Moving: Light Fixtures for a Japanese Apartment

This post continues my chronicle of moving to a new apartment in Japan. Today I have a big list of things to get done. One of them is finding a new light fixture for my new bedroom.

New 2013 Costco Locations in Japan

Big news for foreign food shoppers, Costco is planning to open three new locations in Japan in 2013:

Nagoya (near the Chubu International Airport), Summer 2013
Hiroshima (near Hiroshima Station), March 2013
Kitakyushu (out in the boonies!), March 2013

These will mark the first Costco stores in the Chubu and Chugoku regions and will bring the total Japan store count to 16.

Happy shopping!

Discount Rail, Concert, and Event Tickets in Japan

Looking to save some money on train tickets, event tickets, department store gift cards, or even postage stamps in Japan? The 金券ショップ (kinken shoppu, "discount ticket shop") might be one of the most overlooked saving tricks among English speakers in Japan.

It's a pawn shop that deals specifically in tickets and gift cards, and its cornerstone items are transit fares--shinkansen, local trains, and long distance buses. Usually located next to major railway stations in cities, this shop is an easy way to save a few bucks whenever you're planning to travel. They are usually tiny storefronts with a single counter and often-handwritten signage you mistake for a travel agency: dozens of destination cities listed up and down the storefront along with the (shinkansen) ticket prices to those cities.

e-Statements: Save Money on NTT Internet

Bills from NTT are the largest (physically, as in size of the document and envelope) piece of monthly utility-related mail I get at home. It seems like a pretty big waste of paper for a billing amount that never changes month-to-month and which I can already and more easily double check by flipping open my bank book.

In fact, for some months I was getting two giant envelopes regularly, as NTT reminded me over and over again that they were switching to a new billing system run by the newly established company NTT Finance. (Further thinning the guise that the NTT telephony monopoly was ever really broken up in Japan...)

So the other day I signed up for NTT e-statements. It's a pretty easy procedure, and it knocks a simple 100 yen off of your monthly bill. Since you're probably roped into a 2-year contract with them anyway, in the long run that's about $30 saved.

To do this, you can still contact a representative at NTT East's @Billing service or NTT West's MyBilling service, but since all the financial transactions of both are handled through NTT Finance now, that's ultimately where you'll end up. So on NTT Finance's site, hit the apply (お申し込み) button and fill in your account information.

Recipe: Healthy Japanese Nimono

I've been trying out some new recipes over the summer and hit on a particularly simple one that's both healthy and cheap to make--helping it fit right in with Dan's current selection of AccessJ posts on saving money in Japan. Better yet, a post like this is an easy place to review some Japanese kitchen words. So, get your pot in one hand and memo pad in the other; we're about to cook up some good old Japanese nimono (煮物)!

Being Cheap in Japan: The coin trap

If you come from a country like US where even low denomination currency is in bill form, then you might be in for a bit of a surprise when you find how much coinage is in circulation. This can lead to a problem I call the "quarter delusion."

Being Cheap in Japan: Keeping Track of Your Reciepts

It is no secret that Japan has a reputation for being an expensive place to live.I am sure you have heard the horror stories of people being forced to shell out almost 100,000 for a "rabbit hutch" sized room in Tokyo and melons that sell for half a months salary.

But fear not, there are plenty of ways to save money even in the most expensive of cities. Since we covered the traditional Japanese house hold account book (AKA the kakeibo), it seems fitting to inaugurate our new Being Cheap in Japan series with a look at how to keep track of your household expenses.

Kakeibo: The Japanese Household Account Book

A time honored tradition of housewives across Japan, the kakeibo (家計簿), or "household account book" is as ubiquitous as a television or microwave in many Japanese houses.

While keeping a household expense ledger is by no means unique to Japanese households, the meticulous way in which housewives hang on to and, come pay day, tabulate up every last receipt and bill is quite amazing.

Save on Apartment Rent and Deposits

So, we talked a bit about the kinds of fees that factor into the property deposit on a new apartment in Japan. The general conclusion is that it is easy to burn through a lot of money setting yourself up. Here, we introduce some tips to help you save a few of those ichi-man yen notes from the fire.

Accommodation: Budget Hotels

Budget accommodation options aren't limited merely to Youth Hostels, sleeping in Internet cafes, sleeping on a stranger's sofa, squeezing into a capsule hotel or finding a love hotel. You can also find yourself a decent bed for the night at some of Japan's budget hotels.

The price can be very reasonable, as can the quality if you pick carefully. Here's a guide to finding good deals.

Budget Japan Rail Pass - Seishun 18

You've probably heard of the Japan Rail Pass in the guise of the bullet-train option. It's a good deal, but only if you travel around a LOT on your trip to Japan.

For those of us that live here, or that want a more relaxed vacation, there are various other options.

One such is the JR Seishun 18 (or "Seishun juuhachi kippu" to give it's full name). The map to the right shows the coverage of this ticket.

Accommodation: Capsule Hotels

If a Love Hotel seems too lonely, Couch Surfing too scary, Youth Hostels are full of roudy youths and an Internet Cafe too sleazy, why not opt for a capsule?

People bang on about capsule hotels being a Japanese revolution of quirkiness and efficiency. To be honest they're just a crappy version of a bunkbed, but they can be handy when you need a cheap place to stay in the business district.

Beware: Height Resitrictions.

Accommodation: Couch Surfing

If you are on a very tight budget and can't afford the other cheap accommodation options (Love Hotels, Capsule Hotels, sleeping in Internet Cafes and Youth Hostels) or just looking to meet new people then you may want to consider Couch Surfing.

CS is a project where people around the world list themselves as free places to stay for visitors. Through the site you can contact them and see if it's alright for you to visit on specific dates and stay for X amount of time.

There are loads of people in Japan offering this. 1200+ in Tokyo alone.

Budget Accommodation: Love Hotels

A common mistake that people can make for years in Japan is thinking that love hotels are sleazy whorehouses. Actually, a love hotel may be one of the nicest places you will ever stay in, and can also be a wise choice on a low to mid-range budget.

Accommodation: Sleeping in Internet Cafes

The Japanese are known for sleeping in unconventional places, and now you can be too!

Another (see my posts on Love Hotels, Capsule Hotels, Hostels and Couch Surfing) low budget accommodation solution is what I call "wank-booths".

All around major cities you will see posters for what look like comfortable faux-leather chairs in front of a computer in a wooden box. That's exactly what they are, and you can rent them (or do away with the chair and just have a padded floor) for as long as you like. Prices range from 300yen for an hour to something like 1,500yen for 12 hours.

Accommodation: Japanese Youth Hostels

A budget hotel is a perfect option for a travelling couple who don't want to wait until the acceptable "stay" period of love hotels, but if there's only one of you (or you want to meet new people), and you don't fancy couch surfing or capsule hotels, then hostels are for you.