Dollars and a lack of common cents

The days in Choshi have grown short, and rain and snow are falling little by little.  These days, everyone is used to the job, the life, the tranquility of Japanese living.

On the other hand, those demons known as student loans likely lurk, lying in wait for many of us, ready to spring up and attack at any moment.  For me, the loan monster has been on my tail for nearly 3 years, and I've got to be honest, I'm tired of running.  I wonder if perhaps our money could be put to better use than sitting in a savings account that earns 1% a year.

In general, inflation proceeds at a rate of 3% per year.  So, if you have 100 dollars in your savings account, you've lost 3 dollars to inflation every year you let your money sit, and you might currently think that's actually good to let interest accrue. Note that your 1% return in interest is just 1 dollar, which inflation already demolished thrice over.  The fact is that big banks offer you paltry returns, and you actually lose money if your money is sitting below 3% interest.

3%? That sounds impossible.  Where are you going to find an account that will offer more than 3% return annually?  The answer is, I don't know.  All I know is that loan interest accrues at a rate somewhere between 5 and 20 times the rate at which interest in a savings account does.  How are we EVER supposed to get back on track with our finances?

Perhaps investing is the way to go? Stocks? Hoarding cash? Living frugally for a few MORE years? When does it end?  Will we ever be free of the debt demon?

Thankfully, Japan is liberal with its wallet, and does ALTs a great service by allowing us a period of both easy living and great earnings.  For many, JET offers the chance to escape debt and--would you believe it?--actually SAVE money!  We sure are lucky.

It's not really until you witness and calculate for yourself how much your loans are REALLY costing you -- adding in the interest you might pay over 5 years, versus 2, for example -- that you realize every dollar you don't put towards your debt is hurting you exponentially more than a single dollar.  Factor in regular inflation, lack of interest accrual in your bank account, and the high rate of interest for loans, and it seems like a truly mountainous task. Are we to live on ramen noodles, living in the basement of our parents' homes for a bit longer just to not owe anything to the banks?

What's a generation of soul searchers to do?

Mori Tower is the reason I bought a camera that cost as much as my car.

Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but here's the story:

In 2009 we discovered a place called Mori Tower in Roppongi, a very fashionable, trendy area, full of upscale shopping and amazing scenery.  I vowed to return to Mori Tower, which gives you a full 360 degree panoramic view of Tokyo, and I vowed to do it with a camera that would do the scene justice.  Unfortunately the photos and videos I took capture about 10% of the breath-taking-ness of standing on the 53rd story overlooking the biggest city in the world; how could I have thought I could capture it in a snapshot?

Before the new year, I met up with friends Victor and Jessica and we spent two days touring a bit of Tokyo.  Here are just a few of the incredible scenes we witnessed.

In chronological order of the weekend, some highlights:

The following shots are from Mori Tower's 53rd story.

This floor of the tower actually has several gift shops, smoothie place, and a full-service bar with lounge music.  As it's panoramic, you have a full view of the entire city of tokyo, and at night, the lights blow you away.  

This time, there was, of course a Christmas/holday-esque cheer in the air, with plenty of decorations.

The sun is beginning to set.  If you've already been to Mori Tower and are visiting for a second or third time, this is the part where the butterflies in your stomach start going crazy in anticipation of the night.

Stickers up on the wall in support of those affected by the Earthquake in March. People wrote personal messages of encourage to the people of Tohoku.

Obligatory self-photograph, but this scenery beats a bathroom mirror any day.

Here comes the night!!

Goosebumps and chills... pure beauty.

The bar was featuring this new whiskey that night, we got a glass (it was eh).

For the first time ever, we were able to actually go on TOP of the tower, a few more stories up!  This is the first time that this deck hasn't been closed due to strong wind or weather, so we seized the chance to check it out.  It was SO COLD up there!

Next, here's a video that shows the progression of the sunset from the tower:

After the magnificence of Mori Tower, we had delicious ramen! This ramen place, called Ichiran, has a little mini-cubicle for each customer, so we ended up eating our delicious ramen with a fantastic view of a screen. So here's the soup:

The next day, we met up with a few other friends, and somehow navigated through insane Harajuku foot traffic:

And, this was my first time in a capsule hotel!  It was a little different than I expected: the place we stayed at was more for foreigners, so the capsules seemed really big for that reason.  It was nice and cozy in there and there was even a shelf and a reading light.  Nice for claustrophiles like myself...

And, to finish off December, I was able to actually spend Christmas with my family through the miracle of video chat technology.  Snapped a quick shot of everyone gathered near the tree as we opened presents, and I couldn't have been happier.

Being able to once again see the sights from Mori Tower and also to capture them a little more clearly with a decent camera was an experience I'll never forget.  Mori Tower itself is worth the price of an airplane ticket to Tokyo. It's humbling, inspiring, encouraging, and terrifying all at once, and it feels like you're on top of the world.

That does it for this edition.  Everyone stay warm out there!