PEEL ME A 25-DOLLAR GRAPE.

Hundred-dollar melons and other crazy prices
have always been a Japan thing, to the point of cliche,
but this is getting out of hand. A hundred dollars for 4 grapes?

Or maybe you'd prefer some Beef Tongue ice cream?

YOU CAN'T GET IT THERE FROM HERE

Reading lately of all the coast-to-coast US lamenting and gnashing of teeth and gears at the looming 4 dollars per gallon price of gasoline, I can't help but chuckle with satisfaction over here in Japan, where gasoline is already heading north of 6$ per gallon, at the mileage of my Honda Cub (the best-selling motor vehicle in history), which I use for local journeys and which gets over 300 miles per gallon. I've had it for 10 years and only had to fix a flat once. It starts instantly every time, winter or summer. I fill the 3 liter tank about once every three months. They don't sell Honda Cubs in the states, though I can't imagine why not... Must be that folks in the US don't want Honda Cubs because they're not there...

＋

Then on Saturday I read this "Say what?"headline:

Japan begins talks to expand gasoline exports to US

and my head did that Wiley Coyote yaggeda-yaggeda mind-restorer thing. It got worse when I read this quote: "Japan's falling oil demand has left it with spare refining capacity and Japanese refiners are eager to boost gasoline exports, as that would compensate for steadily decreasing domestic consumption [my bold] due to a peaking population and the increased popularity of fuel-efficient smaller cars." AS THE GAS PRICE HEADS FOR THE SKY?

Excuse me while I run outside and check what planet I'm on...