The heat wave, then Yen, "dream houses"


According to the National Weather Association last week, the hear wave is going to last another two weeks. That is longer than I expected. I thought that the heat wave would end sometime this weekend. Guess I was wrong...



And, do you remember that cafe, the "Free Cafe," on Midosuji Street in Honmachi which I wrote about a while back? You know, the one that had free rice crackers and free drinks; coffee, tea, orange juice. I wrote about it right after it opened. There was quite a buzz about the place, because it was free. Well, guess what. It is not free anymore!! When I stopped in the shop the other day, there was a big sign: "Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are no longer able to serve the rice crackers and drinks for free." I don't know if that is what the sign said exactly, but it is something like that. As I expected, running a "free cafe" is difficult in Honmachi...

Also, the yen is very strong recently. Last week the exchange rate was around 84 yen to the dollar. In general, a strong yen is not good for the Japanese economy, especially for big export companies. But for companies which import, and some other industries like the travel industry, a strong yen is good.
Read here for some of the other companies/industries which are benefitting from the strong yen.

"Yen's spike a boon for some" (from the Japan Times)
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20100822a5.html

Below are some "dream" houses from Ocean city. If the yen gets even more stronger, maybe some of you will be able to afford them!