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2009.07.02 - San Francisco (part 3)

June 24, 2009 Wed (U.S.) (continued)

Did laundry in the hotel room around 18:00. I should have brought a hanger or two - would have been useful especially for T-shirts.

Ate deli food for dinner around 19:00. I thought it would be cheaper than going to a restaurant. But it didn't make much difference and it wasn't such good food.

June 25, 2009 Thu

Walked to Bank of America around 12:30. Wired some funds from the checking account. I had already filled out the wire-request form the previous day (with big help from the bank agents), so all I had to do this time was to submit it.

Took a cable car from Van Ness to Taylor along the California St., and walked to the Hon's Wun-tun House on the Kearny street. This is another great place to eat in SF. Had Wun-tun Noodles for $3.95. But the volume was a little shy of satisfaction, so I placed the second order (plain Noodles, $3.25) which was too big and sort of tasteless. I should have had a rice bowl with the first noodles.

Did about $470 worth of shopping at Banana Republic, around 14:00. Apparel-shopping was one of the chief purposes of this trip. American brands are more expensive when bought in Japan, naturally. For example, the Premium Pima V-neck Tees of Banana Republic are sold for ¥3,900($40.63) each, including tax. And in California they're $21.35 after tax. So, you would only have to pay $21.35 in California for what's worth $40 in Japan. The same goes for many other items and many other brands. This means more you buy, more you save, depending on your point of view.

By the way, the California sales tax is 9.5%, and the price tag doesn't have that included, unlike in Japan. Japanese law forces businesses to indicate the price after tax. At first I was getting shocked by the fattened price when I paid at the casher. I'm used to paying what I saw on the price tag, plus the Japanese sales tax is much lower, 5%.

Leaving the shop, I noticed that I had dropped my Muni-pass somewhere, after taking the cable car. I had it in my back pocket, which wasn't big enough to contain the pass entirely. I don't know why I didn't think about folding it. I bought another one near the Powell station. A loss of $18. (Next)

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