UNIVERSITY LIBRARY OR KARAOKE …. NO BRAINER!!
03.01.2025
Nana, Mami and Yuri decided they wanted to do Karaoke together and gave me the choice of going with them to karaoke or reading, blogging and drinking good coffee in the University Library. As the title says, that was a no brainer for me, so here i am starting today’s blog.
I have 2 new e-books to read, decisions to make about my top five best experiences on this trip or just read a newspaper so plenty to keep me occupied for the next two hours or more. They will be having fun and I am definitely having fun so this is win/win for all of us.
Actually Mami has surprised me. She has just texted me to tell me they have finished Karaoke and will pick me up in 10 minutes. Mami won again, but the amazing thing is, they were ready to quit after only an hour and a half! That’s an all time record lowest time spent at Karaoke!
I have decided we will save our best 5 experiences, memories, places, whatever, to give us something to do on tomorrow night’s flight back to Australia. Even though we are doing our best five separately, I’m sure we will have some things in common. We will do a post on our return to let you know what our lists are. To have a bit of fun, all those following the blog, right your best and/or right what you think will be Mami’s and my five best.
We might even see if we can find a prize for the nearest best five that Mami and I have picked. That could be a fun way to end the blog.
We dropped Yuri off at her Arubaito (a Japanese loan word from the German, arbeit, meaning part-time work). It is common for Japanese people to do part-time jobs, especially college students. Yuri works at an Italian restaurant, just like her mum she doesn’t like serving customers, so she works in the kitchen. She has been doing that for nearly 6 months. She will finish her work around 10pm, and join us again at night.
Yuri now lives on her own near Uni, but while we are here she is staying at Nana’s and tomorrow she doesn’t have Arubaito so she will send us off at the airport which is great.
An interesting fact about Japan’s minimum wage system is that it varies by region and is set by each prefecture. There is a national minimum wage that provides a baseline, but local governments adjust the wage according to the cost of living in their specific area. As of 2024, the national average minimum wage is around ¥1,000 ($10) per hour, but it can range from about ¥800 to ¥1,200 per hour depending on the region.
Compared to Australia, this is very low. I’ve heard that some Japanese people go to Australia to earn money, as the minimum wage there is around AUD 23 per hour (approximately ¥2,000), which is significantly higher than Japan’s national minimum wage. This wage disparity makes Australia an attractive option for those looking to earn more money while enjoying a change of environment or work experience.
To get the full picture of living costs in Japan, we’d need to consider a variety of factors, but one thing is clear, food tends to be much cheaper here. Whether you’re grabbing a quick meal at a convenience store or enjoying a restaurant outing, Japan offers a wide range of affordable options.
Our last dinner in Japan was excellent. Mami requested to have another temaki zushi, hand-roll Sushi, at home. Thanks Nana for making egg rolls and preparing meals. We will certainly miss your Japanese food.
Today was another relaxing day. We don’t think we’ll need much time to recover once we’re back in Australia. Unlike our usual trips, where we often feel like we need a holiday to recover from the holiday. This one has been different and although tired we are not exhausted because we have split the trips we have done with ‘home stay’ with Yoshi and Youko and also with Nana and Yuri. It has given us the respite we wouldn’t get in other countries we have visited.
So a big thank you to Yoshi, Youko, Nana and Yuri for their wonderful hospitality and looking after us so well, especially when I got sick. We love and appreciate all they have done to make our time in Japan so special
