How much are you worth?

**haukehaien** · 7th May 10, 06:27 AM

Originally Posted by CDNSushi

Now, when British explorer William Adams sailed with the Dutch fleet, he landed in Japan aboard the Liefde in April, 1600, sick, hungry, accused of piracy by Jesuit Portuguese who were already in Japan, who advised the Japanese government to crucify Adams and his crew. (If this sounds like James Clavell's novel Shogun, it's because he loosely based his fictional account on real events. However, please don't get your Japanese history from Clavell -- it's pure fiction).

I have a question about Clavell's novel - I know it's fiction and doesn't represent actual events, but how does his description of 17c Japanese culture stack up? In other words, is the world of Shogun very like the actual Japan of the time, wildly different, or somewhere in between? I love history, but know very little of the history and historical culture of that part of the world.

**wildrover** · 7th May 10, 08:02 AM

What made me choke on my wheaties was the part in the M.C. Perry Wiki article where it mentions Key West was sold for 2K$ in 1821. Granted, that was 1821, but in today's money, I suspect that's about the price of the average new car.

**auld argonian** · 7th May 10, 08:26 AM

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

You'd be about right about the price of Key West = new car. Use the above link to the inflation calculator.

Best

AA

**MacBean** · 9th May 10, 08:13 AM

Originally Posted by auld argonian

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

You'd be about right about the price of Key West = new car. Use the above link to the inflation calculator.

Best

AA

My Dad bought his Ford car in 1946 for $350. That would be $3,800 in today's dollars by the calculator. I realize cars were simpler back then, but that seems out of kilter.

**Gryphon noir** · 9th May 10, 11:05 AM

Before taxes, I'd be a samuri, after taxes.....oh dear.

I suppose my benefit package at work would be worth a fair bit of rice: maybe the drug plan could be measured in warm sake.

Seriously--without getting too political here--it begs the question of what value a public medical system [such as we have in Canada] might have to the individual, when measured in rice.

I like the idea of measuring values according to the cost of tartan: that could become an underground currency among kilties.

**CDNSushi** · 7th May 10, 10:53 AM

Originally Posted by haukehaien

I have a question about Clavell's novel - I know it's fiction and doesn't represent actual events, but how does his description of 17c Japanese culture stack up? In other words, is the world of Shogun very like the actual Japan of the time, wildly different, or somewhere in between? I love history, but know very little of the history and historical culture of that part of the world.

Clavell was painting with broad strokes... Extending the metaphor, when you use a roller instead of a brush, you'll get a general idea about certain pervasive trends, but you could just as easily find many examples that wouldn't fit in with that picture. For the large part (from my recollection) Clavell does seem to be able to capture culture and the human emotions quite well.

I would also strongly recommend his novel "King Rat." It's also eerily accurate about certain things. Careful, though -- its depiction of WWII Japanese soldier mentality cannot and should not be extended to post-WWII civilian Japan, but it's easy to see a certain pattern of thinking about things and how they relate to each other and other people.

**Pleater** · 7th May 10, 02:59 PM

I think I read of a method of computation of equivalence for Western salaries using Mars Bars - though of course the modern Mars Bar is a far distant thing from those of my youth, and it has even altered from the bar being used for the calculation.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

**CDNSushi** · 7th May 10, 08:21 PM

Originally Posted by Pleater

I think I read of a method of computation of equivalence for Western salaries using Mars Bars - though of course the modern Mars Bar is a far distant thing from those of my youth, and it has even altered from the bar being used for the calculation.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

Yes, that's very possible. After The Economist started publishing The Big Mac Index to show purchasing power parity (as Danwell pointed out) it became popular to create similar indexes. Another one is the Starbucks Index...

These are all really cool... But the only thing about them is, is that to my knowledge, no one has ever gotten paid in Big Macs in lieu of a salary, making it a little abstract to imagine.

**ThistleDown** · 7th May 10, 08:44 PM

That was so thorough, CDN and far from silly. Makes me very proud to share a nationality (or two?) with you. And you were so polite in not pointing out the obvious: that wealth is really in the eye of the owner of the rice field, the folk who tend and harvest it, those who manufacture the bags and the scales and the twine, the ones who cart it about from here to there around the world (and their donkeys and oxen and lorry- and ship-builders and drivers/sailors), receivers and warehousers and distributors and haulers and -- finally -- the wee shop-keeper with the bag of rice to sell, if he has a buyer because he can keep the price somewhat in line with the income of his potential customer. Wherever in the world he is, of course.

Superbly done! Is there one among us who could do the same thing with any other grown or manufactured product: a dram, or a pint, or a yard/metre of tartan fabric?

**Pleater** · 8th May 10, 07:46 AM

The only other commodities I can think of which were used for paying salaries are the original one - the Roman army's salt, and the lady gold workers who were not actually paid directly at all, they just gathered up the tiny grains of gold from their bathtubs after a day's work, and kept their hair long to maximise gathering potential.

Anne the Pleater :ootd: