Japanese people are a little weird when it comes to just about everything. One of the things I have recently learned is that money is just another one of those things.
First of all. I had the grave misunderstanding of being in this exact scenario. When you open your wallet and coins, coins everywhere, just go in a downward tumult toward the floor. So what would you do to minimize the damage? You don't want these little buggers to go sprawling everywhere now. I mean sure in America it isn't so bad. What did you have? Three or Four quarters and about eight dozen pennies. Eh who cares. It is like a dollar. And you wanted those pennies gone anyways. No one will be sadder if you don' pick up two or nine of them. In fact kids love finding those little suckers. Well here too. People would love to find your coins. Since You could very easily have twenty dollars in change. In Japan the one dollar and the five dollar are in coin format so if you spill them, you could really be letting loose a very nice chunk of change. So again, what do you do?
You step on them. You aren't letting those crafty little buggers escape you, no! You need those things for this here ticket machine.
You good sir or madam have just made a grave error. That there action is nicely frowned upon by the good and gentle Japanese folk. It is very disrespectful to the money you see. And in Japan you must respect all things. So you don't step on your money. You just let it roll all over the floor and have to rely on the goodness of Japanese people to either ignore you are most often happens or the kind stranger or two who help you out and pick up a piece or two and hand it back to you. Otherwise you just have to look like a giant oaf of a dog sniffing for a place to poo chasing your money around and picking it up.
The next lesson is a subtle one. One that I am not even sure most Japanese people either know they do or why they do it. This one is much more simply and not a huge social fallacy if you neglect to partake in it. This one is simply the way you carry money around in your wallet. First off, most Japanese people don't like to fold their money, and have been tending toward those longer wallets that keep the bills crisp. Even the men. And they still stick them in their back pockets. It is like a thieves paradise. Though I mean usually there is a chain or something connecting them to a belt loop. Or that murse(man-purse) they carry around like its cool. The other thing is to put the money in your wallet head first. Meaning the head of who ever happens to be on the bill you are inserting would be diving into the riches of your wallet. That way when you take him, depending on the way you hold your wallet, he will come out facing the direction of the cashier.
I cannot even fathom why they really do this. So many silly rules for me to go and mess up about this culture
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
There is always money in the Banana Stand
It was too good a name to pass up on even if I did forget what I was originally going to write about.
But I will tell you how Japan is largely a cash based society. That's right. No plastic.
The vast majority of the population either does not have credit or debit cards. And I am not even sure if the later even exists here. The cards they do have are ATM cards. I am not sure how most of the Japanese population gets paid, but right now I get my cash directly deposited into a bank account I set up with the Japanese Post Office (that is right, the Post Office is also a bank). However, I my struggle to find a job here, I nearly accepted a position that paid its employees in cash. Kind of shady right? However they seemed to think it was completely normal.
Anyhow, upon getting paid, I must suppose that the majority of people go and draw out all their money, as they seem to have endless supplies of it at home. And seemingly never go to the bank. So when you see a Japanese people wandering the streets of Gion, they have all the cash they need on them for that day typically when they set out. And will have no need to visit an ATM. I remember a teacher at my school had misplaced his wallet and it went with the denizens of other unfound wallets into the land of the lost. Anyway, when reporting it he had to claim everything in the wallet and said that there was upwards of 60,000 yen in it. That is more than 700.00 USD for those who are curious. And THAT is considered pocket change.
Savings is more of another recent thing for them. I think that many Japanese people either don't fully trust banks or that the interest the banks offer is negligent and why bother at that rate. Personally I don't have anything other than a post bank account, which makes hardly any interest; and therefore cannot offer you any insight into the banking world of Japan. Anyhow when interviewing an older Japanese man about banking, he told me that he started a savings after university when he got a job. However, people often rely on their pensions when they retire and not their savings. He tells me he is one of the rare people who makes good use of his savings by traveling abroad with its funds during his vacation time. When I asked about his children he informed me he never gave them an allowance like the do in America, but would occasionally pay for his children to go to the movies with friends and such. When interviewing another, younger, person about the Japanese cash society, she seemed to have a more open mind about banking and savings. She had a savings for herself, her family, as well as a saving for her son who is about 8. Much like my own mother, she has hidden the fact that he has a savings and will deposit money in there every month. When I inquired if she does allowance, she said that she does that as well. For him he gets 2000 yen every month. When he was in grade 1 it was 1000 yen and when he reaches grade 3, it will be 3000 yen. You see the pattern. I asked what he did with the money and she said that kids his age mostly buy snacks, candies, and the machine toys with it, and when they get older they might do things like puri-kura or games.
As far as jobs go in Japan, you can get a job at the legal age of 13 in Japan, but you must have written consent from the parents and school (please note, it might just be one or the other as things might have changed since interviewer #1's son was in high school). Outside of those arrangements, 15 is a more legal age at which you need no consent save from the employee. But I get the feeling that many people hold off until after highschool (for those who end their education there) to get a job or sometimes even after going to university. And sadly at that point, if you are expecting a cushy, nice paying, respectable job in Japan, you are sadly mistaken, as it seems the availability of jobs for recent graduates is pretty poor at the moment. I would even venture to say as poor as it is in America. But part time work is available and many a-student makes good usage of the availabilities that are offered to earn some extra cash for their more posh attire and more frequent evenings out.
But I will tell you how Japan is largely a cash based society. That's right. No plastic.
The vast majority of the population either does not have credit or debit cards. And I am not even sure if the later even exists here. The cards they do have are ATM cards. I am not sure how most of the Japanese population gets paid, but right now I get my cash directly deposited into a bank account I set up with the Japanese Post Office (that is right, the Post Office is also a bank). However, I my struggle to find a job here, I nearly accepted a position that paid its employees in cash. Kind of shady right? However they seemed to think it was completely normal.
Anyhow, upon getting paid, I must suppose that the majority of people go and draw out all their money, as they seem to have endless supplies of it at home. And seemingly never go to the bank. So when you see a Japanese people wandering the streets of Gion, they have all the cash they need on them for that day typically when they set out. And will have no need to visit an ATM. I remember a teacher at my school had misplaced his wallet and it went with the denizens of other unfound wallets into the land of the lost. Anyway, when reporting it he had to claim everything in the wallet and said that there was upwards of 60,000 yen in it. That is more than 700.00 USD for those who are curious. And THAT is considered pocket change.
Savings is more of another recent thing for them. I think that many Japanese people either don't fully trust banks or that the interest the banks offer is negligent and why bother at that rate. Personally I don't have anything other than a post bank account, which makes hardly any interest; and therefore cannot offer you any insight into the banking world of Japan. Anyhow when interviewing an older Japanese man about banking, he told me that he started a savings after university when he got a job. However, people often rely on their pensions when they retire and not their savings. He tells me he is one of the rare people who makes good use of his savings by traveling abroad with its funds during his vacation time. When I asked about his children he informed me he never gave them an allowance like the do in America, but would occasionally pay for his children to go to the movies with friends and such. When interviewing another, younger, person about the Japanese cash society, she seemed to have a more open mind about banking and savings. She had a savings for herself, her family, as well as a saving for her son who is about 8. Much like my own mother, she has hidden the fact that he has a savings and will deposit money in there every month. When I inquired if she does allowance, she said that she does that as well. For him he gets 2000 yen every month. When he was in grade 1 it was 1000 yen and when he reaches grade 3, it will be 3000 yen. You see the pattern. I asked what he did with the money and she said that kids his age mostly buy snacks, candies, and the machine toys with it, and when they get older they might do things like puri-kura or games.
As far as jobs go in Japan, you can get a job at the legal age of 13 in Japan, but you must have written consent from the parents and school (please note, it might just be one or the other as things might have changed since interviewer #1's son was in high school). Outside of those arrangements, 15 is a more legal age at which you need no consent save from the employee. But I get the feeling that many people hold off until after highschool (for those who end their education there) to get a job or sometimes even after going to university. And sadly at that point, if you are expecting a cushy, nice paying, respectable job in Japan, you are sadly mistaken, as it seems the availability of jobs for recent graduates is pretty poor at the moment. I would even venture to say as poor as it is in America. But part time work is available and many a-student makes good usage of the availabilities that are offered to earn some extra cash for their more posh attire and more frequent evenings out.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
I am the 1%
Actually I am the less than one percent.
That is how many of us white kids are in Japan. The total foreigner tally of Japan marks up to a good 2.5 billion but then you have to subtract all the Korean Pachinko owners and their families and also the Chinese businessmen stealing Japanese tech and retired manpower. Also the Brazilians who for some weird reason took Japan by storm a few years back and have been good friends ever since. And there you have the rest of us; the Indians and their restaurants, the Filipinos and their Japanese obsessions, and the White people and their English. Turns out that 100,000 for all of these nationalities and almost any other, is a pretty charitable number.
Japan's population is a whopping 127.5 million people, that is ever decreasing as their birthrate is in decline. Japan is a wonderful place for tourism, but it turns out that it might just not be the place for foreigners to settle down and spend a few years for life. Well it is for the English teachers, but for many other professions, it just might not be the place.
Living here I have on ever met one other employed foreigner who did not work for anything other than the English language. He was from France, Lyon, and worked at Uniqlo and was the better part of trilingual. He was studying at a university in Kyoto and had a part time job to help him get by. There are actually plenty of foreigners who actually go to school here. I love right next to a university that has perhaps 50 foreigners going there. And if you have read anything else I have written, you would know that I live in a really small city that has not that much to offer (and thus the students don't actually live here, they live in more lively areas and just come to school here everyday). But I consider myself very lucky for this passing foreigner recognition. There are many out in the inaka that don't have these opportunities and are faced with much fewer encounters to even utilize their English in a natural conversation. At least I have the opportunity.
The few foreigners that I know of who have jobs other than English-related careers are people I have never really met. They are or were the CEO's of large company's, or a supposed statistic of businessmen who have been position here on a contract for a few years, located in large places like Tokyo. The CEO's of which I speak are actually no longer. It turns out it is very difficult to change the way Japanese people might think leading to some having to step down from the positions. The only one I know in a current position of major recognition, is the CEO of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn.
The major reason for the minority of foreigners in Japan is probably due to the high cost of living here and the inability to purchase the comforts of home. For example, or for redundancy since I know that everyone who has ever been to Japan has mentioned this, fruits are an extreme sore point as the prices in Japan are skyrocketed 500yen (perhaps 6 USD) for strawberries. Year round. I mean unless they are damaged. Actually during Christmas, strawberries prices are inflated to 900yen due to the Christmas cakes and everybody needing to make one. Another super good example. For anyone who knows the game Skyrim, the price of the game here in Japan is 7180yen, the price back home is 49.99USD - or less depending on where you buy it! Another ridiculous example. Fans. The normal electric kind you plug in and enjoy in the summer heat. I was walking around a department store and saw a perhaps meter and a half tall with 40cm rotating blade or so and it looked very normal. It was also 12,000yen. Over a hundred dollars. Ovens here are not sold for less than 10000 yen (cheap is about 30000yen and they go over 100000yen) and are about the size of a normal kitchen microwave. Actually I mistook them microwaves at first. As they are electric and not gas (or at least not that I have seen yet).
So there is definitely a huge tourism draw to the country with their ancient shrines and temples and numerous historic sites, but the limited job market and the ridiculous cost of living make it a fairly uninhabitable environment for most foreigners to stay too long. Thus making me a very small percent indeed.
And a side note, imagine the percentage of and African or African-American people here trying to make a living. We consider them a minority in America, but it seems to me that we, Americans as a population, have no idea what minority means until we live in an environment where we are such a small percent that there can be a day or even a week that goes by where we do not see anyone who we can have a chat with (in our natural tongue of course). Though that of course depends on where you live and how out going you are.
That is how many of us white kids are in Japan. The total foreigner tally of Japan marks up to a good 2.5 billion but then you have to subtract all the Korean Pachinko owners and their families and also the Chinese businessmen stealing Japanese tech and retired manpower. Also the Brazilians who for some weird reason took Japan by storm a few years back and have been good friends ever since. And there you have the rest of us; the Indians and their restaurants, the Filipinos and their Japanese obsessions, and the White people and their English. Turns out that 100,000 for all of these nationalities and almost any other, is a pretty charitable number.
Japan's population is a whopping 127.5 million people, that is ever decreasing as their birthrate is in decline. Japan is a wonderful place for tourism, but it turns out that it might just not be the place for foreigners to settle down and spend a few years for life. Well it is for the English teachers, but for many other professions, it just might not be the place.
Living here I have on ever met one other employed foreigner who did not work for anything other than the English language. He was from France, Lyon, and worked at Uniqlo and was the better part of trilingual. He was studying at a university in Kyoto and had a part time job to help him get by. There are actually plenty of foreigners who actually go to school here. I love right next to a university that has perhaps 50 foreigners going there. And if you have read anything else I have written, you would know that I live in a really small city that has not that much to offer (and thus the students don't actually live here, they live in more lively areas and just come to school here everyday). But I consider myself very lucky for this passing foreigner recognition. There are many out in the inaka that don't have these opportunities and are faced with much fewer encounters to even utilize their English in a natural conversation. At least I have the opportunity.
The few foreigners that I know of who have jobs other than English-related careers are people I have never really met. They are or were the CEO's of large company's, or a supposed statistic of businessmen who have been position here on a contract for a few years, located in large places like Tokyo. The CEO's of which I speak are actually no longer. It turns out it is very difficult to change the way Japanese people might think leading to some having to step down from the positions. The only one I know in a current position of major recognition, is the CEO of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn.
The major reason for the minority of foreigners in Japan is probably due to the high cost of living here and the inability to purchase the comforts of home. For example, or for redundancy since I know that everyone who has ever been to Japan has mentioned this, fruits are an extreme sore point as the prices in Japan are skyrocketed 500yen (perhaps 6 USD) for strawberries. Year round. I mean unless they are damaged. Actually during Christmas, strawberries prices are inflated to 900yen due to the Christmas cakes and everybody needing to make one. Another super good example. For anyone who knows the game Skyrim, the price of the game here in Japan is 7180yen, the price back home is 49.99USD - or less depending on where you buy it! Another ridiculous example. Fans. The normal electric kind you plug in and enjoy in the summer heat. I was walking around a department store and saw a perhaps meter and a half tall with 40cm rotating blade or so and it looked very normal. It was also 12,000yen. Over a hundred dollars. Ovens here are not sold for less than 10000 yen (cheap is about 30000yen and they go over 100000yen) and are about the size of a normal kitchen microwave. Actually I mistook them microwaves at first. As they are electric and not gas (or at least not that I have seen yet).
So there is definitely a huge tourism draw to the country with their ancient shrines and temples and numerous historic sites, but the limited job market and the ridiculous cost of living make it a fairly uninhabitable environment for most foreigners to stay too long. Thus making me a very small percent indeed.
And a side note, imagine the percentage of and African or African-American people here trying to make a living. We consider them a minority in America, but it seems to me that we, Americans as a population, have no idea what minority means until we live in an environment where we are such a small percent that there can be a day or even a week that goes by where we do not see anyone who we can have a chat with (in our natural tongue of course). Though that of course depends on where you live and how out going you are.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Japan's Pricetag
What the What?! Do I really need $5000.00 to move to Japan!?No. You need more than that.
Ideally you should really move to Japan with at least 500,000￥.
At this point most people are like what the heck?! I am moving there to make money, not to spend all of it! Well, it's a trade off. It's crappy I know, but you need money to start a new life somewhere, anywhere.
Don't want to buy in?
If you don't want these money worries, my advice is to move to Korea. The EPIK program is nice and generous and pays for your flights (they pay a set fee so if you get a cheap flight, you really tend to make money - I think my flight was $480.00 and they reimbursed me somewhere around a grand). In addition they house you for free and give you three free meals a day during training. I apologize, I can't seem to remember if they pay you for the training or not... But they DO they pay you exactly a month from when you start. They also provide you with free housing and furnishing for your entire time in Korea. Sometimes, as in cases like mine, they even pay for your bills; that is because the place I stayed in was so cheap that they had to find a way to use the rest of my budget for housing. However, if you place costs more than the housing budget, then you may end up paying a little bit extra a month. I am talking like a hundred dollars or less.
So what do I need all these monies for?
The biggest thing you need money for is your apartment. It costs a nice handsome price for something that could equal a New Yorker's closet space. Why does it cost so much? Japanese apartments have a lot of hidden fees and such. You have to pay for things like key money, insurance and a few months rent ( just in case).
So now I have a place what about the rest of the money?
You need it to furnish your place. Some places and contracts, especially ones with Leopalace, will have furnishings including: a TV, bed frame, TV stand, table, microwave, fridge, and washing machine. Please note that if you want to go with your own place you have to buy all these things. If that is the case, you can find pretty sweet deals at the local recycle shop. But overall, the majority of these appliances can be pretty expensive in Japan. With that being said I still bought my toaster oven at a recycle shop for 1,500￥.
Furnishings check.
Apartment check. Furnishings check. Everything else check.
Now what?
After that, and perhaps most importantly, you need a phone. You are require to have one so that your company can contact you in a pinch. Sure, you can get a pay as you go one, but if you are planning on staying in Japan longer, I personally really recommend getting something with a bit more snazz. Japanese smart phones have truly unlimited data, also you can use them to pay your bills by simply walking in a store (however, I think this may be an android only service), or use them for a nifty app that tells you exactly when trains arrive and the fastest route from point A to B (Jorudan). Overall they are just really useful.
Can't I just use my old phone?
Short answer. NO. You can absolutely not use your old phone. Also Japanese stores do not sell only the SIM cards either. So quit asking. I swear that is like the first thing that people fresh off the boat ask. Can I buy a cheapo phone and switch the SIM card? Still a neg. The SIM card you buy has to match the functions of your phone (ie: data plans). This leaves you with two choices, go cheap or go all the way. Personally, I have an iPhone. They had a deal for Japanese citizens that made it free when they purchased it. NOT being a Japanese citizen I paid 46,000￥ for it. However, my monthly rate is cheaper.
OK so now for a break down of your start up costs:
Apartment Total: 198200￥
- Key Money (non-refundable deposit): 50,500 ￥
- Key Exchange Fee: 3,150 ￥
- Fire Insurance (good for 2 years): 20,000 ￥
- Data Entry Fee: 2,100 ￥
- Rent for August (Partial): 12,410 ￥
- Rent for September : 55,020 ￥
- Rent for October : 55,020 ￥
Furnishings at recycle shop prices! 57,000 ￥
- Toaster oven 1,500￥
- Microwave 5,000￥
- Rice cooker 3,500￥
- Fridge 8,000￥
- Washing machine 12,000￥
- Bed 8,000 ￥
(find online or at sayonara sales) - TV 10,000￥
(for whatever reason even the analog ones are still expensive!) - Kotatsu 9,000 ￥
(including table and kotatsu futon)
(new its pretty hard to fund used)
Apartment oddities 30,600
- Dishes 6,300￥
(pots, pans, utensils, plates, bowls, mixing bowls, spatula, ladle, chopsticks) - Futon x2 10,000￥
- Sheets 3,000￥
- Towels 1,200￥
- Bathroom supplies 800￥
(toilet paper, scrubber...) - Shower supplies2,600 ￥
(shower rack, shampoo, conditioner, tooth brush, tooth paste, soap...) - Kitchen supplies 800￥
(trash cans, soap, sponge...) - Cleaning Supplies 1,500 ￥
- Closet stuff 1,400 ￥
(coat hangers/organizers) - Shelving 500 ￥ per
- Fan 2,500 ￥
Phone (varies)
- iPhone 46,000 ￥
- pay as you go4,000 ￥
What do you do with all the left over money?
Eat.
Pay bills.
Transportation.
These are all things you need to consider as well. Since you are not going to get paid for possibly 2 months. But you get paid for training? Yes this is true...However this will come with your first pay check. For most that pay check comes the month after they start working. Hypothetically, say you start working in April. You will not get paid until the end of May. Therefore, if you come over in March for training, you need to make sure you have enough money to cover food expenses (which are higher) until you get paid. Personally I go through about a 10,000￥ a week. I cook all of my meals. You can of course pay much less. Also since you pay for three months of your apartment, you clearly don't have to worry about paying that, say for three months, but you do need to worry about paying for the gas, electric, and water bills for each month. In addition to those bills, you will also get your phone bill too. And on top of that, there is your insurance that you need to pay every month.
And I know some of you right now might be saying 'but they said I will get paid for transportation'. And you will. But it is a reimbursement. You get reimbursed the exact amount that you spend for transportation. AFTER you spend it. So you need to have enough to make it to your first pay check and then they will reimburse you for all the money that you previously spent on transportation. Also, they say up to 20,000￥ they will typically not go too far over it, and on the flipside they will only pay you for how much it costs you to get to your schools and get home from them (so no funny business!). If that means it is only 6,000￥ then they only reimburse you for 6,000￥.
Since Japan is just so expensive, please do not fool yourself into thinking that once you obtain 500,000￥ that that is the end all and you are set to go off to Japan. Please notice I did not cover a single before-cost in this blog. This is largely because I did not come from America, or the U.K. or any place that could be useful to you. I came from Korea. And as such my process was very different from your own. But for curious readers I highly recommend checking out The Rising Daikon's breakdown of the monetary units required for that.
NOW!
With all that being said, and for people still freaking out about Japan's pricetag, companies, like Interac, will often give you a cash advance and can help you out a bit (which you pay off bit by bit via your paycheck in an amount that you find convenient). Other companies, like JET, will pay for your plane ticket over, as well as part of your housing. Additionally, you can choose things like cheap housing, only eatting things from the dollar store, minimizing your furnishing (you don't need that toaster), sleeping on the floor (Japanese style!), which are all valid and available options to a penny pincher looking for adventure. But my advice, make the most of your time here...whatever that means...Just live and don't regret it!
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