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March 24, 2008

Hello from Tokyo ()

by fluffy at 1:20 AM
Apparently I don't have the right plug for my laptop power supply. Oops. Also, while I have free Internet access in my hotel room, it's wired-only (not wifi) so it'll take some doing to get the entry I wrote on the plane on my iPod Touch up (not that hard since I can just make a private NAT but, you know).

Hopefully the front desk has a plug adaptor, or I can find an Apple store or something. (Unfortunately, the Apple Store Japan page doesn't appear to have an English version. Not that it'd help anyway since I have no idea how to navigate here.) (update: okay, by unplugging the fax machine I can at least jury-rig a power connection, albeit ungrounded.)

I suppose I could just make sure I get my laptop charged when I'm at work meetings, since apparently it's not that big a deal for someone to have an Apple. If you know where I work you know why that's at least a little bit sad.

Comments

#10645 03/24/2008 04:31 am
TV here is like a non-stop torrent of rapid-fire YouTube clips. It makes my head hurt.
#10646 03/24/2008 04:38 am
The Standard Vaio plug works fine. Plugs in Tokyo do this thing where you insert, then twist 5 degrees.
#10647 03/24/2008 04:40 am
I forget if the standard vaio plug is 2- or 3-prong. Somewhere (probably Wikipedia) I was led to believe that Japan used the same 2/3-prong outlets as North America although all the ones in this room are only 2-prong.
#10648 03/24/2008 04:43 am
Oh. Wait. Mac.

Japan uses only 2-prong, as far as I know.
#10649 03/24/2008 05:11 am
Blah. Macs used to use 2-prong but when they switched to the higher-wattage power supplies they switched to 3-prong, and they changed the plug interface so that the old 2-prong power cords wouldn't work anymore.

A couple months ago I looked into the international plug kit but it's like $40 for a bunch of plugs and then Wikipedia made it sound like it wasn't necessary for Japan anyway. Though I guess the only adapter you need is one of those dumb and unsafe things for plugging a 3-prong plug into a 2-prong outlet. (I don't even see what the third prong could possibly be for in the Apple cord anyway aside from a second level of polarity checking, as there's only two wires in the cord itself.)
#10650 03/24/2008 05:18 am
Can't you go to Akihabara and like, buy a new combination laptop/love doll?
#10653 lago (unregistered) 03/24/2008 03:18 pm Ginza
Apple Store is in Ginza. Ginza line, Hibiya line, or (IIRC) Maranouchi line will get you there. Then just sumimasen someone and ask where it is (Apple Store, doko desu ka?)
#10654 03/24/2008 03:38 pm
I don't think I'll need it.

Oh, and duh, what I SHOULD have brought is the usual wallwart plug for it. It's only the extension cable which insists on being 3-prong. If I were to go to the Apple store to buy a plug adapter all I'd get is one of the wallwart plugs, and I already ahve a bunch of those.

Oh well. I can charge the laptop at the hotel and I have most of what I need on my iPod (aside from a bunch of Powerpoint presentations which I'm sure a coworker has).