CIMB World Mastercard

Applied for this credit card last week. Benefit of this card : No annual subscription for the life with no minimum spending.

From internet serach, credit available is 10 times current salary.

Great card to hold for retirement.

Sailor Professional Gear Prochic Vivo

Bought this Japan made Sailor Professional Gear Prochic Vivo with Broad Nib at Aesthetic Bay ~ Ion Orchard.

Initial attraction on the pen is its silvery coated body with gold trim and black top and bottom. Its finishes looks opulent. The weight of the pen is heavy among the fountain pens I had. The body finishes is nice to feel with great smoothness despite its apparent undulation. The words, Sailor Japan Founded 1911 were engraved on the middle section. The top of the cap and its nib have a engraved anchor as Sailor's company signature. From internet, I noticed that the name Sailor came from British Sailor who had landed in Japan and brought the technology of fountain pen into Japan and to the Company founder. Sailor pen is a centuary old company. I was deciding between Pilot and Sailor pens before purchased and the finishes on this pen gave the edge over its countryman.

This is is the first time I visited Aesthetic Bay. The shop sales woman gave me a different perspective of fountain pens. She had claimed that Sailor produced one of the finest nib in the world. The other highly commended fountain pen nib is from Pelikan. The Sailor Professional Gear Prochic Vivo Broad nib writes normal at first few strokes. However, I noticed that if I hold the nib at certain angle (more gentle to the plane of writing), the smoothless did come out. The sales woman also mentioned Sailor nibs were crafted by Japanese skilled craftsmen and the quality was exceptionally good. From my experience, I knew Japanese craftsmen are a respectable group and took pride in their accomplished product. She had also mentioned that knowledgeable collectors of fountain pens owner seldom purchased Mont Blanc pens (her opinion). She further explained that a high portion of Mont Blanc price goes to advertisement and the prestige associated with the brand. Reminds me of Seiko Marine Master v. Rolex Submariner comparison. Nonetheless, after viewing the prices displayed and the discount given, I noticed that the prices in Aesthetic Bay are quite competitive and comparable to shop like Mustafa. Credit must go to the fact that Aesthetic Bay is a physical shop in a prestigious location in town with reasonable service. The range of pens on displayed and sale include Montegrappa, Visconti, Namiki, Pilot, Nakaya, Parker, Cross, Sheaffer, ST Dupont, Dunhill, Pelikan, Waterman, Caren d'ache and of course Sailor. Some of these pens are in the range of $5000. Didn't see Lamy and Mont blanc though. They also carried a substantial numbers of not so common inks. For those interested in Faber Caster pens, the shop next to them is also managed by them.

Upper Middle Class Japanese

As a continuation of Upper Middle Class American and Singaporean, I have done a simple analysis of what a Japanese counterpart will face for income tax and purchase of a car.

From internet search, the income tax base on taxable income (after rebates) for year 2011 is as follow:-
6.95 to 9 million yen = 23% of taxable income exceeding 6.95 million yen plus 962,500 yen.

Base on the current exchange rate of US$1 = 81.79 yen, a taxable income of US$100,000 is equivalent to 8.18 million yen. The income tax payable by a upper middle class Japanese salary man will be 282,900 + 962,500 yen = 1.245 million yen which is equivalent to US$15,190.

From BMW Japan, we can see that a 2012 model of 640i in Japan is selling at 9,330,000 yen including tax. This is equivalent to US$113,826.

Over a 10 years period, ceteris paribus, the Japanese salary man would have paid a total of US$265,726 for income tax and the car. The US counterpart would have paid US$353,600.

According to a website, the average annual income in Japan for 2011 is 3,788,460 yen which is equivalent to US$46,219. From Big Mac Index 2011, a big mac in Japan sells for 320 yen which is equivalent to US$3.90.

I have this feeling that after years of deflation in Japan and the rest of the world inflation, the world has finally caught with the Japanese cost of living.