Seldom Asked Questions

This is the Mie Guidebook SAQ - Questions asked not so frequently

It is an ever-expanding work in progress.

Some of the answers here are verifiable, others should probably be taken with a grain of salt.

Japan

Compared to England, Japan seems to be awash with sparkling new cars. Where do the old cars go?

Answer 1

Like most countries, cars that are no longer needed (whether they are old are crashed) are sent to the wreckers. There is also a percentage of cars that are exported to other poorer countries. Recently theres even been a huge surge of older Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) sports cars that have been exported to the US and Canada and other stable countries. From what I've heard, its not unheard of to see these cars exported to Australia, and England as well. I think the reason you see more shiny new cars in Japan is because cars are "no longer needed" here, earlier than in England.

Answer 2

Japanese used cars go to NZ to be flogged into the ground. Most of the the cars being registered for the first time in NZ are used cars from Japan, not new (apparently about 2/3rds used - up to 9/10ths excluding fleet sales). New Zealand is the single biggest export market for used Japanese cars.

Rules

What's the story with busking (playing street music) in Japan? Can I do it?

There are certain cities and districts that have official permits for buskers, others that don't. For example, the Tokyo metropolitan government's "Heaven Artist" scheme is one - which allows for buskers to play at "popular" venues such as Yoyogi park, Odaiba, Tokyo Dome, etc. Trying to play at these places without a permit will probably see you thrown out quicksmart. Usually, crowded areas (like outside major train stations) will require a permit.

In public areas (ie street corners), all it takes is one disgruntled pedestrian / shop owner to complain to the police, and they can (and probably will) remove you for violating the road traffic law. Which is why you'll find most "non-professional" buskers out late at night (after all the shops are closed), playing in pedestrian-only arcades.

Either way, at worst, they'll probably just tell you to "move on", instead of throwing you into the back of a van... so I'd say go for it if you feel inclined to. Just play later at night, or make sure you get the permission of any of shops in the nearby area before you do so.

How-to

I want to buy a softbank phone and bring it back to Canada to use. But I know I need to unlock it first. Where can I unlock a Softbank phone?

There's a kit available out there to unlock the Softbank Samsung 705SC, 706SC, 707SC and 709SC phones - so I'm assuming there's someone out there in shady Chinatown Canada who'll do it for you.

At worst, you could just buy the kit and unlock it yourself.

http://www.cellcorner.com/xshp/unlock-phone-codes/nspro-samsung-box.html