https://japan.savingadvice.com Some of my thoughts while living in Japan... info@savingadvice.com en-us https://japan.savingadvice.com/2007/05/07/making-your-surroundings-better_25742/ One of the lessons that my father taught me was to always leave a place in better shape than when you arrive. When I go on my walks in Japan, they always take a bag along to pick up trash that I find along the way. It's one of those little things that anybody can do to help make... Mon, 07 May 2007 05:16:56 PST japan https://japan.savingadvice.com/2007/05/05/japanese-farm-house_25682/ This is a typical Japanese farmhouse that I came across the other day while out on a walk.<br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=2086&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=2086&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div> Sat, 05 May 2007 09:39:49 PST japan https://japan.savingadvice.com/2007/04/24/video-coke-machine_25256/ This was kind of interesting. It's the first time I have seen a Coke machine with a video in it. The video was playing Coke commercials along with an educational tape that showed how to use your phone to purchase a Coke (that's right, you don't even need change to buy a Coke in Japan.... Tue, 24 Apr 2007 09:37:14 PST japan https://japan.savingadvice.com/2007/04/20/manhole-cover_25086/ I came across a new manhole cover design while wandering around town:<br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1942&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1942&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div> Fri, 20 Apr 2007 01:15:53 PST japan https://japan.savingadvice.com/2007/04/18/worst-store-name-ever_25005/ <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1940&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1940&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div><br /> <br /> Having lived in Japan for over 10 years, most strange spelling and names don't even grab my attention anymore, so when something does, it has to be really awful. I came across this clothing store for kids in a mall near our house. Probably not the best name for a store of any... Wed, 18 Apr 2007 02:38:00 PST japan https://japan.savingadvice.com/2007/04/14/flower-clock_24869/ You can tell it's spring not only by the time, but also by all the flowers around the clock <img src="https://www.savingadvice.com/forums/core/images/smilies/wink.png" alt="Wink" /><br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1915&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1915&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div> Sat, 14 Apr 2007 15:23:40 PST japan https://japan.savingadvice.com/2007/04/13/sculptures_24812/ One thing that I like about Kobe is that there are random sculptures all over the place. I took about a 20 minute walk from the immigration office to the train station the other day and these are all the sculptures I came across along the way:<br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1899&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1899&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div><br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1900&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1900&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div><br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1901&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1901&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div><br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1902&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1902&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div><br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1903&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1903&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div><br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1904&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1904&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div><br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1905&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1905&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div><br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1906&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1906&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div><br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1907&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1907&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div><br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1908&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1908&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div> Fri, 13 Apr 2007 01:27:25 PST japan https://japan.savingadvice.com/2007/04/12/tomorrows-hands_24756/ I came across this wall in a park - all the bricks tiles in the wall are the hands of children:<br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1886&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1886&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Thu, 12 Apr 2007 01:33:52 PST japan https://japan.savingadvice.com/2007/04/11/manhole-art_24720/ Some more of the decorative manholes I came across recently (I get really strange looks from people when I stop to take photos of these <img src="https://www.savingadvice.com/forums/core/images/smilies/wink.png" alt="Wink" /> )<br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1881&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1881&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div><br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1884&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1884&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div><br /> Wed, 11 Apr 2007 10:13:08 PST japan https://japan.savingadvice.com/2007/04/10/cherry-blossom-viewing_24689/ This weekend the cherry blossom were out so my wife and I took a day to go cherry blossom viewing. Neither of us likes the crowds of the main places that people gather to view them, so we headed out to the countryside and found a river lines with them without hardly another person... Tue, 10 Apr 2007 17:09:50 PST japan https://japan.savingadvice.com/2007/04/10/spring-time-in-japan-cherry-blossom-rice_24668/ You know that it's springtime in Japan because the cherry blossoms are out and ever conceivable thing in Japan has that theme - including cherry blossom rice wine (sake)<br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1874&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1874&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div> Tue, 10 Apr 2007 03:28:33 PST japan https://japan.savingadvice.com/2007/04/09/paranoia-paradise_24611/ I love the signs in Japan <img src="https://www.savingadvice.com/forums/core/images/smilies/smile.png" alt="Smile" /><br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1868&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1868&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div> Mon, 09 Apr 2007 09:55:37 PST japan https://japan.savingadvice.com/2007/04/09/parking_24605/ As you might imagine, parking in Japan is always a challenge. Often they will stack cars as in this photo:<br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1866&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1866&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div><br /> <br /> Mon, 09 Apr 2007 04:51:34 PST japan https://japan.savingadvice.com/2007/04/08/great-hanshin-earthquake-clock_24587/ I was wandering around Kobe this weekend when I came across a memorial for the Great Hanshin earthquake that happened in 1995 - believe it or not, I was there for it. Although I lived a bit outside the disaster zone, I was there within a few days in order to help my wife's aunt. It... Sun, 08 Apr 2007 15:09:11 PST japan https://japan.savingadvice.com/2007/04/07/pachinko-machines_24551/ I was wandering the other day when I came across all these old pachinko machines!<br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1847&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1847&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div><br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1848&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1848&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div><br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1849&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1849&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div><br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1850&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1850&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div> Sat, 07 Apr 2007 16:00:09 PST japan https://japan.savingadvice.com/2007/03/02/more-manhole-covers_23012/ Here are a couple more manhole covers I came across the other day:<br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1672&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1672&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div><br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1673&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1673&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div> Fri, 02 Mar 2007 05:59:49 PST japan https://japan.savingadvice.com/2007/02/23/tree-growing-in-a-tree_22687/ I always find nature amazing. I was on a walk the other day when I found a tree that was actually growing inside another tree. Apparently a seed from a nearby tree had landed in an open area of the branches and began to grow.<br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1642&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1642&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div><br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1643&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1643&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div> Fri, 23 Feb 2007 07:35:46 PST japan https://japan.savingadvice.com/2007/02/16/drying-laundry_22354/ We don't have a clothes dryer. The vast majority of people living in Japan don't. Electricity is expensive and there just isn't room in most apartments and houses for the dryer, so everyone hangs their clothes out to dry. <br /> <br /> <div align="center"><a href="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1601&original=1"><img hspace="5" src="https://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/image.php?blog=2967&id=1601&&" alt="" align="" border="2" /></a></div><br /> <br /> Before I came to Japan I would have assumed that... Fri, 16 Feb 2007 05:19:00 PST japan https://japan.savingadvice.com/2007/02/12/why-men-love-valentines-day-in-japan_22173/ While my counterparts will be spending nearly $120 and deciding between candy, an evening out with their significant other, flowers or jewelry, I'll be sitting at home relaxing without a worry in the world becasue I don't have to do anything on Valentine's Day.<br /> <br /> I have no doubt that... Mon, 12 Feb 2007 01:36:12 PST japan https://japan.savingadvice.com/2007/02/03/telephone-cards_21705/ When I walk anywhere in Japan, I'm always on the look-out for used telephone cards that people throw away after using them. When I first came to Japan, they were easy to find, but now that most people carry around cell phones, it's much more of a challenge. I would estimate I have... Sat, 03 Feb 2007 05:22:18 PST japan