Hi, I am in Tokyo. I came here searching for a job and I found it.
But I am a tourist and getting the working visa takes time. The company will wait (and won't let me work) till they can make a proper contract.
So my only occupation right now is ... Wait. Till mid-April.

I am also pretty poor. I am living at my friend's house for free but I have to cover my expenses (food, etc). For several reasons I can not access my money outside Japan right now so I am stuck with 60000 yen for the next couple of months and I have to pay my moving to other house with that. So I am damn poor.

But I have A LOT of free time. I have been in Japan before so not very excited about going all over the place (I can not pay it anyway).

How can I use this time without later regretting it?
So far I have spend one week doing ... Nothing . And I am already damn tired of this.

Interesting things to me is learning Japanese (my level is between JLPT2 and JLPT1), learning something new, doing something new. Maybe I should focus and finish RTK books for instance. ... Or just go outside and find somewhere to play basket the whole day.

You could try to find some volunteer work, if that's allowed without a visa...? could improve your Japanese speaking loads if you found the right thing.

take a long walk
just walk for 2-3 hours in one direcrtion
you see so much doing that

also if you see someone doing something offer to help
if there may be cash work they might offer you some if you can speak some japanese (ASK)
put some signs in the neigbourhood for cheap english lessons and get some cash like that
make it a really cheap rate then people will be interested
it will keep you occupied and put some cash in your pocket

{/tips from the journal of a hobo}

Why not study hardcore for six weeks? It doesn't cost much/anything, and if you're already close to N1, you might be able to get yourself ready to pass it in the summer. You'd have a certificate to prove that you didn't waste your time, and surely it can benefit you somehow since you're living and working in Japan.

How exactly are you going to move into an apartment with what is left of 6man after 2 months?

You need to pay the first month's rent and maintenance fee in advance, plus reikin+shikikin+chuukai+hoshogaisha (I'm guessing you have no guarantor). You're also going to have your first water/elec/gas bill before your first paycheck. Don't forget you need furniture and appliances.

I dropped 10man to move into my last cheapo crapo Leopalace apartment (with a guarantor, no reikin no shikikin no chuukai) and 40man to move into this one (no reikin, negotiated the chuukai to be half), and I'm not even in Expensive-Tokyo.

It sounds like you didn't really plan this out

Anyways, you can live for free if you do WOOF. Room & board in exchange for a bit of farm work.

get a cheap flight to somewhere much cheaper in asia, and explore or volunteer somewhere else for a few months...? 60000 yen is plenty to live on in many places in asia...

IceCream Wrote:get a cheap flight to somewhere much cheaper in asia, and explore or volunteer somewhere else for a few months...? 60000 yen is plenty to live on in many places in asia...

If he bought a return plane ticket, he would no longer have 6man.

The cheapest country you can get to from Japan is Korea, and it still costs around 3man return minimum. It's also not much cheaper than Japan.

Getting to Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, etc costs more.

trusmis Wrote:But I have A LOT of free time. I have been in Japan before so not very excited about going all over the place (I can not pay it anyway).

Backpack around Japan. Take advantage of cheap buses or hitch-hike if necessary. Use couchsurfing.com to find places to stay, or sleep in internet cafes.

You'll have an adventure, meet new friends, use more Japanese, see more of Japan...like a little holiday inside the country..

Jarvik7 Wrote:I dropped 10man to move into my last cheapo crapo Leopalace apartment (with a guarantor, no reikin no shikikin no chuukai) and 40man to move into this one (no reikin, negotiated the chuukai to be half), and I'm not even in Expensive-Tokyo.

If you didn't have any of the usual formal obligations what cost you 10man, you have some precious crystal vase collection?? And 40man sounds like an outrageous amount of money just for moving your stuff.

thurd Wrote:

Jarvik7 Wrote:I dropped 10man to move into my last cheapo crapo Leopalace apartment (with a guarantor, no reikin no shikikin no chuukai) and 40man to move into this one (no reikin, negotiated the chuukai to be half), and I'm not even in Expensive-Tokyo.

If you didn't have any of the usual formal obligations what cost you 10man, you have some precious crystal vase collection?? And 40man sounds like an outrageous amount of money just for moving your stuff.

I don't remember all of the costs since Leopalace isn't a traditional way of getting an apartment, but I think I had to pay 2 months rent & maintenance upfront, and there were various misc fees like 5000yen for new keycards.

My 40man apartment was:

Chuukai: half month's rent
Hoshogaisha: one month's rent
Reikin: one month's rent
Guarantee money: two month's rent (fully refundable on moveout unlike shikikin)
Maintenance: first four month's worth
Rent: One month's worth

The first three months of rent were free due to a campaign though

Actually doing the moving cost me nothing both times, since my friends helped out. I even got a free full size fridge from one.

thurd Wrote:

Jarvik7 Wrote:I dropped 10man to move into my last cheapo crapo Leopalace apartment (with a guarantor, no reikin no shikikin no chuukai) and 40man to move into this one (no reikin, negotiated the chuukai to be half), and I'm not even in Expensive-Tokyo.

If you didn't have any of the usual formal obligations what cost you 10man, you have some precious crystal vase collection?? And 40man sounds like an outrageous amount of money just for moving your stuff.

I dropped like 35man for mine. That's why I only have 6man left

Fortunately I paid a couple of months so I should be covered there.

Jarvik7 Wrote:

thurd Wrote:

Jarvik7 Wrote:I dropped 10man to move into my last cheapo crapo Leopalace apartment (with a guarantor, no reikin no shikikin no chuukai) and 40man to move into this one (no reikin, negotiated the chuukai to be half), and I'm not even in Expensive-Tokyo.

If you didn't have any of the usual formal obligations what cost you 10man, you have some precious crystal vase collection?? And 40man sounds like an outrageous amount of money just for moving your stuff.

I don't remember all of the costs since Leopalace isn't a traditional way of getting an apartment, but I think I had to pay 2 months rent & maintenance upfront, and there were various misc fees like 5000yen for new keycards.

My 40man apartment was:

Chuukai: half month's rent
Hoshogaisha: one month's rent
Reikin: one month's rent
Guarantee money: two month's rent (fully refundable on moveout unlike shikikin)
Maintenance: first four month's worth
Rent: One month's worth

The first three months of rent were free due to a campaign though

Actually doing the moving cost me nothing both times, since my friends helped out. I even got a free full size fridge from one.

Wow thats a lot of non refundable months I wonder if native would also have to hop through all those loops.

Flying to another country would be expensive. Only the flight ticket would be expensive. Damn, only going and returning from Narita would be like 3.000円
I also can't leave Japan for a long time. On 7th March I have been requested to bring some documents to the office.

I like the volunteering idea. Obviously my main "psychological" problem is that my friend is always working and not very sociable person in general and I spend whole day alone at the room. Around here there are many houses but the only people around are small children or obaasan. I have a couple of friends in Tokyo but I don't think I have money to go out with them anyway.

Studying for N1 can be an option. I have like 6 weeks to prepare. That can open a new topic: "How to go from N2+ to N1 in six weeks"

Yup. The only benefit cost wise for a native is that they usually have a guarantor (their parents). Many landlords want both a guarantor and guarantor company now too though.

Natives also have slightly more apartments to choose (and thus possibly find a cheaper one) from since "no gaijin" doesn't apply to them. I only ran into that problem with one landlord on a list of like 20 apartments I was thinking of though.

Sounds fun. 60,000 is pretty much nothing here. You'll burn that easily if you're not careful.

Suggestions:

Visit your local garden, park, temple, so on. Walking around is great exercise and offers a chance to do something interesting. Otherwise, bookoff offers 105 yen manga. Depending on how good you are you could do 10-20 or so for 2000 or less yen. That'll keep ya busy.

Use the time to improve your Japanese in the real world (not books) and build yourself a network of friends. Being poor is very different when you have no one to help than when you do.

Try to find people interested in language exchanges for free. Or else try to offer English lessons to make extra cash on the side. How about offering to accompany people as they walk to work, offering an opportunity to practice spoken English on the way? People don't have a lot of time and this could be interesting for many. Or offer a conversation hour in exchange for a meal.

Cranks Wrote:Sounds fun. 60,000 is pretty much nothing here. You'll burn that easily if you're not careful.

Suggestions:

Visit your local garden, park, temple, so on. Walking around is great exercise and offers a chance to do something interesting. Otherwise, bookoff offers 105 yen manga. Depending on how good you are you could do 10-20 or so for 2000 or less yen. That'll keep ya busy.

Bookoff is a good option, not only manga but cheap novels, I can get more than I can read for a very cheap price.
Even better. I can go to a public library. I think I can enter for free although I can get books home I can go there and read for hours.

AlexandreC Wrote:Use the time to improve your Japanese in the real world (not books) and build yourself a network of friends. Being poor is very different when you have no one to help than when you do.

Try to find people interested in language exchanges for free. Or else try to offer English lessons to make extra cash on the side. How about offering to accompany people as they walk to work, offering an opportunity to practice spoken English on the way? People don't have a lot of time and this could be interesting for many. Or offer a conversation hour in exchange for a meal.

I think this is easier said than done. I am not native speaker and I am not sure would be a big help. Also, unless they pay me the transport, it would be very expensive to walk with them (I mean, here people has a train station, they walk like 5 minutes to it and the rest of the commute is by train).

Going to center of Tokyo (Shinjuku) from here takes at least 500yen. So going there and back is 1000. I can not afford having friends far from here

The library is a great idea. Also if you have access to a bike def use it. When I was slacking for a few months I biked around so many places in Tokyo... was a lot of fun.

try nanpa. my friend got so good at that he has no free time anymore with all his womens. you might even be able to milk some money outa them for your services.

Jarvik7 Wrote:Anyways, you can live for free if you do WOOF. Room & board in exchange for a bit of farm work.

Is this common in Japan?
this sounds interesting to me
would you just turn up at a farm and ask or would it be something that needs arranging?
has anyone else done this

still in the age range for a years working holiday but put off by the costs

tokyostyle Wrote:

trusmis Wrote:Bookoff is a good option, not only manga but cheap novels, I can get more than I can read for a very cheap price.

Don't feel obligated to buy them. It's a national past time to read entire novels at Book-Off.

Most definitely-- don't waste 150 yen when you can just stand there with everyone else. 立ち読み all the way.

I also agree with finding a library, just because that'll give you somewhere to go (and sit).

Money tip: Check out 'international friendship centers' (国際交流センター) for friendly classified ads. ("Hi I'm Sachi! I'm looking for an English tutor!") There's one in Kyoto, anyway. They have events too -- Tokyo probably has a lot of events at foreigner-friendly civic centers.

Travel tip: I have no idea what they're called, but a couple doors down from many stations there are little shops that sell train tickets at reduced prices. You only save 20 yen sometimes, but hey, it helps when you're on an ever-dwindling fixed income. (They're in Osaka, anyway.)

Bonus Food tip: Shokupan (食パン) + canned foods + will power = surviving on less than 500 yen a day. (Shokupan costs 100yen for 6 thick slices or so at a supermarket or convenience store, and cans go for under 100yen at some super markets.)

Well.. Not sure if any of it's helpful, but thanks anyway for letting me indulge in sharing favorite "ビンボー tips"!

Good luck & Enjoy your 節約ライフin東京!!