Where will you be living?  Will you have a fridge and a stove you can cook with?  What about a microwave?

Sorry for the shameless plug but I stayed here for over a month and I really enjoyed it. Masa's a good guy too and almost every week end he would take me out for some 'real' japanese experiences. masaosaka.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-apartment-in-shin-osaka.html

Well I stayed alone, if you really wanted to stretch it there are really 4 beds in total but I used one of the bottom beds as a couch and the top beds as storage. Overall I found it perfect for just one. Anyway, just something to think about, hahaha. (Oh and for what its worth he is willing to negotiate rent, or at least he did with me) Good luck, I really liked staying in the Kansai region, so much to do. And as for food, you know about the 350円 curry joints right? That's how I lived, hahaha.

Healthiest cheap thing I eat is uncut sashimi from the supermarket. You can get a decent block or salmon or tuna for ~200 yen. I usually get a block of each, go home and cut it up and have some rice or something else with it and it's a good meal. I love sashimi and it's very healthy for you. All the salmon you're going to get at the supermarket will be farm raised, meaning it won't have high levels of mercury, etc. The ocean stuff is much more expensive.

My girlfriend also makes me curry or stew loaded with veggies which I throw in the freezer and eat later. Price/meal is pretty inexpensive.

bascially go to the produce section of your supermarket and buy the stuff that is seasonal (obviously its cheaper that way). one of my favorite things to make is yudofu. Just boil some water and konbu in a pot, add tofu, shironegi, and mushrooms (or something seasonal, fall=mushrooms). Eat with brown rice and you've got an extremely healthy and cheap meal.

I would recommend getting a big sack of rice (they have those really big ones), the aforementioned sashimi, and cup ramen (not neccessarily healthy, but a good sidedish to the rice).

I have been living in Japan now for about 2 years and I think that I eat pretty healthy and I spend about 25000, to 30000 yen a month on food.  This includes beer etc.  If you break it down that is about 1000 yen a day if not a little less (depending on the month).  If I were to cut out alcohol I would say I spend maybe 20000 to 25000 yen a month on food. 

The secret I have found is saying "I am not going to eat out!" and stick to it.  This will save you the most money.  The second thing is you can't just walk into a スーパー and say "I will only spend 700 yen today only."  But rather say "Okay I have 700 yen a day for 3 days so 2100 yen."  Now you can get a head of lettuce for salad each day, stuff for spaghetti, plus eggs and bread for breakfast stuff.  Plus stuff like noodles and salad dressing will generally last you more then three days so the next time you go shopping you don't have to buy these items again.  Try to find about 5 or 6 recipes that you really like and make those.  If your interested I could send some (or if you really want I could post them here) good recipes that will usually make enough to last a few days. 

I think even in Tokyo you can eat well and not bust the bank.  Over the month it might be a bit more expensive then where I live (I'm kinda out in the sticks) but nothing that would break the bank. 

In the end don't go out to restaurants if you can help it as that will always always always be more expensive in the long run.

Edit:

If there is one thing I am lucky about I do get school lunch at my school.  I did not include this (4200 yen) in the above figure.  But even adding that in I think it's still pretty good.

Last edited by skinnyneo (2009 October 10, 5:17 am)

Miso soup is also very cheap and easy to make.  Buy a container of miso paste, red, white, or mix (my favorite).  Then buy some dashi powder.  At home we put in tofu, and whatever vegetables we have at the time.  Cabbage, mushrooms, tofu, etc.  All you do is boil some water, dump some paste in, a dash of dashi and your vegetables, and it's done.

Cabbage is also very cheap here.  Raw cabbage with sesame oil and salt is pretty good.

Tofu and ponzu is also cheap and good.

You can also use your miso paste to flavour pork chops and fry them.

woodwojr wrote:

jacf29 wrote:

I also can't do the rice thing as I am cutting down on carbs.

You just killed your plan.

~J

Yeah I know.  Well there are enough cheap veggies in Japan that I can substitute them in for rice for my carbs.

The only time I saw cockroaches when I lived in Tokyo was at my first guesthouse.  And it was a dirty freakin place.  Since that place, I moved to 4 different places during my time in Tokyo, all with no bugs at all.  Maybe I just got lucky.

I imagine Osaka has a lot more bugs.

I need something I can eat in bulk like rabbit style.  Yeah cabbage is good.  But I want stuff with more green to it.  I think fresh spinach for salads isn't too expensive in Osaka.  Carrots can't be too bad either.

Its sad to think I lived in Tokyo for a year yet I cannot recall the cost of vegetables.  (aka i ate out most of the time when I wasnt scraping by for bad food)

Also, some grocery stores put discounts on their bentos if you go after a certain time -- my local store would go as high as 70% off if you came in near closing; I sometimes got 80 yen bentos; they're a little soggy sitting around all day but for 80 yen it's not that bad.

jacf29 wrote:

I got those bentos too.  But if I remember correctly the cheap ones usually were high on the carbs and low on everything else.

Bento boxes consist of lots of rice by definition. It's the main dish and everything else is a side.

I can't understand the carb reduction fad though. It's not doing Japanese people harm (low obesity rate and highest life expectancy in the world despite no one wearing helmets on bikes or motorcycles*, high rate of no seatbelt use, high population density, high suicide rate, lots of stressed out salarymen overworking themselves, and a somewhat backward medical system for a first world country) aside from higher incidence of constipation (although though it might just be the appearance of it since Japanese people are much more candid about their bodily functions).

*yes people on scooters and motorcycles wear helmets, but they are never full face helmets and they are usually strapped on so loose that they are completely pointless. I frequently see people with the strap around their neck and the helmet on their back.

Last edited by Jarvik7 (2009 October 10, 2:07 pm)