THINGS FOREIGN

Newspapers and Magazines

Japan's various English language daily newspapers can be delivered to your home. The Daily Yomiuri, The Japan Times, the Mainichi Daily News and the Asahi Evening News can be ordered by contacting the numbers below.

Intercontinental Marketing Corporation distributes many European and North American magazines in Japan. Their address is International Marketing Corporation, IPO Box 5056, Tokyo. Call 03-3661-7458 or fax 03-3667-9646.

Overseas Courier Service also distributes newspapers, journals and magazines from Europe or North America. For more information contact, OCA Co. Limited, 2-9 Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo. Phone 03-5476-8106 or fax 03-3453-8329.

The Japan Times has a weekly edition and The Nikkei Weekly is another English language publication. The monthly Hiragana Times offers a bilingual experience with articles written in Japanese and English to practice your language skills. These can be bought from good bookstores or ordered.

Various non-Japanese newspapers have weekly editions that can be ordered from abroad. For example, weekly versions of The New York Times (USA) or The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph (UK). Other newspapers can be ordered weekly from home, but only in their daily versions, for example, The Irish Times.

In the bigger and better Nippon Living you will also find full information on:

Travel

Below are some travel agencies with bilingual speaking representatives to assist you. Languages spoken at many of these agencies include not only English but a host of others including Tagalog, Farsi, Chinese, Korean and Portuguese. Some of those listed below may have several branches but the phone number of their main one is listed for reasons of brevity.

In Sayama, JTB has an office in Saty on the third floor. Call 042-955-0011 (in Japanese). Hours are from 10 am - 7 pm, Monday to Saturday. For other travel agencies with branches in Sayama consult the relevant telephone directory. For all anoraks and those of you who do not wish to wade through a Japanese phone book, the present Japanese version of Townpage lists travel agencies from page 1227 onwards.

Things to Remember

You need a Re-Entry permit to allow you to come and go from Japan without forfeiting your existing visa. Please check Visa Information for more details.

Check if you need a visa to enter the country you intend to visit and that your passport will not be invalid for your trip. Some countries will not let you enter unless your passport has at least 6 months left to run on it.

Remember that the middle of August (obon week) and the weeks either side of Christmas and New Year are very expensive times to travel.

Do you have insurance that covers theft and loss or medical expenses in case the worst happens?

Do you need inoculations, a course of malaria tablets or other medicines?

Always keep valuables safe, make copies of important documents (e.g. passport) and avoid taking your one and only address book in case you lose it.

Tokyo Tourist Centre has information in English about places to go and things to do in Japan. Open Monday to Friday 9 am - 5 pm. Saturdays 9 am - 12 pm. Call 03-3502-1461. It is a good source of bilingual maps for trains, underground, etc.

Haneda Airport Flight lnformation: 03-5757-8111.

To get to Haneda from Sayama, take the Seibu-Shinjuku Line to Takadanobaba. From there change to JR Yamanote and ride it until Hanamatsucho. From here take the monorail to the final stop HANEDA AIRPORT. DO NOT GET OFF AT HANEDA, THIS IS TWO STOPS BEFORE HANEDA AIRPORT. Allow at least two hours for the journey.

Narita Flight Information: Call 0476-34-5000

To get to Narita Airport from Sayama:

Take the Seibu-Shinjuku Line to Takadanobaba, change there to JR Yamanote and ride it to JR Shinjuku Station. (Alternatively, take the Seibu-Shinjuku Line to Seibu-Shinjuku Station and walk to JR Shinjuku Station). From there ride the Narita Express to Narita Airport. Make sure you GET OFF AT NARITA AIRPORT TERMINAL 1 STOP OR NARITA AIRPORT TERMINAL 2 STOP, THE FINAL TWO ON THE TRAIN. CHECK WHICH AIRPORT TERMINAL YOUR FLIGHT DEPARTS FROM BEFORE LEAVING SAYAMA.

Cost of the Narita Express is Y2500. Time from Shinjuku Station to Narita Airport is about one hour.

Call JR East Information and Reservations: 03-3423-0111. This service is in English and also deals with lost and found inquiries. Available Monday to Friday (but not on holidays) from 10 am - 6 pm.

Skyliner Express - Keisei Railway train direct to Narita Airport from Ueno or Nippori. Call 03-3831-0131 (in Japanese). Available seven days a week. From Takadanobaba, take the JR Yamanote to Nippori. Eight stops from Takadanobaba on a train heading towards Ikebukuro. From Nippori the Skyliner takes one hour and costs Y1920.

Alternatively, you could take the even cheaper, regular train service from the same platform as the Skyliner, which also goes to Narita Airport terminals 1 and 2. This takes about 1 hour 20 minutes and costs Y1000.

Airport Bus Services are available from Omiya or major hotels in Tokyo, to Narita and Haneda Airports.

ABC Airport Baggage Service will deliver your luggage to and from Narita Airport. Call 03-3545-1131. Other such services can be found in the Leaving section. You could also consult Townpage.

You must pay Y2040 airport tax (Y1020 for children) if departing the country.

International Airlines

Telephone Numbers of Embassies, Consulates and Diplomatic Offices

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