When I visited Canada, money annoyed me. Because in Japan, the size of coins is in order of the value of the coin, however, Canadian $ was different. And about Japanese coins, the number of the coin is very easy to see, however, Canadian coins are not so. It took for a while until I recognize which coin is which quicker.
In Japan, we usually pay money in the way to lose small coins as many as possible because it is troublesome to have a lot of same coins in the wallet. For example, if the things what I want to buy are totally ￥2,623, and if I don't have ￥623 exactly, I will pay ￥3,123 and will get one coin back as the change, so ￥500. We don't like having small coins like ￥1 or ￥5 or ￥10 so much. In Canada, I also tried to pay in such way, but, I couldn't since I haven't got used to their coins. I also thought that maybe I shouldn't pay in that way because we have to pay tips in Canada. When we first got to the hotel, a porter took our baggage, I thought that I should pay him tips, however, I didn't know the value of each coins yet and therefore couldn't do it well. I even couldn't use vending machines enough at that time! I was trying to put big paper money into it, however it didn't accept it. I was in a hurry, and didn't know what to do. While I was flustered in front of the vending machine, the porter came back and helped me! I was very ashamed at that time. I wanted to hand the porter tip for carrying our baggage, however, maybe I was acting weird because of getting strained and being ignorant.
After all, when I went to our room, I noticed that I did something wrong...I was shocked because I thought that I did some rude thing because of the ignorance and impatience. And I was a little bit shy to see his face whole the days at the hotel, lol.
Anyway, I learned that, in foreign countries, it is better to pay with big money and get big coins back as the change for tips :S However, the problem is, I will get small money that I can't use as tips a lot. So, I thought Japan is nice. However, it is just because we don't have to pay tips, and I've just got used to Japanese money :P
6 comments:
You're right! I also think that Canadian coins are somewhat peculiar. I mean, really, why is the five cent coin larger than the ten cent coin? Better yet, why is the one cent coin larger than the ten cent coin? It's a real mystery to me. Anyway, we actually have more coins than we used to. We used to have the 1 dollar and 2 dollar bills; those vanished in recent years. *Poof?!@!* I think tourists are better off using the paper bills; it's more intuitive than the coin system. But, hey, I do love the artwork on Canadian coins; they seem to represent Canada's heritage at its prime, especially the special edition coins. However, Japanese coins look pretty as well. ^_^
ばれりー, I bet you found the concept of tips to be rather interesting! Tips are just a way of showing one's gratitude. It's similar to the 礼金, which is given to landlords. I only pay tips at the barber shop, however, that's not always the case. =.=
I was annoyed by coins so much. I thought that I should have looked at coins so much when I felt 'hazukashii' about the porter, however, I couldn't. We had almost only paper money! And I wonder, why $1 coin and papaer exist??? Is there any meaning? :P It is confusing for me too!!!
mm.. I was actually thinking of keeping one of each JPY bill and coin when I get back as mementos.. did you do the same in Canada? I'm sure I'll more to say about how confusing Japanese currency is once I'm there.. like.. what if I accidentally pay with the wrong coin and the Japanese person thinks I'm tipping them !? O.o
doh.. I should've FXed my currency last year too.. now I'm going to lost about 15 JPY for every 1 USD I convert I think.. ;_;
Ah, of course I have some Canadian coins and bills remained. However, it is not for mementos...They are not so big, so was trouble some to change them into Japanese money again :S I thought that I may visit some parts in Canada again.
Lol, you don't have to worry about paying wrong money. They won't think that you are tipping! Such an idea, doesn't come up to their heads. They'll just think that you can't count Japanese money yet, or like that. They will back you the exist change :P So, the one thing that you have to do is paying bigger money than what you want to buy. However, if you don't try using ￥1 and ￥5 at stores, your wallet will be filled with them, lol. The coins are not able to use at vending machines, lol.
And about the tax, I didn't know how to read Canadian receipts :S Because of the tax...In Japan, we have only "5%" unless we do not buy gas or cigarette (but I'm not sure how the tax of the cigarette is written on it because I don't smoke, lol" So, normally, the receipt is written in before tax style :)
ugh.. I don't know which is worse.. the thought that I might offend a japanese person by accidentally tipping.. or that they don't think I can count.. @_@
Lol. Maybe the best thing is "do not think anything". It'll become what it should be :P
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