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In Reply to: RE: Typhoon Shanshan hits Kyushu Island posted by AbeCollins on August 30, 2024 at 21:37:26
Yes Japanese brands are somewhat more affordable here, but of course US brands become more expensive. However there aren't many US brands sold here and import taxes are very high so buying foreign products [of almost any kind] is rare, but not impossible.J.
Edits: 08/31/24Follow Ups:
When I was a 4th grader living in Japan I received $2.00/week allowance for doing chores around the house. I still remember the exchange rate being right around 360Y to the USD. I was a rich American kid buying up electronic toys and fireworks every week (which were legal year-round). Iwakuni was pretty rural with rice paddies, dirt roads in residential areas, and a train track behind our house.I often see Japanese market Accuphase with 100-VAC requirement for sale at steep discount to the U.S. but the catch is you need to use an outboard step-down transformer to accommodate our 120-VAC service. I bet there's no warranty though.
Edits: 08/31/24
Iwakuni was pretty rural with rice paddies, dirt roads in residential areas, and a train track behind our house.Yeah, once you are outside the city rice 'crops of anything' are pretty much growing everywhere. On the plus side, this means 'at least in my area' everything in the grocery stores are locally grown and fresh.
Rice growing
Local Market
Edits: 09/06/24
I remember the thick square Japanese bread from the local market when I lived in Iwakuni.
Is that a Volkswagon GTi in the photo? Didn't know they had them in Japan. I owned a 1983 and 2003 VW GTi.
The bread is still the same, thick and square...just ate some for breakfast in fact.Yes looks like a GTi, these days you can find just about every kind of car here. I saw a US made late model Camaro the other day [steering wheel on the left side]. I've seen Hummers and just about everything you can think of...
Oddly enough, although I'm in the countryside I've seen Ferrari's, and quite a lot of expensive cars like high end Mercedes, Lexus, BMW's, Porsche etc. Of course no upscale neighborhoods or gated communities so its hard to tell where they came from, but a strange sight none the less.
J.
Edits: 09/06/24
Wow, I'm surprised at the variety of cars you see there.
I haven't kept up lately but it seems to me that the exchange rate held at just about 100Y to the USD for quite a while but in recent years it's more like 150Y to the USD.
Do you find that living in Japan is reasonably affordable these days? I would imagine that living in a rural area would be more affordable. Have you been to Akihabara in Tokyo?
Its been awhile since I've been in Japan myself, I just retired here this year. Otherwise its been about 12 years since my last visit. Prior to that we used to come back on a regular basis and pretty much visit all the usual places, but mostly places tourist don't know about [off the beaten path] high-end Onsen's tucked away in the country side, scenic spots in different Prefectures etc.
I'm surprised at the number of young foreigners living here in the cities and of course what seems like a build up of wealth in 40+ year olds. Also at least in Fukuoka city the amount of building of both up-scale apartments and buildings in general.
Affordability, some things are very affordable some things aren't, its really hit or miss. For the most part food is affordable vs the US, cars minus import tax are more affordable, cloths etc. slightly more affordable thanks to the exchange rate. Audio gear is generally more expensive here, I purchased my office monitors from VintageKing audio online in the US and even with shipping and import taxes I still saved 40%. Mogami cables are about 1/2 the cost in the US vs Japan. 150Y/USD was about the peek but a weaker USD and gradually increasing rates here are pushing exchange rates back to normal.
Lots of brands here that you never see in the US like SoulNote [a brand created from ex-Marantz engineers]. US and other foreign brands are sparse, they encourage the sale of Japan made products and have little interest or knowledge of foreign made products.
J.
I had some Japanese 100v appliances [iron, small computer, phone] which seemed to work without issue in the US, and all of my 120v gear that I could bring runs normally here in Japan. With that said, I still would probably not risk buying an expensive 100v amp for use in the US. Accuphase clearly states in all the stores here that their products are not for use outside of Japan and pretty much makes you promise not to ship it out of the country.
J.
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