[Leica] RE: Back from the Land of the Rising Yen

[Mikiro <arbos@silva.net>]

Hi, Tom.  It seems you enjoyed your trip to Japan. :-)

>Someone was defined as being very wealthy because he owned a house in Tokyo
>AND 2 parking spaces!

This is true. When I lived in central Tokyo, I did not afford one :-(.  I
even gave up owning a car, because using subways and taxis is much faster
and less expensive.  I paid 550 USD/month for a single parking place (no
roof!)  Here in Strasbourg, it is just 20 USD/month in the centre!

>Tsukuba is a new town, 20 years ago it was a farming community, but the
>rising land prices in Tokyo made it advantageous for these facilities to sell
>off the land in Tokyo and relocate too much larger space in Tsukuba.

Some of my researcher friends work in Tsukuba.  They told me that there is
something like a "Tsukuba syndrome", which affects persons used to living in
big cities like Tokyo.  Affected people feel so alienated in this artificial
city that they acquire a sort of nervous breakdown.  They surprisingly get
better if they have chance to drop by so-called "red lanterns" (common
traditional Japanese pubs) on their way back from work to home and complain
about their colleagues/bosses over a glass of "sake".  Also efficacious is
to be in direct physical contact with other people (particularly with young
females in the cases of male patients) in chokingly crowded commuter tranis
in Tokyo. ;-)

>While in Tokyo these last 9 days I had the opportunity to meet with Mr.
>Hirofumi Kobayashi, President of Cosina Co. Ltd.

It should have been exciting to talk about cameras with Cosina and Ricoh
people.  I myself use a Ricoh 21/3.5 and am interersted in a Cosina 75/2.5
to complement my 75/1.4 as you are.


Cheers,

Mikiro
Strasbourg