Tokyo, Japan - Traveling and buying electronic components

[13engrsapper]

I need to go there with an armload of business cards and say hi. Just to trade contacts for hard to find stuff.

 

[Whoops]

Did you find the caps you needed there? I was going to trudge upstairs and look at ours today

I was in Japan in June, I didn't have the need for the caps back then.
Thanks

 

[13engrsapper]

lol - I just finished my coffee and noticed lol.

 

[Whoops]

I need to go there with an armload of business cards and say hi. Just to trade contacts for hard to find stuff.

You should do, you will have loads of fun and yes bring your Business Cards as in Japan they still use them and take them very seriously. Every people I met professionally in Japan gave me their Business card and I had no card to trade, I always got the disappointing looks. Now I know, next time I go there I take I will take for sure my cards.

 

[Script]

Need loads of them. Business cards in Japan are good cos it gives the reading of Japanese name characters. Not always easy. And gives a little space to note down something on the card such as where and when met the person or what talked about our why that person is interesting.

Some people here even have several different cards -- for different jobs, different occasions, different contact.

BTW, Japan will decide soon whether they'll allow individual tourism again, so... get your cards in order

Best to put the name in Japanese katakana on the card so they now how to pronounce that foreign name.

 

[13engrsapper]

You should do, you will have loads of fun and yes bring your Business Cards as in Japan they still use them and take them very seriously. Every people I met professionally in Japan gave me their Business card and I had no card to trade, I always got the disappointing looks. Now I know, next time I go there I take I will take for sure my cards.

Yes, there is a custom. You carefully hold the business card with both hands and look at it thoroughly - with a small bow usually. you DO NOT casually slide it into your pocket.

 

[13engrsapper]

I have often noticed some of my Asian counterparts carrying several different business cards for several business they own or are involved in. Seems like a common practice among "business people/owners" over there.

 

[alphasnk]

Thank you for the photos Whoops, it's super cool!!

 

[andYz00m]

So amazing. Akihabara is so awesome. Thanks for posting! They have some really great thieves and night markets as well that some some great shops.

 

[Michael Tibes]

So nice, reminds me of similar places I used to visit in Taipei. These malls in Taipei I used to visit are either gone or in an obvious state of decline (like every other shop unoccupied), but maybe someone here has a tip for interesting places there? I might be be around in a not too distant future.

Michael

 

[Gregg Johns]

Amazing place! Hamfests and electronic flee markets in the states were a treasure trove years ago. not so much now hate to say.

 

[Whoops]

Yes, there is a custom. You carefully hold the business card with both hands and look at it thoroughly - with a small bow usually. you DO NOT casually slide it into your pocket.

yes hold the card with both hands used to be the traditional way but I see people more relaxed nowdays and not every Japanese people o that, some of them seem to not care that much about it anymore.
As for not "casually slid the card into your pocket" yes, for sure, cards are taken very seriously, the respect you show to the card is the respect you show to the person, best thing to do is to put the card inside your Bussiness Card Wallet or Case, Yes, everyone in Japan that gave me a business card had a wallet of box with them specifically to keep their cards and other's people cards.

So not only bring your own Business cards to Japan but also bring your Business Card Wallet/Case also.

 

[Whoops]

BTW, Japan will decide soon whether they'll allow individual tourism again, so... get your cards in order

It was really difficult for us to travel to Japan in June, we needed a special Visa and also certificate of 3 doses of Vaccination, a PCR test valid 72 hours before entering Japan and also install a Japanese Health/Covid app in our phone (yes it was mandatory to have the app) and fill 3 different forms inside the app that had to change for green or blue in case you were accepted.
When Entering Japan in the Airport we had to show everything and phone app included.
It was a mess for our production to take care of all of this.
The Bass Player only had 2 doses of the vaccine (because he was infected before so in Portugal they would only give him the 3rd dose 6 months after the infection), and the poor guy had to stay 4 days of quarantine inside his hotel room without being able to go out or see someone. He also had to have the App ready all the time, because Police and Health officials would make a video call to the app at anytime during the day to check he was inside his room.
If he broke the quarantine and left his room he would be arrested and all our group would be expelled from Japan.

It's strange that no Japanese person we met had been infected before and most didnt even knew anyone that was infected, while in our group of 9 Portuguese people we all have been infected in the last 2 years and everyone we know in Portugal was infected also (even though Portugal has one of the highest Vaccination rates in the World).
That means we built some group immunity and Japan didn't, so people there are still very scared and all (really all) use masks, when here everyone Bin the masks many months ago.

Well just some curiosities.

I just check today and my Japanese Visa as an "Entertainer" is still valid, I miss Japan, we had a great time there

 

[Script]

Yeah, sounds familiar. They had changed those proceedings just a couple of days ago to easy entry for triple-vaccinated with app showing blue -- just walk thru -- no PCR test required. But only triple vax'ed business people and tourists on chartered tours, meaning attended at all time (to have a translator in case of infection, as Japan in large parts doesn't speak foreign languages -- especially not in hospitals and even less among authorities).

And now, just a few days later, they announced thinking about opening for individual tourists maybe at the end of the month. Weirdly, triple-vaccinated will remain a requirement though, it seems. They don't need more people entering hospitals, they say -- so that's where they draw a line. Double-vax'ed with 72-hour PCR can enter more easily too now, I think.

Mask wearing still omnipresent. Some few may do it for fear, but here also to keep hospitals operationable and for (self-)respect cos there are many people here who won't receive pay if they don't show up at work for illness. Not everybody can afford that.

Japanese people do not talk much about illnesses, in general -- not your own and even less about those of others. There is not much gossip here -- it's disrespectful -- and I like that about Japan.

Funny tidbit:
Face masks are called "kao pantsu": which translates as "face trousers" or rather "face knickers"