I won't bite on the "naivete" nugget just as I didnt take the "thinking hat" bait, but this is spinning round and round (and becoming less productive in the process), so I'll just end by saying the majority of the market for "neo-sofubi" is indeed outside of Japan. At the same time, part or all of all profits in the supply chain are repatriated there. Enter the capricious element of currency rate fluctuation.

Back to our toy store - were the shop to lower/devalue prices to make the items more attractive to overseas customers, it would do so in response not to normal supply/demand mechanisms but in reponse to currency fluctuations - an "extra market" force. Once again, call it or couch it as you will, cross currency rates are powerful forces, with real and immediate effects on consumers and producers.

I have been checking the US dollar to British pound the past few months as coming over in Sept and in the past 2 months it has gone from £1 = $1.46 to now £1 = $1.65, in two months it has risen a lot and from what i can find out and have checked is that by sept it should be around £1 = $1.78

last time i was in New York which was only 18 months ago it was £1 = $1.99,

it does and could change at anytime but the recent trend does look like its going up a little which is good for us Brits but not great for others

a friend of mine is moving over in a month and when he was planning everything 2 years ago, buying a business etc... and now he has lost out around £8,000 due to the exchange rate, which when you think about it is a hell of a lot of money and he works bloody hard for it

the economy here in the UK (i live in the North in Newcastle) has seen such a rise in unemployment its crazy, I have at least 12 friends who have lost their jobs over the past 6 months due to industry falling on there arses

god a bit of a rant i do apologize

This thread is a bit over my head, but I've seen it mentioned a few times that prices for goods are/will be dropping. Why is it that I've seen prices climbing? Last year (or whenever it was) they said the price of goods was going up due to fuel costs - but then fuel costs dropped and prices have continued to climb. When will I start to see some financial relief in my grocery receipts?

Or my rent goes down, or my wages go up..... I think Anraku going for under 200 would be a fair indicator

Unfortunately prices go up much faster than they fall, except in the case of securities, property, and other assets subject to speculation and bubble/bust cycles.

Rising oil, raw material, foodstuff and other commodity prices are always a great excuse for companies to raise prices directly, or indirectly via package shrinkage (which I think is much more devilish). But yeah, when wages, purchasing power, and commodity prices fall, where's the relief? Recent reports do suggest that inflation in the USA is flat and that for some items in the standard "basket," prices are falling. But that certainly doesn't hold true for a lot of daily purchases.

Bringing things back to Japan, it's amazing to see how flat prices have been in the last decade - even falling for a lot of things. You can now eat and sleep there for a lot less than what it costs in most US cities. I've been wondering if the standard 120 yen can of iced coffee from a machine will ever go up. Instead, I see more and more "Cheap Bastard" machines selling coffee for 100 or even 80 yen! Major deflation going on, and more "point card" and other discount schemes helping drive down prices. Would be nice if long distance transport were cheaper on the shinkansen...

Its odd when I'm in Japan; it's cheaper to go overseas than travel within Japan. My 5 day trip from Tokyo to hawaii cost less than a 5 day trip from Tokyo to Osaka, something is wrong here. (offtopic!)

It's an interesting side topic. I'll pick up on it.

Only thing I've found so far to offset train fares are the discount sellers near the stations that sell ticket vouchers redeemable at JR stations. Saves around 10%.

Besides that, you're basically looking at a highway bus as the best alternative. JR may have a rail monopoly on the trunk lines, but there are a shit ton of bus companies fighting for the open roads, meaning you can make it from Tokyo to Osaka for $40. Of course, the cheaper buses are cramped, and the lowest rates are for overnight buses. But it sure does save a bundle.

In general, Japan seems to be increasingly depressed. There are so many Daiso and 100 yen stores, plus bargains all over the place. Breakfast for $4 and lunch for $7 is easy. Dinner can be more, unless you can settle for a bowl of cold soba: $3. Even with the strong yen affecting visitor spending and relative costs, a stay in any Japanese city will cost maybe 1/2 what you'd pay in NA or Europe. For backpacking types staying in dorms and cooking meals, you'll save even more.

well I am vegan, so food is not as cheap as it is for others. When I lived here, I did get what groceries I could from the 100 yen stores. And costco was a good deal for WAY cheap soy milk like cheaper than regular milk!! Plus it was western style soy milk not asian style soy milk

The buses may be cheap, but Hotels are not.

In some ways Tokyo is cheaper than large cities in the USA, but in some ways it is not. When people say things like "Tokyo! thats so expensive!" I just tell them, "It's not any more expensive than LA or NYC, its comparable to large cities in the USA"

Hotels in tokyo can be very cheap if you stick to business hotels which are totally fine. at $60 a night, I can't find hotels that cheap in any large city in the states.

our upscale hotel in Tokyo was around $125 a night.

we got a crazy deal two weeks before we left and cancelled our previous reservation. sure it's not as cheap as $60, but i think you would be hard pressed to find the same quality hotel in the US for that rate.

I'm a vegetarian myself, and when I stayed in Tokyo last May (and cooked for myself), I found a wealth of vegetables for 100-300 yen per bag/bushel at regular supermarkets. Soba and udon were also quite reasonable. In terms of eating out, sure that will cost more, but there are bargains, like Subway. Freshness Burger also sells a mean tofu burger for 400 yen.

Hotels are dirt cheap in Japan compared to major US/European cities, especially outside of Tokyo. Plus if you go there a lot and connect with some of the member/point card deals, you'll save a bundle. Stay there for a month or longer, and you can plug into Guest House deals.

I think the thing with Japan is over the last decade, not only have prices fallen within the country, but they've plummeted relative to other places. But the transportation costs...ugh. That sure does add up when you take a combo of JR + subways and zip around a lot. Of course, it's still peanuts compared to places like London.

well as for inner city travel, its "cheap" if you know you are gonna travel and sight see all day. When I guided my friend around we got a JR day pass for inside tokyo for like 700-something yen. We went all over tokyo in one day...it was very tiring.

I know Mos Burger has a rice "burger" more like onigiri w/ seaweed but you can get it as a set with fries. I don't trust any ramen or udon here cause everything has fish broth unless they offer "Kansai" style which is Konbu Dashi.

I found a hotel for $50 a night, walking distance to Waikiki...i think it was a 2 star? You can find cheap hotels in LA county too. I have never been to Europe so it probably is true Tokyo is cheaper.

You still in Tokyo?

Naah I left about a month ago.

I definitely agree about any soup based noodles, but I'm fine with dry soba or udon. But the risk/curse of the fish flakes (katsuo) is always there no matter what you order, eh? Ugh..Anyway, if you're super strict, as in not even eating something like yasai tempura that may have been cooked in the same water as shrimp, then it's pretty much eat at home or at an all veggie restaurant, right? Anyway, that's super off-off-topic

The JR Tokyo all day pass is nice is you're making 4+ trips on the Yamanote or Chuo/Soba. But so many shops/spots are out there on the Metro, Kesei line, Seibu Ikebukuro...LOL. Would be nice if they could sort out an "all Tokyo no matter who owns the train you're on" day pass.

At least there's Suica. Very nice that card, but you sure do need to reup a lot if you're shop hopping.

Speaking of Japan and the US, at the risk of heading off topic again, it looks like the corporate lobbyists have taken a page out of the Japan flippers' playbook:

http://us.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/13/l ... index.html

actually there IS an all day no matter what train company pass. It's for inside Tokyo and you can use it for both JR and Metro all day, but its like 1500 yen or so...so its kinda expensive.

"I have no problem with lobbyists being in hearings, but they shouldn't be able to buy a seat," McCaskill said. This is coming from a politician that spent lots of money campaigning to get elected and gets subsidized by the US government for re-election. If that's not "buying a seat" please tell me what is??

If people are standing in line before you, you have to stand in line longer...although we shouldn't have to lobby to get important issues heard. On the other hand, politicians ignore them even when they are lobbied, unless they are lobbied by bible reading gun toting rednecks.

I thought that pass was only for JR + Metro. Does it include things like the Keisei and Odakyu lines? How far outside of Tokyo does it extend? As far as Koiwa? Chiba? 1500 yen is a lot, for sure. But a couple of criss cross trips across the city, and you're pretty much there. I can see it being a major advantage for folks who don't have Suica cards. Figuring out fares can be a real hassle with all the different machines at stations.

Oh, for people who don't know, JR has an awesome promotion for visitors to Japan. At Narita Airport, you can get a Suica (with some money on it) + a trip from Narita Airport to Tokyo on the Narita Express for a really good price:

http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/suica-nex/index.html

we're almost back to the golden days! well, not really, but better than the last several years, anyway.

1.00 usd = 92.8117 jpy

And yet it always sucks if you are confined to Paypal's horrible conversion rates. Which for most people outside of the US, we are. Still, I am happy for any improvement.

93.2 today!

Faster, Yen! Deflate! Deflate!

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/ ... I520130218

I won't be happy till it's back to the 1.00 USD =1.25 yen rate I started on when first using buying services but it goes beyond that I'd be so happy. Not holding my breath though.

Meanwhile the Canadian Dollar keeps falling. In spite of our strong banking and resource sectors. Just cannot win.

Foul language warning.

Fuck Paypal. After years of complaining about the terrible, horrendous, complete shit of conversion rates it gives you, endless surveys and questionnaires filled out, countless complaints lodges, (yes I am that guy) I finally figured out why they are screwing the customer over even more so than their usual cut.

Because I was dealing with a serious grievance against them and getting nowhere, I finally was able to get through to a supervisor, who, as I had him on the line, I decided to question about this whole foreign currency conversion rate, and out of who's ass they are pulling it. I am sure that most of us know how the rate against the Yen is finally coming back to somewhat reason, and when you have to deal with an extra conversion factor (i.e. to CDN $) it sucks even more, so I had had enough. Well anyways, he told me straight up that Paypal buys and sells currency as a commodity, and their rates are all based on how much they are holding, and completely not related to (directly anyways) to the current exchange rate. What. The. Fuck.

Paypal, come on, you are providing a decent service, for lack of any competition, and don't need to act like some kind of stock broker or professional bank - even those which will still give you an exchange based on the daily rates. This is some seriously messed up, non-disclosed, utter BS in my opinion, because as a consumer you really dont have any choice. Am I now supposed to check their rates every day (and I have checked they change throughout the day) by using sample payments (again, yes I am that guy)? And then "buy" Yen for my account from you somehow when it is a decent rate, just to bank it in my balance later? I don't even think this is possible unless you use Paypal.jp, and even if it were, that is totally ridiculous. Yes, yes, pure capitalism, I get it. But come on, this is not what the company is set up to do, and they are already making a shit ton of money off all of us - the SB community alone probably pays the salaries of a whole call centre. Cheap cash grab, and I am not happy about it.

Once Ripple completes their beta and is open to new accounts I'm definitely opening one. Sounds like it could very well address all of your complaints about Paypal. The limiting factor will be whether people you want to buy/sell from/to also have an account.

I haven't heard of Ripple, but I am definitely willing to give anything else a go. I think the real issue here will be overcoming how ingrained PayPal has become with businesses/online retailers. For instance, even if by some miracle a better search were to come along, it would be incredibly difficult to surpass Google. It has just become so ubiquitous already, that Paypal is almost as recognisable a brand as Visa. I hope that people are willing to accept change, and some newcomers can manage to gain market share from something that started out just for ebay, which it is/was great for, but has gotten too big/greedy for its own good.

What is the option that comes up that you can use the conversion rate from your bank instead of paypal? I use my debit card on paypal and that comes up each time. Like an ass I always pick the paypal conversion