Ginza Walk (银座散步)

My friends and I went to Ginza (银座)yesterday for a tea. we were supposed to go to the Mariage Freres but gave up as it opens at 11:30AM which is late! Unlike other Tokyo areas, Ginza deparment stores normally open at 11AM. We randomly chose another place but the tea didn't taste delicious although it was expensive - Well, everything is expensive in Ginza. After a good lunch at a Spain restaurant, we shopped at Printemps. I like the fashion and accessories at Printemps and things there are relatively cheaper than other department stores such as Ginza Wako, Mitsukoshi, Matsuzakaya and etc. I didn't shop that much and bought a muffler. Thanks to my friends Gaojing and Liuling, I enjoyed the girls' talk and had a good time! Let's get together soon!:-)

NY Dow Below 7600 (道琼工业指数大跌）

Bad news continues... NY Dow has fell below 7600 and Citi stock has plunged below $5. This is really horrible. The stocks has been so cheap but still going down. The investors are getting crazy and very less confident about the stock market. We don't know how long this situation will last (maybe 6 months or even more) but hopefully it will get back to normal as soon as possible.

Citi stock falls below $7 (花旗股票大跌)

Citigroup is struggling these days and its stock has fell below $7. I'm a bit worried about my portfolio in Citibank even though i believe that Citi has a strong capital, liquidity position. Recent news about Citigroup is not positive and there is a lot of criticism about the new CEO. I used to work for Citibank and i like this bank very much. Well, it will take time to get everything back to normal especially during this world financial crisis.

Japan officially in recession (日本经济开始衰落)

I watched the news yesterday and got to know that Japan is now in recession due to the strong yen and global economic slowdown. This was not unexpected. The strong yen is one of the main reasons. Japan&s benchmark Nikkei 225 index has fell dramatically during the last two months. Japanese people are now very worried about losing their jobs. Keeping the cash is now very important. I assume that there will be no big spending for the coming Christmas and New Year.

New Mobile! (新手机)

I changed my Docomo mobile phone to SoftBank yesterday. Docomo has charged me a lot of money during the last 8 yrs with no good services. SoftBank offers some attractive price plans such as White Plan (basic monthly charge 98o JPY with unlimited domestic call between SoftBank subscribers) . The design of SoftBank mobile is stylish and I bought a lovely pink one this time. Apart from domestic calls/emails, I also subscribed the service for international call as well as international mails. In Japan, a mobile phone ('Keitai' in Japanese) has many functions and services, i spent almost one day yesterday to read all the information to understand how to use it correctly and effeciently. It will take me a while to get used to this handset but i'm so happy to change the phone. This is the third time I have changed my mobile phone since i came to Japan 10.5 years ago. :-)

SALE@JUSCO (JUSCO促销活动)

A lot of supermarkets start SALE due to YEN appreciation these days! A lot of imported goods are 30-50% off ! it's really a good thing for us. :-)

JPY Appreciation (日元升值)

Rapid JPY appreciation against most major currencies is now the hottest topic in Japan. If you take a look at the current FX market. E.g. one AUD is now worth 66 JPY . A few months ago, it was between 100 and 90JPY. Market is moving very crazily these days and JPY appreciation still continues. For money investment, it maybe a good time to buy some other currencies like AUD or EURO if you have a lot of JPY. :-)