Just in Tokyo: Page 12

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12 - Just In Tokyo

Internet Access

Tokyo has a glut of cheap DSL and broadband connections. You
should find some Internet cafes easily in areas where young folks
are milling about. Try asking about Internet access at hotels and
perhaps video game arcades; you might end up in a room stacked
with Manga comics and a few computers for rent in the back, or
perhaps at a full-fledged Internet cafe. The keyboard will invariably
be in Japanese; all the keys you need to email your baby are there
but the spacebar is a hazard - extra-narrow, and if you hit any of the
adjacent keys, you toggle the Japanese typing mode on. Hit the
escape key a bunch of times, and try punching the key in the upper
left hand part of the keyboard; that often seems to bring your "romaji"
back (roman script).

Payphones

You can jack in with an ordinary phone cord and dial-up through the
fairly-common gray NTT payphones. They can handle ISDN dialup
as well, if you can figure that out. Payable with phone cards. A few
of the US service providers offer Japanese dial-up numbers, occa-
sionally with a surcharge attached (Earthlink, for example).

Kinko's

The ubiquitous copy shops and virtual offices are here in Tokyo and
they offer expensive rental Internet connections on PCs and
Macintoshes.

Necca - www.necca.ne.jp

A small chain of locations stuffed with PCs, mostly kids playing
online games inside. They'll rent you a computer attached to a
printer, with access to a CD burner for fairly reasonable rates.
Snacks and coffee available. Akihabara and Shibuya.

Wi-Fi - 802.11b

Knowledgeable gearheads with an 802.11b connection in their laptop
should be able to find some Tokyo hotspots. Ask online before you
go, try the Tokyo PC Users Group: www.tokyopc.org

Name Cards

Business cards are a big deal in Japan. Individuals have them.
While young folk have somewhat dispensed with some of Japan's
famous bowing, two-handed-handoff business card rituals, it's still

Japan is purported to have a 99% literacy rate.