Hotel lobby computers

Hello,

It seems that every hotel that I%26#39;ve booked offers free internet access in the lobby. I thought it would be nice to email friends and family during the trip. Will it be hard to sign on to AOL from Japan ? Are there any web sites to help me out ? Another post caused me to wonder, does Japan use ';daylight savings time'; ?

Thank you for your help !!!

Hotel lobby computers

I%26#39;d check that when they say they have internet access they don%26#39;t just mean wireless access for laptops (unless that%26#39;s what you%26#39;re expecting?)

If they provide computers, the only small problem I can think of is that the keyboards may be in Japanese input mode. In Windows the language options are usually shown in the bottom right corner. You may need to set it to alphanumeric to get the keyboard to behave the way you%26#39;re used to. If the options are in Japanese look for the option which is labelled with an %26#39;A%26#39;. You may want to install the Japanese IME on your own PC to get an idea of how it works before you go. I%26#39;m sure someone in the hotel will help you if you get stuck.

The clock don%26#39;t change in Japan. It%26#39;s always GMT/UTC +9 hours

Hotel lobby computers

No daylight saving time in 2009. Standard time zone: UTC/GMT +9 hours.

There shouldn%26#39;t be any reason why you shouldn%26#39;t be able to access AOL.

Once Internet explorer or firefox or any browser is open its pretty much the same layout, the top menus might be in Japanese, but otherwise an English website will appear in English.

Japanese keyboard is laid out slightly different from a regular western keyboard, but its not all radically different, just pay attention as some keys are arranged in different spots.

You might have problems with the keyboard but otherwise it%26#39;s pretty straight forward.

The keyboard is indeed the biggest problem. You have to make sure you are in the alphanumeric mode and sometimes, it%26#39;s not an easy task. Get help from the front desk if you need.

Most Japanese hotels offer free wired internet access in-room but you need to bring your own laptop.

I imagine that the computer keyboards will be in Japanese with each button being a Japanese character.

Is this right or are most of them English keyboards?

Has anyone used MSN Messenger in Japan?

Japanese keyboards are modified qwarty keyboards, they have English/rather latin/roman writing on them (as a lot of time japanese need to enter URLs in Roman and write various things in roman script).

They keyboard is pretty much the same, just some keys are placed a little different.

Here%26#39;s a photo of a standard japanese keyboard,

you can see its pretty much similar, there are various keys that are placed in other spots, and the spacebar is shorter. But all and all the letters are in the same position.

atmancomputer.com/catalog/images/Japanese-Ke鈥?/a>

MSN works fine, it is one of the more popular instant messaging software.

The keyboard isn%26#39;t hard to use, but if you hit the wrong key, your input will switch to Japanese letters. There%26#39;s a key on the left side of the keyboard that will bring you back to English letters. I used that key a lot!!!

Also, try to limit your use of the computer in the hotel lobby to 15 minutes if there is anyone waiting.

It%26#39;s the key just above the Tab key that will bring you back to English letters.