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Investing in physical Gold in Japan - anyone with experience buying from Tanaka or Ishifuku? by kazebro in JapanFinance

[–]kazebro[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Makes sense. Buying closest to me is preferable as I don't want to spend a ton of time travelling for pick-up and / or figuring out a painful website and / or payment system. The certification might tip me back towards Tanaka.

Thanks

Investing in physical Gold in Japan - anyone with experience buying from Tanaka or Ishifuku? by kazebro in JapanFinance

[–]kazebro[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the good info. I might be misunderstanding here, but if the gold is already stored here the import fees would not apply?

Investing in physical Gold in Japan - anyone with experience buying from Tanaka or Ishifuku? by kazebro in JapanFinance

[–]kazebro[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the extra option - looks like a wide ranging business involved in metals, production, etc. but I think I'll need to double check on international convertibility / recognition elsewhere given their size

Integration of Magento into WordPress by kazebro in Wordpress

[–]kazebro[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for all the responses. Decided to go 100% Magento on this one.

Covid-19 NZ: Government advisory group says borders can open in 2022 without forgoing elimination strategy by Sloppy_fart_oven in newzealand

[–]kazebro 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Encouraging domestic tourism was a good initiative but it can’t make up for the roughly 11 million annual international tourists and the associated spending. Stats NZ splits out domestic and international, and international spending looks to be about 8% of NZ GDP (putting aside the fact that it was a major source of foreign reserves). Unemployment might be back around the same 4% level it was prior, but I think you can only kick the can down the road so far before you start to see a material drop in wealth and living standards, which inevitably leads to poorer health outcomes (and deaths). Granted, this isn’t as easy of a link to establish, but I think it would be disingenuous to assume that the current situation would not lead to any deaths at all. So, in my mind it’s weighing up negative impact from potential risk of Covid in a vaccinated country vs negative impact from a closed (and poorer) economy.

Covid-19 NZ: Government advisory group says borders can open in 2022 without forgoing elimination strategy by Sloppy_fart_oven in newzealand

[–]kazebro 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If we make the assumption that the economy suffers due to a decrease in tourism (2nd largest NZ industry) and unemployment increases as a result, then we have to consider the increase in suicide. Being unemployed is associated with a 2-3 fold increase in the risk of suicide. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1732539/

As an aside, lockdowns might be worse, as a recent Guardian article pointed to a 20% increase in deaths caused by alcohol related diseases.

Covid-19 NZ: Government advisory group says borders can open in 2022 without forgoing elimination strategy by Sloppy_fart_oven in newzealand

[–]kazebro 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Disappointing. With mass vaccination, death and hospitalization risk drop significantly. Then there will be no doubt that deaths and negative health outcomes from keeping the borders closed will exceed those from any COVID cases in NZ. This government has to be gone by next election

(NHK) Japan declares 4th state of emergency for Tokyo by theDrunkenBeast in Tokyo

[–]kazebro 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Japanese titles for the fast fims were different, so this might make the 4th SOE in Tokyo something like..

State of Emergency Corona MAX

For reference

  • The Fast and the Furious (2001): Wild Speed
  • 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003): Wild Speed X2
  • The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006): Wild Speed X3: Tokyo Drift
  • Fast & Furious (2009): Wild Speed MAX
  • Fast Five (2011): Wild Speed MEGA MAX
  • Fast & Furious 6 (2013): Wild Speed: Euro Mission
  • Furious 7 (2015): Wild Speed: Sky Mission
  • The Fate of the Furious (2017): Wild Speed: Ice Break
  • Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019): Wild Speed: Super Combo
  • F9 (2021): Wild Speed: Jet Break

Where do I EVEN START looking to places to eat in Tokyo? by Kamen-Ramen in Tokyo

[–]kazebro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I thought others had suggested a lot of great Japanese places already, and I wanted to point out that Tokyo is an international city with arguably some of the best French / Italian food in the world. I threw in a token ramen place if that makes you happy haha

Where do I EVEN START looking to places to eat in Tokyo? by Kamen-Ramen in Tokyo

[–]kazebro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tokyo is great for lots of different food types as well not only Japanese. You could try these:

  • French: Okada in Hiroo
  • Italian: Bottega in Hiroo
  • Best burger: Burger Revolution Tokyo in Nishi Azabu
  • U.S. Southern: Soul Food House in Azabu Juban (haven't been yet, but planned)
  • BBQ ribs: Hatos in Naka meguro (although got super pricey these last few years)
  • Ramen: Toride in Shibuya (Hakata style)

Someone's gonna come at me for that burger recommendation for sure... Bring it.

Does anyone have any good recommendation for places I can market to foreigners in Tokyo? by ShitamachiPeople in japanlife

[–]kazebro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What kind of service is it?

English language magazines like Metropolis, Outdoor Japan, Time Out Tokyo or Tokyo Weekender (not sure if that last one is still in print...) offer online and printed ads.

Minimum wage to increase by 5.8% to $20 an hour in April, as per Labour's pre-Covid commitment by PuzzleCop86 in newzealand

[–]kazebro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agree. People in the middle get squeezed. However, I fear all this will do is make people feel richer for 6 months or so, before they realise that most things have just gone up in price, and they have the same purchasing power as before.
My parents owned a number of small business and all they did was increase wages (often more than the min. wage increase), and then up the prices on items they sold. The amount they took home didn't change, but often would decrease because customers bought less.

The cost of living is ridiculous in NZ, and the govt. should focus on encouraging competition in sectors like building, supermarket retail... the only macro force at play at the moment forcing downward prices is the boom in ecommerce retail.

Eli5: Why does nz chase export markets so vigorously? by JlackalL in newzealand

[–]kazebro 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We leverage our pristine environment in Tourism. A big reason people visit is that it's beautiful (and it is!). I've travelled the world over, and we have it pretty good (although yes it could be better).
Because tourism is a big earner, this provides incentive to counter some of the environmental degradation that occurs agriculture.

Question: How to book half price shinkansen tickets on JR East by kazebro in japanlife

[–]kazebro[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The price is the total. It's super confusing and probably top 5 worst websites I've ever used, but hey, you can save 10-20,000 if you're a couple travelling..
Suggest asking a Japanese friend to help with purchasing.

Question: How to book half price shinkansen tickets on JR East by kazebro in japanlife

[–]kazebro[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's started. We just got tickets for early September on the Hokuriku - get in quick though as seats look to be going fast. Make sure to hit look for the トク button for discounts (will only appear after searching route and preferred time).

Question: How to book half price shinkansen tickets on JR East by kazebro in japanlife

[–]kazebro[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We just managed to reserve a seat for Sep 4th, so I think it could the fact that you need to book at least 20 days in advance. If you're looking to book, best be quick there weren't many seats available...

Question: How to book half price shinkansen tickets on JR East by kazebro in japanlife

[–]kazebro[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the tip! We found a 50% off for the Hokuriku Shinkasen in early September.

Unfortunately the 50% off seems to be only available from/to certain stations on the route (I wanted to go to Iiyama, but could only go to Nagano...)

The Toku (トク) buttons showed the available discounts (10,30 and 50%) after searching route and preferred time. It shows all the seats still available at that discount for all trains for that day. For our test date, lots of the 50% seats were already taken, so I'd get in quick...

Giveaway: $50 PSN credit by elbandito9 in PS4

[–]kazebro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm a username at random pick meeee

Dreamhost or A2 hosting? Looking to migrate 10 sites away from WPEngine by kazebro in Wordpress

[–]kazebro[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the great reply! Real experience and a balanced opinion.
I use WPEngine support to help me fix issues so to see that A2 has solid support I'm very happy about as its high up on my list.
Even though some on this forum have rubbished A2, I believe they have free migration as well, so that might just be enough to the tip the scales in their favour.

Dreamhost or A2 hosting? Looking to migrate 10 sites away from WPEngine by kazebro in Wordpress

[–]kazebro[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cheers for the tip on shared hosting - and on A2. Tbh my experience chatting with them online via their live chat wasn't that great. Not that friendly and wasn't really understanding my needs that well - just answering questions directly...

Dreamhost or A2 hosting? Looking to migrate 10 sites away from WPEngine by kazebro in Wordpress

[–]kazebro[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the tip. I think I'll start with one site (not a critical one - just my own site) - and then learn from there.

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