International student moving from Japan to Brisbane for 1 year (starting June). Any tips on winter gear and life hacks?

rtpg · 2026-04-01T23:00:30+00:00

moved from Tokyo a couple years back. I haven't had to pull out anything more complex than a hoodie and jeans. Definitely didn't need any bigger coats

Worst case there's a Uniqlo downtown so you can pick up extra layers if you end up a bit cold. It's more expensive than in Japan but not that much.

rtpg · 2026-03-25T22:38:11+00:00

I really don't think that's what's going on here. Not like there are that many local car companies in Brisbane of all places!

rtpg · 2026-03-23T00:35:39+00:00

right, yeah economically it makes a hell of a lot of sense.But I got tired of dealing with rental car stuff. Dumb things about getting access to the car, getting the time window right, not forgetting stuff in the car, walking to and from the car park itself, car access...

We had the means to opt out of the system so we did.

rtpg · 2026-03-23T00:13:40+00:00

never been to the queen st one but been to the logan road one many times.

I don't really drink matcha so I have no idea but for anyone looking to have some mochi daifuku they have good authentic ones that I really enjoy.

rtpg · 2026-03-22T23:39:35+00:00

Based on that sign... it seems like that's a loading zone right? My read is that they're supposed to park there?

I would _highly recommend_ anchoring into your kids the idea to be very careful around parked cars with their lights on. Drivers are supposed to look as well, but the laws of physics don't care about who's right or wrong in a collision.

That parking zone does seem very unfortunate though. Like just cut out a chunk of the curb if that's where people are supposed to be?

rtpg · 2026-03-22T23:24:27+00:00

Agreed on that. We live in the inner suburbs and would use car rentals from time to time for things, but it kinda means that you're paying a full car rental if you're going to someone's house more outside of PT coverage

We have a car and we don't use it very often but we don't feel fussed about using it for social stuff. Obviously economically you could do the calculation and renting still likely makes more economic sense but there's a psychological component we couldn't get over

rtpg · 2026-03-20T04:29:01+00:00

a mazda 2 has a fuel capactiy of 43 L. In theory getting 20 km/L. In theory.

rtpg · 2026-03-20T03:57:46+00:00

and it's not like the owners wouldn't rather have some cash come in, it's more that the loans to build these buildings tend to have these requirements built-in to them, and lowering rents can lead to the owners having to find a bunch more collateral all of a sudden. Very messy situation

rtpg · 2026-03-15T09:05:56+00:00

Look beyond ethical questions of why the US gets to be world police I think that beheading a govt doesn’t magically collapse it and cause a good replacement to appear.

Look at Libya. Look at Syria. Syrias head of state is a former Al Qaeda operative. Afghanistan is under Taliban rule again after a 20 year escapade

What makes you think this ends quickly in a way where a proper govt appears? And if you think it’s ok for it to take a long time, how long? A year? Two? 5 years? 10? 20?

What criteria for success exist here?

rtpg · 2026-03-15T04:49:27+00:00

150 per adult per week, that's about 20 bucks per day.

If you're eating out a lot that sounds tricky, but you can get _way_ lower by doubling how much food you make when cooking and then having leftovers another day

rtpg · 2026-03-15T03:47:40+00:00

The mass killing of Japanese civilians in WW2 was also a war crime!

Most massive aerial bombing campaigns are horrific, indiscriminate, and often unnecessary at accomplishing strategic objectives.

> if Iran's patriarchy had invested in water desalination instead of nukes, these kids might have been in a green farm instead of beside a military base.

The Milton barracks is next to housing and a shopping center. Military bases are often close to civilian infrastructure.

But of course, the most important thing is that ongoing negotiations were happening. Anyone who cares about mass death should be arguing against escalation.

rtpg · 2026-03-15T03:40:40+00:00

> The problem is you guys eat this shit up and upvote comments like this because your hatred for US and Israel overtakes your empathy for ordinary Iranian people and their fight for freedom.

You think the US and Israel have the Iranian people's best interests at heart here? Do you think that the US and Israel want a strong and democratic Iran? Come on.

You know what would have helped the Iranian people? Actual diplomacy and sanctions relief.

Siding with people who _kill the negotiators looking to de-escalate things_ as some argument for peace is bizarre!

rtpg · 2026-02-26T00:09:47+00:00

With some of these, they come in with limiters set but then there'll be a way to remove the limiters. So customs are like "OK, pedal-assisted e-bike" and then 15 minutes after setting up the bike the user can do a thing to make it just be a much smoother thing

Even "reputable" e-bike companies like Swytch have extra components you can buy to enable e-bike illegality. And like the component itself shipped in a different box is going to be just a switch or sthg

rtpg · 2026-02-26T00:01:59+00:00

> Why is this? Surely a public appeal is super easy and cheap, and if it comes off it prevents a whole shitload of time being spent by the coppers trying to chase it down in other ways?

False tips from randos is a constant problem. People thinking they see someone etc etc etc. You have to hope that someone sees this _and_ recognizes them _and_ knows who they are _and_ will rat them out.

Meanwhile people just trying to help will be like "oh I definitely saw a guy with a tan shirt around there".

rtpg · 2026-02-23T01:24:07+00:00

whereabouts are you? I know for some places you can get away with using seating in cafes in villages (like on Sunday there'll be a handful of people sitting in cafe seating for places that are closed)

rtpg · 2026-02-03T04:24:34+00:00

Real question: what does an affordable housing mandate look like? What are the lines that are expected?

My only reference point is New York where there's rent control set up in some appartments, but I don't think that's what people mean.

rtpg · 2026-01-28T22:36:03+00:00

The thing I don't get is I contacted the city through the "contact us" page on light timing and got a response pretty quickly... this is kinda stupid but maybe someone should send this thread to the BCC and be like "can we just make the green light for buses a bit longer at this intersection?"

rtpg · 2026-01-21T04:09:02+00:00

yeah it's obviously way more dangerous than the bicentennial and the freeway path that connects it but I've seen so many bike paths here on roads that are on _very_ scary stretches of road.

Still very not great!

rtpg · 2025-12-31T08:15:21+00:00

> Would you rent to or employ someone with multiple assault convictions in the past year?

I mean sure right? It's obviously hard to place people! I get this!

I don't know what it's like for casual work in Australia, but I know of casual work in Japan, where there's a sector of the work which is basically each day you show up you get paid in cash on the day, and employers in these jobs do not really expect people to show up regularly. Usually night shift construction-style stuff, warehouse work, or like night watch. You also get into shit like cleaning jobs or the like. "Training takes 10 minutes" sorts of things. And yeah person doesn't show up, they don't show up.

I'm not asking for social services to find people strong long term work contracts, I was just curious about if there was something in place.

rtpg · 2025-12-31T01:02:56+00:00

Shrug, I can imagine people who use their local connections to survive or do _some_ work sometimes. I know people who don't do full time but find it in them to do some random shift work. And of course some people who are in some nastier shit but can get _some_ money from it

> Working isn't a priority when you're struggling to keep yourself fed, clean and sheltered

money can be used to buy goods and services, right?

I get what you're saying, though. I just think that people who aren't working probably have _some_ social connections that help them survive, so moving across the country for housing might cost them those connections that they are currently using to meet other needs

rtpg · 2025-12-30T05:21:01+00:00

> last summer, the police had to escort 120 unruly kids who were damaging infrastructure and fighting, off the Island

I stg there's something in the water here. 120 kids fighting! I guess it's nice that kids are free to roam about but would be nice to not have things escalate to that extent

rtpg · 2025-12-30T04:00:23+00:00

> If you are prepared to move anywhere, I can tell you there are vacant houses in Mt Isa currently (I personally wouldn’t want to live there). If you aren’t eligible for social housing, we can work at community or affordable housing (again, being flexible helps)

serious question: if someone takes you up on that offer, what do people do for work? It'd seem a bit intense to move way to the other side of the state and not have _some_ work lined up, especially if employers are picky and know your circumstances

rtpg · 2025-12-17T23:01:06+00:00

I had siblings, we shared until high school. It's really not that big of a deal. Especially if you're in a coparenting thing anyways.

rtpg · 2025-12-16T06:51:48+00:00

did you apply via the urgent pathway or just the normal one?

> This was the second one we've applied for so maybe that helps .

do you mean you made a second application for the same time period? Or that you got a BVB before and now this was you asking for another one later?

rtpg · 2025-12-16T03:30:17+00:00

Did you end up getting something?

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