Next time! (When I'm actually *in* Japan :p)

I agree 100% but sometimes I think they need to learn to hurry the hell up.

This was a great idea, and I'm glad I was part of it! :-D

I don't think they can give us money before V-day. The local government will be in charge of handling the money give-out. But it's also tax return period... so I've watched the news the local government workers are complaining that they have more work to do during the busy tax season. So they will decide based on the status on Feb 1... but they don't know yet how and when.

Is it pocket money to prepare valentin's day?

Show me the money!

But who is the Playstation for? :wink:

I don't know mine, and Japanese and Koreans can't fathom that. I get the same looks of shock when I respond to their inquiry with, "I don't know," and always have to pad it with, "We don't typically care about that in the West. It's on my medical records."

Thanks Saikyo! I was actually just looking at the site of some girls in the US who use these technique and was looking for something here! Big hugs!!

Cool! I will get in on this for sure!

I really wanted to buy my gal something special this year. I was glad that I was able to get her something nice.

If you want a super unique wedding ring with a Japanese touch... http://www.mokumeganeya.com/

As my son's legal guardian, I will take care of his 20,000. So that gives me 32,000 yen... enough to buy a Playstation! Yay! :-P

Good point laurel, you're right of course. I doubt anyone would begrudge the troops something which makes them safer, I think the objection is to the possible uses to which it may be put that are not listed in the development specs. I must say though that I think the question of having robots (or even missiles) which can kill without sending in a person is a vexed one. Certainly it makes the troops of whichever nation safer but does it also mean that the leaders give less thought to killing the humans who happen to be the troops (or civilians) of an enemy government less thought because they aren't risking one of their own lives? I think we've already seen a lot of that. But that's another discussion :)

I think anything that would keep our troops safer is humanitarian...

My current toilet has the supreme technology of the seat cover. The space age one is from days in a previous apartment - I must admit I only used the water jet for a laugh - I don't think I could make it part of my regular routine lol :) As to a little scary, I agree, just imagine if things go wrong - yikes!

I find shopping for anything "special" is difficult here - the preference for trend means it's hard to find anything original. We are trying to replace my wedding rings atm (don't ask) and I'm finding jewelry particularly to suffer from this - from the department store brands (inc Tiffany), to Tasaki to Cartier everyone seemed to be doing the same stuff. Doesn't help that it's hard to find actual jewelers (you know, a master craftsman with his own shop not just buying stuff in) in both Tokyo and Nagoya :( Not a huge problem as the world goes, I know, but it was something I didn't expect to be so hard.

I'm there!

hmm a thought. Wouldn't it get damp esp if you use the washlet? It's ok you don't have to answer that one lol

OMG it's like a little an army of little snowmen - would be perfect level of kitsch for a Doctor Who villain's army! I can't really put in on the travesty bit - not enough experience with the snowman culture - yet! heehee

Get a woolly toilet seat cover. It works just as well.

I'm scared of toilets with control panels. Afraid I might push the "Eject" button.

These thing that always annoys me about these surveys is that they are used to characterize the population from which they pick the participants. It may very well be that the Japanese population is this shallow (I am discovering that myself anecdotally) but the people taking these surveys are given multiple choice of items and I guarantee they do not have the option of saying - none of this matters. When forced to put down what things are status symbols I think most of us would be able to name the cliches like this. I do find it slightly disturbing though that women rank a beautiful wife as an object to have on your arm higher than men do! Perhaps that's the most telling of all, though, maybe Japanese women know how much status it takes to have a beautiful Japanese woman on your arm and so read it accordingly.

I could care a less what type of car a man drives! Nor for many of the other things on the list for that matter. The best status symbol in my book is a kind heart and a generous spirit.

I've been saying this for more than a year now: Japanese people should be more suspicious of Japanese food than Chinese food. What cases have we seen in Japan in the past year? Unsanitary conditions documented at McDonalds, expired foods sold by Mister Donuts, expired bentos re-dated and sold, intentionally mislabeled chicken, intentionally mislabeled squid, contaminated rice sold as onigiri, contaminated instant ramen...I mean come on Japan! Step up the QA in the homeland!