http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/T327143.htm

I met up with Nick Parsons and his father-in-law Scott Greer.  We heading to Osu-Kannon station in Nagoya for this event.  When we got there were also learned there was a traditional festival going on at the same time.  Actually that festival was almost more of a big deal then the parade we came for.  Remember, I just said almost.  There Parade was interesting.  A bus pulled up with all the different characters that were participating in a tournament over the weekend. We saw all kinds of interesting people dressed up in some weird outfits.  Most notable were one guy dressed up in a maid outfit passing out flyers for a capsule hotel.  Another guy looked like Japan’s version of Napoleon Dynamite dress up in a Strawberry Shortcake outfit.  The second guy was really creepy.  So creepy that no one wanted a picture with him or even talked to him.  That’s saying something considering the environment we were in.  Below are a variety of pictures I took.  Some are of the traditional festival.  we showed up in time to catch some people playing some music and that was cool.  If you’re every in Nagoya, Japan make sure you go to Osu Kannon because its a cool little area.

So, this blog post has to do with two things. 1) a good use for the massive amounts of small change that you collect while living in Japan. 2) the popularity of Crocs in Japan.

Small Change

In Japan, a 100 yen coin basically equals 1 US Dollar.  So, that means in Japan you have coins for the US dollar equivalent of a 1 Dollar bill and a 5 Dollar bill.  The smallest bill you get in Japan is a 1,000 Yen bill.  That is roughly 10 US dollars.  What this means is that your pocket is constantly full of komakai okane (small change).  So, the Yen coins are 500, 100, 50, 10, 5, and 1 Yen coins.  I use the 500, 100, and 50 Yen coins all the time.  The 10’s, 5’s, and 1’s are used a little less.  10 Yen coins are great for vending machines (which are on every block here in Japan).  5 and 1 yen coins are practically useless because vending machines dont take them.  With that being said, you can really stack up a pile of small change.  Well, Andy and I figured out how to use our 10 Yen coins.  There are 3 vending machines a block away from our apartment with a wide variety of tasty drinks.  One night we decided to take all the 10 Yen coins in our apartment and buy drinks from the vending machines.  When it was all said and done, we bought 51 drinks!  All drinks cost at least 100 Yen and most were 150 Yen.  The pictures below show all the change we had and how many drinks we bought.

Rubber Shoes

For all of you that wear Crocs, hear me out.  I’m not trying to hate on you.  I have owned a pair of Crocs in the past.  They were comfortable and convenient to just throw on real quick.  I remember Crocs being popular by the beach and in Hospitals and on the AVP tour (pro beach volleyball).  Here in Japan, well at least Okazaki, Crocs are incredibly popular.  I have been amazed by how many people over here wear them!  I was at the mall with Mike one day studying at Starbucks for about 2 hours.  During that time, I saw 64 people come and go that were wearing Crocs.  What I remember in the states was that people would wear Crocs when they were in a really relaxed mood, heading out real quick, going to the beach, or something like that.  Here you’ll see girls all dressed up like crazy and then they’ll be wearing matching Crocs with a little bit of bling on them.  I’m not trying to make fun of it.  I’m just saying that its really interesting some of the differences here in Japan.  I guess in order to fit in I need to by some Crocs.  Mom, if my Crocs are still at home, can you send them please?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4170649.ece