If you are coming to study at a university, then you may ask the university officials to arrange a living space for you in the student dormitory. The rent is comparatively cheaper and you have the ease to get along with other students from various nationalities.

It also gives you an easy way to interact among the Japanese students and communities. However, an early enrollment into the student dormitory can be convenient.

There are many housing companies that offer furnished apartments based on rental system to foreign students. However, as a matter of fact, these apartments are highly expensive and will cost you too much if you plan to stay for long. Contrarily, the apartments from the residential housing schemes are also far too expensive to live for a longer period. There is a lot of cash-in-front required to arrange a private housing in Japan.

While you are looking into getting an inexpensive place to live, do not go for cheap places either. These will save you money, but will bring in many other issues that might be costly to you. For example, you will have to spend extra money to get warm water during the winters. You might also have to share toilet and kitchen with other tenants as there are only one each located outside the building.

In addition to monthly rent, you should also expect to pay off monthly maintenance charges, environment cleaning fee, utility fee etc. These costs are clearly mentioned on the fliers so you should look into then with detail before deciding.

There are several things you should take notice of; some of these are described below.

• Key Money: Reikin is an amount of money which is usually given to the landlord (ooyasan) as a gift. The amount may vary but usually it is equal to a month’s rent. Shikikin is another amount which prevents you from disappearing from the house without prior notice, whereas Tesuuryou is an amount payable to the housing agent, if you hire any.
• Maximum Length of Stay: Usually, all rental housing schemes ask you to mention a minimum period of your stay. If you breach the contract afterwards, it might result in a penalty. If you plan to reside for less than a year, then inform the ooyasan early.
• Room furniture: Generally, apartments do not contain any furniture, but you will be given some equipment, such as gas stove, common washing machine, an air conditioner and maybe an internet connection.
• Miscellaneous items: There are several other matters, such as fire insurance, gas usage, neighbors, room size and type. These directly link to the housing agent and the homeowner.

The last thing to keep in mind as a foreigner is that people mostly do not prefer to rent out to foreign students. You might come across some fliers that clear mention their reservations about foreign students. Just hire a housing agent and ask for moderately priced rental location with basic utilities.

About the author of this contributed article:
Andrew has been travelling to Japan as a student a few years ago. Andrew is now distributing sushi conveyor belt and sushi maker

Accommodation

Turn your attention away from the slick high rise hotels, especially in the big cities. Instead, look for cheap Tokyo accommodation in a local hostel, many of which are family-run and which operate on a friendly and more intimate scale. Suddenly, you will find yourself paying more like €15-€25 per person ($22-36 / 1750-2900 JPY), per night in a shared – and sometimes private – room in a hostel, than in excess of €50 in a hotel ($72 / 5800 JPY). You will still have plenty of great facilities to hand including air-conditioning, self-catering facilities, free Internet access and a central location. Geared to budget travelers, you can also quiz hostel staff on the best budget places to eat, drink and where to experience life as a local. You can find cheap accommodation all over Japan including a Kyoto hostel or the family-run ryokans some with traditional tatami sleeping mats if you fancy an authentic experience.

Transport

The efficiency of the Tokyo metro is infamous and late-running trains are almost unheard of. They are also a cost-effective way to get around and a one-day ticket for use on the Tokyo metro costs about €6 ($9 / 700 JPY). A combi ticket which includes unlimited journeys on the metro, Toei lines and buses will set you back €12 a day ($18 / 1400 JPY). If you don’t want to mess around with tickets each day, order yourself a PASMO card. Similar to the London Oyster card, this is a reloadable card which you place on an electronic reader as you go through the gates. You can use it on all Tokyo public transport too so it is very convenient. Purchase at ticket machines and station offices. But the ultimate cheap way to get around Tokyo is…on foot.

Tokyo underground subway sign

To travel further afield, skip Japan domestic flights, these are pricey. Instead, buy a JR Rail Pass before your trip – you cannot buy these within Japan – which permits travel on trains (except the fastest bullet train, ‘shinkansen’), ferries and buses too. You might also want to consider overnight buses which are not only cheap, they will save on a night in a hotel. However, this can be quite a tiring and uncomfortable way to travel.

Food

Hit the supermarkets and pick up some ingredients to cook back at your hostel’s guest kitchen. These might include fresh produce, but you’d be forgiven if you reach for the ultimate cheap food in Japan – instant ramen noodles at about €2 pop! You can also pick-up little containers of pre-prepared sushi and rice balls from the supermarket too which are ideal for a picnic.

The conveyor belt sushi shops in Japan are a world apart from the stuff you are used to back home. As long as you can demonstrate some self-control – the bill starts adding up if you scoff too many dishes – you can expect to pay between €2 and €4 per plate ($3-6 / 233-466 JPY).

convenyor belt moving sushi

Standing will also save you money. You can slurp away at a bowl of hot noodles in low-key noodle shops and curry houses. The cheapest can be found down the backstreets, away from the main roads. It’s a sort of Japanese fast food with business men and locals after a quick bite before heading to the office. The yatai, small mobile food stands serve a similar purpose in the evenings, but while you might have experienced dodgy kebab vans or questionable hot dog stands back home, here, the yatai dish up grilled skewered fish, octopus legs and frozen yogurt.

Madeleine Wilson is a travel writer for HostelBookers, the budget accommodation specialist. She lives and works in London.

Question:

Gabe wrote in:  I was an exchange student in Japan for a summer while in high school, and now in college i will be going back. I had a question about the post office ATMS. I think you said that they don’t charge a fee? Is that for all cards, or just who you are banking with. Thanks!!

Answer:

I think you’re referring to my old post: ATM Currency Conversion

The Post Office ATM have never charged me an ATM fee, so I’m assuming it’s for all US banks. However my bank account charges a 1% fee for the currency conversion and Master Card charges 1% so I’m dinged a total of 2%. If I withdrawal $100, I’m charged $2 which is reflected on my bank statement. However my Capital One (High Yield Money Market) account covers all conversion fees so it’s a straight up currency conversion without fees. The ATM at 711 charges me 200 yen or something like that as an ATM fee.

What I do is I have multiple Capital One saving accounts (with interest, wow!) so I have multiple debit cards. Then online I transfer from my regular checking account (a US bank account) to my Capital One accounts. With a max of $500 daily withdrawal per Capital One account I can withdrawal a large amount if I need to ($500 per account). I get a fair exchange rate and no ATM fee and no % currency conversion fees. I can also play the timezone game, where I withdrawal in the morning (it’s the evening in the US) then withdrawal in the evening (it’s the next day, morning in the US).

On a side note: My Capital One accounts offer a debit card only (with a Plus logo on the back), so I can’t use this at a store. If I use my checking account debit MasterCard (Non Capital One account) I’m still charged the 1% conversion fee from the bank and 1% from MasterCard so I try to limit the amount of times I do this. You can compare some rates here:
http://www.flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php/Credit/Debit/ATM_Cards_and_Foreign_Exchange

The USD in other countries isn’t in our favor right now, so it’s always good to save as much as you can when converting to another currency. It’s also a good idea to setup your accounts in the US before traveling. I setup my first Capital One account in America, and others while abroad, and I can log in to one account and manage all of the Capital One accounts. Here’s an example of what the debit card looks like.

Here’s an article I found interesting that talks about credit cards and fees. Yen & You: Plugging the money leaks in your credit cards and one talking about something that’s not discussed often enough, Why You Need an Emergency Fund

If you’re serious about ramen, I recommend checking out these sits
Ramen reviews
Ramen Adventures
Ramen Walker

The restaurant entrance

I had to add some extra ingredients

The menu of cheap ramen! You can click the pic for a bigger picture.

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 working in Japan as English teachers and they’re 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 because finding work in Japan is a tedious task. 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)

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.

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

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!

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.

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 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.

Part 3 of 3 – The Verdict: I had to go back to the allergist to hear the results first hand. It was a repeat of Part 2 (minus the Emperor moment). After this I was told to dust like a mofo and take a ton of medicine. 5 pills in the morning and 5 pills at night until they’re all gone. I had my fiancee translate the ingredients to English and I hit up Google. Antihistamine, some asthma stuff to open the air ways, and an antibiotic. Now I’m going to have to adventure out into this unknown-to-me world to find a Hepa filter and a vacuum cleaner for our small rug. And a beater stick thing to beat the living daylights out of some blankets. Good times.

How much did this cost me? For both visits, 1st batch of meds, 2nd batch of meds… I think my total cost came to around $60. I have the Japan’s National Health Insurance and I have to say this has added to the ‘awesome factor’ that I give to Japan. I could not imagine how much this could end up costing in the United States.

I know some people have been curious about the conversion rate when you withdrawal from an ATM using your Visa Debit Card or Mastercard Debit Card. MC and Visa are supposed to give you fair exchange rates from what I’ve heard. Today I used my Mastercard to withdrawl funds from my U.S. bank and here’s the breakdown of charges and rates.

Today’s USD to Yen rate from www.xe.com is
1 USD = 114. .735 JPY

The actual rate I received
1 USD = 114.23 JPY

Not bad! But then my bank charged me 1% to do the currency conversion and Mastercard (as well as Visa) charges a 1% fee. So if I withdrawal 11,000 Yen my account would reflect a $96.30 withdrawal amount, a bank fee of $0.96 and a Mastercard fee of $0.96. That means for 11,000 Yen I was actually hit for $98.22 and in reality if you include the 2% in fees my true exchange rate from the ATM resulted in 112Yen per $1 USD.

Is this a good deal? My true USD to Yen currency conversion comes to 112 Yen per dollar. The actual rate from xe.com is 114.735 Yen per 1 USD. This means I’m losing 2.735 per dollar I exchange. I would say that it’s a fair rate because at the banks and other places that do a far currency conversion charge between 1-3.5 Yen per dollar.

I’ve applied for a Capital One Money Market Account with an ATM card. Transferring funds electronically from my regular bank account to the Capital One account means there’s a delay in getting my money. However the issue you an ATM card with the PLUS logo which means you can use them at the ATM that takes that (usually the same as a Mastercard) BUT they take the 1% hit from Mastercard and they charge nothing. I’ll be saving 2%! This means a big savings! Only I’d be charged only 0.735 yen per dollar. Not bad! But I’ll write more on this later.

Today, November 3rd in Japan,$1 US Dollar will buy you:
Australia (dollar) 1.08
Canada (dollar) .93
China (yuan) 7.45
Europe (euro) 0.69
Great Britain (pound) 0.48
India (rupee) 39.32
Japan (yen) 114.70
Mexico (peso) 10.68
South Africa (rand) 6.55
Thailand (baht) 31.76

And of course don’t forget the Dollar Value Menu at McDonalds…. $1 plus tax. Doh!