The Monday Read

12 Responses

1. Ben, don’t worry on travel, the headlines may read bad but in reality there is so much more normal in Europe compared to the maskmania, temperature taking, alcohol onegai and filling out forms we got used to here. I think it’s important to jump fences again to probe and recalibrate our scales again. Was twice in UK and Germany and once in Denmark in the past 18 months, all chilled and joyful. You will get over the Mofa testform challenge as well upon return.

   1. I was looking more at cancelled flights and dysfunctional airports!

      Although there will definitely be some culture shock too 😉

2. Several NYTimes articles and the hundreds of attached readers’ comments indicate that it’s really bad right now, and that’s well before the peak summer season starts. Lost bags, cancelled flights, long snaking lines everywhere, staff meltdowns are common. There are many recommendations for travelers to forget the standard guideline to arrive a few hours before your flight and instead be 5 hours early.

   We didn’t have too many problems when traveling around France a few weeks back. But intercity trains were really crowded and we struggled to find unreserved seating. Planes, both domestic or international flights, were all were packed and running late. If you pay more and get business class on international flights or upfront seating with priority boarding and disembarking domestic flights, or 1st class trains with reserved seats, you will suffer much shorter queues and less stress. Add the surprising heat, the relative lack of air conditioning and the weak yen are all good reasons not to go to Europe, during summer at least.

   1. Was thinking late September. My favourite time of year in the countries I would be going to (to see family).

      But I’m going to wait and see. Hopefully the summer season will stress test things so that they are functional by September (and not hopelessly broken!).

3. I wonder if there’s anything Japan specific about receiving a windfall (taxes, capital gains, etc).

   1. Depends what it is ^-^

      But yes, inheritance taxes, one off income tax, etc.

   2. (I won the lottery–truly mega-millions–but haven’t told anyone yet. 😉 )

4. I’m going to Canada next month, for one month. It will be my first time back since 2018. Some observations so far:

   1. The usual Air Canada flight I take, from Haneda to Ottawa (typically with a stop in Vancouver or Toronto) is murderously expensive now: 360,000 yen for the return trip. This is around double what it used to be. No way José.

   2. So I booked a flight with United Airlines with more transfers, short transfer times (in what I expect will be customarily chaotic incompetent U.S. airports) and a final arrival time in Ottawa at 1:30am. This is all for 200,000 yen.

   3. COVID-19 regulations are a confusing mess. From the United website it’s unclear if I need to worry about U.S. rules, given that the U.S. stops are just transit. It’s also unclear what the various countries’ governments require vs. what the airlines require. Moreover the Toronto-Ottawa leg of the flight is by Air Canada so it tells me to refer to Air Canada’s site, which is equally confusing. I’m really busy and it’s hard to be chasing down and clarifying all this info.

   I can report back here when I have more clarity. Or, are you asking around for advice, such as in the “Returning to Japan” group on FB? I’d post there with questions, however right now I’m looking for advice on going to Canada via transit stops in the U.S., so the shoe might not fit.

   1. Thanks! I hope your trip goes well 🙂

      It was more of a hypothetical question, I’m going to wait and see what things look like later in the year before booking.

      I’ll be booking with air miles so plan to do so fairly last minute in the off-season.

      1. I’ll keep you posted.

         Currently I’m mainly writing about it on the “Return to Japan” FB group.

         (I start by confirming it’s OK to discuss the problems of outbound flights, as opposed to exclusively the title topic!)

5. Australia, Singapore , Thailand are normal. Easy even for people without vaccinations. Just have to be patient when getting back to Japan as the political show changes their script often ,

6. My wife and I went to the US a few weeks back (around Memorial Day). It was great, super smooth going and on the return.
   Delta communicated very effectively via their app around requirements, early check in, etc.
   Delta’s agents were well versed on how to get passengers processed at the airports.
   The Japan SOS app communicated clearly what we needed to get back to Japan with no fuss.
   Connections weren’t a problem (although my bag made it a day late to Japan. In hindsight, I could have prevented this as Delta’s app sends an alert when your bag is loaded. I should have noticed when it didn’t send me an alert).
   International flights were still sparsely populated. Domestic overbooked.
   Thankful I could use miles because the costs now are very high.

   My only complaint is that the international terminal at Haneda was mostly shut down so it was a little boring waiting.