Signs of Deflation-Yellow-tag?
The Japanese economy still remains deflationary. You can tell it when you go to grocery stores. Today, I saw a lot of leftover goods which offered at a reduced price. These red-tags are 20 yen off or $2 off or even 50% off. The goods on the cart are sold at a giveaway price. You can get a pretty good deal especially after 7pm. You got to check them out.
Suffer now and enjoy later
I recently noticed that in Japan people are backed in a parking space as you can see in this picture. They packed their cars very nice and neat.
The parking space is so tiny that it is difficult to do a front-end parking. When you are backed in a parking space, it is safer and easier to get out from the parking space. So, people who prefer to be backed in a parking space are more likly believe in “suffer now and enjoy later.”
“Senbon Sakura Matsuri” – 1,000 cherry blossoms festival
In March and April in Japan, it is cherry-blossom viewing season which many people can be seen enjoying the cherry blossoms in full bloom. It is called a cherry-blossom festival and is being held in many places throughout the country. Over 700 thousand people attend the festival each year to see the cherry blossom which tells the beginning of spring. In my hometown, Ueda in Nagano, “Senbon Sakura Matsuri,” or “1,000 cherry blossoms festival” is held from April 5th to 21th. This year, Hatsune Miku which is a singing synthesizer application with a humanoid persona and was developed by Yamaha Corporation.
This synthesizing technology sound is used to promote the festival. Hatsune Miku who is portrayed to be 16 years girl whose name, “Hatsu” “ne” and “Miku” means “the first”, “sound”, and “feature” respectively.
If you come to this festival, you can kill two birds with one stone, see the beautiful cherry blossoms and listen to her cute sounds.
“Inkan” or a “hanko” or a name seal
In Western countries, a signature is used on documents while in Japan a inkan or last name seal is used in place of a signature. In Japan, a inkan is necessary for almost everything such as renting an apartment, entering school or opening a bank account or etc.
A Inkan or hanko is also called “sanmonban” which is the most popular type and an inexpensive ready-made seal which can be purchased at a hanko-ya or seal shop or stationery or even one dollar shop.
A foreigners name seal can be made with Chinese characters (kanji), katakana or Roman letter and used one’s first name, surname or both names. It has been said that if you have a name seal made in Yamanashi, where is well-known for the name seals, it will likely become a lifelong treasure. So, you can get it as a souvenir to friends. Or, if you are going to live in Japan, hanko is the first thing you have to get it to survive in Japan.
Forgotten houses
I live in a rural area where houses are mostly vacant, and they are available to rent at a very low cost.
Japan’s home ownership rate exceeds 60%. However, there has been a great increase in the number of empty houses in Japan, not only my rural areas, but also throughout Japan.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, 13% of houses are empty which means one out of eight houses are vacant.
So, you should buy these inexpensive houses in Japan instead of paying expensive hotels in Tokyo.
