kuri wrote:
> "Jason Cormier" <fjlij@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> 
> 
>>>One would expect Australia to be cheaper (especially for this product
>>>which has beef) so I am suprised to see Japan having cheaper Big Macs.
> 
> 
> Macdo Japan is know for its policy of dumping. They make little benefits
> when they are not in red. They need to compensate in Australia.
> 
> 
>>McDonald's has never struck me as very expensive in Japan, though I always
>>found the portions smaller. Some find the Big Mac comparison interesting
> 
> but
> 
>>it doesn't have anything to do with accurately comparing the cost of
> 
> living
> 
>>between nations.
> 
> 
> There are even nations where eating big macs is not considered *living*.
> 
> Years ago, I heard a lecture of the Japanese ambassador in France that was
> saying the cost of life in Tokyo was 7 times as expensive as in Paris. I
> told to the guy sitting next to me that I'd like to know how that was
> calculated...and as he was the one that had translated it, he came back 15
> minutes laters to give me a copy of the detailed survey "cost of living for
> a French expat in Tokyo." .
> A baguette of bread : Paris 50 yen, Tokyo 350 yen
> 100g of camembert : Paris 100 yen, Tokyo 800 yen
> A cup of coffee in a cafe : Paris 40 yen, Tokyo 500 yen...etc
> 
> I'm pretty sure the same agency also did the parallel "cost of living for a
> Japanese expat in Paris"
> Natto : Tokyo 60 yen, Paris 300 yen
> 100 g of Japanese rice :  Tokyo 80 yen, Paris 400 yen
> A yuzu lemon  : Tokyo 100 yen, Paris 500 yen
> etc.
> 
I get in that argument with tourists all the time. "How can you possibly 
afford to live here?", they ask. Then I find out that they have been 
scouring the stores to find American brands, including perishable items 
that have to be shipped over in refrigerated ocean cargo containers.
KWW
> Kuri
>