Nywoman

Hi Robbie,

For ATM withdrawals when I am traveling I use Schwab. They reimburse any ATM fees and the exchange rate is the daily bank rate.
I have a savings account with them and make sure that I add the amount of money I think I will need before I leave for a trip.

I will be in Takayama October 9th, staying in Giro Onsen and taking the train in the morning, returning the same evening.
The festival should be fun or at least very interesting.

Kathie

Hi Robbie, it is goo to see you back here on the Asia Forum. I'm not an expert on Japan travel as many here are so can't help with your specific questions, but wanted to say hello and wish you well.

Robbietravels

I assume the amount of date I get comes from the MiFi company. CDJapan offers unlimited data usage; says it is good in cities but not in suburbs. Costs 11,400 yen for a month. Global Adv. Comm. offers Premium WiFi 75mbps model with unlimited data "the over data usage will be paid off by GAC) at 16,450 yen for 25 days. So GAC coast $50 more. Is there value added?

I hear selfie sticks have/maybe banned in train stations? If so, does this mean in the restaurant areas or exactly where?

Can't seem to find historical weather reports for Koyasan in October.

Hi Kathie, nice to have some brief contact.

dgunbug

Also looking into wifi company and how much data will be needed for 27 days. For those who have used it, is an additional battery necessary?

dgunbug

Question - should the 75 mgb pocket wifi be sufficient for basic emails, maps, gps? We will be using it for 27 days.

Reading54

>>Question - should the 75 mgb pocket wifi be sufficient for ...<<

If you call your internet service provider to find out what is the data transfer speed you have at home, it probably is less than 50 Mbps. Then you can gauge if 75 Mbps is good enough.

Mbps is the unit of data transfer speed, meaning Mega-bits-per-second. (For reference, it takes 8 bits to constitute 1 byte of data.)

Robbietravels

My speed for downloads is 66.46 and uploads is 4.41. So what am I suppose to deduce from this? Geez, am I on another planet?
And anyone know about those selfie sticks? or Koyasan weather?

mrwunrfl

75 > 66.46

kja

For information on Koyasan's average weather:
https://www.wunderground.com/q/locid:JAXX1005;loctype:1

mrwunrfl

>>DH & I are technologically impaired seniors

ok, no more fishing lessons.

If your download speed of 66.46 Mbps is sufficient for how you use your device now and you will be using it the same way in Japan then 75 Mbps will be more than sufficient because 75 > 66.46

Kathie

I'm glad to hear that they have banned selfie sticks in train stations in Japan! The Japanese are so civilized.

Kavey

We were surprised at quite how MANY selfie sticks we encountered at all the tourist sites on our April trip, far far far more than the 2013 trip when they were still relatively new and rare. Some even had their enormous ipads/ tablets attached so it was like avoiding a swinging weapon sometimes!