It’s funny.
\nI’ve been in Japan, one of the most technologically advanced nations on the planet.
\nIt’s clean and safe. Their keitai are the most advanced in the world. The food is great. Transport is safe and reliable. Manners matter.
\nWhat you can’t count on is getting online where you are staying. Follow.
\nI normally stay at ryokans booked through the Welcome Inn group. This is an association of small independent lodgings throughout Japan. The catch is they can’t be over Y10000 a night. There’s a LOT of great places to stay around Y4000 so you’d dun have to worry about breaking the bank.
\nAnyway, for most of the trip, I’ve been staying at Welcome Inns. Chances are that if I write about sleeping on the floor or if you see a tatami mat with a futon on it, that’s a Welcome Inn lodging I’m in.
\nHowever, I stayed at a Hyatt on Saturday and a JR Hotel last night. Guess what? No wireless internet at either place and the Hyatt only had broadband if you brought up a modem kit to the room.
\nStill, that’s better than the JR Hotel that had none!
\nNow both hotels allegedly cater to business types. Wonder how they connect their laptops.
\nTonight, I’m at a Toyoko Inn in Nagoya. It’s a mid price business hotel. Definitely cheeper and more downmarket than the latter two. Guess what? They have wireless internet in the lobby and free wired access in the rooms. All broadband.
\nSoooo the lesson is: cheeper places have wi-fi and broadband for free and the more expensive places don’t?
\nYup. Go figure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s funny. I’ve been in Japan, one of the most technologically advanced nations on the planet. It’s clean and safe. Their keitai are the most advanced in the world. The food is great. Transport is safe and reliable. Manners matter. What you can’t count on is getting online where you are staying. Follow. I normally … <\/p>\n