For Rent

In America we rent DVDs. In Japan there seems to be no limit on things you can rent.

From any given DVD store where you rent the latest Harry Potter movie or what have you, you can also rent the latest CD's to burn and make copies of at your home, or the latest manga or a whole series of manga, and of course their infamous porn. To rent a DVD here it costs about 150 yen to rent a not so new release for about a week and twice that to rent a new one. I actually cant say how much it costs to rent CD's or manga, but I feel like the manga price might be a bit much either way since you can simply go to a good number of cafes and read the manga for free there. Of course you would have to show patronage in some other way, namely coffee. Interestingly Japan does have a bit of a problem with piracy, but it seems not to the degree of the united states...or Korea. The rental business, open 24-7, is still a well sought out place on any given Friday or Saturday night. They often have decently large stores for a place in Japan and I would even say larger than your local Blockbuster store. Their DVDs are largely Japanese as to be expected but there is a surprising amount of foreign films there, and not just American. I see a very good number of BBC originals and French and German ones as well. Korean ones are also present but a bit less popular (Asian competition and all). This is because Japanese rental businesses have to purchase the Japanese DVDs to rent them out. But they do not have to purchase a good number of the foreign films. It seems that the film industry, as least in America, will give them the films but in return they get to claim a certain amount of the profit from each rental.

One of the more gaijin related things that you can rent however is none of the above. A great many gaijins come to Japan and think of one thing (for girls): kimonos. You can rent kimonos. Of course they prices can still be pretty expensive, especially if you are looking in the wrong direction. It also depends where you rent it from.  If you rent it in the Gion district of Kyoto (the large traditional and shopping district) of course it will be more expensive. And sometimes you rent them and they are almost in equal price to one you can purchase and take home with you. Additionally people often rent ones that are extremely low quality, such are they are made of polyester and not silk or cotton. And face it if you rented a cotton one and it is not summer you are being equally ripped off. You will be looked at very strangely indeed. Of course you might be looked at strangely regardless, because after all you are still a gaijin in a kimono. These kimonos-for-rent are often much more colorful and flashy than one a Japanese person might own so as to cater to the western fashion of colors.
Personally, as much as I think it is amusing for gaijins to rent these kimonos (I probably find it amusing because no matter how hard I might try I will never look that part wearing one) and wear them about, I think this is a splendid business venture. It is really an excellent way to discover some traditional aspects and
culture of Japan.