Job Discussion Forums

[Tiger Beer]

[Wintermute]

Tiger Beer - Here is a run down of most of the channels (the others are fairly self-explanatory).

Movie and Lifestyle Channels:

FOXCRIME - As the title suggests its focus is on crime drama and documentaries. It's pretty interesting but I don't watch too often.
SCI FI - Every sci-fi series ever produced in America (and sometimes Britain) can be seen here. One of my favourite channels, if only for my 11pm X-Files fix.
FOX Life HD - Newer American shows. Stuff like *beep* Eye for a Straight Guy and America's Best Model.
Movie Plus HD - The standard movie channel. New releases take a while to get screened.
V☆Paradise - Japanese only. Mainly yakuza movies and soft porn. There are some decent movies like Jyotei though once and a while.
Mystery Channel - Think Columbo, Agatha Christie and Ruth Rendell and that's this channel.
AXN - My favourite channel. It has Alias, Lost, Amazing Race, all the CSI shows and a kick-arse Friday Night movie.
日本映画専門チャンネル - Japanese movies.
時代劇専門チャンネル - Older Japanese movies.
ファミリー劇場 - Family progamming, Japanese only.
Super Drama TV - Lots of dramas from the US like The OC, Battlestar, ER, The Practice and Heroes.
FOX - Fox shows. American Idol, House etc.
チャンネルNECO - More Japanese movies.
洋画★シネフィル・イマジカ - World movies. French, German etc.
ホームドラマチャンネル - Japanese dramas.

Educational:

Discovery HD
Discovery Channel
History Channel
National Geographic
Animal Planet

News:

TBS News Bird - Japanese CNN
日経CNBC - Japanese CNBC
CNNj - English option.
Asahi News - Asahi news station.

Entertainment (according to the category name):

チャンネル銀河 - Never watched it.
LaLa HD - Mainly Korean dramas but occasionally has good stuff like Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives.
ディズニー・チャンネル - Disney
MONDO21 - Pop culture, gaming, otaku related stuff.
TBSチャンネル - Tokyo Broadcasting System. Japanese only.
テレ朝チャンネル - Never watched.
KBS WORLD - Never watched.

Mapleblondie - No, you can pick and choose. Without the phone it would run about 9000yen per month. You probably won't get any cheaper than that. I would email them though and ask as prices sometimes vary depending on where you live in Osaka.

[Mapleblondie]

Wintermute,

Wow~Thanks for all the detailed info on the channels. I think I will end up in Yodobashi, trying to ask the representatives questions at their little booths.Hehe. 13,000 for everything isn't so bad...and if for some reason they WILL just do the 2 options and exclude the phone, I will jump on that in a heartbeat! Thanks so much.

[Wintermute]

No worries Maple. For your own sanity I would try to avoid going through Yahoo. The service they offer is decent (and relatively cheap) but too many of my friends have had headaches with them, particularly when having the cable set up. JCOM is quick and efficient (the guy came and it was done within 30 minutes). Other decent providers are EO Hikari or Gyoa Hikari - both have bundles available.

[Mapleblondie]

[Wintermute]

In my personal experience I would go through JCOM. At a pinch they have an English speaker on hand to help you with any questions during the contract signing stage. When I first signed up a woman came to my home to walk me through the contract and confirm what I wanted - just cable TV for me, I speak Japanese so I didn't need the translator. Just to be sure though she called the guy in question and he just confirmed what she said. After that the installation guy came the following week and everything was set up in under 30 minutes. Every month the subscription fee is taken out of my bank account. No problems, simple from woe to go.

I've heard Yahoo is fine once it's set up but two friends of mine were given unreasonable installation times, one had to wait in his home from 10am to 4pm and the installation guy didn't even turn up. Just looking at YahooBB's website it looks straight forward but it reinforces my image of them being an internet service provider first and a cable TV provider second. That is cool but their channel line up is limited compared to JCOM's (the lack of the Star Channel option in particular as well as no HD channel options). It really depends on how much TV you are going to watch I guess.

[Mapleblondie]

I see...Well, my Japanese was at about a 2kyu proficiency level when I lived in Japan 2 years ago, but I think it has gotten worse since then. My comprehension is still fine, but I think that just to be safe, in case I need to ask complicated questions, I will try to get an English interpretor. I'll definitely look more into the JCOM option, though when I went to their site yesterday, it is really confusing with all the package options and fine print and clauses. I'll go take another look at it today and maybe it will make more sense to fresh eyes.

If you don't mind my asking, you said you speak Japanese...Are you 1kyu proficiency, or more or less the same level as I am? I can conversationally fluent but more complicated, or specialised language still has me at a loss.

[Wintermute]

It is a little confusing to be sure but it really helps when someone is there to explain everything. My Japanese is just above level 2 I would say, at least conversationally. That said, when it comes to stuff like contracts I was happy that they had someone there to explain the more complicated stuff. Basically the most difficult thing you are likely to encounter is whether your apartment can have cable internet installed. If it can then the contract interview will probably just be you choosing the internet and TV packages you want and then writing down your banking details so they can deduct the subscription from your account. If you feel up to it though I would definitely shop around and have a crack at the other providers while at Yodobashi Camera, I do know EO Hikari has a booth there now on the 1F.

[Mapleblondie]

Okie dokie Ya, I think I will definitely compare prices and special offers to see where I can get the best value for my money, and still get good service. These boards are really helpful (thank you!) in helping me figure out some of the minutia and reputations of various places. Last time, I lived with host families and in a dorm where I didn't have to consider these things, so it's going to be an entirely new experience this time around.

I guess it really depends where ECC puts me to determine the conditions I'll encounter in my specific apartment/mashion. I sort of got the impression, though, that the conditions in Apollo apartments were pretty much standardized...maybe it's just the luck of the draw though. I hope I get one of the places that already has internet capability set up. Hopefully the landlord or Apollo rep wll tell me all those sorts of details when he/she brings me to the apartment.