08.03.08
Flea market vs. free market
In Japan people do not see value on used, second hand, or especially old things, unless it is antique. Much to my surprise, I spotted some Japanese women behind a “counter” at Hietalahti. I purchased red ヘアカーラー(hea kaaraa),　or hair curlers at the flea market yesterday for 二ユーム(ni yuuro) or, €2. In Japan, flea markets are not only rare, they are also free 
The Japanese often mispronounce “l” as an “r”, thus giving flea market a new meaning, free market. Oh well, sometimes it is free, as I came to notice. Also, oftentimes the Japanese part with their used stuff asking a considerably lower price for the item than would their Finnish counterparts. The idea in Japan seems to be getting rid of exess stuff. Here it is becoming more and more a living for a certain segment of people, and sfuff will cost 10, 20, or even 50 to 100 euro. I don´t care whether the item is new, old, mint, unused, used once, or something else. Asking loads of money for stuff at a flea market defeats the purpose, in my mind. Hey, once I drive this year’s model out of the car seller’s, I can’t ask for the same price I paid for it. That’s how it is. It is a fact I do not have the same selection to choose from, not the same range of sizes to choose from, I do not get a guarantee, I do not even know the seller’s name, in case I find out there is something wrong with the item, and I would need to exchange it, let alone it causes some kind of harm to the user. No refund, no nothing. And they think it is ok to ask for as much as for a new one? It isn’t. But, I guess it’s not stupid to ask, it’s stupid to pay.
Japan produces 50,441,000 tonnes of householdwaste annually (1992 figures) . This makes 411 kg per person, each year. For comparison, Finland produces (produced) 3,100,000 tonnes, with 624 kg per person, a year.
If you want to compare the figures with the GDP per capita, here is the list of Wikipedia. Finland, on 8th place, does not lag far behind with its income per capita, which is %27060, compared to Japan, %34180, on place 4. Both countries are in the sharp tip of the statistics.
Still, according to my experience, the Japanese throw away stuff far more than we do. Finland’s ugly stats are, sadly, explicable through Japan’s more advanced recycling system. All plastic is recycled, also in households, metal, glass etc. sorted and so on. BUT, in the garbage, you can still find, among the metal waste, a musical brass instrument or two, as good as new, in a case, clean, ready to be played. In Finland, it would be sold, not dumped. As I understand it, the Japanese in general, do not want secondhand anything. Used instruments, yikes. Last year’s model of blu-ray? Sorry, very undesirable.
Anyway, as I respect the attitude of getting rid of stuff contrasted with making as much money as possible (and maybe telling invented truths about stuff on sale) AND as I also take a liking in the good manners of the average Japanese: more sellers of Japanese origin to the Finnish flea markets! Free markets, solly.
