Organic Peanut Butter in Japan

I love peanut butter. And I'm sad that it is not as widely appreciated here in Japan. I mean, yeah, I'd probably think "PB&J sandwiches" or "peanut butter on celery" sounded gross if I had the same archetype for "peanut butter" that most Japanese people do: sickly sweet, peanut-themed sugar spread sold next to bread whiter than an anemic ghost. In the presence of abominations like that, it's no wonder there's no adult demand for nut butters in this country.

Hatsugen Komachi: The website where Japan comes to complain

The Japanese people have a reputation for hiding their personal feelings, especially amongst people who are not immediate family. But thanks to the wonders of the internet, the fine art of guchi (愚痴), or "complaining" can be done totally anonymously.

One place such website where Japanese people vent their frustrations and ask for advice is the Yomiuri Newspaper's hatsugen komachi (発言小町 or "small village of speech"). Let's take a look...

Websites for Foriegn TV Shows in Japan

There are many things I love about Japan, but prime time TV is not one of them. Even though I generally prefer time wasting computer games over mind dulling TV, there are times when I long to see some good 'ol Western TV shows.

Japanese Internet Slang

Where the internet goes, slang will surely follow. This axiom is as true of Japanese as it is of the modern English language. The Japanese language netscape is filled with all sorts of interesting slang, much of it originating from popular websites such as 2-Chan, Twitter, and Nico-Nico Doga. However, even if you have nearly perfect Japanese, deciphering some of these cryptic words can prove to be a challenge if you are new to a given net community. Let's take a look at some slang decoding resources.

Cheap Health Foods, Toiletries and Dietary Supplements in Japan

It's fun to run into new products by browsing at my local imported goods/liquor store, thanks to which I've learned, for example, that Swiss cereals are just unapologetic boxes of candy for pouring milk over. But when I have a specific product from home in mind, like a favorite canned soup, I find that shopping online is a much less hit-and-miss experience than the average Japanese import shop.

And for other preferences, like American toothpaste and deodorant, online retailers are often my only option--it's either that or stock up a couple years' supply during visits home... which I also admittedly do.

In past articles, AccessJ has shared some of our favorite online sources for buying supplements (including whey protein) and comfort foods from home. Between the lot of us I think we've used all the sites listed in those articles, and I personally have been a satisfied customer at many.

But the downfall of most overseas retailers is the exorbitant shipping costs. For four ten dollar bottles of vitamin supplements, I once paid almost as much over again getting them across the Pacific. And generic search terms on Google bring up so many retailers to choose from that it's tiring to sort the trustworthy and competitively priced sites from the chaff.

So when I come across a good one, I want to share it.

VPN Service for Youtube and Netflix in Japan

The other day, Dan shared a nice article about using VPN services to get around streaming restrictions in Japan by faking a US IP address.

The options he mentioned in that article all seem solid and are worth checking out. But many of the paid services listed had the drawback of limiting users' monthly bandwidth. And to be honest, one thing that kept me from looking into it seriously was the technical barrier--even if I signed up for a service, I was worried that it would take excessive time to configure and be a headache to maintain.

But my impressions about the learning curve of VPN services changed dramatically upon talking to a friend who uses HideMyAss VPN to access US content providers from Japan and who was gracious enough to let me test drive the service.

e-Statements: Save Money on NTT Internet

Bills from NTT are the largest (physically, as in size of the document and envelope) piece of monthly utility-related mail I get at home. It seems like a pretty big waste of paper for a billing amount that never changes month-to-month and which I can already and more easily double check by flipping open my bank book.

In fact, for some months I was getting two giant envelopes regularly, as NTT reminded me over and over again that they were switching to a new billing system run by the newly established company NTT Finance. (Further thinning the guise that the NTT telephony monopoly was ever really broken up in Japan...)

So the other day I signed up for NTT e-statements. It's a pretty easy procedure, and it knocks a simple 100 yen off of your monthly bill. Since you're probably roped into a 2-year contract with them anyway, in the long run that's about $30 saved.

To do this, you can still contact a representative at NTT East's @Billing service or NTT West's MyBilling service, but since all the financial transactions of both are handled through NTT Finance now, that's ultimately where you'll end up. So on NTT Finance's site, hit the apply (お申し込み) button and fill in your account information.

Getting Around Internet TV Region Restrictions in Japan

By now you have probably encountered the dreaded "this content is not available in your region" message when trying to watch your favorite free online TV website. Allegedly, content providers say this is due to discrepancies in cross-border copyright laws, although I personally suspect they are just trying to find ways to squeeze extra yen out of some poor ex-pats. Look no further than Hulu's recent entrance into the Japanese market, where they have the gall to charge you 980 yen a month for content that your American and Canadian peers can enjoy for the price of a few commercials.

But don't worry, where there is a will there is a way around content protection. In today's feature we will show you how to get that latest Simpson episode with putting yourself on the line for jail time by resorting to the dastardly art of internet piracy.

Internet Downloading Laws in Japan

Not long ago, Dan shared an awesomely detailed article about being careful about bandwidth usage on your super high speed fiber optic Internet line in Japan.

Although Internet providers in Japan have for several years kept an eye out for excessive file sharing or downloading and used Terms of Service violations to cut such users' connections, in Japanese law it had not been illegal for users to download copyrighted content--only uploaders of such content could face legal charges... until now.

Japanese Internet Guide Part 8: Routers and Wireless

Unless you have been sleeping through the electronic revolution, you have probably heard that all the cool kids on the block are using wireless connections to access their net connection. While ISPs love to try in rope you into paying a monthly fee for renting their own wireless modems, you can easily save some cash and bring your own modem.

Japanese Internet Guide Part 7: Bandwith and Torrenting

Once you get your super fast 100 megabyte a second internet connection, you may be tempted to test out your new set-up by torrenting (for back-up purposes only, of course) a few odd files. While you probably won't be as scrutinized to the level that US college students with dormitory net connections are, too much file sharing might get you in trouble. Let's take a look at the details.

Japanese Internet Guide Part 6: Optional services

Japanese internet providers offer a wide variety of extra services including phone and television-over-internet. Read all about it.