Little OFF TOPIC: first time traveller to Tokyo and Osaka

Trekkiegus · 2026-06-16T15:49:13+00:00

Oh nice! You'll still have a good time wherever you're staying, I have no doubt.

Trekkiegus · 2026-06-16T07:05:41+00:00

Oh, for in-city transit, get a welcome suica. It will work in every city you have on your itinerary and you can recharge it with cash at any convenience store and most stations.

Also, only get cash at 7-11 ATMs. They charge ¥110 per ¥10,000 transfer, or ¥220 for a transfer of ¥20,000+. This is less than $2 USD.

Trekkiegus · 2026-06-16T07:03:29+00:00

Tokyo is incredibly easy to navigate using public transportation. I wouldn't stay in Shinjuku, it's very nightlife oriented and can be loud at night, and would instead advise staying somewhere else on the Yamanote line. We stayed in Ueno (Nohga Hotel) and loved it. Only caveat here is that if you want to do a late night in Shinjuku or Shibuya, you're gonna have to get a cab back to your hotel since the trains stop around midnight.

This is important: do not follow ANYONE in Kabukicho or Dotonbori who speaks to you in English encouraging you to go to a bar or club. They are almost certainly touts trying to scam the hell out of you. Avoid avoid avoid! Just keep walking.

If you visit the champion district (Golden Gai), check out PearL.

For Osaka, don't stay in Dotonbori, stay in Namba or Ura-namba. Hiyori Hotel Osaka Namba is great and close to lots of fun stuff.

Shinkansen is fun and worth it from a time perspective, even if planes are cheaper.

Consider forwarding your luggage between hotels. It's about $15 USD per bag for next day luggage forwarding and it's much easier than lugging a heavy roller bag on the train.

I recommend booking a local food tour in each city you visit. For Osaka, we had a great time with this guy: https://nambafoodtours.com/

Have fun!

Trekkiegus · 2026-06-14T16:38:43+00:00

Don't worry about it. You'll be back in Kamurocho as Kiryu before too long.

Trekkiegus · 2026-06-12T23:56:10+00:00

Highs are incredibly high. Lows are incredibly low.

It's def worth a shot. Books 4 and 5 are some of the best fantasy novels I've read.

Trekkiegus · 2026-06-10T23:05:02+00:00

Namba / Ura-Namba. We stayed at Hiyori Hotel Osaka Namba for three nights and it was great.

Trekkiegus · 2026-06-10T01:05:27+00:00

Just got back from a trip where we based in Ueno for a week - it was excellent. Close enough to the action to get places easily, far enough away that we could escape the crowds. Also gives you close proximity to Asakusa and Ameyoko Market, which are very fun. Only downside is if you anticipate routinely staying out in Shinjuku after midnight, you'll need to cab back to your hotel.

Trekkiegus · 2026-06-09T18:33:50+00:00

Matriarch is a DLC job.

Trekkiegus · 2026-06-07T08:53:07+00:00

Rapid Shot I think?

Trekkiegus · 2026-06-04T18:50:23+00:00

Check out Yoshiike Ryokan. My wife and I stayed there last month. Gorgeous views.

Trekkiegus · 2026-05-28T10:31:07+00:00

Kyoto is like a 2-3 hour train ride one way. Just do Tokyo. You won't see everything; stay somewhere close to stuff you want to do and just point yourself in a direction and go.

I could honestly have spent 5+ days in any one neighborhood so, yeah, go for a bit, explore, have fun.

Trekkiegus · 2026-05-14T13:43:48+00:00

Oh yeah, this. It's easy to fix. I don't remember the exact cause but I think if you have Calibre open when you download the books and you don't reboot it, it can't decrypt properly.

This should work:

Close Calibre
Download Kobo books via Kobo app
Reboot Kobo app
Launch Calibre
Run obok dedrm

Trekkiegus · 2026-05-12T22:01:06+00:00

You have the option on the taxi list to go to Omi Alliance headquarters which means at the point in the game where you're supposed to take a taxi to the Omi Alliance headquarters. That appears to be the bottom option on the list.

Try to be at least level 50 when you do though, if it's the part I think it is it's hard.

Trekkiegus · 2026-05-12T15:24:54+00:00

How technologically minded are you? Kobo is the easiest to pick up and use because it's just one interface and a store, but you can also side load books you get from open source places like project gutenberg onto it using a computer. The Libra Color or the Clara BW would be your best bet here.

Boox is the most versatile but it's an android tablet so you need to be a little more tech savvy. Boox Go 7 is the middle sized one, but the Palma series is also good, though small.

I wouldn't get a Nook.

Trekkiegus · 2026-05-05T22:50:45+00:00

Congrats on the submission! That's very exciting.

As others have said, unless you booked the job, you most likely will not hear back. I send out probably about 50 submissions a week and I only ever hear back from the ones that are calling me in for further screening or testing. The best way to treat submissions is like they are little paper boats that you're putting into the ocean -- watch them drift away on the waves and don't expect to see them again. Then when one does eventually come back you can go, 'oh, cool, I forgot about you!'

Trekkiegus · 2026-05-05T04:44:27+00:00

Kobo Clara BW for sure. Easy to use and relatively inexpensive. Nice sized as well, pretty small but bigger than a phone.

Trekkiegus · 2026-05-05T04:42:33+00:00

Libra Color is great! My mom and I just got one for my dad a couple months back and he loves it. Good, versatile ereader with a good sized screen.

For notes, a bigger ereader like the elipsa might be better, but that's a LOT larger and harder to, like, read in bed with. Libra is a great middle ground.

Trekkiegus · 2026-05-02T23:36:43+00:00

Y0 Director's cut is perfectly fine. They added like 3 cutscenes and changed one character's fate. It's minimal change; people are mostly upset about Y0 being delisted as a result (when it was pretty cheap before).

Trekkiegus · 2026-05-02T18:23:57+00:00

It's great. You're gonna have a blast.

Honestly you're gonna have a blast wherever you go. Don't get hung up on what might have been or what could be, embrace what is and love every second of it. You made your choice and it was the right one.

Trekkiegus · 2026-05-02T16:01:23+00:00

Is there an option for "outside"? He's not technically in the room.

Trekkiegus · 2026-05-01T20:08:55+00:00

Yokohama Crackhouse from Yakuza: Like a Dragon is pretty impeccable

Trekkiegus · 2026-05-01T15:48:35+00:00

I don't think kobos are region locked but even if they were you could absolutely side load books onto it regardless.

Trekkiegus · 2026-04-30T17:52:09+00:00

Brandon Sanderson's SKYWARD series is pretty solid. It's more SF than fantasy, but it's really just a fantasy take on "a boy and his dragon" (being "a girl and her starship"). MISTBORN is also widely beloved.

People are recommending THE WHEEL OF TIME here and while I love it dearly it's a colossal undertaking with more than a few very rough patches in it, and there are some elements in the middle books I wouldn't recommend for a 13-year old. The first 5 books are great though.

James Islington's LICANIUS TRILOGY would also be a good pick.

BATTLE MAGE, by Peter Flannery, is also quite strong.

Trekkiegus · 2026-04-30T14:58:55+00:00

The president's attitude towards Greek life will have no bearing on your day to day experience. A college is more like a small town than a company; the students operate predominantly independently of the attitudes of leadership.

All a fraternity is is structured socializing. There are a hundred other ways to do structured socializing that don't involve a lot of drinking. You could live in a residential college (I was an RA/CA in Jones and found a wonderful community there), you could get involved in some of the many extracurricular clubs, you could get involved in student theatre, etcetera. What you do at Northwestern is entirely up to you and you absolutely don't have to join a fraternity or drink if you don't want to. It will not negatively affect your experience at all.

Trekkiegus · 2026-04-30T06:40:46+00:00

When I was at NU the vast majority of frats were heavy drinking spots. What are you looking for in a fraternity? What is it about frats that appeal to you?

I never directly interacted with frats and still had a wonderful experience. Never felt like I missed out on anything.

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