teigaku kyufukin

With the economy the way it is, the Japanese government decided to "pump their economy up".

The project is called teigaku kyufukin...

With 2.4 trillion yen (about US$20 billion), they decided to divvy it up and give everyone (including foreign residents)....12,000 yen (about US$120). If you are under the age of 18 or 65 or older you will receive an additional 8000 yen (about US$80).

Now while I will not refuse this gesture, I think they exaggerate how this money will help the economy.

Namely, the letter I received from our city office had me rolling my eyes..."The Japanese government will provide the benefits in order to support the people's life."

WT??

I mean, how can $120 "support someone's life"? Maybe for a meal or two, but definitely nothing long term.

Sadly, people who need the money the most will not receive it. Homeless people are not eligible unless they have a registered address, which excludes public parks.

Also victims of domestic violence are ineligible unless they can take their names off of their spouse's family registry (the forms to submit for this surplus are apparently only being sent to the head of the house.)

The media polled the public and most felt that the money should be used for other purposes such as medical care or the pension system. Most people that were interviewed on television put it into their savings...

Satoshi says he will put his into his savings...me, I'm gonna spend mine!

UPDATE: 6/19/09: I changed the yen into dollars and spent it in Hawaii.

signs

Sometimes walking around Japan, you just have to laugh at some of their signs. I sometimes wonder where they are looking up the meanings to some of the words or phrases that they use. There are also signs with major spelling errors which I can't believe people actually paid someone for!

Like the car dealership that was in our neighborhood called "Risky". They were selling high-end cars like Mercedes & BMW's...When I first laughed at this sign, Satoshi couldn't understand why. He then looked up the meaning and understood...they eventually went out of business..I thought they were a little suspicious, don't you??

While walking around Kyoto last week, I found these signs. SNOB corporation, after googling, I found out that they are a hair salon. With haircuts starting at $60 (the average price here is $30) and coloring touch ups at $80 (the average price for a touch-up here $40) and to have them style your hair after a cut at $15, you too can become a hair snob...where is Fantastic Sam's or Supercuts when you need one?

Another one was Bruce-Pee, I would be a bit cautious about buying clothes from a place that has pee in their name, wouldn't you? Plus, on the second level there is the Ill Store (I googled and found out that ill is the slang for "good")...although you may become ill from the pee clothes...

And as if everything isn't expensive already, the price of some everyday items went up 6-10% on June 1st here in Japan. Here is a list of what they mentioned...TP (toilet paper), tissue (hmm, I wonder if this will put a stop to the free ones?), coffee, dry cleaning and mayonnaise. Part of the reason is the rising fuel costs and also the popularity of biofuels. As of today, they have just added corn and soy beans to the list, soon we won't have anything to eat!