I come from San Francisco and go to school in Portland. My whole life, marijuana has been illegal enough to slightly inconvenience would-be smokers, but barely more. The consensus tends to be that it’s much less harmful than alcohol, an excellent appetite-inducement tool for those going through chemotherapy, and a good alternative to opiate painkillers.
This is not the case in Japan, where four students at my school were just arrested, and will likely be imprisoned and later deported, for marijuana possession. I received an “urgent” email from Waseda in my …

I wish I had photos, but it just didn’t feel right- I already felt like I was privy to a sight not meant for outside eyes, and I didn’t want to mark myself as a tourist any more than I already was (picture dressing to meet an old friend for drinks at a bar by a train station, and then ending up at a board meeting). The club was extravagant, from the gilded and art-laden walls to the private reserve bourbons filling the crystal cabinets. Everything screamed opulence. The tables are scattered around a carpeted floor, surrounded by posh leather sofas and chairs.

Foreign finance fees can be killer- on top of the bogus 1% Visa/Mastercard foreign transaction fee for using anything with their logo on it, it’s not uncommon to see 1-3% conversion fees and $2-5 transaction fees for purchases and ATM withdrawls- from your own bank! The guy that owns the ATM can charge you whatever he wants on top of that. I’ll be in Japan for a year, so keeping these extra charges to a minimum is worth some effort. I’ve poked around a few different sites, and figured out …