Molecular Biology 101: Labelling, Labelling, Labelling.

1 Reply

MOLECULARBIOLOGY101.jpg

Often it is said that in the world of estates it is all about the location, location, location.

Well in the world of molecular biology it is all about the labelling, labelling, labelling.

A tongue-in-cheek look into the inner world of eppendorfs and how they have the same problems as us humans. Pffft relationships huh…am I right guys……guys?…..I said am I right?………probably you are out I will leave a message and get back to you.

Out now! A book what I wrote

Leave a reply

1278070_945566037966_1827378526_o

In what the Daily Mail is calling ‘a real blinder’, read the official autobiography of Katrin Blondrath. From front to back you will be taken on a thrilling tale of the highs and lows and the secrets.

What made her tick and where she go her ideas from. With unprecedented access, Callum Parr has been able to give a more intimate account of not just the business side but also the personal life, revealing some shocking secrets. For the first time the author was given access to interview Heinrich, her pet snail. And what he reveals only raises more questions.

Kyoto to Tokyo 2,900JPY but takes 9hrs

6 Replies

So I’ve been doing the whole 500km journey between the old and new capitals of Japan a lot recently and it got me thinking do I really need to rush each time.

Many who have visited Japan will know the quickest way to get around Japan is to use the extensive network of Shinkansen trains. However what you save in time can severely dent your wallet. While tourists have the benefit of the JR rail pass, other options for us residents include an LCC or a night bus. While Peach and Jetstar offer some great prices if booking in advance, they suffer the same problem as all LCCs, you end spending more time getting to the far out airport and wasting just as much money. Night buses, no matter how much premium you pay for, I found are uncomfortable and impossible to sleep on, and more so for bigger framed westerners. And the price difference isn’t that far away from just buying a ticket for the Shinkansen.

There is however one more option, but I warn you, it will take an amount of effort comparable to a hard days work but the reward is it will only cost you 2,900JPY. The trick comes in two parts, the first part is making the use of a little known secret of the JR rail system and the second part is even less well known (especially to tourists) ticket reseller system in Japan.

So here we go, Japan has an extensive rail system. I mean real extensive. Like biblical. It is like a meshwork of public and private rail lines that pretty much allows you travel anywhere and for a very reasonable price. Oh and trains in Japan like run on time, like I only ever experienced a late train once and that was because of an epic amount of snow that closed public highways. JR lines usually have trains running at different speeds, local trains serve every station while faster trains will run quicker routes only stopping at the biggest/most populist stations. It is the local trains we will focus on here.

So the first part, the bit that very few people outside of Japan know about. JR in its wisdom offers a great deal through certain periods of the year that allows a person to do a 24hr period of train use for only  2,370JPY per day up to 5 days (slots) (which can be consecutive or spread out over the allowed period, usually a 6 week window).  This is called the Seishun 18 (jyuuhachi) ticket. Anyone can buy this ticket but only during certain times of the year and the ticket must be used within a window period. You can also use this ticket for multiple people on a particular day. For instance you can four of your friends and go somewhere and use the ticket in one day.

However while it is true a 24hr use (1 slot) will cost you 2,370JPY you have to pay for 5 slots from the JR ticket office up front. This is some 11, 850JPY. Now that is OK for some people, backpackers for instance will surely make use of the slots within the 6 week period. But if you are for instance working here in Japan and you don’t have much time and you travel alone, using up the 5 slots is pretty tricky. BUT in Japan there is also ticket resellers which will buy up discounted tickets and sell them on to other users. That is people do sell their partially used Seishun 18 tickets so people like me who only need 2 slots can buy for a slightly marked up price. In my case I was able to buy a ticket with 2 remaining slots for 5,600JPY. That means a single journey from Kyoto to Tokyo will set me back 2,900JPY! Woooooo. Like I say the only set back is it will take 9hrs.

More info about the Seishun 18 can be found such as the periods you can buy.

Ticket resellers, that also sell on all sorts of train tickets including private lines, are located near train stations. You can google to find the nearest one to you but you may have to shop around as the supply can be outstripped by demand some times. You can also buy discounted normal single journey tickets for JR and private lines from these places. Sometimes you only save 10JPY but this can increase to 50JPY when using at weekends.

I will keep you posted with photos. But for the time being I uploaded the example schedule of the journey if you are interested in doing this journey via local trains. Here I used the very useful Hypermedia.com which you will find invaluable when navigating the complex train network in Japan. You will notice if paying for this trip as ‘pay as you go’, it would cost you almost 3x as much.