I'll try add to this article as time goes by, and hopefully by answering my own questions, I may be able to answer some of the questions other people may have as well.
Questions Still Inspiring Mystery:
Question 1: Decide on whether or not do discontinue my South African medical aid.
Question 2: Is it financially feasible to ship across some of our gear from South Africa? What are the costs, and what are the ETAs?
Question 3: Does Japan have long pants that would fit me (34W - 32L) or will I need to pick that up before I go?
Question 4: Is it true that Japanese shampoo doesn't play nicely with my golden celtic locks?
Question 5: Could I, or even should I, continue my studies through UNISA while in Japan?
Question 6: Organise a managing agent for our property.
Question 7: Organise omigane
Question 8: Organise an international driving license.
Answered Questions:
Question 1: Is our contraceptive pill (Yasmin) available in Japan?
Answer:
Crap. Apparently not. At the moment we're thinking of trying to convince family and friends to bring it over with them.
If using friends and family as drug mules doesn't work out, we may consider Marvelon which some random forum mentions as being chemically similar to Yasmin. (Legal disclaimer: We accept no responsibility for children created as a result of using Marvelon.) Apparently the pill looks likely to cost about 2000 to 3000 yen per month, or about R208-R312, about twice as expensive as South Africa.
Update: Ok, Yasmin and other foreign contraceptive pills may be available from online stores, although it may take some proficiency in Japanese to be able to navigate these websites. Also, in some of the urban centres it may be possible to find these contraceptives in speciality pharmacies that specialize in supplying foreign medication.
Question 2: Figure out how to transfer money from Japan to South Africa
Answer: How To: Transfer Money to and from Japan
Rhythm method works 100% of the time.
ReplyDeleteUm... It works for what exactly?
DeleteQuestions 2 & 8 will be answered in the handbook that Ryan should be emailing out to all of you shortly.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 3: Depends what it is. I would say, to most things - it's not worth it. I sent a 10kg box to myself and by the time it arrived I realised I didn't need any of the stuff in there. :P I don't know how much it costs now, but sending it by ship it takes about 3 months to get there.
Question 4: I have no idea what size that is... if you are taller than about 185cm, I would definitely recommend picking some up. Even then, only foreign stores in big cities like Gap have up to 190cm. If you're willing to spend some money, though, you could always go to one of the bigger suit stores and get some pants tailored for yourself.
Question 5: Nope. They have Pantene, Dove... most of the shampoos we're used to here.
^_^