Last year when we set out to find a place in Kyoto for the big move we had a great exchange rate of $1 (AUD) = 104 (JPY). If you consider that a can of Coke from a vending machine in Australia cost $2 and in Japan it is 130yen, Japan looked very affordable. Well we are way beyond the point of no return on this journey now having sold most of our stuff (furniture, car, etc) when just the other day the Australian dollar went down to 58yen! Yep we are still going, but we are reminded that we have to live by faith, not by our own strength. The following words are comforting:-
“Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.” - Zechariah 4:6
BTW if you are a tourist in Australia at the moment there are still D700s available at $3499 (AUD) which on the current exchange rates makes Australia about the cheapest place in the world to by one considering the Japanese price is about 324,500yen. Plus as a tourist you can get 10% back when you take it out of the country.