円

Before I start, I just want to thank the world for its terrible economy resulting in a yen to dollar conversion rate of 99 to 1 halfway through my last semester, and I thinks its about that bad now too, just check! It was 118 to the dollar when I first arrived in the great Nihon. I hope it changes before I go back!

Being this close to graduation is making me think about money. Ideally I will find a sugar momma (nihonjin of course) before graduation, but I'm not holding my breath.

One problem I have with Japanese money, however, is that yen is too easy to spend. This is for 3 reasons. Reason 1: The coins go up to 500円(about $5). You are just spending coins so you don't think anything of it. Who knew a handful of change could actually be 30 bucks??

Reason 2, and perhaps the most obvious: everything is so darn expensive. I found myself shocked at how cheap a can of coke (pocari sweat is more like it) was when it was 'just' 100 yen.

Reason 3: You can spend ANY bill ANYWHERE. Yes, 10,000 yen at the McDonalds is okay. Of course, McDonalds is evil so I wouldn't recommend spending 10 yen there, but I digress....

The second reason is likely due to convenience. If you want a Calpis, カルピス ,at 4am and you don't feel like walking more than 10 feet to get it, its okay, there is a vending machine in arms reach. So I guess paying 100 yen for that kind of convenience really isn't so bad. If they just kept the beer/chu-hai vending machines open past midnight then we'd be in good shape.

Moral of the story, take pictures of your yen, you won't be seeing it for very long.