Why Tokyo is Ultra Expensive, and How to Live Cheap

[ntan1]

It's definitely true that Tokyo is an expensive place to live, not only due to rental prices, but also due to commodity prices and an impulse to buy things at a high price. Here is a list of a few things that I've noticed that has struck me as particularly expensive. Remember that the current exchange rate is 1 dollar to 93 yen

• Subway tickets are extremely expensive. It takes approximately 300-400 yen one way to get into the city (35 minute ride) and vice versa. This isn't actually bad until you realize that travelling anywhere inside of Tokyo absolutely requires the subway, and people tend to go to a different area of the city in the afternoon or during the evening. This means that a typical person using a non-special pass could pay up to 10-12 dollars a day using the subway/train system.
• Fruit prices are insanely high. A single orange costs approximately 100 yen from the market, and if you want to get a cantaloupe, it's so rare that it costs 3300 yen. Apples, kiwis, and other fruits have prices similar to that of oranges. The reason prices are so high is that all of the fruit home-grown is being farmed on very expensive land, and any fruit that is imported also includes costs of transportation. Furthermore, Japanese people are obsessed with fruit looking high quality and non-bruised, so anything you find at the market will be high quality, but expensive.
• All meat except fish is expensive. Similar to the above situation, almost all meat is imported from outside of Japan. There is a reason why there are 8 sections of different fish at the super market, but only 1 section of meat.
• Portions tend to be smaller in Tokyo, so that KFC 8 piece chicken set costs 1100 yen, unlike the cheap prices in the United States. Of course, part of the problem with KFC is that it's all chicken, so one way or another, it's still expensive.
• Electronics are probably 1.5x the price of the United States. Even though tax is calculated into the electronics, I think that companies and stores are feeding off the fact that Japanese people don't know shit about electronics to sell things at exorbitantly high prices.
• Everywhere you go, there are people shouting at you to buy X or Y. This is a terribly bad place for compulsive buyers, because everything is laid out in a beautiful way, no matter where you walk. For example, I have to go through 20 isles of homemade deserts before getting to the supermarket proper. I think Japanese people are insanely good at marketing really stupidly expensive food at the most convenient locations possible.

Of course, I still live relatively cheap for a variety of reasons. Here are a list of them below:

• Don't be a compulsive buyer. This should be fucking obvious, but many Japanese people seriously can't understand this. I suspect that few Japanese people (like in the US) have a large savings account, and most Japanese people waste all of their money on expensive designer shit.
• Eat less. Japanese people actually eat the normal amount of a food that a person should have daily. Americans tend to eat a lot more, but there are also disadvantages to eating too much.
• Eat more fish, less meat, and cheaper types of food. All fish in Japan is extremely cheap. I went into a sushi restaurant and ate 10-12 plates of fish and it still only had a final price of 1200 yen. Furthermore, if you avoid the station or expensive food locations, you can get a full and large meal consisting of rice, fish, meat, miso soup, etc. for 500 yen or less. The amount of food may seem small, but keep in mind that there are a lot of carbohydrates which will help you sustain life daily.
• Buy from breakfast from the station at 8:45pm --- all of the bento boxes are about 50% off when the stores are about to close, so you can get really cheap food then. It goes without saying that Japanese people are really stingy about quality, and all of the food has to be sold by the end of each day.
• Buy fruit from small street stores - the fruit may be more damaged, but it's cheaper. Also, "damaged" in Japan is about the same as "high quality" in the United States...
• Buy electronics in Akihabara. There is a reason why Akihabara is well known - it's the only place I've found where you can get electronics a lot cheaper than in other places.

Finally - drink! Alcohol in Japan isn't taxed as high in the United States, and you can find alcohol extremely cheap here. The only problem is that Japanese people get drunk so easily, so it's not really fun having alcohol with them. Oh well.