Budget Dining Japan

Traveling around Japan is in no means cheap but if you'd run out of cash or if you are low there are a few options of getting away fairly cheap concerning food. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it though. stinging too much on food since it's one of the main cultural experiences one need to explore while journeying into distant cultures and lands. So I've structured it into three different categories.

Cooking

In most cities that are bigger than a village there are your bigger grocery stores. They are in no means as large as the ones in Europe, North America or even other parts of Asia. However one can find a lots of things cheap and especially at the end of the day where a lot of fresh stuff is made available at a discount. Here one can find cheap sushi and other ready made foods like bentos for a couple of hundred yen. If you happen to have a kitchen made available to you picking up some stuff to cook can be a real money saver. Things that are cheap in japan are. Rice, Eggs, Ready made sauces, soups (like miso soup). Things that are a bit more expensive include meat, vegetables and fish.

Markets

Daily markets, fish markets and the likes is an other alternative getting cheap and nice ingredients. It usually requires a bit more out of the way transportation but the rewards are well worth it. At the fish markets one can get prime grade sashimi ready cut for 500yen which will be more than what you get in a restaurant for maybe 4-8 times the price.

Cheap Ready to Eat Food

In various small convenient stores around the country one can find little bentos, onigiris, premade cup noodles and soups. These will be your main stable if you want to live cheap on the go. bentos can go as low at 200yen and the most expensive ones usually reach 450 or so. Cup noodles can be found for 100yen at a lot of places. the 100yen stores sometimes have these. There are also the lawesons or other convenient store 100yen shops which usually carry this at 100yen prices. Here cakes, donuts and similar things can be bought at a discount as well.

Cheap Restaurants

This is maybe a tad more expensive than the convenient store food. It is much more enjoyable though and for only a moderate increase in cost the dining experience increases a lot. The cheap restaurants include gyudon chains, katsu shops, curry chains and ramen. In these restaurants one can eat from 250yen to around 800 yen. What is served is variations on dons. Something over a bowl of rice. Exempting the ramen places ofc. There are usually a range of sides one can order to the main dish as salads, soups, raw eggs and the like. Plain water is always free so one can save another 50-100yen in comparison to the convenient stores here on that. A lot of the chains are also available outside of japan. Usually they are a bit pricier than in Japan and the quality is usually a lot worse. My favorite dishes at these restaurants include.

• gyudon (beef bowl)
• oyakudon (chicken and egg over rice. in Japanese "mother an child bowl" )
• katsucurry (fried meat and curry over rice)
• ramen (ramen noodles in it's many chapes)

I usually go with a side of miso or similar soups and a nama tamago (raw egg).

Being a foodie total budget dining was is impossible for me in Japan. After all I partly go there for the food. Trying a few of these places will prove quite fun if you give then a shot though. Besides you always need to eat. =D

Japan Budget Travel

Japan is not known for being the cheapest of countries. Anyone who's been on the road for a long time knows that the travel expenses quickly adds up an constitutes a major part of ones budget. Having been more or less on the road for a year now my budget was already shoot by the time I hit Japan. Not wanting to waste the ticket to Japan as Finnair won't let you change dates or name on their tickets I decided to go anyway. For some quick cash I sold my old ski gear I bought in San Francisco a few years back (with a profit) and decided to go into credit card debit. Hopefully I'll get a new job soon huh ;)

The absolutely cheapest way to get around in Japan is hitchhiking which is a valid way to travel if you have a more flexible time schedule. For me this was not really an option as I had dates booked where I had to meet old friends. This left me with the three other options buses, trains and planes. There is also the option of renting a car but it's not really economically valid traveling alone for most of the time. From outside Japan there is the Japan air-pass, Japan Rail Pass and the Japan Buss Pass. However The Willer Express Buss Pass can be bought online from outside of Japan. http://willerexpress.com
This is the absolutely chepset way of getting around long distances for cheap. The drawback being you need to access the site from abroad. Already being in Japan I fixed this using a proxy in france to emulate me being out of the country.
I used this french free site to do it. http://www.frozenway.com/
Just use Google translate if you can't read it. It's free and easy to just follow the steps. In fact they don't ask you to verify the travelers name by means of id at the buses and although it says to print out a piece of paper you get in the mail this can be skipped too.
As the days of travel in this buss pass are not required to used consecutively it's a very very good deal. Sadly I did't find out about it until the later part of japan trip.
One thing one can consider are the night buses. If sleeping on a buss doesn't bother you also save a night accommodation here.

Traveling a region of Japan at the time can also give your purse a bit of mercy. For example the Kyushu buss pass is a very valid alternative to single tickets if one tends to travel fast and light. There are however a range of tickets available online at very discounted prices if you can muster navigation the Japanese websites.

Getting to and from the islands can't really be done by buss so I tried both the ferry and by air. By air being the cheaper option to reach Okinawa from the mainland. it's 14000 yen for the cheapest ticket by ferry and less by air. If you buy you flights in advance using the Japan air pass it's a very good deal. Otherwise use Sky mark the new Japanese budget airline for some good deals. The further ahead you book, the better the deals in general with sky mark.

Getting around on the main island of Okinawa will require a lot of local buses or hitchhiking. Here renting a car for the day can be cheaper than the buss option. From Naha to the ocean aquarium in the north and back will easily be much more expensive than renting a small car and drive around yourself.

To Hell and Beyond, Beppu

Beppu. Am ideal Japanese getaway. Beppu holds more natural hot springs than any other place in Japan. A Japanese natural hotspiring is called an onsen. One should be aware of the difference between an artificially heated bath establishment an sento and the onsen. Why? well for the sake of knowing. In most cases one cant feel or tell any difference between these two. To find a bath house look for the ゆ sign outside the door.

Getting into hot water and relaxing is definitively a favorite of mine so off to Beppu we go. The onsens are numerous and the pylons of white steams can be seen all over the mountainside. Despite being a top tourist destination prices in japan are generally not too unfair and Beppu is no exception. One can easily grab a very nice lunch or dinner without spending too much of ones hard earned coins. Getting around the area is fairly easy and buses is the more economical option. The other option is cabing it which is very feasible if you can share it on a few people.
Taking the buss can have it\s disadvantages though. Like when the buss driver ignores you per default as he cannot understand English. English is ofc the only language any foreigner can speak so auto ignore is on. This resulted in me walking my way to the hells.

Video is in Swedish

The hells are the onsen that are not for bathing in.They are purely for looking at and have their own little story. A interesting thing about these places are that they all have their little demons or devils to take care of them. Being Japan and all they are adorable and super cute.

On the brighter side of things there are plenty of onsens one can take a bath in. In fact most ryoukan or places to stay are likely to have their very own hot spring installation here. It does puzzle me though. When this abundant source of heat and energy is readily available why not harness is for geopower? Specially now with the upheaval at nuclear power in Japan. Well I do guess that could just do something about the terrible insulation most houses have first. That would certainly help to keep the heat in at least. Anyway make sure you Enjoy one of these onsens if you ever go to Beppu.

A few things to do in Osaka

There are so many fun things to do in Japan and Osaka that it's realy hard to choose a few to do. None the less I've decided to write down a few of the things I really like about the place (almost inexchangele with a few things I like to eat here).

• Getting a cheap bento or onigiri in the morning.

Even such a simple thing like this quite interesting. Coming from a culture where we don't really have premade lunch boxes this style it's a bit exotic and quite well tasting too. The Onigiri is a riceball or rice pack in any small shape really. Having the strong desire to individually wrap everything and eating fresh food, the onigiri wrapping is quite ingenious

• Getting a Japanese Ice Cream

There are many to chose from and maybe one o the most delicious are the mochi ice creams. But don't miss out on the rest of the selection available at all kinds of places like mini marts. A classic for me has always been the "Jumbo"

• Engaging in a cool Kaiten Sushi (conveyor belt sushi)

These places are all over Japan and come in all kinds of sizes and price ranges. Well they tend to be on the cheaper end of the scale. I've visited quite a few places during my time in Osaka. The chepest place serving for about 100yen or maybe even 80yen per plate. Remember that one plate holds two pieces of sushi unless it's a special one of some kind. Specials can reach up to almost 1000 yen for a place depending on what you choose. For me kaiten holds more than just the food. It's packed wioth great memories of great times and meeting cool people.

In fact last time I popped in to a place in the middle of Namba I sat next to this old couple. It's the obachans and ojiichans that have the time to engage in conversations with random strangers more often than not and they are always suprised (happily so) when encountering someone knowing more than a few words of Japanese. In fact my meal ended with me being treated to my entiere meal and forced to try some of the more rare and expensive fish since I just had to try em out. One of the fun this that makes this place in the middle of Namba special is the Jan Ken Poi (rock paper scissors) played against one of the bar staff. You play 3 times and if you win all 3 you're rewarded with a good treat of sushi for free. It's also free to play so when they encourage you to stand up and play. Do it!

• Go splurge in a Hyaku Yen (100 yen) store

These store can be encountered all over japan and sell the strangest things. Sometimes one can find real finds here. More than not it's filled with Chinese made Japanese copies of things but sometimes there's some really interesting stuff.

That's it for now. There are so much more to do in Osaka but then again. I have to have something to show you in my next Osaka post.

A trip down memory lane, Osaka

Most of us has good memories and times to adventure to look back on. For many of us collage would be one of those times. For me attending college in Japan was filled win good and sometimes strange memories. It was a great time that I've often looked back upon and enjoyed.
Coming back to Osaka truly hit my with some heavy duty nostalgia. The food, the friends, the places and adventures. なつかしい!

As so happens my good friend Rick joined me on this walk down memory lane as we relived the Osaka spirit. A place we had many a ramen, gyoza and beer was Kai ramen. Located only a block away from or old student dorm with the friendliest ramen master who knew almost no English is was our no1 old hangout. Boasting  highly irregular but customer friendly opening hours of until late or last costumer one could always go there for the 4am drink.

Since we left Kai ramen relocated and expanded. It's still not much bigger than a hole in the wall place and both the ramen and gyoza still tastes great. Viseting we all naturally went for the Taiwan ramen. Despite still being full In pretty much took a breath of ramen and exhaled delight. Think I finished my Ramen in not much more than 11 seconds according to Rick.

Prior to Our contingency of Handai (Osaka University) students invading the Kandai uni area and it's much more conveniently located bar streets there whern't any Osaka uni student's going there. Now many years later they still do the pilgrimage to Wood Village and the bar area. Filled with cheap and not so cheap bars it's a natural hang out for the Kandai Students (Kansai Dai Gaku or Kansai University). Sadly Osaka University which is a way higher rated school has nothing of the kind.

The old owner is still around but naturally most of the bar tenders aren't around any more. Grabbing a few classics like violet fizz while also mixing it up with a few new ones like the ハルク (Hulk) it was very remenicent of the old days. I remember the drunken bicycle rides home in the rain. And the funniest crashes some people had. Wierdly enough my 2 crashes in Japan where while very very sober haha.

Oh well. A night of nostalgia ends but next time I go to Osaka I'm meeting up with another OUSSEP buddy Patrik. I'm excited to see what new adventures Osaka has in store for me.

Woody got Wood

Wanted to try out hitchhiking from Toyo to Osaka but as I really didn't know where to start I ended up looking at a map to figure out what higway I should head for. Needing to be there the next day to meet up with old friends fom the Handai times I opted for a nightbuss. The nightbuss if a budget alternative in Japan and will cost you somewhere from 7-10K yen depending on when you go and what company you go with. I remember sometimes getting 6k yen ticket at the travel agency on Osaka campus 4 years ago. Considering you will save one night of housing which will cost a minuímum of 4k if you stay somewhere else than a capsule hotel or sleep in a manga kafe. The shinkansen (bullet train) that will take you there in a matter of hours will put a dent in your wallet of circa 20k + 1 night of cousing. The uber cheap and super hippe way I guess would be hitchhiking and couch surfing for a price of 0 + 0 yen if you have the resolve to do it. But let me warn you. Communications are an illusion for those of you who rely on wifi. What you really want is a Japanese phone to get in touch with people or someone to led you a 3G modem. A 3G moden to rest from softbak is avialable at 1.5k+ yen a day and is hardly an economical option. Stupid me thinking that I might not need to bring my old japanese phone.

Well in Osaka there is abunch of cool things to do. Like eat for example. Osaka is by many considered the gastronomical capital of Japan and is definetly the center for both Okonomiyaki and Takoyaki. That would be a Japanese style cabbage omelet and the second fried squid in ball shapes. There is a danger here though that most people having eaten takoyaki have experienced. It's hot! Hot, hot hot. Not in spicy terms but in heat. I and almost everyone I know always burn their tough and gums when not having eaten it in a while.

For a flora of options head down to shinsaibashi or namba station and head for dotonburi and the ebisu area. Along the river one can find as many stands as one could wich for. While there don't forget to grab a shot of the very famous glico man as well. Like mentioned before

Japan is a universe of it's own. Machines rule at times and the pervertedness repressed by the asian culture of face has given Japan it's unique qualities. One example are these wending machines selling little dolls. Check out the progress of topic.

But something that we laught at so many times was the fusion of east and west. One could go on and on about it in a range of areas like fashion, culture and economics. But more fun is just showing you this picture.

Chiba the Shadowland of Black Medicne

In Japan, sleep deprived and exhausted I needed to set things right. Remembering this "In Japan, he'd known with a clenched and absolute certainty, he'd find his cure. In Chiba. Either in a registered clinic or in the shadowland of black medicine. Synonymous with implants, nerve-splicing, and microbionics, Chiba was a magnet for the Sprawl's techno-criminal subcultures..." I set my path towards Chiba.

Though modern day Chiba is strangely riddled with love hotels and morally unprude little shops blasted in in a dense semi suburbia my vice of choice was Lemon CC. Lemon CC is a drink mainly sold in Japan and is basically a vitamin C bombarded lime sofa of sorts. I haven't had one of these for about five years now and sipping on it as Iw alked down the street it really hit me. I'm in Japan again. Japan the land of inverse rules. Where things randomly makes so much sense and at the same time not at all.
Every time I come here I'm alawys plesently suprised by the politness of people and also not so plesently suprised with high prices of transportation.
One of these interesting things is that despite having an incredible internet and mobile internet penetration Wi-fi was easier to find in Africa and in remote parts of Indonesia. I do have to admit that if any country would be the first to be taken over by robots and zombies of zenchnology it would be japan.

In fact I think it's pretty munch self explanatory once one has checked out the rice cooker/transformer/robotic wife..

But back to the fixed of reality and less of the cyberpunk universe of the apocalypse which turned out a bit diferently that expected. But not that differently (Fukushima..)

Hello Food!

I'd like to say hi to along missed friend of mine called ramen setto! for a mere 680 yen dug on three plates of food or rather two bowls and a platter. This being a bowl of Ramen, a bowl of rice and a platter of gyoza. Although my home town of Stockholm boast with a godzilllion sushi restaurants it's desperately lacking on the other Japanese departments. So Yay for food.

For balance I'd like to share my experience with a Calpis Kiwi cocktail that was surprisingly good. Not being a big fan of calpis which in Swedish sounds way to similar to veal piss I was not expecting anything remarkable. At lest not in the good direction. I was happily surprised. The kiwi made all the difference and the coctail was remarkably fresh although not much of the white rum was coming out in the drink.

Land of the Rising Sun

Ok I'm off to Japan and Tokyo. I know I haven't written anything in a while and that's because I've been emerging myself in the ordinary life back in Sweden. At least if the ordinary life it doing lots of random chores like building things, cleaning things, moving things, chopping things up and selling used stuff.
Somehow I managed to refill some of the empty purse and so, I'm setting sail for Japan.

I have 30 Days or so and this it my quite flexible plan for it.

My Itinerary will look something like this.
Land in Tokyo. Spend a few days there.
Head over to Osaka for the first weekend. Possibly by hitchhiking. Never really done that before so why not.
In Osaka hang out with Rick Garza and the Ballenties (Old friends from when I lived in Japan, long long ago). Also do wood Village like in the old days =D
Catch a flight on Monday 7 for Okinawa to see what the Japanese beach life is worth. Naturally I'll spend way too much coin on doing some diving here, ouch.
Ferry to Kagoshima somewhere around the 14th or so. Will then travel randomly east until I hit Tokyo again. This should happen either around the 23rd or around the 28th of November.
Guess that's it.

So things I want to do.

• Onsen
• Climb Mt.Fuji
• The Ramen Museum in Osaka
• Eat lots of Japanese food
• Dive Yonaguni, the Okinawan underwater pyramids
• Dive more
• Eat more Japanese food.
• Take some Pictures
• Meet some cool people
• Eat some delicious food
• Buy some souvenirs (most likely all Japanese chefs knives)
• Get me a pair of Japanese builders trousers

Ok see you in Japan