Earning in Japan, Spending at World Prices

This episode looks at a feeling that keeps returning after each trip abroad — that the world has quietly become very expensive for anyone earning and saving in yen, and that something structural underlies the sticker shock.It touches on a framing borrowed from another writer: that the combination of earning at Japan prices while spending at world prices puts individuals at a serious disadvantage — and that the 5,000-yen bowl of ramen isn't really the problem. The question is which currency your income and assets are sitting in.There's also the idea, developed through that same source, that each person might think of themselves as a small multinational — spreading work, clients, assets, and time across more than one country, the way a large corporation hedges its currency risk across markets rather than depending on a single revenue stream.The eyewear shop comes up here as a concrete example: a small, local-seeming business that now receives inquiries from abroad, ships internationally, and sources from overseas — something that would have seemed out of reach not long ago.A quiet reflection on what it means to stay rooted in Japan while keeping a foothold in the wider world, and on the possibility that a bowl of expensive ramen might be less a complaint about prices and more a prompt to think differently about where a life is anchored.