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budget

Japanese restaurant chain serves up super thick soba noodles in Tokyo

One of the best places to try a very unusual type of buckwheat noodle.

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Four dirt-cheap but tasty places to grab lunch in Tokyo’s Shibuya shopping mecca

Our Shibuya native shares the start of his list of places to fill up your stomach without emptying your wallet.

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Tokyo’s expensive fountain construction plans making waves among the Japanese public

Tensions are in danger of overflowing due to the project’s massive projected expenses.

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Do 7-Eleven Japan’s new back-to-budget-friendly-basics rice bowls make us happy?【Taste test】

The fight against convenience store price creep heats up.

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We notice a small but important change in Saizeriya’s updated Grand Menu

Our budget wine lover isn’t sure what to do now.

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Is a weekend trip to Korea possible with just 50,000 yen (US$350)? – Part 1【Extreme budget travel】

How far can Go make his budget stretch on a one-night stay? 

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We prepared our own delicious amberjack sashimi and realized how much money it saved us【Pics】

Achieve your dreams of having a sashimi feast while saving money!

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How much do you need to earn every month for a “normal” life in Kyoto? Here’s a sample budget

Fantasizing about relocating to Japan’s ancient capital? Here’s what it’ll cost you per month, and no, a minimum-wage job isn’t going to cut it.

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Budget entertainment: 12 fun things to do in Tokyo that will cost you absolutely nothing

Enjoy free foot spas or amazing views of the cityscape and save money while you’re at it.

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Japanese cosplayers show off amazing accessories made using goods from 100 yen stores

Cosplay accessories that are easy on both the wallet and the eyes.

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W.T.F. Japan: Top 5 budget Japanese Halloween costumes 【Weird Top Five】

No costume? No cash? No problem!

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Cost Performance Specialist Sato shows us how to get high fashion at low, low prices

Like much of the world, Japan is home to dozens of fashion brands like Uniqlo, GAP, and H&M, which offer high-quality clothes at low prices. It has come to the point that some refer to Uniqlo items as the “nation’s uniform” because of their ubiquity.

With all these big-name retailers saturating the market with their similar brands, how is a true individual supposed to express themselves? Of course there are one-of-a-kind boutiques, but those are way out of the average guy’s price range.

This is where our resident money expert Mr. Sato comes in. He’s known as “Cost Performer Sato,” or as he prefers “Cospa Sato,” because it’s a far more efficient name. He’s here to teach us about a secret shop which can be found in any one of your neighbourhoods and offers unique fashions at highly affordable prices, and look fabulous while doing so.

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Would you date a girl dressed head to toe in Uniqlo? 76% of men say “of course!”

Uniqlo, the hugely popular Japanese chain store that stocks a variety of simple, practical and affordable clothing, has expanded into a world-wide venture, with stores in Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, France, Russia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and, well, you get the picture. In the West in particular, Uniqlo has a pretty cool image thanks to its simple, pared-down designs and celebrity approval (for example, Pharrell Williams designed a range for them in April 2014), so it might surprise some of you to hear that there are people in Japan who tend to be a bit snobby about Uniqlo, looking down on its regular clientele for lacking in fashion sense.

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How many times a month does a police officer need to get their hair cut? That is the debate going on in the southern Chinese city of Shenzen after authorities found out that local cops there had budgeted nearly two million RMB (US$32,000) over a two-year period to have each of its more than 2,000 police officers have three haircuts a month.

While city authorities are questioning the necessity of the cops’ excessive visits to the barber, local citizens are outraged and are demanding a more “reasonable” haircut budget from their police force.

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Dating in Odaiba without breaking the bank

Odaiba, a manmade island atop Tokyo Bay, is famous for its sightseeing attractions, amusement parks, and entertainment venues. Places such as Joypolis, Pallet Town, Diver City, and the Miraikan science museum are all touted as terrific date spots but can prove quite costly in the long run.

Luckily, we’ve got some good news for all you penny-pinchers. Unbeknownst to many, the Rainbow Bridge, gateway to Odaiba, is an awesome date spot all its own! And, it’s absolutely free!

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Whichever way you look at it, life in Japan is expensive.

As well as Japan’s food, drink and fuel ranking among the world’s most expensive, compared to many western countries, land in particular is sold at a premium, meaning that accommodation can be costly, and even those with enough capital to consider purchasing a car often abandon the idea when they realise that they cannot afford to buy or rent the necessary parking space.

CNN’s “World’s Most Expensive Places to Live 2012” placed Tokyo and Osaka first and third, respectively, and thanks to the strong yen and weak dollar/euro/everything, coming to live in Japan has never been more financially challenging.

With this in mind, budgeting expert Yoko Hanawa at Yahoo! Japan shares some ways in which Japan’s businessmen and women tackle everyday life in this tough financial climate, and introduces a few ideas of her own that are worth paying attention to.

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Even putting current tensions between the country and Japan aside for the moment, China has seen a great deal of civil unrest in recent months. With citizens losing faith in their government, and the gap between the poor and the wealthy seemingly growing ever larger, it is little wonder that protests and riots are occurring more and more frequently.

At the end of June, pictures emerged of clashes between residents and armed police in the Canton region. It later become clear that the riot occurred following little more than a scuffle between two boys from neighbouring towns that got out of hand. Angry that men from the first boy’s town had entered into the argument, adults from the second boy’s town also became involved, and the spat quickly grew out of hand with thousands of locals eventually becoming involved in the fray. Read More