Of economics and toilet maintenence.

Apparently the Japanese government is considering the possiblity that after 7 years of price declines it's time to turn things around and set conditions for prices to start moving upward. source

To this my only reply, as a consumer, is blow me. Forgive my strong language, but if you read on I think you'll see I've good reason for it. Please consider the photograph below.



An ordinary toilet plunger. In the US one might expect to pay as much as five dollars for one of these beauties. In Japan however, this lump of plastic and rubber costs 1,400 yen or a bit over twelve dollars. Twelve dollars. For a toilet plunger. Toilet plunger. With this said, please excuse me while I set about finding the kanji for "Kiss my deflated ass."