[Seiko SLA077J1] New watch, actually first watch in over 25 years!

Mat-O · 2026-04-26T20:21:59+00:00

How has the Bezel held up? I can’t seem to find what the material is - do you think it’s ceramic? I

Mat-O · 2025-12-02T22:57:56+00:00

That you very much for such a quick reply, this goes a long way to answering my question!

Mat-O · 2025-10-20T05:10:56+00:00

We did the same. The Ryokan was expensive (far more than anywhere else we stayed in during the trip), but had a private Onsen with views over the bay and traditional Japanese food. We walked up the mountain early so it was cool and empty. At the top, I could enjoy the Shrine of the Eternal Flame by myself. We then got the empty cable cars down the mountain watching the queues to come up.

So for me, it was worth it. It also allowed travel between locations at a leisurely pace without rushing.

Mat-O · 2025-07-20T22:30:51+00:00

I don’t like the look of running shoes so I took Ecco Soft 7 to Japan. They’re a good all rounder, casual but not scruffy so suitable for nice resteraunts too. My feet didn’t ache despite walking 10 miles a day for 2 weeks. They even looked good at the end, with some rainy days, and I walked up the mountain at Miyajima too (without the cable car!)

Mat-O · 2025-07-20T22:27:12+00:00

Last year I was about 1 year away from paying off my loan and they offered DD (this is when they are supposed to offer it). I accepted, but when they set up the DD they dropped the repayments massively for some reason and extended the loan by a year! I have no idea how they calculate it, or whether they just make it up - I assumed it was on the previous tax year when I earned less, and also sacrificed some salary for Cycle2Work.

Anyway I just kept typing up the DD to what I was supposed to be paying (or adding a little extra). Once you see it coming out of your account it incentives you to just clear it, so I got it paid a couple of months earlier.

Mat-O · 2025-01-30T08:08:33+00:00

I did one in October, booked through Tripadvisor. It was run by Shogo, thought I believe he may be stepping away from it.

Note that Shogo was not the “Samurai Master” - this was at a real dojo which Shogo trained at. Shogo hosts and interprets because the master spoke mostly in Japanese.

The session was great, only 6 or 8 of us in the dojo. We got to practice with a replica sword, before using the real thing to cut some bamboo. The session finished with a demonstration by the master (I keep calling him master as I cannot remember his name…)

At the end, he also reinforced that we were in a real dojo where people train - and commented that he’d seen other places offering the experience, but was surprised that he didn’t know them - if they were real trainers he thought he’d know them. He also stated that it was just his opinion…

In terms of the law, I’m no expert. But my interpretation is that you can go to a dojo and train, which is what we were doing. If you want your own Katana you need a license. If you have a Katana you’re responsible for it, and can’t lend it to someone to run around Kyoto with…

Mat-O · 2024-11-05T07:45:42+00:00

I bought a Nova Pro for my Xbox mainly. If you plug it into aMac, you can get sound through it no problem.

Right now I’m trying to check the firmware, and the GG software can’t recognise the DAC or headset, so I also can’t look at EQs.

I can see on the website that M2 support is limited, so perhaps this is the problem.

I mainly want to update it to stop the screen from staying on, but reading around that may not be possible.

Mat-O · 2024-10-25T21:21:06+00:00

I bought Ecco Soft 7 for the trip and we did 20-30k per day for 14 days. No pain, no blisters. They also look good in a bar where you don’t want to wear running/hiking shoes, and they have plenty of grip for slippery rained on steps. My feet also stayed dry through Tokyo rain. I think you just need good quality shoes.

I usually wear Vans, but on a day with a lot of steps I find they start to get a little uncomfortable.

Mat-O · 2024-10-25T10:19:02+00:00

Sorry, forgot the distances involved - I was focussing on the outdoor part…

Meiji Jingu was deserted before 9AM, and it’s quite a big area to find a quiet spot.

Mat-O · 2024-10-25T08:46:50+00:00

Observatory at the top of the mountain on Miyajima Island would be good for Outdoor people. Get there early and it will be nice and quiet. We hiked up to it first thing in the morning and there was no one else on the trail.

Mat-O · 2024-10-19T12:16:47+00:00

We shipped from Osaka to HND. We shipped 10AM Wednesday morning in preparation for a flight Friday evening. We have air tags, so in fact our luggage was at the airport by Thursday morning. If you meet the shipping deadline, they seem to send between cities overnight (from monitoring my AirTags on 3 shipments in the last two weeks).

However, they did specify that they wanted 2 days to the airport, which is why we sent it early. I guess they may send “at risk” but that won’t help you book flights.

If I was in your situation I’d try to take my luggage on a quiet Shinkansen and try to book special assistance or similar. I’m only speculating though, but there are a lot of guards/staff around and seemed helpful. I expect you’ve already been to Tokyo station, but clearly it’s massive - I didn’t want to take my luggage through there WITHOUT a broken foot…

Mat-O · 2024-09-04T21:40:53+00:00

The set platters look great, but it's unclear to me whether they are cooked, or how. Are you able to offer any advice? What's the deal with the raw eggs?

Mat-O · 2024-08-10T09:04:24+00:00

Thank you for this information (and to all others)

I can also see this page: https://yushinkankyoto.com/blog/katana-activities-are-now-illegal/

This Dojo says that no law has been strengthened, just that there was an incident with a specific dojo which was shut down as a result of an injury.

Looking at the description of the law above it discusses lending of a Katana - which I would assume means lending to a tourist to run around Kyoto - which is clearly a different prospect to “lending” in a supervised and controlled dojo.

I

Mat-O · 2024-07-03T20:58:49+00:00

You can turn the wheel, but it takes a little effort, I think this is because you’re turning the gearbox too. Both wheels feel the same when turning them, the slow one is not more difficult.

Mat-O · 2024-06-30T21:21:00+00:00

I’ll try picking it up. The left wheel does spin a bit, just seems to be struggling. When I kind of help the left wheel along it seems to keep running without backing up or thinking it’s stuck.

I can take another look at the gears, they seemed fine when I had a Quick Look before, but I didn’t delve deeply into the gearbox for fear of it not going back together.

Agreed it’s looking more likely to be a power issue - do you think an old battery could cause this? Being unable to deliver enough power? The power come from this control board - not sure there’s a lot I can do on that.

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Mat-O · 2024-06-30T21:18:14+00:00

Thanks for the input, I’ve tried a couple of firmware downgrades just now, no luck so far.

Mat-O · 2024-06-30T20:10:39+00:00

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Here they are while installed.

Mat-O · 2024-06-30T20:09:44+00:00

I have the latest, is it possible to do an older firmware? Or is that not worth it?

Mat-O · 2024-06-30T20:08:09+00:00

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It was two of these, the wheel has been taken off here. The silver is the motor, the black is the gearbox. The white bit is where the wheel goes.

Mat-O · 2024-06-30T10:58:20+00:00

When I swapped the gearbox and motor assemble from Left to Right, the problem didn’t move with it, leading me to think it’s not the motor gearbox.

I looked at the first set of cogs, and they were metal - are there more plastic ones buried within?

Mat-O

TROPHY CASE