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1. COOK.<\/h5><\/h2>\n
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This may be obvious at first, but keep with me here, it gets more specific. Assuming that you know where to shop for your ingredients cooking may be able to slash your expenditure on food to one third of what it might be without. One friend (American, Male) spends less than 10,000 yen a month by cooking three times every day. Is three times a day too much? Cook two portions for dinner and leave half for the microwave for lunch tomorrow. Saves you both the money and the expense.<\/p>\n
Even if you don\u2019t want to cook whole meals, even just cooking the rice and bringing it with you for lunch (mainly applicable for students) will save you money in the long run.<\/p>\n
2. SHOP SMART \u2013 AT THE WHOLESALE MARKET<\/h5><\/p>\n
Wholesale markets (ie. \u696d\u52d9\u7528(\u304e\u3087\u3046\u3080\u3088\u3046)\u30b9\u30fc\u30d1\u30fc) are places where restaurant owners go to buy their ingredients. These places are your friends especially if you cook a lot. There are a few good places worth keeping in mind.<\/p>\n
1.\tCostco: Readers from North America and the UK may recognize this. Yes it\u2019s in Japan too. You need to pay 4000 yen for the membership but if you\u2019re sharing a house with people, you can split it up. Anyways, if you\u2019re living nearby it\u2019s definitely worth it as things are quite cheap.\n
\n\u2022\tOfficial Site to check shop locations\n
\n\u2022\tFurther Reading: Costco Japan, by Danny Choo<\/p>\n
2.\tGyomu Suupaa (\u696d\u52d9\u30b9\u30fc\u30d1\u30fc): My personal favorite. Quite widespread throughout the whole country. Generally very low prices, especially if you don\u2019t mind frozen foods or large product sizes. Some produce (generally vegetables) may be cheaper somewhere else, but this is generally a safe bet for low prices.<\/p>\n
138 yen for 500 grams of frozen vegetables is probably going to be the cheapest you can find. (It\u2019s usually even cheaper \u2013 it\u2019s the end of winter now so vegetable prices are a bit higher than usual)\nAnd also\u2026<\/p>\n
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3. SHOP SMART \u2013 AND LATE IF YOU DON\u2019T PLAN TO COOK<\/h5><\/h3>\n
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9.45 pm at my local supermarket (note: mine\u2019s a 24 hour one so the discounts aren\u2019t that steep. For supermarkets with a closing time discounts can go all the way until 50% before closing)<\/p>\n
Most supermarkets will start offering discounts for their ready-to-eat food nearing closing time. Generally, 2-3 hours before closing 10% discount tags start to get tacked on. As closing time approaches these go up all the way to 50% discounts \u2013 you can get a nice ready-made meal at a very reasonable price if you go late to your supermarket near 9 pm.<\/p>\n
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4. MISCELLANEOUS TIPS FROM ME AND MY FRIENDS<\/h5><\/h2>\n
Buy \u8f38\u5165\u98df\u54c1 (imported foods), like meat from America or Australia, or frozen food from China, bananas from the Philippines, etc. never buy Japan \u56fd\u7523 (made domestically) stuffs.<\/p>\n
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Yes made-in-Japan produce tends to be more expensive indeed.<\/p>\n
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Buy strawberries meant for jam\/juice at a lower price \u2013 jam\/juice strawberries usually look quite terrible and are close to being overripe but they taste great still. And are cheap, for about 198jpy per pack over here in Kyoto. \u2026 I find them in random supermarkets.<\/p>\n
Never done this myself but sounds legit \u2013 better than being overcharged just because of the unnecessary packaging.<\/p>\n
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If you like tea, forget buying even the 2 liter bottles they sell. Buy tea packs instead (and buy bottled water online if you don\u2019t like tap).<\/p>\n
Making your own tea is really a lot cheaper than buying it. And bottled water online is much cheaper than buying it in the actual stores.<\/p>\n
In MCD (Macdonalds), check the keitai (mobile phone) coupon before buying anything. Also, having 2 or 3 100yen burgers plus one 100yen S size drink would be enough to make you as full as buying those expensive set meals.<\/p>\n
Ie. subscribe to the Line\/email mailing lists of restaurants such as McDonalds, Sukiya etc. They often send discount coupons to subscribers via these lists.<\/p>\n
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If you\u2019re eating out consider places (usually family restaurants\uff08\u30d5\u30a1\u30df\u30ec\u30b9\uff09 such as Gasto if you just want somewhere to have a nice long chat with people. They have things called drink bars ie. a free flow of soft drinks, tea and coffee for an unlimited period of time. Also consider this if you need to study etc.\nStalk out your local stores. Some of them may have special days of the week \/ month where they have big discounts on a certain item eg. meat. Shop according to the calendar after you find this out.<\/p>\n
Avoid: convenience stores\u2026 you pay for convenience, not for the value. If there\u2019s a convenience store there\u2019s probably a supermarket nearby. Find the supermarket and shop there.<\/p>\n
Avoid: being picky. I don\u2019t know what you Europeans call bread. As far as I am concerned if it\u2019s made out of raised flour and is fluffy it is bread. We all have our pet peeves of how Japan bastardizes\/does not have (it usually is either-or) our favorite national food which we miss \u2013 but demanding it is going to cost you a bomb. So you might as well start learning how to cook\/eat Japanese stuff! Hey that\u2019s what you\u2019re here for right?<\/p>\n
GENERAL SHOPPING<\/h5><\/h2>\n
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What about other shopping related things, then?<\/strong><\/p>\n1. 100 YEN SHOPS<\/h5><\/p>\n
The first thing that you need to do when you arrive to Japan is to find the nearest 100 yen shop and raid it for anything you possibly need. Daiso and Seria are the more major ones. Go to their websites, search for the nearest one to your house and plunder it.<\/p>\n
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2. POINT CARDS\u2026<\/h5><\/strong><\/p>\n
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What you may (not) want to do<\/p>\n
This can help you to save money in the long run. But get too many and you\u2019ll find your wallet bursting with plastic.\n
\nGenerally drug store point cards may not be very useful because they tend to go along the lines of 1 point per 100 yen spent, and 500 yen redeemable after reaching 500 points. Which means you need to spend 50,000 yen to get the discount. Not very useful in my opinion.\n
\n\nInstead consider getting point cards for the big electric stores such as Yamada Denki or Yodobashi Camera \u2013 you\u2019ll probably need to go there occasionally for printer ink\/appliances etc if you don\u2019t buy those online. Those give you 10% of the amount you spend in terms of points so that helps in the long run.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
3. CONSIDER SHOPPING ONLINE<\/h5><\/strong><\/p>\n
For Sayonara Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn \u2013 kudos if you get the reference.<\/p>\n
Nowadays you can get everything and anything online and usually for a reasonable price. Some websites you may want to check out are:<\/p>\n
1.\tKakaku \u2013 helps you directly compare the same product being sold over multiple sites so that you can make the best buys.<\/p>\n
2.\tGaijinpot \u2013 full of second-hand stuff which people want to get rid off for cheap or for free. Watch out especially for \u201csayonara sales\u201d from people leaving Japan.<\/p>\n
3.\tNitori \u2013 for furniture<\/p>\n
4.\tGroupon \/ Groupon-ish sites \u2013 such as Groupon or Ponpare. These can get you good deals for eating out\/travel\/whatever if you keep your eyes open and snap up the attractive ones.<\/p>\n
5.\tPortal sites \u2013 such as Rakuten and Qoo10 are also worth looking at. That being said whether the deal is good depends on the individual vendor.<\/p>\n
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\u00a04. ALSO CONSIDER BUYING THINGS SECOND-HAND.<\/h5><\/h3>\n
Check for 2nd hand shops (\u30ea\u30b5\u30a4\u30af\u30eb\u30b7\u30e7\u30c3\u30d7) such as 2nd Steet which sell a whole variety of goods second hand.<\/p>\n
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For clothes, Shimokitazawa (Tokyo) for example has lots of second hand clothing shops. Find out where the second-hand clothes districts are if you want to save up.<\/p>\n
5. FOR WEIRD SOUVENIRS:<\/h5><\/h4>\n
With this kind of stuff you can\u2019t possibly go wrong.<\/p>\n
Need to get some souvenirs for a short trip home? I recommend Don Quijote. When you\u2019ve got a departmental store which sells things like these you probably can\u2019t go wrong.<\/p>\n
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TRANSPORT<\/h5><\/h4>\n
Getting around can be a big expense. Trains, buses, taxis\u2026 you name it. Here are some ways to save money on transport.<\/p>\n
1. CYCLE<\/h6><\/h3>\n
If you\u2019re in Japan for more than ~6 months this will likely save you money unless you live very nearby to a convenient train station. After all\u2026<\/p>\n
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\u2022\tBuses are around 200 yen per ride. This adds up quickly. You might as well bike to the nearest station.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tHaving a bicycle also widens the area you can shop \u2013 meaning that you probably can shop cheaper with one.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tBicycle vandalism \/ theft is not common in Japan so it\u2019s unlikely that you\u2019ll have to pay extra beyond the buying the bicycle.<\/p>\n
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2. KAISUUKEN<\/h4>\n
If there\u2019s a route that you frequently use and which your commuter\/student pass does not cover, you may consider getting some kaisuukens \u3000\u56de\u6570\u5238(\u304b\u3044\u3059\u3046\u3051\u3093). The system differs from company to company but some may for example sell you 11 tickets for the price of 10 for a single route (eg. JR East, Hankyu). Some may even sell off-peak hour kaisuuken for even steeper discounts.<\/p>\n
They expire in about 3 months so only buy these for routes you reasonably use. Also, this may not be compatible with your IC card so you\u2019ll have to keep the paper tickets in your wallet if you do so.<\/p>\n
3. SPECIAL TICKETS (EG. SEISHUN 18)<\/h4>\n
Tourists to Japan may know of the JR rail pass which allows for unlimited Shinkansen and JR use within the period of time. Unfortunately that\u2019s limited to tourists. But, even if you\u2019re a long-term resident in Japan there\u2019s other things you can use.<\/p>\n
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Consider:\n
\n1.\tLimited area unlimited use passes \u2013 For example Kyoto residents will know about the 500 yen, 1 day free pass on Kyoto city buses. JR East offers unlimited railway use for a day within the 23 wards of Tokyo for 730 yen. This may be useful when you need to pop by multiple places in a day.\n
\n2.\tThe Seishun 18 \u2013 Very useful if you like watching countryside scenery \/ have time to spare. A useful and relevant article can be found here<\/p>\n
4. BUSES ARE GOOD TOO.<\/h4>\n
Especially if you want to travel long distances. For example, the cheapest trip between Tokyo and Osaka is around 3500 yen single-way; the same trip on JR (excluding the Seishun 18) would cost at least 8000 yen and take around 9 hours if you\u2019re just riding local trains. Plus you get a seat.<\/p>\n
Willer Express may be good if you\u2019re not confident of your Japanese ability, but otherwise Rakuten has a whole slew of bus operators in its travel section.<\/p>\n
5. BUDGET AIRLINES FOR VERY LONG DISTANCES.<\/h4>\n
Because at long distances\u2026<\/p>\n
1.\tThe availability of bus routes dwindles. Plus, 14 hour bus rides damage people\u2019s sanity.<\/p>\n
2.\tTrains become increasingly expensive and take very long too.<\/p>\n
At shorter distances do note that because airports are less convenient than major bus terminals, it may be more expensive (and take longer when adding waiting time etc) than buses.<\/p>\n
Note: Hitchhiking is not often practiced in Japan. Wikitravel has an artice about if you want to try though.<\/p>\n
Avoid: The Shinkansen. Yes it cuts down the traveling time to around 2 and a half hours between Tokyo and Osaka. But the title of this article is how to save money not how to zip across Japan. Plus, an extremely roomy 2 seat-per-row overnight bus costs about 10,000 between Tokyo and Kansai (cheaper than the Shinkansen) \u2013 take your pick.<\/p>\n
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LODGING \/ RENT<\/h3>\n1.RENT<\/h4>\n
Really can\u2019t be avoided but there are a few things you can do:<\/p>\n
\u2022\tConsider moving into a share-house such as those operated by Oakhouse (English) instead of a typical apartment. Saves money and you can make friends albeit at the cost of having to share amenities.\n
\n\u2022\tTry apartments without the shikikin \u6577\u91d1(\u3057\u304d\u304d\u3093) (something like a deposit) and the \u793c\u91d1 (reikin \u2013 the money you have to pay as thanks, yes seriously). Also ensure that the shikikin and reikin aren\u2019t just reflected in an inflated monthly rent price.\n
\n\u2022\tBecause the Japanese are very particular about having a bathtub \/ ofuro, searching for an apartment with only a shower may be cheaper.\n
\n\u2022\tFrom a friend: \u201cI\u2019m not sure but somebody once told me that there are special offers like renting an apartment where some poor soul committed suicide \u2026 and it\u2019s much cheaper (c)\u201d Another friend says, \u201cYeah I\u2019ve heard of places being cheaper because of suicides or murders, too. They call it \u4e8b\u6545\u7269\u4ef6 (or \u8a33\u3042\u308a\u7269\u4ef6\uff09.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oh, right, Tofugu wrote about that: \u201cHow To Avoid (Or Even Find) A Stigmatized Property In Japan\u201d\n
\nWorth a shot maybe?<\/p>\n
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2.TEMPORARY LODGING<\/strong><\/h4>\nIf you find yourself needing to stay someplace temporarily (for example, when traveling within Japan) you may want to consider the following options:<\/p>\n
\u2022\tCapsule Hotels: Available in the major cities. Cheap but I HIGHLY RECOMMEND (from personal experience) to buy some 100 yen earplugs if noise bothers you.\n
\n\u2022\tHostels: Consider the youth hostels operated by this group (English map). Same thing applies, ear plugs recommended.\n
\n\u2022\tWikitravel also has an article on camping if you really don\u2019t want to spend any money on lodging.<\/p>\n
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UTILITIES<\/h3>\n
Generally you can\u2019t do much in Summer \u2013 if you can make do with a fan instead of the AC that saves you quite a bit of money though. HOWEVER, it\u2019s more than possible to keep warm in winter without the heater.<\/p>\n
Behold the creativity of me and my friends!<\/p>\n
\u2022\t\u201cSince electricity is cheaper from 11pm to 7am, only charge your computer, wash clothes and use anything that needs electricity during that time\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022\tGet a wearable blanket like the ones that they sell at Don Quijote. Very fluffy, comfy and is able to surprisingly negate the need for external heating.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tPair the above with 100 yen room shoes for the cold cold floor. Or if you don\u2019t want to\u2026<\/p>\n
\u2022\t\u201cStick huge hot water bottles under your feet in bed\/at your desk. I recommend the metal kind that can be reheated on the stove.\u201d \u2013 If you\u2019re the type to get literal \u201ccold feet\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u00a0ENTERTAINMENT<\/h3>\n
Unless you like playing games in your dormitory or are content with the internet, you won\u2019t be able to avoid spending on this. These are the ways you can make the most bang for your buck though.<\/p>\n
1. KARAOKE DEALS<\/h4>\n
Karaoke is quintessential if you\u2019re living in Japan (and a good way to shed your sense of shame). Anyways\u2026<\/p>\n
1.\tKaraoke freetimes (\u30d5\u30ea\u30fc\u30bf\u30a4\u30e0) are your friend, especially if you\u2019re a student who doesn\u2019t have to wake up the next morning. Most times, taking a free time is more worth it if you\u2019re staying more than 2-3 hours anyway.<\/p>\n
2.\tSome Karaoke chains have special deals on weekdays such as men\u2019s night etc. One that I frequented had a deal where on Thursdays (for men, Wednesdays for women) Karaoke was free for 2 hours if you just bought a drink.<\/p>\n
3.\tSign up to be a member. This usually automatically gives you a discount.<\/p>\n
2. AMUSEMENT CENTERS<\/h4>\n
Round 1 also has an all-you-can play giant sports-and-arcade facilities for a flat fee. (A full list of shops can be found here, look out for the ones with SP (\u30b9\u30dd\u30c3\u30c1\u30e3) highlighted in their labeling.<\/p>\n
Kansai residents can also take advantage of BB which offers the very same things PLUS Karaoke PLUS bowling under the same price.<\/p>\n
Watch out for: Free flow drinks at Izakayas<\/p>\n
While having free-flow alcohol may sound like a good idea, be wary of deals which are actually deceiving.<\/p>\n
Most Izakayas will require you to order at least 1 item in addition to their automatic starter. Thus, what may look like an 800 yen 2 hour free-flow may actually be closer to 1500 when adding the starter and a dish (around 500 yen perhaps). Not to mention that the drinks are often heavily weakened.\n
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BONUS! FREE TRAVEL!<\/h6>\nOccasionally some of the local tourist bureaus of lesser-known cities will be fishing around for foreigners to tour their city. These are often conducted free of charge and all they require you to do is to write feedback forms \/ some PR material for them.\n
\nOccasionally google searching \u201d\u5916\u56fd\u4eba\u30e2\u30cb\u30bf\u30fc\u30c4\u30a2\u30fc\u201d may yield you some promising results so be on the lookout for these.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It wasn\u2019t too long ago that Tokyo was considered the most expensive city in the world. Not to mention that Japan as a whole was very expensive as well. Even today, that (mis)conception is still quite prevalent.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-47","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2185"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2187,"href":"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2185\/revisions\/2187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}