Dreamer asked:


I’m going there for the summer with a school group, and am generally travel savvy, and have the obvious down pat [i.e. airports are way overpriced] but would like to do quite a bit of shopping. I’m not only talking 100 Yen shops though. I know about those – if I really wanted to go to one, I’d go to a dollar store here in the US.
So is Japan more expensive in comparison to the US? I’m mostly interested in buying clothes/fashion & local crafts and stuff. Is it worth it to buy clothes overseas? Some of the places we’ll be going are Kyoto & Harajuku.

Oh one more: I’m bringing a digital camera. Should I buy batteries in the US or in Japan? Thanks!

Susan

LondonLou asked:


Firstly I would like to state that this question is in no way racially motivated even though I may come across as ignorant, that said.. I have just come back from a week long vacation in Hawaii on the Island of Oahu, the tourist population consisted of mostly American and Japanese vacationers split about 50/50. I am neither American or Japanese and so I took part in some people watching on this trip. There is one thing that I noticed more than anything else unlike the Americans who went about their day getting red sun bathing, shopping and eating with a blank look upon their faces the Japanese visitors in comparison almost always seemed to be laughing and giggling about something. Every where I went the Japanese boys and girls, ladies and men were laughing about 90% of the time. Laughing when swimming, when walking on the street, when crossing the road, when shopping. My question is what is so funny? What are you laughing about? No offence is meant by my question, thank you.

Kurt