Tuesday, June 16, 2009

japan hour

sitting in front of the computer the entire afternoon once again reminded me how hot and humid singapore is. japan is now rather sunny with chilly winds, which was fine with me, except when the incessant rain on day 2 kinda killed much of the mood at universal studios. but thankfully it didn't rain for the rest of the trip.

osaka and tokyo are both awesome cities, but it is nagoya that left the deepest impression on me. our tour guide had so many interesting stories to tell! apart from the better-known fact that nagoya is where toyota's headquarters are situated, it was said that the coke float and its variants originated from this city as well. also, she told us that the people of nagoya are really thrifty people in the sense that they - i quote - sheng xiao qian, hua da qian. a loose translation would be "save the small money, spend the big money". for instance, a woman would cycle a few miles to a market every day to buy vegetables that cost 10 yen less, just so that she can save up to buy a designer bag. i think that's pretty cool :) many a drop makes an ocean, see?

this leads us to the fact that the japanese put a lot of emphasis on quality, hence their love for designer goods. it's quite apparent: old aunties reportedly even carry louis vuitton bags to the wet market. according to the tour guide, japanese girls came up with a 'designer goods hierarchy': with their first paycheck they'd get burberry blue label, then they would aim for coach or gucci, followed by LV, and finally hermes :) sure sounds like a good plan haha.

the land of the hello kitty would definitely be a place that i would love to visit again if given the opportunity. perhaps make a trip to hokkaido for some skiing, honeydew and scallops :)

by exalted! at 3:10 pm |