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Saturday, December 31, 2011

Yennies

The Japanese monetary unit is the Yen.  According to oanda.com, the exchange rate today is 1 yen = $0.01286 US or 77.78 yen = $1.00 US.

Most of the time, I try not to do a mental conversion of yen to dollars.  I want to compare what something costs today in yen with what it is yen the next time to see if the price is good, instead of trying to figure it in dollars since I won’t be purchasing it in dollars.

There are six yen coins in these values: 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, and 500.  Bills are for 1000 yen and higher.  The five yen coin does not have a number on it, but it has a hole, like the 50 yen coin so it is easy to remember.



The one yen coins are aluminum and very light weight. They feel like play money.   We call them yennies, although I don’t believe that is the official Japanese term for these coins. 



When I’m at the Haruki, I try to have the coins lined up in my hand in order, so I can quickly figure out what I need to give the cashier and don’t take too long to pay.



Ten make a dozen here
After buying eggs several times and carefully carrying them home on slick streets from Haruki, I finally noticed there are ten in a carton not twelve like in the US! The carton is very thin clear plastic.



The DragonMaster’s Dragon
With the face in, my dragon is looking scary. I started outlining the finial spines with Accentuate, but I think it looks too weak.  I’m going to take it out and use a heavier gold. I like the red Kreinik braid #4 for the tongue, nostrils, and eye.  Six little beads make up the pupil of the eye. The area under the tongue is done in satin stitch using the Bijioux  #414, same as the finial spines. The teeth are done with two strands of SDA Blanc. This Dragonmaster has his work cut out for him with this mean Dragon!



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