In Japan you can pay with a 10,000 yen note for something that is 105 yen ALWAYS and ANYWHERE without a peep from the cashier. In what other country can you go into a small convenience store, for example, and buy something that has 1/100th of the cost of what you want to pay with? Tell me tell me tell me!
To buy a metro ticket from a vending machine, you can shove up to 6 coins at the same time into the slot and it will never get stuck, you won’t have to wait six times longer, and you can get change. And again you could buy a 130 yen ticket with a 10,000 note, no problem.
Know the daily limit of how much you can take out of a Japanese ATM machine? For most American banks it is $300 or $500. Japan? $10,000.
The yen was at about 84 to the dollar last I looked, which was near a 15 year high, so I am trying not to look. The all-time post-war low is 78 yen to the dollar. While I hang out at my friend’s place up here in the mountains, I spend very little, but I have to leave the cocoon sometime.
This is a typical inner city gas station with overhead hoses to maximize space. Gotta love the ingenuity. A visit to a gas station should be a must on everyone’s to do list. Self serve does exist, but the norm is a swirl of hustling attendants treating your car like it’s at a pit stop in a race. They pump gas, empty your ashtray, clean your windows, offer to check the oil and do other things I am not sure of (I am tempted to show them a sudoku I am having trouble with) and then stop traffic so you can get back on the road.
Below is an artistic wood pile. I am almost compelled to compose a haiku or two.
This genki couple picked me up hitchhiking. No one objects if I ask to take their photo.
Ahahaha! Du må spørre dem om de kan hjelpe deg med Sudokuen! Jeg er sikker på at de kommer til å stå på hode for å hjelpe deg! x )
And that must be the sexiest car i’ve ever seen! Those are VERY expensive here in Norway..
Kanskje skulle jeg har sendet min sudoku problemer til deg! Du ma vaere flink ogsa….
Let’s go into business together. I will send you cool Japanese cars.
And try paying with a 100 rupee note ($2) in India and they look at you like you just walked up and stuck a needle in their arm.
BTW, people, Kent sometimes uses creative exadurations for emphasis, but they really DO walk out into the middle of the street and stop traffic for you as you pull out. Darnest thing I’ve ever seen.
Japan IS different!
P.S. aHA, you’re staying with a FRIEND in the MOUNTAINS! THAT’S why you’re convinced Japan is cheap!!