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Monthly costs of good lifestyle in Tokyo????


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Wise words Fly.

 

So much depends on your stage in life. When I was a student here many moons ago I lived in a four and a half tatami mat room for the grand total of 32000 yen a month. I had a bookshelf that kindly tipped its contents on my head during earthquakes. :cover: There was an old style Japanese squat toilet up the hallway. (A delicate balancing act when the flaming red curry squirts hit you at 3 am after 67 beers! :doah:) I had to share the public bath with sauced up salary men who had Fiery Jack for Emperor tattoed across their asses. I would also have raging parties with 4-6 people packed in my apartment grooving to Rick Ashtley and Milli Vanilli. :beer::up:

 

Looking back, these 'hard times' are full of rich mammaries. :grinyes:

 

Things have changed a bit now, and like you Fly, I'm no longer made for a pauper's lifestyle. Tokyo is a depressing place if you're whole life is just work. Yet as a new teacher, you can still enjoy and explore Japan on the cheap. I think when you come to live in a new country you bring an innocent sense of adventure and tolerance that long-term expats tend to lose.

 

Guys who come here with dreams of saving every penny and going home in five years with big bucks to buy the world generally burn out early and bail. :nono:

 

Sure the good days of earning 10,000 yen for a one-hour English lesson with the seductive Mrs. Suzuki, plus dinner and drinks and additional private lessons :hubba:, have mostly evaporated but there are still plenty of opportunities to boost your income here.

 

Now I've met Uniform Guy and at nine foot tall and full of muscles, I can't really see him cramped up in a tiny Tokyo apartment, but like most of us he'll find his feet or move on.

 

Some 'average' language teachers do get lucky here Fly and land sweet expat deals.

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>>>So much depends on your stage in life. When I was a student here many moons ago I lived in a four and a half tatami mat room for the grand total of 32000 yen a month. I had a bookshelf that kindly tipped its contents on my head during earthquakes. There was an old style Japanese squat toilet up the hallway. (A delicate balancing act when the flaming red curry squirts hit you at 3 am after 67 beers! ) I had to share the public bath with sauced up salary men who had Fiery Jack for Emperor tattoed across their asses. I would also have raging parties with 4-6 people packed in my apartment grooving to Rick Ashtley and Milli Vanilli.

 

Looking back, these 'hard times' are full of rich mammaries. <<<

 

 

 

a very good friend of mine studied for a while at tokyo university. the stories of his dorm and partying until death are hillarious. :drunk:

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Hmnnn 'nine foot tall and full of muscle'' I think there is a bit of journalistic licence going on here........but I appreciate the concern for my well being in the much talked about tatami mat rooms of Tokyo. Certainly having been ijn Perth for three years has spoiled me a bit in terms of space but u should see my little house in Dublin!!! now that is really small.

 

I have to get the job first and then seek out the accomodation and it could well be that I find myself outside Tokyo just to get a bigger room at the right price. I cannot spend too long living in a capsule hotel as my feet stick out the end!!!

 

Once again thanks for the useful info....

 

Uniformguy

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uniformguy said:

Hmnnn 'nine foot tall and full of muscle'' I think there is a bit of journalistic licence going on here........

 

How about, six foot nine and full of former muscle?

 

BTW, have you got any contacts for work?

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six foot nine and full of (former) muscle

 

Ouch, :censored: the last time I heard that tune, Roppongi-san and I were drunk in Geronimo at Roppongi Crossing singing along (proudly, I may add)... UG, do you see what you have to look forward to here in the Land of the Power Wire and Vending Machine! :help: BTW - Fiery Jack - Oh Emperor, are you reading this thread?? - where the fuck is my prize for winning your quiz!? Takyu-bin delivers to my neighborhood as you know from your halcyon days gone by in Japan!

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A not so serious list about Tokyo from The Nation

 

Bright lights, big city

Published on Feb 21, 2004

 

Urban Scenery

 

Best neon lights: Tokyo?s made up of hundreds of neighbourhoods and every one of them alone consumes more electricity than Guatemala, but overall Shibuya ? Tokyo?s favourite hangout for the younger crowd and its biggest shopping mecca ? takes the prize for being best lit.

 

Best shop sign: ?Hard Off? ? It?s not a Viagra antidote, but apparently a hardware chain. Only in Japan!

 

Best billboard advertising logo: ?Drip On? ? Advertising the joys of Key Coffee, not lingering over a urinal.

 

Most annoying sign: Starbucks ? We all know that one, but in Tokyo, the chain has now spread like a virus to seemingly every city block. Enough already!

 

Cheekiest sign: Excelsior Coffee ? A local chain of coffee shops blatantly ripping off Starbucks in every way. Good luck with the lawsuit.

 

Most frequently-sighted animals: Big mean-looking black crows. Known to occasionally attack people?s heads! You?ll never feel happier to see a pigeon.

 

Most frequently-sighted convenience: Vending machines. They?re indoors, they?re on every street and you can get anything from soft drinks and booze to magazines and stranger items (see below).

 

Cheapest politically incorrect item in a vending machine: Cigarettes. Japan is still a smoker?s paradise and cigarettes are a bargain compared to just about anything else.

 

Most intriguing vending machines (or so legend has it): The ones dispensing used panties from schoolgirls. (it's no legend :hubba:)

 

Food and Beverages

 

Best East-meets-West fast food: Mosburger ? A relatively sophisticated Japanese-style of burger meal, like tasty teriyaki burger, brought to your table arranged in a basket.

 

Worst fast-food outlet: Lotteria ? cheap, greasy and nasty ? little surprise that teenagers love the place.

 

Best cheap beer: Asahi?s new ?Jun-Nama? with writing on can in perfect Japanese English: ?brewed from fine barley and ingredients? (sic).

 

Best-named drinks in a can: A can of cold tea named ?Rose Life? and ?Pocari Sweat? energy drink. (He forgot the worst named drink: "Calpis", if you have ever tried this you won't wonder anymore why the name sounds like Cal-piss ::)

 

Best-named coffees in a can: ?Boss?, ?Fire? and the bizarre new ?Wonda?. Take your pick.

 

Most smoke-filled coffee-shop chain: Cafe Doutour. It?s a smoker?s magnet really. Get a cup of coffee and puff away for hours. Decent bagels, though. (And much cheaper than Starbucks! :up:)

 

Worst-named coffee shop chain: Ducky Duck. Cafe au Daffy anyone?

 

Fashion

 

Worst fashion trend: Ankle-high socks for men (unfortunately, already a hit in Thailand).

 

Best fashion trend: Less insanely mismatched colourful rags passing as teenage fashion.

 

Worst look, male: Yakuza-style suit jacket, long flowing hair and blood-shot eyes ? sported by legions of young ?touts? trying to entice women to go into shady entertainment establishments with overpriced drinks.

 

Worst look, female: Still, those big fat loose white knee-high socks.

 

Shopping

 

Best chain of stores: The 100 Yen Shops ? household supplies, socks, souvenirs, occasional sex toys ? all for the equivalent of Bt30 each. (the ideal shop for English teachers :neener:)

 

Best shopping centre (to visit): Venus Fort in Odaiba Island, Tokyo ? complete with very relaxing piped-in classical music and an artificial sky that changes from day to night.

 

Best shopping centre (to actually buy something): In Tokyo, that?s like asking which is the best grain of sand on the beach. But Tokyu Hands in Shibuya has got to be the best DIY store in the world. (I am not sure about this, it's more about expensive lifestyle goods ::, but I like to go there anyway)

 

Worst shopping centre: The Rox in the older neighbourhood of Asakusa. Rox-bottom.

 

Best shopping area if you?re under 18: Harajuku. Tonnes of boutiques with names like Octopus Army. No need for fake IDs.

 

Best shopping area if you?re not actually shopping: Ginza, Tokyo?s Fifth Avenue. Look around all you want. But if you want to buy something, go somewhere where it?s a bit less overpriced.

 

First item to buy when visiting: Clear plastic umbrella at any 100 Yen Shop or 7-11.

 

Most frequent weather forecast: Rain

 

Lifestyle

 

One item every Japanese appears to possess: A mobile phone with colour screen and camera.

(latest Japanes phones have cams with 1,2 Megapixels :up:, in Europe it is still VGA)

 

Best rule on trains: No talking on mobile phones.

 

Most frequently observed activity on trains: Text-messaging someone by mobile phone.

(I thought that it's sleeping :sleeping:)

 

Worst Internet cafe: Man-boo, near Ginza ? not a cafe, but a creepy place with a rack of porno manga and private cubicles containing a soft leather chair, huge video screen and box of tissues. Don?t ask...

 

Hardest thing to find in Tokyo: An actual Internet cafe.

 

Best area for love hotels: Love Hotel Hill, Shibuya ? where all those by-the-hour windowless establishments dot the landscape, beckoning eager young couples to consummate their dates.

 

Best love hotel (or so I?ve heard): The Leticia ? where the jacuzzi lights up from below all by itself!

 

A Night Out

 

Best English pub: The Hub, Takadano-baba branch ? lively, friendly and inexpensive neighbourhood hangout filled with students and a smattering of foreigners. But...

 

The only thing on television in that pub: Endless replays of the last World Cup games.

 

Best song on jukebox in said pub: (gulp) ?Dancing Queen? by Abba.

 

Most memorable scene at neighbouring table: Two female friends sharing a table ? one has her head down, is essentially unconscious; the other chirps away on mobile phone for literally two hours ? never even checking if her friend still has a pulse.

 

Worst thing about drunken salarymen at next table: They may want to practise their English on you.

 

Best thing about drunken salarymen at next table: They may buy you several rounds of beer.

 

Biggest danger resulting from all the boozing: For foreign visitors ? enthusiastically moving on to a karaoke pub where you belt out ?Born to Be Wild? ? or worse, ?Dancing Queen?; For Japanese salarymen ? vomiting into own briefcase on the last train home. Happens all the time.

 

What to do when you miss your morning itinerary due to night of boozing and karaoke: Pop open a cold can of Rose Life tea, grab a rice onigiri and enjoy a mindless Japanese game show on TV. It?s probably raining outside anyway!

 

Dave Sherman

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Hi Roppongi,

 

If you have any good contacts I'd welcome them. I'm keeping an eye on the Daves ESL site but most of the jobs at the moment are for an April start and I won't be there until October so haven't really started looking seriously yet.

 

Cheers

 

Uniformguy

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Good stuff Kamui!

 

I gotta agree that both 100 Yen Stores and Tokyu Hands stores are amongst the best, most fun places to shop (and I hate shopping) on the planet!

 

"enjoy a mindless Japanese game show on TV."

 

My favourite was a game show where there were guys standing around a bank of fax machines, chatting away. In a small screen below, there was a naked girl. Couldn't figure it out until the girl changed positions. Then a few minutes later, the fax machines began spitting out drawings of the girl! Only in Japan!!! :bow::up: Is that still on? This was in 1994 or so...

 

Cheers,

SD

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