This post was recovered from an old blog that I had while studying abroad in Japan. I’ve only updated misspellings or dead links, but left any cringe worthy things or immature thoughts. I’ve decided to leave them as a snapshot of who I was and to see how far I’ve come. Any photos have been freshly edited and so are not the same as what was originally posted. Over the years I had several blogs, most lost to time, and I wanted to recover some lost memories and reflect on my life.

eople always talk about the high cost of living in Tokyo, saying it’s one of the most expensive cities in the world. I would say that it’s certainly possible to drop cash quickly on anything and everything, it’s also possible to eat and live in Tokyo on a budget. The thing is, you need to know the right places to go and not to go, especially when searching for food.

If you’re a cheap ass, like me, and hate extra fees then most Japanese bars will be out of the question. The Japanese bars have a charge called a seating fee, but you don’t know the actual charge until it’s time to pay. Guess what your probably also drunk by this time so your all friendly and just want to pay and go, that’s the beauty of this fee. They NEVER have tipping here, but beware of extra charges.

I haven’t eaten at many Japanese restaurants yet, but from what I hear you usually don’t have to worry about a seating fee. So when a group of us went out to eat at a Nabe place we were surprised to find out each person had to pay about $3 just to be seated. This might not seem like much at first, but it can take a cheap meal to expensive. Short of asking if there is a seating fee when you enter a restaurant, there’s nothing you can do. If you decided to head out to a Japanese establishment then make sure you bring some extra money because it can get expensive fast.