Lots of people give up on figuring out change when visiting a foreign country — I’m looking at you, Eli — but I make it a practice to true to get rid of as much small change as I can, even when traveling.
I hate looking like a tourist and nothing screams “tourist” more than a fistful of unused change (short of being a 6’4″ white dude in Japan, I suppose.)
So I was shocked to see a Japanese guy today with a fist literally full of coins. Shouldn’t he know how his own country’s currency works? Then he started speaking and I realized he was Chinese, not Japanese.
Racist, David. Super, super racist.