What’s the Deal with the High Yen?

Photo by 7D-Kenny on Flickr

Ever since returning from Japan last May, the yen has been sky-rocketing in comparison to the dollar. With all the trouble Japan has been having with tourism and the nuclear worries over the Fukushima Power Plant, it’s been hard to wrap my head around why this is happening.
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Shopping Japan : Seria

I love a deal. So I loved shopping Japan’s hyaku yen stores (dollar stores). I found that they had an awesome selection of things, from household to crafty things to food items. I also found that they were generally really good quality for the price you paid (105 yen generally).
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Bookoff Craft Section

One thing I didn’t mention in my article earlier were the sections I perused in the book store. So if you are interesting in crafts you may want to look for the sections that say:

手芸 (,手＝hand、芸＝skill)
Pronunciation: syugei しゅげい
or
kurafuto クラフト
(craft)

Just a little note that may make the bookstores a little easier to get around.

Japanese Restaurant Review – Yoshinoya

Photo by earthhopper on Flickr

There are few restaurants in Japan that I’m as excited to see as a Yoshinoya. When you’re feeling hungry and you don’t want to drop a lot of yen, Yoshinoya in the place to go!
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6 Months After the Tsunami

A friend sent me a link to an article in The Sacramento Bee about the clean up six months after the devastating tsunami that struck the Tōhoku region on Japan. It’s really inspiring.

Learning Japanese with iKnow

I take a very casual approach to my learning Japanese. Previously I would study like mad and then go into a language learning depression when I began to feel like I wasn’t making any progress. Now I take a much more relaxed pace.

One service than I’ve been really enjoying is iKnow. Let’s take a look at it.
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Bizarre Japan – Bagleheads

I just got sent a link from Weird Asia News on the “baglehead” body modification trend in Japan. I must say, it’s pretty unattractive.

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Japan’s 10,000 Flight Giveaway

Photo by ykanazawa1999 on Flickr

It was actually my sister who first told me about this. It seems the Japanese Government may be looking at giving away 10,000 round-trip flights to Japan next year.

Here’s the details!
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Introduction to Japanese Music – Shonen Knife

Photo by rchappo2002 on Flickr

I’m not as big a music fan as I was in my teens and early twenties. My lust for music went out with the flannel shirts and grunge of the Seattle scene. But once and a while a band comes along and makes you sit up and take notice.

Enter Shonen Knife.
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Places to Shop in Japan: BookOff

I like books. A lot. You might have noticed that =) And as I have mentioned over and over, I like books as mementoes and souvenirs. And I specifically like craft books or magazines. Trav had heard about a second hand book store in Japan, so we decided to check it out.
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