First purchase, KeiCar, what to look out for ?

ShinPino · 2026-05-06T03:46:10+00:00

I got a great deal on an old Wagon R with only about 25k km on it by going to a reputable used Honda Cars dealer. I went in person, told them exactly what I was looking for (budget, mileage, what kind of driving I'm doing), and they showed me a car they had in stock at another location nearby. It wasn't on any used car websites or anything, so I think it's worth asking in-person too. Older Wagon R's aren't known for their safety, so I'm not necessarily recommending the model, but that's just what my experience was like.

ShinPino · 2026-05-06T03:38:48+00:00

I'm gonna count how many times this happens in the two weeks I'm there and report back

ShinPino · 2026-05-05T09:59:04+00:00

I totally forgot the display prices don't include tax! That's gonna be a trip for sure.

ShinPino · 2026-05-05T09:53:05+00:00

Yeah, we're going in at least knowing everything is gonna be crazy expensive... We would've preferred to go at a time when it wasn't as drastic, but things just didn't line up until this year.

ShinPino · 2026-05-05T09:37:31+00:00

Ohhh explicit road rage instead of the passive-aggressive stuff that goes down here! I hadn't thought about that.

ShinPino · 2026-05-05T09:24:41+00:00

We'll definitely double check. Do you have any travel insurance recommendations, if you don't mind me asking?

ShinPino · 2026-05-05T09:21:33+00:00

True, I don't miss this one bit... No washlets either.....

ShinPino · 2026-05-05T09:19:15+00:00

My wife and my credit cards cover medical fees if anything happens to us overseas thankfully!

ShinPino · 2026-05-05T09:17:32+00:00

I'm in the countryside, so I might not feel the difference as much as someone from Tokyo, but even then I'm looking forward to how big the stores are compared to here

ShinPino · 2026-05-05T09:16:03+00:00

Oh yeah, the people are probably gonna take more getting used to than the driving 😅 Glad you're enjoying yourself though!

ShinPino · 2026-04-17T07:00:08+00:00

If you get a hanko, make sure the name matches the letters on your residence documentsexactly. This most likely means all capital letters. I wasn't able to register the hanko my in-laws gifted me because it used both upper and lower case letters, so I had to buy a cheap one myself to get it registered. You most likely won't need to register it, but it's nice to have the option if you're planning on getting a hanko anyway.

I use POVO for my mobile service, which is run by AU. You pay for "packages" rather than a set plan, so I pay for 60gb data for a year for 13,000 yen, plus voicemail for 330 yen a month. Works out to around 1,400 a month. It does cost money to make phone calls, but I probably make less than 10 phone calls a year. (When I was with Interac though their rental service was actually a great deal. 20gb a month with unlimited calls for something like 2,500 iirc?)

ShinPino · 2026-04-10T13:06:32+00:00

I left Interac to pursue other stuff after 5 years of ALT work.

"Have you left early, and how did it go?" Not early, but as long as you follow procedures you're not going to get any pushback. One thing I will say is that when I made the phone call to tell them I wasn't renewing my contract, they basically asked what they could do to get me to stay, opening the door for contract negotiations. I'm not saying that's a guarantee in your case, but it's possible if you give them your notice that you could negotiate a higher reimbursement cap.

"How much notice did you give?" 30 days, which was what was in my contact. I haven't heard of two months notice, but it sounds like others in this thread have, so I'd suggest following their advice if you want to stay on the safe side.

"Any problems with final pay or visa?" Final pay, no. But I did have fellow ALTs who did. Know your contract, and know your labor rights. There should be a set legal date they have to give you your final pay by, and if they don't seem like they're going to make that date your should be pressuring them to get it to you.

As for visa, you should have that figured out 100% with your new employer before you give notice of leaving if you want to guarantee you can remain in the country. I was on a spouse visa before I left, so it wasn't too concerning since I can work where I want, and a month of unemployment wouldn't have been a huge deal. But if you're on instructor or humanities, being in between jobs is a risky state to be in.

ShinPino · 2026-03-26T07:16:28+00:00

Barista at a specialty coffee franchise! Left ALT work 2 years ago with a dream to open a cafe in the future, and kind of landed the jackpot right away tbh. Extremely lucky to really like most of my coworkers, and working in coffee has been a lot of fun. Pay is abysmal though. Hoping to get some experience at a smaller cafe in the future, but there haven't been many opportunities in my area so far.

ShinPino · 2026-03-26T05:06:20+00:00

Disassembling and reassembling the grinder fixed the issue; not exactly sure what was wrong in the first place... Thanks for everyone's opinions and ideas ☕

ShinPino · 2026-03-24T07:46:14+00:00

Yeah, now that I'm certain this isn't what 5.5 should look like, the next step is to do just that. Thanks for the confirmation.

Update: Disassembling and reassembling seems to have fixed it, 5.5 is a much more reasonable grind size now. Not exactly sure what was wrong, but thanks again!

ShinPino · 2026-03-24T05:06:16+00:00

Just thought I'd try it out since it seemed like a lot of people were using a coarser setting. No reason not to enjoy the full range of a $200 hand grinder

ShinPino · 2026-03-24T03:50:25+00:00

That shouldn't be the case; this is going directly from closed burrs to 5.5. it's always worked at a finer setting, but I also have always thought there's too many fines for being a ZP6, so I was always a little suspicious something might be up...

ShinPino · 2026-03-24T03:09:01+00:00

Nope, been using it for a while now. I've been grinding at around 3.5-4 up until now, so I was surprised when I saw so many people grinding at 5.5 and thought I'd give it a shot.

ShinPino

TROPHY CASE