[QUOTE=chromaticity;13008431
Matsumoto, if it is the one in Nagoya, is a fine place. Might be a good idea to try an onsen there. Also, if you like the taste of Wasabi, they have a lot of food with wasabi used in strange and unusual ways. Like, [wasabi ice cream]
(http://ameblo.jp/seiji-seiji/entry-10499174526.html)!
[/QUOTE]
Just a little nit-pick (bedbug pick??!) but Matsumoto is in NAGANO, not Nagoya! Don’t send him in the wrong direction! I used to live there, it’s my favourite place in Japan, highly recommend it for a trip.
And to add my voice to the chorus, it is nineteen years since I came to Japan and I’ve never heard of or seen bedbugs here. I think it might be that safety standards are lower here and they are still using the poisonous stuff to bomb with!
ETA: I have no idea why that quote bolded itself, sorry. Don’t mean to shout.
I meant the bedbug outbreaks in the US and Australia are impacting the tourism industires in the US and Australia. My point is that the Japanese think bedbugs are a bigger problem in the US and Australia than in Japan.
And then do what with them, if I don’t own a steamer? I’m not gonna throw it away if I can help it. (That’s one big reason for my concern: I frankly can’t spend the money to move, throw away mattresses and electronics, etc. - especially if my apartment complex holds me liable for bringing these guys in and spreading them to other apartments.)
Oh, and you mentioned in another thread to not use luggage racks. So if I can’t use the racks, can’t use the floor, and can’t use the furniture, where exactly do I put stuff? I DO want to use the bathtub at some point in the trip, after all!
And what about my backpack, as described in my OP? Will I have to be concerned about them hitching in my laptop?
If you don’t have a steamer you can rent one or buy one for around $80.00. Short of that you can get some Bedlam Bed Bug Spray, it’s one of the better ones. It kills about 90% of the eggs too. So you would spray the luggage and keep it in the garbage bag for a week. Then air it out, then respray it again and keep it in another week.
It works physically by cutting up the insects when they crawl over it. It works on any insect from bed bugs to roaches to ants and well anything with an exoskeleton.
The thing is the bugs don’t die right away and they have to crawl over it to get cut up. So you could dust the suitcase with DE and store it in a garbage bag in the garage and check it to see if any eggs are hatching.
Remember bed bugs are not hard to kill. Rubbing alcohol sprayed on them will kill them. It’s the eggs that are the problem.
Also an Iron or even a very hot hair dryer would kill the eggs. You have to apply at least 120ºF. So if your hair dryer gets that hot, you could go very slowly over the suitcase with an iron or hair dryer (if above 120ºF). Spend about 20 seconds on each section to get it hot enough and make sure to do the seams as that where any eggs would be
Luggage racks are a favourite place of bed bugs (and other insects to hide). You can use the luggage rack, just inspect it first or bring a supply of garbage bags and just stick the suitcase in the bag and put the bag on the rack. Then seal up the bag.
Bed Bugs CAN reside in electronics but usually don’t. You’re more apt to get roaches living in electronics than bed bugs.
Hmm… The spray might be the best bet for me, since $80 seems kind of steep for a one-purpose item. Especially since I don’t have a garage, so I’d have to keep the bagged luggage in the bathtub and just take it out every time I shower. How long to air it out, and where? Like I said, no garage. I have a balcony, but that connects to a closet where I store stuff. Plus, it’ll be winter.
Would I do the same to the backpack too? What about the stuff IN the backpack (except for the computer, its contents would be books and my Nintendo DS.
How do I tell?
I’m probably gonna apply all of this when I get to my own apartment. I sort of doubt I’ll be able to get every single member of my family to do everything major after the trip, and I’ll be spending a week at home after Japan anyway, so it’s not like the situation will have changed by the time I go to my own home.
Anything else I can consider, bedbug related or otherwise, would be great. The bedbug issue is something I’ve been thinking about and planning for every day since I found out I might be staying in hotels, so information is important!
Honestly, your obsession with bedbugs it strikes me as bizarre, especially after people have told you they aren’t a problem yet in Japan. Especially since you note that your family won’t be able to do the more onerous prevention methods. Relax, it’s a vacation. It’s very unlikely that you’ll get bedbugs.
When you get to your hotel room, look behind the headboard and visually inspect the sheets and box springs for tiny bugs. Don’t let your kids unpack their suitcases into the hotel’s drawers. Keep your clothes in your suitcase, on a luggage rack if possible. The end. Then relax and forget about the f-ing bedbugs! You’re not getting the advice you could about what to see and do in Japan because you’re so focused on this supposed threat.
When you get home wash your clothes. Put them in the dryer. Sleep tight.
If you do encounter bedbugs, it’s not a certain thing that you will bring them home. I’ve stayed in multiple places with bedbugs, taken no special protections, and never brought them home.
Frankly, it seems to me that you are spending more energy freaking out about preventing bedbugs than you would spend just dealing with them should they happen. While it is smart to take some basic precautions, it’s not the black plague or anything,
Millions of people travel every day. Staying in a hotel is not some crazy, dangerous thing. Relax a bit and enjoy your vacation. The armchair psychologist in me suspects that bedbugs are a proxy for general nervousness you are having about the trip. Relax! Enjoy!
I don’t get why some don’t understand my concern. Have you picked up a newspaper or magazine lately (I think I’ve read about them SOMEWHERE practically once a week)? Or any of the bedbug threads in MPSIMS? Or read mozchron’s and Markxxx’s posts on this very thread? THEY certainly don’t think I should relax vigilance!
To summarize: They’re everywhere these days. They’re creepy. They’re extremely difficult to get rid of completely. They require throwing away furniture (which costs a lot of $$$). I live in an attached apartment, which could require me to move (ditto parenthetical above) and may hold me financially liable for actions needed to get rid of 'em (ditto parenthetical above). A coworker of mine got 'em, and his horror stories… shudder
At any rate, I will definitely agree that this is pushing out travel tips a bit. Still, one seems to be easier to come by than the other. I will certainly welcome more things to see/do (or “basic prevention,” natch)!
Looking back, I should add to Erdosain and even sven that I’m not plugging my ears and yelling “la la la” when it comes to your posts. I desperately hope you’re right. I’m just explaining that it’s hard not to be vigilant when everything I read everywhere is screaming to be so.
Would you undergo these weird examinations and de-contamination procedures in a US-based hotel? If the answer to that is no, then given that bedbugs are MORE endemic in the US than Japan, you’re ridiculously paranoid. You’re coming off as a complete xenophobe.
Just because it’s in another country doesn’t make it more likely to be infested or icky.
There is also no way to trace from where a bedbug infestation originated. Your landlord would have no way of knowing they came from you.
The thing is bed bugs are annoying but they are not dangerous. You will itch but you don’t catch disease from them. If you’re really worried get a canvass duffle bag. Take all your clothes in that. Then you can WASH your duffle bag.
Bed bugs and bed bug eggs can’t survive a wash and an hour in a dryer. They dryer alone would be enough.
Bed bugs are not microscopic. You will see them. It’s the eggs you want to worry about.
And HEAT is the best weapon. So get a canvass bag and use that as a suit case. When you get home wash that and your clothes. If some clothes can’t be washed, dry clean them.
You will now have no bed bugs or any other problems.
I agree this will become more of an issue in the future. They have found bed bugs in the NYC public library, at the Empire State Building, on the NYC subway. So it’s not just Japan it’s everywhere. Australia has a big problem with them.
So don’t worry about them in Japan, if you get them, well you’ll itch but it won’t harm you. Then you simply wash everything in hot water and dry it for an hour and if you did take anything home with you, they’ll be dead.
I mean I live in a building with poorer people who do a lot of shopping in thrift stores so I’m sure it’ll be just a matter of time before I get them. I got my DE spread out to stop the if they try to come between the walls, but there’s not much else you can do.
Actually, I would. In fact, I would undergo MORE precautions in a U.S. based hotel, especially NYC.
ETA: And it’s procedure I’m mostly concerned about, especially when I go from childhood home to actual home after the trip (I’ll be at childhood home about a week). Not sure where I’ll find a canvas bag (and I can’t wash my backpack anyway)… Ugh, maybe I’ll just do the decontamination thing when I get (to actual) home with the spray or something…
Another frequent domestic traveller in Japan here. I have stayed in countless high class hotels, business hotels, ryokan and capsule hotels all over the country. I’ve never gotten “bit” nor heard of any bedbug problem in Japan. You’ll be fine.
I just wanted to bump to thank everyone for their advice and patience! And to let you know that the situation has made any precautions pretty futile - there are too many of us who are too tired, too many pieces of luggage to safeguard in pretty much any way, and I was told that concern about where to put the suitcases was kinda paranoid anyway!
So I’m going to leave myself to the whims of fate (maybe take some precautions when I get to my apartment after spending six days at home after this trip)!
(That’s one big reason for my concern: I frankly can’t spend the money to move, throw away mattresses and electronics, etc. - especially if my apartment complex holds me liable for bringing these guys in and spreading them to other apartments.)
