I was craving a bubbly soda and I’ve hit the jackpot! I’ve seen soda in the (estimated) 16oz/500ml plastic bottles just like the U.S. but they run about 150 yen. A while ago I went from convenience store to convenience store to see what the different stores offered and I found a 500ml can of Coca Cola at the Daily Yamazaki for just 100 Yen!
I’d say it’s smaller than this huge Coke I saw at a crepes store. And it’s only 47 yen more than the 160ml can of Coke I found at Sunny (a grocery store chain).
First of all before your journey you’ll need 100 Yen. That’s right, tax is already included in the price!
Next, you’ll need to find a Daily Yamazaki convenience store. It looks like this (I got the picture from Wikipedia)
And here are some pictures of the beast of a drink!
For the ultimate cheap snack I recommend this 100 Yen Coke and the 105 Yen Tiramisu. Both combined are cheaper than the Ishiyaki Imo from the back of the traveling guy’s truck.
I have fiber optic internet here in Japan and for about $50 USD per month it’s a pretty good deal for how fast it is. It’s cheaper than my old Comcast cable modem too. Sometimes it seems lightening fast, other times sites from the U.S. load slow but it could be on the other end and not the fault of my ISP. I tested my internet speed today and here are the results. My ISP said it’s a 100mbps line and I’m only getting 25 so I might change my provider to see what other options are like. Click the image to test your speed and feel free to post the results here!
A lot of people wonder about the cost of living in Japan. Sure there’s living expenses, transportation, food, etc., but last weekend I decided to do some research on the cost of alcohol so you can compare it to your local store. There’s a law in Japan that makes people list their prices with tax included. Alcohol laws can be different in the U.S., so I’m not sure if the tax law applies to alcohol but I’m assuming so (I don’t have my receipt handy).
Almost all bottles listed are 750ml. Ones that are 700ml will be compared to the USD 750ml price. I’ll show you the actual price of alcohol in Yen from a liquor store in Japan and I’ll also list the estimated price in U.S. Dollars from what you’d find in a U.S. liquor store. From my extensive research I feel the Yen price is accurate and it’s what you’ll find at most stores. Ok, no more blah blah blah. Let’s get our drink on!
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Grey Goose Vodka (750ml)
http://www.greygoosevodka.com/
Cost in Japanese Yen: 3200 (comparable)
Estimated U.S. Dollars: $35 |
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Absolut Vodka (750ml)
http://www.absolut.com/
Cost in Yen: 1190 (cheaper!)
Estimated USD: $23
** Absolut Vodka Flavored
** (Citron, Melon, etc)
** Cost in Yen: 2289 (comparable)
** Estimated USD: $23 |
Continue reading ‘Cost of Alcohol in Japan’
Part 1 of 3 - Dying in Japan: I’ve been feeling sick since the middle of September (when we got our dog) and I’ve been thinking I was allergic to her. Anyway after we moved to our new place I’ve had a few days where I feel like I’m dying even when I wasn’t around the dog. I’d have a stuffy nose, a runny nose, sneezing, nasal drip, hot flashes, cold chills. It was insane. So last week I went to the allergist (I’ll talk about that later) and yesterday I got the diagnosis. I’m not allergic to dogs or pollen in the area but I’m allergic to house dust and dust mites. Naaaaasty.
Part 2 of 3 - The Doctors Visit: I had an appointment scheduled at the allergist. When we went there was a HUGE crowd of people outside and all of the traffic stopped. We found out that the Emperor was driving through (Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited Genkai Island to encourage residents who have suffered in the aftermath of the 2005 earthquake that hit the island.) We stood around for about 15 minutes and they slowed their roll and waved while they passed by. That was pretty cool because we were about 5 meters away. After we experienced this we headed to the allergist to party it up. First we sat in the regular waiting area. When my name was called we were upgraded to some other seats that I’ll call ‘business class’ and 10 minutes later we were upgraded to ‘first class’ which was right next to the doctor. It was strange. 3 minutes later I was upgraded to VIP! That’s right, the patient chair that reminded me of the dentist. He spoke to my finacee to get information and talk about allergy things while randomly sticking things in my ears and nose without warning. It was a crazy experience. After he decided to take blood tests I was sent to the “after party” which is this chair where I stuck two tubes up my nose and breathed in some mist for about 5 minutes. After that I went to ‘detox’ where they drew my blood and then we were on our way with a prescription for some antihistamine. Continue reading ‘Going to the Doctor’
This might get long so I’m going to give you a breakdown of what I’ll be talking about: Today’s listed exchange rate, today’s Mastercard exchange rate, 2% currency conversion fee, adding this all up you’ll see my true conversion rate.
I know some people have been curious about the conversion rate when you withdrawal from an ATM using your Visa Debit Card or Mastercard Debit Card. MC and Visa are supposed to give you fair exchange rates from what I’ve heard. Today I used my Mastercard to withdrawl funds from my U.S. bank and here’s the breakdown of charges and rates.
Today’s USD to Yen rate from www.xe.com is
1 USD = 114. .735 JPY
The actual rate I received
1 USD = 114.23 JPY
Not bad! But then my bank charged me 1% to do the currency conversion and Mastercard (as well as Visa) charges a 1% fee. So if I withdrawal 11,000 Yen my account would reflect a $96.30 withdrawal amount, a bank fee of $0.96 and a Mastercard fee of $0.96. That means for 11,000 Yen I was actually hit for $98.22 and in reality if you include the 2% in fees my true exchange rate from the ATM resulted in 112Yen per $1 USD.
Is this a good deal? Continue reading ‘ATM Currency Conversion’
Some people think that Japan is an expensive place to live. From my experience it’s not that bad. Sure some things are more expensive than other countries, but other things are more affordable. Only Tokyo and Osaka made the top 50 list for the highest cost of living in 2007. Not bad!
1) MOSCOW, Russia
2) LONDON, United Kingdom
3) SEOUL, South Korea
4) TOKYO, Japan
5) HONG KONG, Hong Kong
6) COPENHAGEN, Denmark
7) GENEVA, Switzerland
8 ) OSAKA, Japan
9) ZURICH, Switzerland
10) OSLO, Norway
(Source: Mercer Human Resource Consulting)
If you’re looking for more information on this, you might want to check out Japan’s Statistics Bureau
Continue reading ‘Is Japan Expensive?’
Today’s currency conversion rate is at ï¿¥114 to $1. Good thing I converted some money when the rate was 116 Yen per 1 US Dollar, and I almost made the 117 mark! The dollar is getting weaker (of course) and now the Yen is on the rise. Thank God I don’t live in Canada right now with that type of conversion ($1 USD = 0.96 CAD). I’m no financial expert but if the US Dollar keeps declining in value at this rate and Japan’s economy improves… well… this could mean that 100 Yen to $1 USD might be happening in the next year. That sucks for people getting paid in US Dollars. On top of that conversion rate I’m getting nailed with a 2% transaction fee. 1% from MasterCard and 1% from my Bank to convert money at stores, restaurants, atms, etc. I’m waiting to get the debit card from Capital One all squared away to lessen the fees I’m getting hit with but it’s going to take forever. (Side note: in this case forever means about one month)
I just read about the Yen’s 6 week high at Bloomberg.com Continue reading ‘The US Dollar sucks right now’
