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But I digress. What I wanted to show you—through the previous two blog entries, is that I have cultivated more a relative eye (mind you, I didn’t say it’s a better eye). This means I care significantly less whether a certain product was either produced or manufactured in Japan or overseas, as long as it is deemed worthy of my money.
In order for me to make sure that my purchase is determined as much by my reasons (i.e., “The price is fair given its function.”) as it is by my emotions (i.e., “It looks so sleek I got to have it.”), I usually go online and do a thorough search, hungrily devouring volumes of information. Take my transformer for instance. Ah no, I’m not referring to these autonomous automobiles-turned-into-gigantic-robots. I’m talking about a piece of equipment which you use to adjust the amount of electricity going into your electronics, should you decide to bring them with you to use overseas.
I will not go into detail as to how many hours I actually spent searching for the right one, but let me just tell you this: I had a few different models on my wish list, all from one specific manufacturer, and it took me weeks to decide which one was right for me. It is in operation at this very moment as I write this, and never once has it failed in the last 4 months. Consider me grinning. Yes, I am.
But then, the transformer was of a domestic (i.e., Japanese) brand (although manufactured in China) so maybe that’s not a fair example. Well then, take my cell phone (acquired last year) as an example, because this was designed, manufactured, and sold by a Taiwanese company (in fact, the same company that I mentioned a few entries back). And the length of my research was as thorough as anything else that I have purchased so far, and to this day I am very satisfied with it.
So there you have it. I tried to show you that the origin of a product is not on the top of my list anymore as it once had been, but rather, I am more concerned with its (purported) performance and what sort of emotions it evokes. In the next entry, I will share my observations in the country of my current residence, Indonesia.
To be continued…
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