My 10 Yen

Well, the New Year resolution about a daily photo didn't last long, did it? Unfortunately an icky tooth has been preventing me from engaging in more pleasurable habits such as blogging, but while out and about on the town today (well, actually at the local shopping centre) I managed to snap this fascinating Japan-related photo:

It's a 10 yen coin doing sterling duty as a supermarket trolley deposit. Supermarket trolleys are quite forgiving in what they take instead of a 1 Euro (or 1 DM coin), and 10 yen happens to be more-or-less the right size and a handy thing to carry about as I'm not going to spend it accidentally. (It also works in coin-operated free lockers of the kind you find in libraries etc.).

By the way, the name on the coin tray thingy, that of German company Wanzl, is one you see quite a lot on airport trolleys around the world, including Japan: they seem to be one of the dominant global players in the heavy-duty wheeled cart business.