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Thursday, April 26, 2007
Tokyo
Unfortunately, I seem to have lost my notes about Japan :( But I'll try and remember more about Tokyo, for now.
First of all, forget what you've heard about Japan being expensive. I couldn't believe how cheap food was, in general. Nearly every street has rows upon rows of noodle restaurants, all with dinners for under $10. From what I tried, most are quite good. There were a couple of other surprises, food-wise. First of all, there were a crazy amount of bakeries. At first, these bakeries seemed normal, and most of their products are, but they also contain all sorts of wacky (but good!) bakery mish-mashes, like green soy beans and salsa baked in a bun. They are also, even in Tokyo, very affordable. The other surprise was the lack of sushi restaurants - I guess we get too much of an emphasis on sushi here in north america. The sushi restaurant we went in Tokyo, though, was superb - one of the salmon pieces I had was one of the best food items I've had in a long time.
More about Tokyo in a bit.
Unfortunately, I seem to have lost my notes about Japan :( But I'll try and remember more about Tokyo, for now.
First of all, forget what you've heard about Japan being expensive. I couldn't believe how cheap food was, in general. Nearly every street has rows upon rows of noodle restaurants, all with dinners for under $10. From what I tried, most are quite good. There were a couple of other surprises, food-wise. First of all, there were a crazy amount of bakeries. At first, these bakeries seemed normal, and most of their products are, but they also contain all sorts of wacky (but good!) bakery mish-mashes, like green soy beans and salsa baked in a bun. They are also, even in Tokyo, very affordable. The other surprise was the lack of sushi restaurants - I guess we get too much of an emphasis on sushi here in north america. The sushi restaurant we went in Tokyo, though, was superb - one of the salmon pieces I had was one of the best food items I've had in a long time.
More about Tokyo in a bit.
Comments:
As someone who problably claimed to you that japan was expensive, I would like to defend my claim:
1. Restraunt food varies in price far more widely than here was my experience, there were really cheap ones and really expensive ones. I was referring to things like hotels (which partly comes from the fact I didn't realize how expensive those were here either), food from grocery stores (I had noted, though perhaps not mentioned, that the difference between restraunt prices and at home eating was much less), CDs were the one that impressed me most in their price (3000 yen).
2. The exchange rate has changed massively since I last when, and even more massively since when I first went. I think the first time I went 100 yen was a buck 20, now it is 93 cents, so prices were effectively 20-30% higher.
3. While I claimed it was expensive, I always emphasized it was not as expensive as europe, and definitely not england.
I was actually just thinking how much cheaper things are going to be on my next trip, though the airfare looks like its going to be more.
1. Restraunt food varies in price far more widely than here was my experience, there were really cheap ones and really expensive ones. I was referring to things like hotels (which partly comes from the fact I didn't realize how expensive those were here either), food from grocery stores (I had noted, though perhaps not mentioned, that the difference between restraunt prices and at home eating was much less), CDs were the one that impressed me most in their price (3000 yen).
2. The exchange rate has changed massively since I last when, and even more massively since when I first went. I think the first time I went 100 yen was a buck 20, now it is 93 cents, so prices were effectively 20-30% higher.
3. While I claimed it was expensive, I always emphasized it was not as expensive as europe, and definitely not england.
I was actually just thinking how much cheaper things are going to be on my next trip, though the airfare looks like its going to be more.
Actually, I wasn't thinking of you specfically - I remember your story about the taxi, but I didn't remember you really saying other things were expensive. I was more referring to one's general impression in the media and such-like.
Where are you going next in Japan? Also, I'm not even sure, where did you go before? (Now that I have some frame of reference).
Where are you going next in Japan? Also, I'm not even sure, where did you go before? (Now that I have some frame of reference).
I'm next going in june (14th-26th)
Yeah, I did think it was less expensive than the media suggested even before the exchange rates changed. As I said, not as bad as europe.
I actually went a lot of the same places you seem to have, I was kinda surprised. My friend was living in a small town about 45 minute out of Kumamoto, so I was based in kyushu, which it sounds like you mostly were too. I also hit a few places on honchu (kyoto, tokyo, osaka, hiroshima, nagoya). So what made you go to kumamoto? Is your sister working near there?
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Yeah, I did think it was less expensive than the media suggested even before the exchange rates changed. As I said, not as bad as europe.
I actually went a lot of the same places you seem to have, I was kinda surprised. My friend was living in a small town about 45 minute out of Kumamoto, so I was based in kyushu, which it sounds like you mostly were too. I also hit a few places on honchu (kyoto, tokyo, osaka, hiroshima, nagoya). So what made you go to kumamoto? Is your sister working near there?
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