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Dude, that's not how you Triforce.

Fak you rads, and fak you dolphins!

I think Japan is a pretty cool guy place. Eh has radiation and doesn't afraid of anything

Is it possible to travel to Japan and have fun on the cheap side?

Xenophobic assholes.

Did visiting Japan become a whole lot cheaper all of a sudden? Because nuclear risk be damned, I would go there tomorrow if someone offered me a free ticket.

I would pay to go there, because I'm sure it's no more dangerous than going to anywhere in the Ukraine, and probably a lot more pleasant.

No worries. I've always wanted to be a superhero.

...in Tokyo. Getting a kick out of these replies, yada, yada, yada

Mind y☢u, radi☢active m☢☢se bites can be pretty nasty...

Inigo: Mind y☢u, radi☢active m☢☢se bites can be pretty nasty...

*shakes fist*

A m☢☢se bit my sister.

© ▼

epoc_tnac: Did visiting Japan become a whole lot cheaper all of a sudden?

No. Not when a US dollar buys 75 yen instead of 110 like it did a few years ago.

Cue the political trolls. Fed, bailouts, Weimar, blah blah blah. . . this is actually a problem for Japan. Massive deflation is destroying their export-based economy. Their currency has appreciated against everyone's. I'm not aware of a stronger currency.

Well it's nice that the entire freakin' world has changed its nuclear policy because of a disaster that killed 0 people. Which was caused by a disaster that killed what, 10,000 people?

But we all know which of these was the true disaster. The radioactive one.

Going there to teach in the spring.

Come at me, Deathclaws.

LegacyDL: Is it possible to travel to Japan and have fun on the cheap side?

Outside Tokyo and Osaka I think that could be possible. You can get a train pass for a week (must be purchased from outside Japan) or use buses instead of trains to save even more. Lots of deals on sites like Rakuten Travel and Agoda for hotel rooms. I'm not sure of the hostel situation in Japan. I've found places in Kyoto and other cities of interest for less than $40/night per room. Cheap food can be found at convince stores (actual meals, not just junk food) or chain beef bowl shops. Hell, if you plan enough in advance you could even score some Groupon or Kumapon (use chrome translator) to get cheap meals, with all you can drink.

/ other Japan farkers living outside Tokyo may have better ideas

Well, that was an abortion of a sentence. Good thing that I'm not going to teach English as a second language or something like that! Right?

/I can English good.

Dafatone: Well it's nice that the entire freakin' world has changed its nuclear policy because of a disaster that killed 0 people. Which was caused by a disaster that killed what, 10,000 people? But we all know which of these was the true disaster. The radioactive one.

Are you blind? Maybe 0 people died so far from the radiation disaster, but hundreds of times that will die in the future from it!!!!

Link (Japan Radiation Map)

Tokyo, Japan/ Japan radiation map. It's not just Fukushima.

/oblig

Cool, the little symbols are showing up in FireFox now!

ArtosRC: Going there to teach in the spring.

Come at me, Deathclaws.

One thing about living in Fukushima I never could stomach...all the damn smoothskins.

At first glance I thought that symbol was some kind of paw print and thought this was going to have something to do with furries.

though the nice nighttime glow saves on using a nightlight.

epoc_tnac: Did visiting Japan become a whole lot cheaper all of a sudden? Because nuclear risk be damned, I would go there tomorrow if someone offered me a free ticket.

I would pay to go there, because I'm sure it's no more dangerous than going to anywhere in the Ukraine, and probably a lot more pleasant.

Why, yes.... someone is offering free tickets (new window).

That's some nice unicoding work there, Lou.

jingks: Dafatone: Well it's nice that the entire freakin' world has changed its nuclear policy because of a disaster that killed 0 people. Which was caused by a disaster that killed what, 10,000 people? But we all know which of these was the true disaster. The radioactive one.

Are you blind? Maybe 0 people died so far from the radiation disaster, but hundreds of times that will die in the future from it!!!!

I see what you did there.

trappedspirit: [i141.photobucket.com image 640x26]

That's some nice unicoding work there, Lou.

I'm having a simmilar issue with the symbols. I have surmised that they're radiation symbols, but they display as rectangles with numbers in them. I don't have this issue in IE, but somehow Firefox isn't displaying some of these symbols.

Little help?
/anyone?

Just means you need to install a language pack, I think. I never see em on windoze machines with all the optional languages installed.

Crosshair: Now, certain exporters may indeed be hurt because they gain what the rest of Japanese citizens lose as a result of Japan continually devaluing the yen by buying dollars, but that's like saying bootleggers were hurt when Alcohol prohibition was repealed, sure a minority may lose as a result, but the majority of society gains. Any disruptions from retooling are temporary.

Before you use Japan as a shining example of your ideological bullshiat, first make sure you're not talking to someone who works for a Japanese company. The collateral damage you're dismissing here is a good deal more significant than whatever bootleggers contributed to the GDP back in Prohibition. The good times were what was temporary. Deflation has taken the country from good times to tough times to now it's a full-blown hollowing out of the economy. They just can't make stuff any cheaper when labor is the vast majority of their operating costs and they're working people, literally, to death as it is.

The "temporary" uncontrolled deflationary crisis you're pooh-poohing has been ongoing for twenty years now. What, exactly, are you waiting for?

Pardon my stupidity, but having lived in moderate inflation all my life, I don't get how deflation would trigger a crisis, though the last part of your statement has clues.

Do you have a source where I can read the details?

Cpl.D: Pardon my stupidity, but having lived in moderate inflation all my life, I don't get how deflation would trigger a crisis, though the last part of your statement has clues.

Do you have a source where I can read the details?

Very simplified: People stop spending money because it will be worth more tomorrow.

More detail: Deflation (new window)

Dave and the Mission: trappedspirit: [i141.photobucket.com image 640x26]

That's some nice unicoding work there, Lou.

I'm having a simmilar issue with the symbols. I have surmised that they're radiation symbols, but they display as rectangles with numbers in them. I don't have this issue in IE, but somehow Firefox isn't displaying some of these symbols.

Little help?
/anyone?

Nor is Chrome. Is all about how some browser manufacturers' standards are more standard than standard. I won't name any names but this company's ex-CEO is still alive.

Well, I know the concept of deflation, but I was more looking for specific details regarding the deflation in Japan.

Just looking to check my
[...] Learned something new today

Dafatone: Well it's nice that the entire freakin' world has changed its nuclear policy because of a disaster that killed 0 people. Which was caused by a disaster that killed what, 10,000 people?

But we all know which of these was the true disaster. The radioactive one.

I think one of the reasons why this accident has changed policies is due to the fact it's going to take 30 years and many billions of dollars to clean up. That is something that has to be taken into account when planning on building a new plant.

I've always wanted to visit Japan and I have the money to do so. I just haven't found the time sadly to physically go there and add to the fact that I was in Europe this past summer. Going abroad won't be happening right now.

But this is what I would be doing if I went there...

Having just come back from a package tour, I am getting a kick out of this because I triggered no sensors going through customs. I almost feel cheated. Almost.

If anyone wants to go, go now. The exchange rate is not that favorable, but tourism is down so popular places are not so crowded.

Some advice, from my recent and "very limited so may be wrong" experience:

Most shops in Japan operate on cash. While larger restaurants and hotels, as well as some larger shops accept credit cards, it is not a given, so carry Yen with you. Just a guess, but I would say way less than half of all shops accept credit cards.

ATM machines that take foreign cards, such as from the U.S., are not universal. Most ATM's are tied to groups of Japanese banks, not networks like CIRRUS etc. Your best bet is to always check out where some of the local Post Offices are located. Most if not all of them have international ATM's. BUT: The diagram is wrong. Is shows the card being inserted number side up. You insert magnetic stripe up and to the right, on all the ATM's I used. You can also try 7/11 and in big cities, like Tokyo, international banks like Citi. If it spits out the card like it can not read it, try flipping it to a new orientation and try again. If you get a message that says "no dependent account" try withdrawing a smaller amount, like 20000 or 10000 yen. Hey, it'll pay for a few beers and a cab ride home.

Get a card from your hotel with the hotel name and address on it, to give to cabbies if you need a ride back. Just in Tokyo alone there must be over 6 Prince Hotels with similar sounding names.

The place is very clean, even the industrial parts are clean. Compared to U.S. cities, Japan is a Clean Room.

Wear a neck brace. You may strain yourself looking at all the women, from teens to 30's wearing mini or micro-mini skirts and knee socks or thigh high boots. Try not to perv out too much.

Oh, and try the hot sweet sake and plum wine. You're welcome.

Crosshair: Who the fark cares if you don't get a raise for 10 years if the general price level falls every year thanks to increased productivity? The increased purchasing power you gain IS a pay increase and the natural outcome in a Capitalist system without a government monopoly devaluing the currency and giving the proceeds to bankers and bureaucrats.


Well, when your rent goes up every year, your gas prices go up constantly, food prices go up, you give a fark.

So, the cost of electronics is going down. Whoop-de-doo. I buy a new computer or TV maybe once every few years, I'm far more worried about the cost of the gas in my fuel tank, the meat on my plate, and the rent that pays the roof over my head than I am worried about how much a new PC or Plasma-Screen TV costs.

Telling you that no raises for a decade is okay because luxury good prices (and that's what consumer electronics are, luxury items, albeit low-end ones) are dropping while basic staples of living are rising in cost is a shell game to make you not realize you are being ripped off.

tomWright: Wear a neck brace. You may strain yourself looking at all the women, from teens to 30's wearing mini or micro-mini skirts and knee socks or thigh high boots. Try not to perv out too much.

If I ever manage to spend time in Japan, I can assure you without reservation that I will not be capable of adhering to this advice.

/perv

Crosshair: dragonchild: Cue the political trolls. Fed, bailouts, Weimar, blah blah blah. . . this is actually a problem for Japan. Massive deflation is destroying their export-based economy. Their currency has appreciated against everyone's. I'm not aware of a stronger currency.

Yea, because a rising standard of living brought about by increased purchasing power is such a horrible thing. The central bank needs to keep Japanese citizens poor by stealing their purchasing power and giving it to rich bankers. I bet you are just horrified that personal computers are now $500 instead of $5,000 like they were 20 years ago. What a disaster it has been with Plasma TV's now costing only $1,000 instead of $10,000. Not to mention how cheap cell phones has destroyed the cell phone industry. Price deflation has destroyed those industries.

Price deflation does not hurt Japan's economy. While the stronger currency will mean lower prices in term of Yen for finished goods, it also means lower prices for the inputs to produce those goods. Steel, oil, wheat etc will all fall in price. Business profits are all about margins both in terms of profit and in market share, the amount of Yen or Dollars made is largely irrelevant.

Who the fark cares if you don't get a raise for 10 years if the general price level falls every year thanks to increased productivity? The increased purchasing power you gain IS a pay increase and the natural outcome in a Capitalist system without a government monopoly devaluing the currency and giving the proceeds to bankers and bureaucrats.

Now, certain exporters may indeed be hurt because they gain what the rest of Japanese citizens lose as a result of Japan continually devaluing the yen by buying dollars, but that's like saying bootleggers were hurt when Alcohol prohibition was repealed, sure a minority may lose as a result, but the majority of society gains. Any disruptions from retooling are temporary.

/Kill Keynsianisim, once and for all.

Interesting. So what do you think about the corporate welfare the financial industry has received since 2008?

Cpl.D: tomWright: Wear a neck brace. You may strain yourself looking at all the women, from teens to 30's wearing mini or micro-mini skirts and knee socks or thigh high boots. Try not to perv out too much.

If I ever manage to spend time in Japan, I can assure you without reservation that I will not be capable of adhering to this advice.

/perv

One of the reasons I moved here...

/not really serious
//well, sorta...
///don't tell the wife

Go for the cute high school girls in mini-skirts and knee socks.
Stay for the teenage prostitutes in mini-skirts and knee socks.

Dafatone: Well it's nice that the entire freakin' world has changed its nuclear policy because of a disaster that killed 0 people. Which was caused by a disaster that killed what, 10,000 people?

But we all know which of these was the true disaster. The radioactive one.

That's some fine toadying there Lou.

You should get together for a circle jerk with the folks who claim only fifty people were farked by the Chernobyl minor incident.

N☢, really! She was karving her initials in the m☢☢se with ch☢psticks...