Why? Too many middleman with their palms wide open. Go to almost any gas station and they have at least three workers filling your gas, wiping clean the front window and back, checking oil, etc.etc.
Toonces
Golden Member
- Feb 5, 2000
- 1,690
- 0
- 76
Food is more expensive here, if you buy out-of-season items and processed foods.
I can live cheaply by picking up only locally grown vegetables, meats, and rice. It's prepared foods and imported stuff that's expensive.
Buying what's in season I don't spend more than what I would in Canada - but if I want apples now, or strawberries in December; then it's prohibitive. Although sometimes I think money is spent just to spend it; the conspicuous consumption factor; doubly so when buying gifts. Cantaloupe is at least $10/ea. and I've had the distinct pleasure of visiting a shop selling $300 watermelons as omiyage.
Electronics are expensive, usually. The idea of credit cards is just beginning to take hold in Japanese culture so the vast majority of purchases are made with cash. People save to buy things and don't live beyond their means for the most part. Discretionary spending on luxury goods is higher (for various factors, as uhohs and Journer pointed out Japanese buying is hopelessly driven by fads) as people just don't buy as much stuff as North Americans do - when it happens, well you get $300 watermelons.
You can find some good deals on "older" models (last generation stuff) as there is almost zero demand when something isn't the latest and greatest. That goes for computers, cars, ski equipment ($1000 set-up for $150, yay me!), and clothing. Shop around; there's deals available - Yodobashi is overpriced anyways - akin to a Best Buy.
I can live cheaply by picking up only locally grown vegetables, meats, and rice. It's prepared foods and imported stuff that's expensive.
Buying what's in season I don't spend more than what I would in Canada - but if I want apples now, or strawberries in December; then it's prohibitive. Although sometimes I think money is spent just to spend it; the conspicuous consumption factor; doubly so when buying gifts. Cantaloupe is at least $10/ea. and I've had the distinct pleasure of visiting a shop selling $300 watermelons as omiyage.
Electronics are expensive, usually. The idea of credit cards is just beginning to take hold in Japanese culture so the vast majority of purchases are made with cash. People save to buy things and don't live beyond their means for the most part. Discretionary spending on luxury goods is higher (for various factors, as uhohs and Journer pointed out Japanese buying is hopelessly driven by fads) as people just don't buy as much stuff as North Americans do - when it happens, well you get $300 watermelons.
You can find some good deals on "older" models (last generation stuff) as there is almost zero demand when something isn't the latest and greatest. That goes for computers, cars, ski equipment ($1000 set-up for $150, yay me!), and clothing. Shop around; there's deals available - Yodobashi is overpriced anyways - akin to a Best Buy.
Computers are more expensive in nearly all other countries, I think. The Untied States benefits from having a considerable amount of part makers (CPU, HD, GPU, etc) based here, even if there are competitors and manufacturing plants in other countries. The U.S> doesn't have an absolute stronghold with PC hardware, but we are still a major player. Japan probably imports a considerable amount of parts from different countries and suffers from the associated transportation costs and tariffs. We in the U.S. also purchase an enormous amount of computers a year, and companies like Dell are more than willing to sell PCs at relatively low prices to the mass of American consumers.
This was not a laptop, it was an AIO (All in One) computer like the iMac. The damn thing started at roughly $2000 dollars. I am using it now. And food here is cheap. I love salmon and you can buy a pack of salmon here in Osaka for $5. That`s cheap.
IAteYourMother
Lifer
- Nov 3, 2004
- 10,491
- 22
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Is it just seafood that is cheap, or all food in general? Because I've heard in the past the food is more expensive there than here, though not by an enormous amount. We are pretty well off here in the U.S., though, with the capacity to (over) feed ourselves for reasonable prices.
The credit card thing has more to do with trust than anything. Hell, they still have cash on delivery here.
I don`t know. I found it kind of strange that the salmon was so cheap. It could just be the exception.
I like quality food so I don`t think their prices here are too expensive. But, to be honest, you get what you pay for. The quality here is much better than in America. Even the wrappings are of higher quality.
remember to fully appreciate the japanese experience by having a megamac at mcdonalds or a mayonnaise shrimp pizza
I was there last month and the Mac stuff seemed to cost about the same. I don't really know how much a good Vista laptop should cost, but I saw laptops in the range of $700-2500, which didn't seem so out of whack.
ping: in general, yes, food is cheaper. but don't forget that, again, japanese people a fad followers. if there is a restaurant that is mildly popular...expect to pay out the ass. portions are not always small. now, some people consider sushi small, but i'm a big/fat mother fucker and i can eat myself full of sushi for under $20 and it taste 10x better than back at home
drinkmorejava: there may be certain foods that are expensive (i.e. beef, import meets, etc.) but in general food is (can be) cheap, see the bottom of my post
toonces knows what he is talking about. i agree with your post. and if they in fact, bought that AIO from yodabashi, they are stupid. yodabashi is like best buy, but with more rape and better customer service.
dari: i see now it is an AIO, didn't notice that at first. but i think it would be somewhat difficult to find the same (or close as you can get) AIO for under 800, they just aren't that cheap. but the point is they are more, i know, but still, they can be had for less than what your friends paid. also, why didnt they buy from the US and ship it back? if they do it right, it doesnt have to be more than $120 to ship it
iateyourmother: wrong
crono: read toonces post, in general, i think food is (can be) cheaper, but he is right, if you buy out of season the prices are insane. but in season fruits/vegs are pretty cheap. there are some high crop producers that are right next door to japan
anywho, here are some examples of huge ass plates that won't break the bank. i've had all of these while i was there. i stayed in chiba (near tokyo) and ate in tokyo often, also ate in some 'expensive areas' (shinjuku, roppongi, etc.)
anyways:
huge ass bowl of pork ramen, beer: ~7USD
big bento lunch at the train station market (includes tons of rice, a meat, some fish, a few other things), drink (soda, bottle water, whatever): ~6usd
filling dinner at skylark (kind of like denny's) (hamburger steak, two sides, bowl of soup, drink): 7USD
an assload of quality sushi at a kaiten sushi bar: ~$25 incl drink/dessert (this can vary a lot because some chain places are expensive but taste like ass (yes there is shitty sushi in japan))
enough high quality sushi at a nice sushi bar: ~30 with beer/sake
typical denny's dinner: $8usd
lunch at local school cafe (huge and cheap, but very tastey): $4 (i :heart: katsu ka-ri)
anywho, i could go on and on. yes, food in japan is cheap, and in general tastes better. i'd never been to a denny's in the US i liked, japan's was pretty damned good.
drinkmorejava: there may be certain foods that are expensive (i.e. beef, import meets, etc.) but in general food is (can be) cheap, see the bottom of my post
toonces knows what he is talking about. i agree with your post. and if they in fact, bought that AIO from yodabashi, they are stupid. yodabashi is like best buy, but with more rape and better customer service.
dari: i see now it is an AIO, didn't notice that at first. but i think it would be somewhat difficult to find the same (or close as you can get) AIO for under 800, they just aren't that cheap. but the point is they are more, i know, but still, they can be had for less than what your friends paid. also, why didnt they buy from the US and ship it back? if they do it right, it doesnt have to be more than $120 to ship it
iateyourmother: wrong
crono: read toonces post, in general, i think food is (can be) cheaper, but he is right, if you buy out of season the prices are insane. but in season fruits/vegs are pretty cheap. there are some high crop producers that are right next door to japan
anywho, here are some examples of huge ass plates that won't break the bank. i've had all of these while i was there. i stayed in chiba (near tokyo) and ate in tokyo often, also ate in some 'expensive areas' (shinjuku, roppongi, etc.)
anyways:
huge ass bowl of pork ramen, beer: ~7USD
big bento lunch at the train station market (includes tons of rice, a meat, some fish, a few other things), drink (soda, bottle water, whatever): ~6usd
filling dinner at skylark (kind of like denny's) (hamburger steak, two sides, bowl of soup, drink): 7USD
an assload of quality sushi at a kaiten sushi bar: ~$25 incl drink/dessert (this can vary a lot because some chain places are expensive but taste like ass (yes there is shitty sushi in japan))
enough high quality sushi at a nice sushi bar: ~30 with beer/sake
typical denny's dinner: $8usd
lunch at local school cafe (huge and cheap, but very tastey): $4 (i :heart: katsu ka-ri)
anywho, i could go on and on. yes, food in japan is cheap, and in general tastes better. i'd never been to a denny's in the US i liked, japan's was pretty damned good.
seriously. japan has awesome food. most people think you are crazy if you want it but i like their 'weird' food...a lot
Gee, I guess my three years living in Japan were just full of misconceptions...
Japan is more expensive. Period. Housing, electricity, fuel (gasoline and otherwise), photography equipment, computers, televisions, cellular service, equivalent food (yes, they have cheap places as well), house plants, household goods in general, grocery food including produce, movies, computer gear, beer, taxis. Perhaps rice is cheaper, but that might even be questionable since they have significant controls on foreign rice imports. Did I find a few things that were surprisingly inexpensive? Here and there, yes -- like my awesome screwdriver sitting a couple feet away which is better than any I've used Stateside. To call Japan inexpensive is just stupid, though. How much is that train ride from Tokyo to Kyoto?
Obviously if people are referring to the exchange rate it's dollars to yen. The Japanese have been living high on the hog while traveling overseas for a long time now.
I never understood it, but the watermelons are something else there, at least on Okinawa where I was. Watermelon stands would pop up in season and sell very expensive watermelons, some of them were even square because they were grown in boxes or jars. Allegedly, they were the best watermelons you could ever eat, at least spoken by some Americans who ponied up for the exorbitant prices. I never bothered to spend $50+ equivalent for a watermelon.
i guess they were because your not comparing the same things together. housing and electricity is more expensive. fuel? please! how many people actually own more than one car and drive said car daily? few. transportation in general is much, much cheaper. you can go clear across tokyo for under 15 bucks. can you get across that much space in a car for that little, that quickly? hell no. cellular service is the same price if you factor in the features. almost everyone uses imode and you can consider that the same as vcast or data service. prices are almost the same. the phones themselves can be more expensive, but you can get a well featured phone for free with your plan, just like the US. i still concur that food, in general, is cheaper. not eating out at fancy places and shit. hell, mcdonalds is the same price. entertainment and taxis are definitely more expensive, but i already said that.
train ride to kyoto? who goes to kyoto every week. even if they did, the cost to go that distance in the US would be the same or more.
the whole point of my posts was to show that japan, in fact, does not have to be expensive. i;ve proven it to myself already. i lived comfortably for an extended period of time and spent less money than i would in the US. did i eat cheap ramen and shit all the time? no. did i eat steak and eggs all the time in the US? no. i lived basically the same life, in a different place, and it cosed me less.
you must be one of these business/military gaijins that blew all your cash on booze (which is also cheaper in the liquor stores, more in bars though) and entertainment. but anywho, the fact is:
live like the japanese in japan: expensive as hell
live moderately like the typical middle class american: you'll just about break even
live a little less than that (mostly ent and electronics): you'll have more blow
Toonces
Golden Member
- Feb 5, 2000
- 1,690
- 0
- 76
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
wow, they are beating us at our own food..thats so uncool. we are supposed to be the undisputed glutton champions of the world
I've had both, they're good. Not to mention the Mega Tomago that replaces one of the beef patties with a boiled egg. Not enough food? They can be ordered in a set with a large drink, large fries, and a six pack of chicken nuggets... the Japanese can eat.
Originally posted by: toonces
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
wow, they are beating us at our own food..thats so uncool. we are supposed to be the undisputed glutton champions of the world
I've had both, they're good. Not to mention the Mega Tomago that replaces one of the beef patties with a boiled egg. Not enough food? They can be ordered in a set with a large drink, large fries, and a six pack of chicken nuggets... the Japanese can eat.
Holy mother.......... my arteries just hardened looking at that.
I thought the double big mac was something to behold.
Cheers,
Aquaman
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