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        <div class="chapter_number">Chapter 31: Cultural Notes</div>
        <div class="chapter_name">Cost of Living</div>
        <div class="blurb">You&rsquo;ve probably heard that prices in Tokyo are out of this world. Apartments
barely the size of sleeping bags cost thousands of dollars a month, Big Macs
are ten bucks a pop, and gasoline is more expensive than gold.</div>
        <div><img src="divider@2x.png" class="divider" /></div>

<p class="bodycopy">Well, it&rsquo;s partly true. Tokyo is an expensive city. But in reality,
        it&rsquo;s on the order of other large cities like New York
        or London. The
        main differences that might make it seem extra expensive from a foreigner&rsquo;s
        point of view come in the way of portion sizes.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">Let me explain what I mean. If you want to live in downtown Tokyo, you&rsquo;re going to
        have to shell out some serious dough. A friend of mine recently had a frugal
        little place downtown and paid 110,000 yen per month for it (roughly $1100 US).
        I&rsquo;m from Seattle,
        and I can tell you that that doesn&rsquo;t sound too bad&mdash;until you consider that
        her apartment was 40 square meters, or about 430 square feet. That price will easily
        get you twice the space in Seattle.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">The same goes for food. Let&rsquo;s face it, the Japanese are
        smaller than people of certain other nationalities. And Japan has traditionally placed a
        greater emphasis on the quality of meals than the quantity of food. So while
        you might pay similar prices for meals in Seattle
        and Tokyo, you&rsquo;re simply going to get more food
        in Seattle.</p>


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<p class="bodycopy">This means that if you approach things hoping to eat and
        live in exactly the same manner as you do in your native country, you&rsquo;re going
        to have to spend more to get the same volume of food and space. But it also
        means that if you can learn to adjust, you might just be able to get by on
        about what it would cost you to live frugally anywhere else.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">Don&rsquo;t get me wrong. City living can be expensive. If you
        take taxis every day, eat every meal out, and party every night, it will cost
        you a very pretty penny indeed. But I&rsquo;m sure I could spend the same amount of
        money in the comfort of my very own city at home, if I lived in the same way.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">How will your habits have to change? There are a few
        important ways. First, meat is more expensive. It takes a lot of land to raise
        meat, and land comes at a premium in Japan. So if you like your beef,
        you&rsquo;ll find that it costs significantly more than in, say, the heartland of America. On the
        other hand, fish is superabundantly available, and you can get incredible
        varieties of it, year round, at very good prices. And of course, you should be
        prepared to make rice your staple carbohydrate source.</p>



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    <title>Cost of Living 3</title>

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<p class="bodycopy">Cars are a tremendous hassle in Japan. Not only is gas more
        expensive, but you&rsquo;ll find it challenging (to say the least) to navigate in Japan
        because with the exception of the biggest streets in the biggest cities, most
        streets don&rsquo;t have names and don&rsquo;t go in straight lines! The not going in
        straight lines part is due to the almost entirely mountainous nature of Japan, but
        their not having names still boggles my mind. It is easy to get lost unless you
        have very clear directions, and when you get there, you&rsquo;ll have to pay to park
        as well.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">Your best bet is to use trains as much as possible. Take a look at 
this map showing the prices from Nakano, a district of Tokyo.</p>

        <div class="photo_container">
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                <div><img id="train_map" src="train_map@2x.jpg" class="photo_image_withcaption photo_fill" onclick="showFullScreenPhoto('train_map_full');" /></div>
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                    <div class="photo_credit">K. Koizumi</div>
                    <div class="photo_caption">The cost of train rides in Tokyo.<span class="photo_location"></span></div>
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<p class="bodycopy">The numbers are the costs for one-way rides. As you can see,
you can reach most nearby stations for about 200-300 yen. An hour-long train ride might run you
540 yen. 
If you figure you&rsquo;ll spend about 1000 yen a day on train travel, that gives you a monthly budget of maybe 
30,000 yen&mdash;roughly $300 US. 
I can guarantee you that this is way, way less than you would pay for a car, insurance, gas, and parking.
</p>

<p class="bodycopy">For quick trips to the supermarket or drugstore, most Japanese city dwellers just walk 
or take a bike. </p>

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    <title>Cost of Living 4</title>

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<p class="bodycopy">When it comes to living space, you&rsquo;ll just have to get used
        to smaller quarters. In a way, it can be nice because it forces you to keep
        things tidy and not save up a lot of unimportant bric-a-brac.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">I recently spent three months outside of Tokyo. 
        I rented a very small apartment (about 23 square meters, or about 250 square feet),  for
        about 75,000 yen (around $750) per month. I ate most of my meals at home, and I
        used trains and a bicycle for transportation. I actually lived on slightly <i>less</i>
        than what it costs me to live in Seattle,
        and I had a great time. </p>

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                <div><img id="kitchen_small" src="kitchen_small@2x.jpg" class="photo_image_withcaption photo_fill" onclick="showFullScreenPhoto('kitchen_small_full');" /></div>
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                    <div class="photo_credit"></div>
                    <div class="photo_caption">A compact kitchen typical of a Tokyo apartment. Note the built-in dining space at the right.<span class="photo_location"></span></div>
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<p class="bodycopy">
        A 250-square-foot
        apartment might not be your idea of the place you&rsquo;d like to retire, but it can
        do just fine for a short stint. Consider it a part of your cultural education.
</p>

<p class="bodycopy">So while prices in Japan are nowhere near cheap, they&rsquo;re
        really not so bad if you know how things work and you&rsquo;re willing to be
        flexible. Here&rsquo;s to frugal travels!</p>

    
          
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