I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Mt. Naeba!
Over Christmas John and I went skiing and snowboarding in Mt. Naeba. Mt. Naeba boasts a large ski resort. It is connected to another ski resort by a lift called the "Dragondola." We did not go to the other ski resort as you could really spend an entire week exploring all Naeba has to offer. Since we only had one day, we stuck to some of the easier slopes at Mt. Naeba. I am a very beginning skier and ended up having a great time!
I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:
I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Japan, man.
For the (almost) two years I've lived out in town I have had zero problems sorting my trash. For those that don't know, trash in Japan (if you live in town) is sorted into various piles. The piles are then given different days of the week for pickup. For example, Monday is burnables; Tuesday is plastics; Wednesday is non-burnables....and so on and so forth.
Trash collection times and types varies from area to area. When you move into your off base house, you are given an instruction manual about sorting trash. It SEEMS intimidating, but it was very easy for me to get used to sorting my trash and from the beginning I was a champ at the whole deal. If there was a trophy for proper trash sorting, I would probably win it.....just saying.
Prior to a few weeks ago, I had a ZERO rejection rate. Oh yeah, that's right, if you don't sort your trash correctly, it isn't picked up, but instead left in the bin with a note attached. It's your responsibility to retrieve it from the bin and fix the issue, but it can mean holding onto your trash for an extra week.
A few weeks ago, the trash collectors started refusing my plastic trash. Plastic trash is only picked up once a week, which means I had to store old trash. Ick. I tried sorting and resorting and still no pickup. I stored the trash in my carport until I could figure out what to do, but one morning, the crows got hold of the bags, ripped them open and spread the trash across my driveway and into my neighbors yard. Talk about embarrassing, walking around claiming used sandwich wrappers, empty Funyun packages, empty Doritos packages, and empty cookie wrappers. Don't judge me!! I'm a fat kid at heart who loves to snack a little too much, okay?!
Ahem. Moving on....
The crows pulling my trash out for everyone to see was the last straw. I took a picture of the note attached to the garbage bags and asked someone to translate it for me. It said my plastic containers were dirty. Of course they were.
So, I had to go back through several weeks of old plastic trash and wash each item. Yup. I am washing my trash....only in Japan can your trash be too dirty.
Now, some people might have given up and just taken their trash to base and dumped it in any random dumpster. On base, you don't have to sort the trash, contractors do that and then send it to Japanese landfills. Let me remind you that if an offbase resident is caught dumping household trash on base, there are penalties (I don't know what and I don't want to find out). There is one bin on base where offbase residents can dump appliances and large furniture, but that is it. It's not that the police monitor the dumpsters (they don't), but there's plenty of people on base eager to jot down your license plate number and report you to the authorities. Why? Because when you dump trash on base it leaves less room in the dumpster for onbase residents to dispose of their trash. They don't like to be confronted with overflowing dumpsters. I get their point, it's not pleasent.
Anyway, so now I sit here taking a break from washing my trash. Let's cross our fingers that pick up happens for me on Tuesday.
Trash collection times and types varies from area to area. When you move into your off base house, you are given an instruction manual about sorting trash. It SEEMS intimidating, but it was very easy for me to get used to sorting my trash and from the beginning I was a champ at the whole deal. If there was a trophy for proper trash sorting, I would probably win it.....just saying.
Prior to a few weeks ago, I had a ZERO rejection rate. Oh yeah, that's right, if you don't sort your trash correctly, it isn't picked up, but instead left in the bin with a note attached. It's your responsibility to retrieve it from the bin and fix the issue, but it can mean holding onto your trash for an extra week.
A few weeks ago, the trash collectors started refusing my plastic trash. Plastic trash is only picked up once a week, which means I had to store old trash. Ick. I tried sorting and resorting and still no pickup. I stored the trash in my carport until I could figure out what to do, but one morning, the crows got hold of the bags, ripped them open and spread the trash across my driveway and into my neighbors yard. Talk about embarrassing, walking around claiming used sandwich wrappers, empty Funyun packages, empty Doritos packages, and empty cookie wrappers. Don't judge me!! I'm a fat kid at heart who loves to snack a little too much, okay?!
Ahem. Moving on....
The crows pulling my trash out for everyone to see was the last straw. I took a picture of the note attached to the garbage bags and asked someone to translate it for me. It said my plastic containers were dirty. Of course they were.
So, I had to go back through several weeks of old plastic trash and wash each item. Yup. I am washing my trash....only in Japan can your trash be too dirty.
Now, some people might have given up and just taken their trash to base and dumped it in any random dumpster. On base, you don't have to sort the trash, contractors do that and then send it to Japanese landfills. Let me remind you that if an offbase resident is caught dumping household trash on base, there are penalties (I don't know what and I don't want to find out). There is one bin on base where offbase residents can dump appliances and large furniture, but that is it. It's not that the police monitor the dumpsters (they don't), but there's plenty of people on base eager to jot down your license plate number and report you to the authorities. Why? Because when you dump trash on base it leaves less room in the dumpster for onbase residents to dispose of their trash. They don't like to be confronted with overflowing dumpsters. I get their point, it's not pleasent.
Anyway, so now I sit here taking a break from washing my trash. Let's cross our fingers that pick up happens for me on Tuesday.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Ship It APO saved my life (not really, but it feels like it)
When you come to Japan, one of the first things you will do is get set up with an FPO mailbox. Some families are allowed to have their own and shore command families share a common FPO box with their entire department. FPO mailboxes allow military families stationed overseas to have a US address to which people can send mail without incurring any international mailing charges.
There are many downsides to having an FPO address. Mail takes longer to get here if it isn't shipped USPS Priority. Many of the large shipping companies (FedEx, UPS) won't ship to an FPO mailbox. Many of the large retailers won't ship to an FPO address. Some large retailers will ship to an FPO address, but the shipping time is much longer. Other retailers may charge you an outlandish shipping price to send mail to an FPO address.
Enter Ship It APO, a company run by ex-military who understand how hard it is to get packages to an FPO address. This company provides you with a personalized US address that you can use as a shipping address for packages. When they receive your package, they affix your FPO address to it and send it to you via USPS Priority mail. Let's check out a pro's and con's list:
Pros:
- They will send all packages USPS Priority, the fastest method to reach FPO boxes.
- The charge no annual fee for basic membership and only charge shipping and handling for packages shipped.
- They offer all kinds of extra services at various prices, such as reboxing obvious electronics to prevent theft.
- The address they give you is used as a shipping address only so you do not have to change your billing address on any of your credit cards.
- They only accept packages, so they can't be used for letters.
- They will sign for any packages that need a signature.
- Upon reciving your package they send it out within 48 hours.
- Their costs are fairly reasonable (if you don't add extra services). One normal size package costs about $13 to be shipped to you.
- They provide tracking and insurance as part of their basic service.
Cons:
- You have to keep a credit card on file and they charge your card right away as they ship. (A con for people who like to have control over when they are charged). They do offer the option of adding a prepaid amount to your account so they prepaid amount is debited instead.
- You essentially pay for shipping twice. You have to pay for shipping from the original company to ShipitAPO and then you have to pay again to have ShipItAPO send it to you. Solution: Shop with companies who offer a free shipping option.
- They won't forward everything. There are some laws and regulations about what can and can't be shipped to an FPO box. They will not break postal service laws. However, packages can be redirected to a family member.
- They charge for everything. Don't think they'll do anything for free. If a package can't be sent to an FPO address, they'll charge you for: 1) having a rejected package and 2) to ship somewhere else in the States. Pay attention to your invoices as it'll tell you how much was charged.
- They won't combine packages. If you order two small packages, they will be sent as two small packages (instead of one big package) and you'll be charged for each.
- They may open your package. Part of their process is to ensure nothing illegal is being sent to an FPO address. This means packages are inspected and may be opened.
I am just now finding out about this company and I wish I had known about it a lot sooner. Apparently, many of my friends have been using it. This company just sent my first two packages and the turn around time was excellent.
So, there you go, just throwing this option out there for people who are fed up with not being able to do all of their shopping online.
There are many downsides to having an FPO address. Mail takes longer to get here if it isn't shipped USPS Priority. Many of the large shipping companies (FedEx, UPS) won't ship to an FPO mailbox. Many of the large retailers won't ship to an FPO address. Some large retailers will ship to an FPO address, but the shipping time is much longer. Other retailers may charge you an outlandish shipping price to send mail to an FPO address.
Enter Ship It APO, a company run by ex-military who understand how hard it is to get packages to an FPO address. This company provides you with a personalized US address that you can use as a shipping address for packages. When they receive your package, they affix your FPO address to it and send it to you via USPS Priority mail. Let's check out a pro's and con's list:
Pros:
- They will send all packages USPS Priority, the fastest method to reach FPO boxes.
- The charge no annual fee for basic membership and only charge shipping and handling for packages shipped.
- They offer all kinds of extra services at various prices, such as reboxing obvious electronics to prevent theft.
- The address they give you is used as a shipping address only so you do not have to change your billing address on any of your credit cards.
- They only accept packages, so they can't be used for letters.
- They will sign for any packages that need a signature.
- Upon reciving your package they send it out within 48 hours.
- Their costs are fairly reasonable (if you don't add extra services). One normal size package costs about $13 to be shipped to you.
- They provide tracking and insurance as part of their basic service.
Cons:
- You have to keep a credit card on file and they charge your card right away as they ship. (A con for people who like to have control over when they are charged). They do offer the option of adding a prepaid amount to your account so they prepaid amount is debited instead.
- You essentially pay for shipping twice. You have to pay for shipping from the original company to ShipitAPO and then you have to pay again to have ShipItAPO send it to you. Solution: Shop with companies who offer a free shipping option.
- They won't forward everything. There are some laws and regulations about what can and can't be shipped to an FPO box. They will not break postal service laws. However, packages can be redirected to a family member.
- They charge for everything. Don't think they'll do anything for free. If a package can't be sent to an FPO address, they'll charge you for: 1) having a rejected package and 2) to ship somewhere else in the States. Pay attention to your invoices as it'll tell you how much was charged.
- They won't combine packages. If you order two small packages, they will be sent as two small packages (instead of one big package) and you'll be charged for each.
- They may open your package. Part of their process is to ensure nothing illegal is being sent to an FPO address. This means packages are inspected and may be opened.
I am just now finding out about this company and I wish I had known about it a lot sooner. Apparently, many of my friends have been using it. This company just sent my first two packages and the turn around time was excellent.
So, there you go, just throwing this option out there for people who are fed up with not being able to do all of their shopping online.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)