But sometimes, if you're lucky, and usually if you're in an Asian store, these two wonderful opposites will collide into cheap awesome things. Woo! Spending spree! I can buy like $80 for $12.50! This is great! Oh, I've wanted one of these for ages! Bla bla excited happy bla!
Rocking up to the counter with arms stacked full.
Cash out.
Then it hits.
The questions.
The worry.
And the guilt.
Why is this shit so cheap? This mortar and pestle is $2.50, the cheapest one I've ever seen has been $25, going up into the hundreds. Why is it so cheap? It's not bad quality, it's really porcelain on the outside.
Yeah, it's from Japan. So why can the Japanese sell it so cheaply overseas? They have a struggling economy - am I imposing more taxes on the Japanese people? Am I exploiting underpaid labourers? Am I starving children by buying this at such a cheap price? Am I leaving the Japanese with no choice but to kill the whales or enslave their children? These are the descendants of the samurai, the creators of anime! Some of the brightest minds and most beautiful people in the world! Can I do such a cruel thing to them?
I'd rather they just put a Japanese sticker on it which, if you look really carefully, reads "Made in the USA." I don't mind exploiting them.
