According to my dad, I’m living my third childhood because I went to Gyobo book store at Gwanghwamun today to look for Boxcar Children and The Baby-Sitters Club books. Well, I didn’t succeed in that department, but I did see this sexy looking thing.

It was sexy until I saw the price. 48,000+ won. Which translates into about $36. But then compare that to $27 when you convert the price from 2500 yen. Um. Yeah. I know $36 is about the average price of an imported artbook, but my mind still thinks of June 2008’s conversion rate of 900 won to a $1 and thinks this is a $50+ book. Plus I only had about 60,000 won on me, and I was not going to spend all my money at once like that.

But still! It looked sexy. At least the cover did. Since it was in the plastic wrap, I couldn’t flip through the book to see if it’s worth that price. Then again, imported artbooks are so expensive. Once again, I ask myself, why must I have expensive hobbies!

Tags: artbook, book, boxcar children, dollar, economy, final fantasy xiii, finance, gwanghwamun, gyobo moongo, jongno-gu, sejongno, seoul, south korea, the baby-sitters club, video game, won, yen

Everyone in China and Japan, come to South Korea! This article shows how weak the won is compared to Chinese Yuan and Japanese Yen. So weak, that right now would be a good time to visit this place. I mean seriously. My friend’s relatives are going to visit here next week from Japan. They are staying for three nights and four days. The plane ticket and the hotel fees all add up to $200 a person.

That’s a real darn good bargain if you compare $730 to a three nights and four days trip to Tokyo back in May. Oi. If it only would cost $200 to go to Tokyo . . . I’d be shipping my butt there for my birthday next month!

Tags: china, dollar, economy, finance, japan, south korea, tokyo, won, yen, yuan

The Ezaki family has been creating and innovating confectionary products, including the immensely popular Pocky, since 1922. Their company, Ezaki Glico is currently run by Katsuhisa Ezaki, who has been serving since 1982.

First sold in 1966, Pocky consisted of a biscuit stick coated with chocolate. Simply enough, right? It had sales of ¥30b yen in its first two years (roughly $30.2b USD) and was an instant hit among Japanese teenagers.

Founding Father
After the death of one of his sons, Riichi Ezaki had retreated to a fishing village and noticed a group of very healthy and active children playing. Further investigation yielded the villagers’ high consumption of oysters which contained elevated levels of glycogen.
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Tags: biscuit stick, chocolate, ezaki, Pocky, riichi ezaki, treat, yen