Finally on my way over to Shanghai after spending 2 days in Kuala Lumpur and a further 4 days in Singapore. Will be spending the next week or so getting my chinese work permit and papers on the shipment from France ready so that I can travel again for work around the place. Will be putting up in the Ascott Pudong for the next 1 months while looking for an apartment. Typically it seems that it takes about a month for all these to be done. Only problem is that I have been moving around on a prepaid SIM card all these while, so will not be reachable by any previous numbers until I get my SIM card sometime in the week.
I’m writing this from ANA Hotel in Tokyo tonight. Just got a call this morning to be on the next flight (tomorrow morning that is) and will be on my way to Wellington New Zealand for another project. THe projection today is to be there for the next 3-4 days (basically over the weekend).
So that’s all for my first trip to Japan. 1.5 weeks in total, had the whole weekend to roam around the popular places, bought a new used camera and probably will be back again soon for work and hopefully some holiday as well. Tokyo is not that expensive after all, after coming from Europe that is. Compared to the rest of Asia (except Seoul) its definitely more expensive, but not prohibitively so.
Been in Tokyo for the past 1 week and I have another week more to go. This is my first time here and I’ve been to all the popular places already this weekend. Popular like Ginza, Shinjuku, Roppongi (where my hotel is) and Shibuya. Not for getting Akihabara.
Things are generally expensive compared to the rest of asia, but in line with prices in places like Paris. Only problem is that it doesnt seem that a lot of people on the street speak too much English, so when I try to eat in local places there’s a lot of sign language required. Fortunately they seem to speak sign language rather well.
Bought nothing from Akihabara, the place where you’re supposed to find any electronic gadget. But did finally get my digital camera replacement from a small place called Nakano. Bought a used 4mp DSLR, and so far still quite happy with it.
Other than that, I will have to be careful with my cash because on the last day will need to take transport to the airport and pay for last minute ticket penalties. Other than that, hope to finish Tokyo city (at least the places people will ask me about) this trip and then do suburbs later.
Finally went back to digital photography. Didn’t fall for the tricks of the industry and get something with the most number of megapixels. The last thing I’d want to do is to have mega megapixels, and have large RAW files that’s taking forever to process.
So this morning went for the first time to Nakano station on the west of Tokyo and found that Fujiya (www.fujiya-camera.co.jp) still has a D2H left. On their website search it seemed as though the D2h was already sold out a few days before. There were a few D2Hs but they cost twice as much at 230k Yen. So D2H it was.
First checked the auto exposure since D2H were quite famous for failing exposure meters. Tried the 8fps continuous shot as well. Tried just about all features I can think of just to make sure its a good sample. Nothing to be concerned about, I’d even rank it 8-9 out of 10 in terms of condition. Only complain I have is the smell of cigarrette reeking out of the camera. Obviously used by a chain smoker before. Put the first few pictures thru Opanda EXIF viewer and noticed there were 36k shutter clicks on the camera so far. Not that bad for 3 years. Not low, but not high as well considering its a pro level camera. Will be fooling with it soon, and so far the AIS lens compatibility seems quite perfect.
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