{"id":315,"date":"2009-02-02T00:18:34","date_gmt":"2009-02-01T15:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.darlosworld.co.uk\/?p=315"},"modified":"2009-02-02T00:18:34","modified_gmt":"2009-02-01T15:18:34","slug":"japan-has-two-prices-expensive-and-not-so-expensive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/darlosworld.co.uk\/old-wp\/2009\/02\/02\/japan-has-two-prices-expensive-and-not-so-expensive\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan Has Two Prices – Expensive and Not So Expensive"},"content":{"rendered":"

After spending a good portion of time working on my Kanji in Context material this morning (and afternoon), I went out for a walk to stretch my legs and get some food (being Sunday, you know the drill). I’d also read somewhere that sitting down for too long can cause piles (hemorrhoids)<\/a>, which, pardon the pun, can be a real pain in the ass.<\/p>\n

Going no where in particular, with no real goal in mind, I wandered around the area of Umeda between the main town area and my home. Having a browse around various shops and looking in (non residential) windows, something hit me. Well, two things if you count a bicycle that got me in the back of the leg because I wasn’t paying attention.<\/p>\n

When compared to prices of things back home, Japan is rather odd. Generally speaking, things can be classified as two kinds of prices (even second hand goods); “really expensive” and “just about normal”, with the rare anomaly of an actual cheap thing. It’s only recently since the high price of the yen (\u5186\u9ad8) kicked in that I started to notice that what I thought was cheap wasn’t actually inexpensive, it just looked that way next to it’s top class counterpart.<\/p>\n

Looking back at my numerous visits to the 100 yen shop, the 99 yen shop, or buying from the 100 yen menu at McDonalds, I realise that I was neither getting ripped off nor getting a bargain (bar the exception of a few awesome finds at the 100 yen shop). Even going to our favourite ‘cheap’ watering hole<\/a>, it occured to me last night that paying roughly \u00a32.80 was a bit more than usual compared to back home. However, compare that with what appears to be the average price of a beer at \u00a34 to \u00a35 and it instantly looks like a bargain.<\/p>\n

Since last week the price of the yen has come down a scoshie bit (no where near to how it was when we first got here mind you), but I’ve really been wanting to squeeze the pennies … or should I say ‘yennies’.<\/p>\n

It’s a holiday from Uni this week as new University Konan students take their entrance exams. Good luck folks. Though the break is always well received, I’m not a big fan of time away from University here. Not only because it means not getting food at the dorm (this holiday isn’t a national holiday, which means we get food … well yesterday was), but because it takes me away from chances and opportunities to practice speaking. I did try to start up a conversation twice today with perfect strangers, and it went just as I expected it … very badly. Thankfully not too badly to get me deported, but a lot of confusion on both of our parts (and extreme shock from one guy) led to a very fast exit on both sides.<\/p>\n

Anyone remember The Beets<\/a>? Damn Disney breaking them up<\/a> T_T<\/p>\n

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