People like my “contact me” link on the blog! Every month I get asked some questions. A lot tend to be the same questions so I thought I’d share a few along with my answers. Here’s the first one. If you have more to add, feel free to do so in the comment section.

Question:

Andrew wrote in – Man, this blog is great, I think I’ve read every post! Found this today, and I love it. Going to Japan has been my dream since I was like 10, and I love sites like this that detail personal experiences! It’s great to hear about your time in Japan and really adds realism to the dream

Was it expensive moving there? I’m 19 and living in the UK, and I currently have no idea what I’m doing with life :O I sometimes wonder if I’ll ever get to go (I need a better Job!) But your blog gives me hope my friend ^^ Keep up the good work!

Answer:

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the feedback! I’m glad you enjoy the posts that I’ve made. It was expensive to move to Japan because I had to sell everything I owned in the U.S. The other alternative would be storage (monthly fee) or keep stuff at my parents house (they wouldn’t like that). On top of that I had to have money to move into a new place. This included damage deposit that I would not get back, 1st months rent, last months rent, and money for setting up things like internet, electric, cell phone, and not to mention the $1400 plane ticket. I don’t remember clearly but I’d say a rough estimate of the first month cost around $8000-10000 USD, but this is for two people. If you budget well and are a minimalist, and if you had a job lined up, you could spend $3000-5000 USD depending on where you live. Then your monthly budget would be between $1000-2000 before including food. These figures are just estimates so you’d really have to break everything down to match your own personal tastes. But I have some friends that are English teachers making about $1600-2000 USD a month and they’re able to live in a decent place, have a cell phone, internet, and some have cable TV. So it is possible. Just remember that the apartments are very very tiny compared to Western style living.

If you move to Japan you should considering getting a job in advance. If you’re just doing some soul searching then you might consider going to Japan on an extended vacation instead of moving right away. One way to keep things affordable is to make some friends on www.couchsurfing.com and stay at somebody’s place for free.

Good luck with everything!

(I got the photo in this post from flickr)

It feels like half the grocery store is dedicated to fish. And the price is always right in Japan!

Fresh sliced fish perfect for grilling

Egg stuffed fish... I stay away from this. I don't like the exploding eggs when you chew it.

Tiny fish, great for a yakitori style dinner. Slap it on a stick, grill it, eat it just like that.

Now let’s work on getting some Chicago style pizza cookin’ in the bakery Mr. Grocery Store! If they had a suggestion box I’d be dropping notes every day. Non-seafood-non-mayo pizza, big steak, some Diet Dr. Pepper please and thank you.

We found a sushi restaurant that serves fresh fish daily. Dinner costs a person no less than 3000 Yen and can easily run 5000. But lunch is a steal! For 1000 Yen you get this tray of fresh sushi, soup, green tea, and a fruit desert that feels like you’re eating clouds of happiness. This is one of the many reasons I really like Japan.

Besides the last picture, the quality isn’t bad for a 2 megapixel camera phone.

I went undercover at the local grocery store (as that really tall white guy) and snapped these pictures with my phone (with a really loud CLICK CLICK!). Sometimes the price of fruit can get crazy. Famous this, famous that, from a famous place, etc etc. I’ve eaten some of these grapes and they are THE BEST grapes ever to exist! You’re probably laughing, or going “what-ev” but I’m for real. Are they worth $18? Well… only if I get or give it as a gift, or a once a year purchase. I never knew that grapes could taste this good.

I haven’t eaten any melons yet, but I think I’d save myself $20, I mean 2000 Yen, and take the melon on the left!

Camping in Japan starts on the streets! Best Denki had deals all summer long. Really extreme deals. For example a PC that’s usually $1000 runs $300 for the first 5 people that buy it. My wife and her friend went camping around 8pm one night in June to get a good deal, and they were at 10th place in line! Insane. I showed up to supply them with camping equipment and bodygaurd protection! In the beginning they were just getting a laptop, but we ended up buying an air conditioner (+heater) when the store opened. It ended up being $400 with free installation. It was originally $600 with an installation fee that ran $100-150 I think. Yeah… I’m in Japan and I should be talking Yen but it’s easier to talk dollars. Here are some pics from my camera phone.

This is my first experience with Chugen. Chugen (also called Ochugen) was originally a day that people gave gifts to the ancestral spirits. Shopping at Iwataya was amazing, there was one huge area dedicated to picking out gifts and a waiting area for sending them out. We sent the gift of… fish eggs! I took this picture with my camera phone. I didn’t think of taking a picture of the entire store, doh. The first picture were the choices we used, the 2nd picture are the eggs and fish stuffed with eggs.

I was craving a bubbly soda and I’ve hit the jackpot! I’ve seen soda in the (estimated) 16oz/500ml plastic bottles just like the U.S. but they run about 150 yen. A while ago I went from convenience store to convenience store to see what the different stores offered and I found a 500ml can of Coca Cola at the Daily Yamazaki for just 100 Yen!

I’d say it’s smaller than this huge Coke I saw at a crepes store. And it’s only 47 yen more than the 160ml can of Coke I found at Sunny (a grocery store chain).

First of all before your journey you’ll need 100 Yen. That’s right, tax is already included in the price!

 Next, you’ll need to find a Daily Yamazaki convenience store. It looks like this (I got the picture from Wikipedia)

And here are some pictures of the beast of a drink!

For the ultimate cheap snack I recommend this 100 Yen Coke and the 105 Yen Tiramisu. Both combined are cheaper than the Ishiyaki Imo from the back of the traveling guy’s truck.

I have fiber optic internet here in Japan and for about $50 USD per month it’s a pretty good deal for how fast it is. It’s cheaper than my old Comcast cable modem too. Sometimes it seems lightening fast, other times sites from the U.S. load slow but it could be on the other end and not the fault of my ISP. I tested my internet speed today and here are the results. My ISP said it’s a 100mbps line and I’m only getting 25 so I might change my provider to see what other options are like. Click the image to test your speed and feel free to post the results here!

A lot of people wonder about the cost of living in Japan. Sure there’s living expenses, transportation, food, etc., but last weekend I decided to do some research on the cost of alcohol so you can compare it to your local store. There’s a law in Japan that makes people list their prices with tax included. Alcohol laws can be different in the U.S., so I’m not sure if the tax law applies to alcohol but I’m assuming so (I don’t have my receipt handy).

Almost all bottles listed are 750ml. Ones that are 700ml will be compared to the USD 750ml price. I’ll show you the actual price of alcohol in Yen from a liquor store in Japan and I’ll also list the estimated price in U.S. Dollars from what you’d find in a U.S. liquor store. From my extensive research I feel the Yen price is accurate and it’s what you’ll find at most stores. Ok, no more blah blah blah. Let’s get our drink on!

	Grey Goose Vodka (750ml) http://www.greygoosevodka.com/ Cost in Japanese Yen: 3200 (comparable) Estimated U.S. Dollars: $35
	Absolut Vodka (750ml) http://www.absolut.com/ Cost in Yen: 1190 (cheaper!) Estimated USD: $23 ** Absolut Vodka Flavored ** (Citron, Melon, etc) ** Cost in Yen: 2289 (comparable) ** Estimated USD: $23

	SKYY Vodka (750ml) http://www.skyy.com/ Cost in Yen: 1187 (cheaper) Estimated USD: $18
	Tanqueray (750ml) http://www.tanqueray.com/ Cost in Yen: 1391 (cheaper) Estimated USD: $21
	Bombay Sapphire (750ml) http://www.bombaysapphire.com/ Cost in Yen: 1490 (cheaper) Estimated USD: $25
	Crown Royal (750ml) http://www.crownroyal.com/ Cost in Yen: 1932 (cheaper) Estimated USD: $27
	Captain Morgan Spiced Rum (750ml) http://www.captainmorgan.com/ Cost in Yen: 1180 (cheaper) Estimated USD: $20
	Jägermeister (700ml) http://www.jagermeister.com/ Cost in Yen: 1660 (comparable) Estimated USD: $18
	Baileys (750ml) http://www.baileys.com/ Cost in Yen: 1300 (cheaper) Estimated USD: $23
	Jack Daniel’s (700ml) http://www.jackdaniels.com/ Cost in Yen: 1980 (cheaper) Estimated USD: $24
	Jameson Whiskey (700ml) http://www.jamesonwhiskey.com/ Cost in Yen: 1850 (cheaper) Estimated USD: $26

As you can see, most hard liquor is cheaper in Japan vs the U.S. (20-50% cheaper). Some strange things I’ve noticed is that certain brands only carry 700ml compared to the U.S. version of 750ml. Also some brands that have a variety of flavors, like Absolut, charge more for the flavored bottles. I’d prefer a nice Absolut Mandarin with some Orange Juice but hey for 1100 Yen (about $10) price difference I’ll stick to the non flavored variety.

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Part 1 of 3 – Dying in Japan: I’ve been feeling sick since the middle of September (when we got our dog) and I’ve been thinking I was allergic to her. Anyway after we moved to our new place I’ve had a few days where I feel like I’m dying even when I wasn’t around the dog. I’d have a stuffy nose, a runny nose, sneezing, nasal drip, hot flashes, cold chills. It was insane. So last week I went to the allergist (I’ll talk about that later) and yesterday I got the diagnosis. I’m not allergic to dogs or pollen in the area but I’m allergic to house dust and dust mites. Naaaaasty.

Part 2 of 3 – The Doctors Visit: I had an appointment scheduled at the allergist. When we went there was a HUGE crowd of people outside and all of the traffic stopped. We found out that the Emperor was driving through (Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited Genkai Island to encourage residents who have suffered in the aftermath of the 2005 earthquake that hit the island.) We stood around for about 15 minutes and they slowed their roll and waved while they passed by. That was pretty cool because we were about 5 meters away. After we experienced this we headed to the allergist to party it up. First we sat in the regular waiting area. When my name was called we were upgraded to some other seats that I’ll call ‘business class’ and 10 minutes later we were upgraded to ‘first class’ which was right next to the doctor. It was strange. 3 minutes later I was upgraded to VIP! That’s right, the patient chair that reminded me of the dentist. He spoke to my finacee to get information and talk about allergy things while randomly sticking things in my ears and nose without warning. It was a crazy experience. After he decided to take blood tests I was sent to the “after party” which is this chair where I stuck two tubes up my nose and breathed in some mist for about 5 minutes. After that I went to ‘detox’ where they drew my blood and then we were on our way with a prescription for some antihistamine. Read the rest of this entry »