Moving to Japan - A few simple questions.

[Fina]

Hello all.

I'm moving to Japan in early March of 2010 and I will be living in or around Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture. I have accepted a job teaching there, but unfortunately they are unable to tell me the exact location of my apartment until I arrive (I guess they don't want me shipping a ton of things over early). However, I know that maximum commute time is 60 mins, and on average 30 mins.

The company does not provide internet service in the apartment, and while they have a lot of people to help you set up basic utilities, they don't help with internet. I do, however, know that there are a few internet providers in Japan with English language support.

Anyway, my first question is: Will I be able to get broadband access in or near Matsumoto city? I know it's up in the Japan Alps, so I'm not sure. DSL, Cable, Fiber Optics?
I read somewhere that only major cities are really wired and a lot of Japan still depends on dial-up. I was told there was an internet cafe near the school, and Matsumoto is a big tourist place because of the castle, but I wanted to make sure...especially the areas surrounding it.
High-speed internet access is a necessity for me.

My second question is: How much will I stand out with blond hair? My hair is not naturally blond, but I am planning on dying it. Is this a good idea/bad idea...or no difference?

Third question: Will I be able to use a credit card (Mastercard/Visa) that I got in the U.S. while in Japan? Will there be high charges if I do? I know most smaller shops only accept cash though.

Fourth: Does anyone know anything interesting about Matsumoto City? I read everything I could find online, but was wondering if there was anything special. Will I still be able to get decent seafood there?

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by Fina

Hello all.

I'm moving to Japan in early March of 2010 and I will be living in or around Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture. I have accepted a job teaching there, but unfortunately they are unable to tell me the exact location of my apartment until I arrive (I guess they don't want me shipping a ton of things over early). However, I know that maximum commute time is 60 mins, and on average 30 mins.

The company does not provide internet service in the apartment, and while they have a lot of people to help you set up basic utilities, they don't help with internet. I do, however, know that there are a few internet providers in Japan with English language support.

Anyway, my first question is: Will I be able to get broadband access in or near Matsumoto city? I know it's up in the Japan Alps, so I'm not sure. DSL, Cable, Fiber Optics?
I read somewhere that only major cities are really wired and a lot of Japan still depends on dial-up. I was told there was an internet cafe near the school, and Matsumoto is a big tourist place because of the castle, but I wanted to make sure...especially the areas surrounding it.
High-speed internet access is a necessity for me.

My second question is: How much will I stand out with blond hair? My hair is not naturally blond, but I am planning on dying it. Is this a good idea/bad idea...or no difference?

Third question: Will I be able to use a credit card (Mastercard/Visa) that I got in the U.S. while in Japan? Will there be high charges if I do? I know most smaller shops only accept cash though.

Fourth: Does anyone know anything interesting about Matsumoto City? I read everything I could find online, but was wondering if there was anything special. Will I still be able to get decent seafood there?

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.

Why is high-speed internet access a necessity?

Why are you planning on dying your hair before moving to Japan?

I have never found a shop that didn't take accept a credit card. Ask your credit card company about charges.

I don't know if there is anywhere in Japan where decent seafood is non-existent.

[Fina]

High speed internet access is important to me because I spend a lot of time using my computer and do not really want to go back to dial-up. I will still be going regardless, but it is extremely important to me.

I was planning on dying my hair regardless of whether I was going to Japan. (I want to dye it just because I want to, however I always stay with natural colors.) However, since I now know that I am going to Japan I am wondering whether I should reconsider.
Would having long blond hair cause problems over auburn hair?

[spicytuna]

Originally Posted by Fina

Would having long blond hair cause problems over auburn hair?

This is a joke right?

[MMM]

Originally Posted by Fina

High speed internet access is important to me because I spend a lot of time using my computer and do not really want to go back to dial-up. I will still be going regardless, but it is extremely important to me.

I was planning on dying my hair regardless of whether I was going to Japan. (I want to dye it just because I want to, however I always stay with natural colors.) However, since I now know that I am going to Japan I am wondering whether I should reconsider.
Would having long blond hair cause problems over auburn hair?

You are going to teach, right? You don't need Internet to do that. But anyway, at this point I would be surprised to hear you would be forced to have dial-up, unless your apartment is pretty old. Japan makes the digital conversion in 2011, so, again, I would be surprised if you couldn't get cable at your place.

Bleached blond hair will be more noticeable than auburn hair, and I don't know if you are teaching at a public school or private school or what, but at the public school I taught at it was against the rules for students to dye their hair, and it was discouraged for teachers to do the same. It's probably fine at a private English school, but that may be something you want to ask about.

[Fina]

It is a private school.
I will ask to make absolutely sure.

I hope to use to internet to help me stay in touch with friends and family, as well as planning lessons and activities.

Thank you MMM for your response.

[spicytuna]

I think you'll find that high speed internet is readily available all over Japan. They don't have wireless broadband like they do in the US, but most rural areas will have ADSL or DSL.

Here's a link which describes your internet options. It includes a bunch of links to some English language ISPs :

ISP Japan FAQ : ISDN, ADSL, FTTH, CATV Cable, VoIP & Mobile Phones ©2000-8 by Keith Wilkinson

[Nyororin]

First - Matsumoto is a pretty big city. It`s not a little town on the side of a mountain.
I would be extremely shocked if you did not have access to at least 100Mbps FTTH. Even in the mountains you can get fairly fast ADSL (40Mbps+) in most places.

The current situation is that if you have a phone, you can get ADSL. And if you live anywhere in or around a city, you can get FTTH. I don`t know anyone who still relies on dial-up for their internet access. It`s sort of been reserved for 2-way television (modem in the tv dials and sends data) at most providers.

You are going to stand out no matter what color your hair is. If you have black or very dark hair you might, just might, have a chance of not standing out much from behind. But really, your hair color isn`t going to have much of an effect on you standing out.

You should have no extra charges for using your card in Japan. You might want to contact your bank about the fact that you`ll be using it in Japan though, as I`ve heard many stories of banks stopping the card as a safety precaution if it`s suddenly used a bunch in another country.
Grocery stores often don`t accept cards, as well as about half the convenience stores - tiny corner shops are a given... But otherwise, most places accept credit.

Matsumoto is a nice place, spent some time up there last year. The most negative things I can think of about the area is that a large part of the city ends up in the shadow of mountains for part of the year. Depending on where you live, you may only get an hour or so of sun hitting your place a day. This can make winter pretty cold.
As MMM said, you can get good seafood anywhere in Japan. Nowhere is all that far from the water. Even in the middle of Nagano, you can still get to the coast and back in half a day or less. If I recall correctly, it took us about 3 hours to get from Matsumoto to the sea.

[Fina]

Thank you spicytuna and Nyororin, you're responses have been very helpful!

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

You might want to contact your bank about the fact that you`ll be using it in Japan though, as I`ve heard many stories of banks stopping the card as a safety precaution if it`s suddenly used a bunch in another country.

Definitely do this, and ignore your bank if they try and tell you that you don't need to. I don't know much about american banks, but certainly some UK ones i've used have an infuriating habit of canceling cards repeatedly, even if you call up and tell them what you're doing in advance. [/rant]

Generally what I did was take my card (albeit visa debit, not credit) and just withdraw lumps of cash to use rather than put it directly on the card. Saved me on the ATM fees, especially on one card as although the Japanese side of the transaction didn't charge me, the british side did. The other card (also visa, also debit) didn't have a charge for withdrawing cash abroad at all, so probably the most sensible thing you can do is just contact your bank and find out with regards to your specific account if there is a charge or not.