Beer pong is a game that is thought to have started in the Dartmouth College fraternities in the early 1960’s and was played with ping pong paddles. The evolution of the game is somewhat unclear, but in the 1980’s the name ‘beer pong’ (sometimes known as ‘Beirut’) was adapted, and is now the official name of the ‘sport’.

Materials needed to play beer pong:

• Rectangular shaped table
• Plastic cups
• Ping-pong balls
• Beer (lots!)

6 to 10 cups are placed at each end of the table in a ‘bowling pin’ formation. Each team consists of 2 – 4 players.  Each team takes turns trying to throw a ping-pong ball into one of the other teams cups. If this is accomplished, the opposing team member has to drink the cup of beer.  The first side to eliminate all of the opposing teams cups is the winner. The exact rules are unclear and are typically set by the ‘house’.

As the sport became more and more popular, beer pong tables evolved from ‘using the kitchen table’ to a highly profitable business.  You can now get a basic beer pong table for around $40.00, or (if you have the funds), you can get a really outstanding table for up to $700.00. The tables are available in many styles, folding, lighted, neon, floating, with NFL team or college team emblazoned on the tables, with skulls, marijuana leaves – too many options to name! As you can imagine, beer pong is a messy ‘sport’, so all tables are made from material that is easy to clean. TIP: If you are playing at home, place a plastic tarp under the table to minimize clean up.

You may wonder why I continue to refer to this game as a sport.  Beer pong has become extremely popular – to the point that there are leagues and tournaments.  Participation in a league or tournament usually requires that you turn in your car keys prior to starting the tournament.  The keys will not be available to you until the next day. Various means of transportation will be provided so that you can get home.

Cheap holidays can be had in Japan if you fancy going back to basics such as camping at the many excellent free or cheap campsites dotted around the countryside, or you could consider doing something cool like wwoof. There are dozens of farms and small business that would love to host you for a few days in Japan, or why not look further abroad.

If you’re sick and tired of the daily grind then cheap flights to popular local destinations like Guam, Taiwan, Korea and so on can be had from online discount brokers like Expedia. You can also pick up some good package deals at some tourist agencies – Japan is the land of the package tour after all (although it depends on how accommodating you are towards spending your time being with gaggles of retirees).

Best to avoid the rush around mid August when it’s the Obon holiday.

It’s like a pay as you go wine bar – buy a card and put some cash on it, then when you fancy a snifter pop the card in the vending machine and choose from a range of excellent fine wines from around the world in several different sizes from 30ml (a mouthful) up.

What’s best is that it’s right next door to the Blarney Stone in Shinsaibashi so when you’ve had enough of fancy wines, pop next door and get some proper beers on.

Mista is open from 2pm – 11pm daily.

 

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The Kansai region is often overlooked by visitors on a short stay who prefer to stay in Tokyo. While Kyoto is also on the must see list, missing out on the sights and experiences of Kobe, Nara, Osaka would be a mistake.

So why not land in Osaka at KIX and start your trip off here. KIX is connected to many major airports directly or without having to transfer in Tokyo, and it lands you in one of the world’s major metropolises - who knows maybe you won’t miss Tokyo after seeing the skyscrapers in Osaka’s Umeda and the bustling shopping streets in Shinsaibashi.

After hanging out in Osaka, take the bullet train to Kyoto (7 minutes) or regular fast train, about 45 minutes, to Kyoto and explore all of the wonderful temples and atmosphere of temples and other traditions. Then whizz off to Kobe or Nara for your next stop to see how Kobe recovered from devastation or see the huge repository of culture in Nara’s many museums.

If you really must go to Tokyo then fly from Kansai’s three regional airports, or take the bullet train and in just a short time you’ll be enjoying all the marvels of the capital. From there you can fly back home easily or head on to other Asian or Australasian countries very easily.

So, when thinking about Japan this year, don’t give up because of the aftereffects of the disaster, instead give yourself the opportunity to start off from a different perspective in the Kansai area. You won’t regret it!

The major blackspots are new year, golden week in May, and Obon in August, although recently there is also a Silver week in the summer as well. Finding cheap holidays can be hard during these times.

With the recent introduction of low cost airlines to Japan, many by foreign carriers, it’s possible to find some bargains to regional areas if you book early enough. You can find excellent websites that offer package deals and book directly so you can save money from travel agent’s fees.

However, you will always end up paying more because of the peak season charges. The best thing to do is try to travel outside these dates, or find alternative types of holidays like renting a car and going camping, or travel by ferry, or even hitchhike if you’re feeling adventurous!

In the Kansai region there are many excellent places to visit if you’re into nature. Hyogo, Kyoto, Wakayama, Nara and Mie all have abundant nature with fairly easy access and plenty of campgrounds. If you want to move further north then why not take a ferry trip from Maizuru in Kyoto which has ferrys going to several destinations such as Aichi and Hokkaido. Alternatively you can take the ferry from Osaka direct to Busan in Korea – it’s an overnight trip but lots of fun.

Aside from that there are also options to goto Shikoku by ferry or bus, or you can fly to many destinations from the three local airports in Kansai: KIX, Itami and Kobe.

However, the time to book your cheap holiday is now!

I was thinking about this myself, but there’s always someone ahead of you huh.

We went for lunch and, although the menu was quite small, it was perfectly formed and at a great lunch rate.

The owner is from Naopli and a very jovial chap. The food was a taste explosion and every mouthful was savored.

A lunch for five including a bottle of wine and three courses came to Y1200 each.

Unfortunately the owner hasn’t got round to getting a website yet but here is the tabelog review of the place (Japanese), and the contact details are here.

La Lanterna,
Hanshin sankei sakurabashi bldg, 1f. 2-4-13 umeda, kita ku, osaka, 530-0001.

opening: 11:30～15:30、17:00～22:30

Phone: 06 6344 1313

It’s quite small so I’d recommend reservations for an evening.

Umeda has a laboured new addition to its family.

A charming cafe, replete with candle gifts, hemp tshirts and peace and love music offers coffees and vegetarian food all powered by the rays of the sun.

The solar cafe is filled with mementos of world peace and offers a serene atmosphere to kick back and relax.

However there is also a small gallery for artists in the area to showcase their works and you can see an ever changing selection of pictures and installations.

Some English is spoken, and there are also a few English books in the cafe library for you to read while you enjoy your organic soy cafe latte.

An English map is here

tel：06-6131-1553
open daily 12-1900 except Monday and Tuesday.

The answer is not Golloyds!

This service is widely promoted throughout Japan and while it is easy to use the exchange rates they offer will actually cost you a lot of money.

For example the exchange rate fro Golloyds today is GBP / JPY 143. However the spot rate on the forex markets is 139. That’s a difference of 4 yen per pound.

Now I’m crap at maths but even I can see that over a transfer of 300,000 yen you will lose money:

golloyds
300000 / 143 GBP2,097

forex market
300000 / 139 GBP2,158

That’s a GBP60 difference.

There are two methods.

The first is to open a Citibank account in Japan. They have a multicurrency account option that enables you to keep cash in Yen, then transfer it into a range of currencies at a more competitive rate than Golloyds. Once the cash is in the foreign currency you can either put it in a term deposit to gain interest (e.g. Australian $ has a good rate at the moment compared to the rest of the world!), or transfer it via an electronic fund transfer to your bank back home.

The other way is to open an account with any of the numerous forex trade website (e.g. Onanda or World First).

These sites offer great forex rates as they rely on volume of transactions to make a profit. After you open an account you can wire the money to their local bank account (e.g. their account in Tokyo) and the money is then routed into your online account. Once there you can choose your currency exchange and transfer the cash into your account back home.

There are a couple more charges to pay this way (for example the furikomi fee from your JPY account to the forex trader’s JPY account, and then maybe a charge for the wire transfer from the trading account to your home account), but in the end you will end up saving more cash due to the better exchange rates.

World First has a case study which shows the savings possible.

In short, Golloyds charges you a significant chuck of change for the convenience of sending your cash back home. Better deals are available and don’t take much extra effort.

Good luck with your forex transactions.