 1, persona 4).
Blu-ray discs have 3 region codes. (down from the 7 or 8 w/ DVD).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray#Region_codes

[Shem]

However much you think you need to bring- bring less than that.

[alice233]

Remember that second-hand/recycle shops sell all manner of things, from wardrobes to clothes to games. My local recycle shop sells very reasonably priced consoles (all of the main ones), you're allowed to get them out the case and check them over for damage, and there's a one-week returns guarantee.

I know it's tempting to think, "Oh, well, I need that... and I really like that, I want to bring it... and that as well... and that might be useful", but remember that you can buy nearly everything here. If you have someone at home who is willing and able to package up any of your stuff and send it to Japan, think about asking them. If it's not 100% essential, leave it behind and try living without it for a few months. If you decide that you need/really want it, you can get it shipped to Japan later. My personal policy is, if I can buy it in Japan, I'm not bringing it- especially the little everyday things.

(Speaking as someone whose predecessor brought their own bedding, coat-hangers, hair-dryer and internet modem from home... since, you know, Japan doesn't have shops or Amazon)

[doughnut_nips_moore]

Hey, sorry if this has been covered, I'm a bit late to game of JET forums!

I don't know whether I should bring my PS3 and Xbox with me and pay for an extra bag, get them shipped later or leave them in the UK altogether? I go mad without my consoles when I've got nothing to do at home and no sports/gym, and working in the gaming industry has paid for my last four years of university and my and my other half will end up co-oping online to try and preserve some sort of normality after I leave.
I don't want to risk blowing my Xbox as it's a limited edition one so I'm a bit worried about finding the right converter as well.
I'm tempted to get rid of my PS3 (back up all the game saves) and get a Vita to tide me over until I figure out what to do but I don't know if it's worth losing the bluray player, like, what are the chances of getting a tv as I'm definitely not bringing mine lol!

Any help in deciding would be awesome!

We brought our Wii and it's been great. I would check the power adapter of your xbox, if it says anywhere on the plug or the machine 100 - 240v 50/60 you don't need a converter. And most electronics in past decade are built like this.

massive sadface. my Xbox only seems to be compatible 200-240V...i'm not bothered about games as all the new releases i'm after will be on that piece of crap they announced as the "XboxOne" but i guess I'll just have to find a converter! In terms of the PS3, how hard was it to navigate to the language settings? i'm thinking just backing mine up and swapping it with work for a Vita till I find a second hand one there.