The truth is that Japan is probably nowhere as expensive as you may think (or fear). Even living in Tokyo can be manageable, assuming that you get a reasonably priced place to rent. This article hopes to introduce to you some ways of coping and forcing down your costs.

This is more meant for people living in Japan than touring it (though there’s nothing stopping tourists from using the tips here). Also, the stuff here has been formulated mostly by me and other students in Japan – and as you may or may not know students love to save in ridiculous ways to spend money on ridiculous things! Some of the tips here may seem extremely trivial but hey, a yen saved is a yen spendable on something else.

Food

You need food to survive so you’ll definitely need to spend some money on this. But there are ways of suppressing the cost.

1. Cook.

This may be obvious at first, but keep with me here, it gets more specific. Assuming that you know where to shop for your ingredients cooking may be able to slash your expenditure on food to one third of what it might be without. One friend (American, Male) spends less than 10,000 yen a month by cooking three times every day. Is three times a day too much? Cook two portions for dinner and leave half for the microwave for lunch tomorrow. Saves you both the money and the expense.

Even if you don’t want to cook whole meals, even just cooking the rice and bringing it with you for lunch (mainly applicable for students) will save you money in the long run.

2. Shop Smart – At The Wholesale Market

Wholesale markets (ie. 業務用スーパー) are places where restaurant owners go to buy their ingredients. These places are your friends especially if you cook a lot. There are a few good places worth keeping in mind.

1) Costco: Readers from North America and the UK may recognize this. Yes it’s in Japan too. You need to pay 4000 yen for the membership but if you’re sharing a house with people, you can split it up. Anyways, if you’re living nearby it’s definitely worth it as things are quite cheap.

• Official Site to check shop locations
• Further Reading: Costco Japan, by Danny Choo

2) Gyomu Suupaa (業務スーパー): My personal favorite. Quite widespread throughout the whole country. Generally very low prices, especially if you don’t mind frozen foods or large product sizes. Some produce (generally vegetables) may be cheaper somewhere else, but this is generally a safe bet for low prices.

For example …

138 yen for 500 grams of frozen vegetables is probably going to be the cheapest you can find. (It’s usually even cheaper – it’s the end of winter now so vegetable prices are a bit higher than usual)

And also…

19 Yen udon!

3. Shop smart – And Late If You Don’t Plan To Cook

9.45 pm at my local supermarket (note: mine’s a 24 hour one so the discounts aren’t that steep. For supermarkets with a closing time discounts can go all the way until 50% before closing)

Most supermarkets will start offering discounts for their ready-to-eat food nearing closing time. Generally, 2-3 hours before closing 10% discount tags start to get tacked on. As closing time approaches these go up all the way to 50% discounts – you can get a nice ready-made meal at a very reasonable price if you go late to your supermarket near 9 pm.

4. Miscellaneous Tips From Me And My Friends

Buy 輸入食品 (imported foods), like meat from America or Australia, or frozen food from China, bananas from the Philippines, etc. never buy Japan 国産 (made domestically) stuffs.

Yes made-in-Japan produce tends to be more expensive indeed.

Buy strawberries meant for jam/juice at a lower price – jam/juice strawberries usually look quite terrible and are close to being overripe but they taste great still. And are cheap, for about 198jpy per pack over here in Kyoto. … I find them in random supermarkets.

Never done this myself but sounds legit – better than being overcharged just because of the unnecessary packaging.

If you like tea, forget buying even the 2 liter bottles they sell. Buy tea packs instead (and buy bottled water online if you don’t like tap).

Making your own tea is really a lot cheaper than buying it. And bottled water online is much cheaper than buying it in the actual stores.

In MCD (Macdonalds), check the keitai (mobile phone) coupon before buying anything. Also, having 2 or 3 100yen burgers plus one 100yen S size drink would be enough to make you as full as buying those expensive set meals.

Ie. subscribe to the Line/email mailing lists of restaurants such as McDonalds, Sukiya etc. They often send discount coupons to subscribers via these lists.

If you’re eating out consider places (usually family restaurants（ファミレス） such as Gasto if you just want somewhere to have a nice long chat with people. They have things called drink bars ie. a free flow of soft drinks, tea and coffee for an unlimited period of time. Also consider this if you need to study etc.

Stalk out your local stores. Some of them may have special days of the week / month where they have big discounts on a certain item eg. meat. Shop according to the calendar after you find this out.

Avoid: convenience stores… you pay for convenience, not for the value. If there’s a convenience store there’s probably a supermarket nearby. Find the supermarket and shop there.

Avoid: being picky. I don’t know what you Europeans call bread. As far as I am concerned if it’s made out of raised flour and is fluffy it is bread. We all have our pet peeves of how Japan bastardizes/does not have (it usually is either-or) our favorite national food which we miss – but demanding it is going to cost you a bomb. So you might as well start learning how to cook/eat Japanese stuff! Hey that’s what you’re here for right?

General Shopping

What about other shopping related things, then?

1. 100 Yen Shops

The first thing that you need to do when you arrive to Japan is to find the nearest 100 yen shop and raid it for anything you possibly need. Daiso and Seria are the more major ones. Go to their websites, search for the nearest one to your house and plunder it.

2. Point cards…

What you may (not) want to do

This can help you to save money in the long run. But get too many and you’ll find your wallet bursting with plastic.

Generally drug store point cards may not be very useful because they tend to go along the lines of 1 point per 100 yen spent, and 500 yen redeemable after reaching 500 points. Which means you need to spend 50,000 yen to get the discount. Not very useful in my opinion.

Instead consider getting point cards for the big electric stores such as Yamada Denki or Yodobashi Camera – you’ll probably need to go there occasionally for printer ink/appliances etc if you don’t buy those online. Those give you 10% of the amount you spend in terms of points so that helps in the long run.

3. Consider Shopping Online

Photos by Thomas

For Sayonara Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn – kudos if you get the reference.

Nowadays you can get everything and anything online and usually for a reasonable price. Some websites you may want to check out are:

1. http://kakaku.com/ – helps you directly compare the same product being sold over multiple sites so that you can make the best buys.
2. http://classifieds.gaijinpot.com/ – full of second-hand stuff which people want to get rid off for cheap or for free. Watch out especially for “sayonara sales” from people leaving Japan.
3. http://www.nitori-net.jp/ – for furniture
4. Groupon / Groupon-ish sites – such as http://www.groupon.jp/ or http://ponpare.jp/. These can get you good deals for eating out/travel/whatever if you keep your eyes open and snap up the attractive ones.
5. Portal sites – such as http://www.rakuten.co.jp/　and http://www.qoo10.jp/ are also worth looking at. That being said whether the deal is good depends on the individual vendor.

4. Also consider buying things second-hand.

Check for 2nd hand shops (リサイクルショップ) such as 2nd Steet which sell a whole variety of goods second hand. Recycl-navi is another website listing these 2nd hand shops in each prefecture.

For clothes, Shimokitazawa (Tokyo) for example has lots of second hand clothing shops. Find out where the second-hand clothes districts are if you want to save up.

5. For weird souvenirs:

With this kind of stuff you can’t possibly go wrong.

Need to get some souvenirs for a short trip home? I recommend Don Quijote. When you’ve got a departmental store which sells things like these you probably can’t go wrong.

Transport

Getting around can be a big expense. Trains, buses, taxis… you name it. Here are some ways to save money on transport.

1. Cycle

If you’re in Japan for more than ~6 months this will likely save you money unless you live very nearby to a convenient train station. After all…

• Buses are around 200 yen per ride. This adds up quickly. You might as well bike to the nearest station.
• Having a bicycle also widens the area you can shop – meaning that you probably can shop cheaper with one.
• Bicycle vandalism / theft is not common in Japan so it’s unlikely that you’ll have to pay extra beyond the buying the bicycle.

2. Kaisuuken

If there’s a route that you frequently use and which your commuter/student pass does not cover, you may consider getting some kaisuukens （回数券）. The system differs from company to company but some may for example sell you 11 tickets for the price of 10 for a single route (eg. JR East, Hankyu). Some may even sell off-peak hour kaisuuken for even steeper discounts.

They expire in about 3 months so only buy these for routes you reasonably use. Also, this may not be compatible with your IC card so you’ll have to keep the paper tickets in your wallet if you do so.

3. Special Tickets (eg. Seishun 18)

Tourists to Japan may know of the JR rail pass which allows for unlimited Shinkansen and JR use within the period of time. Unfortunately that’s limited to tourists. But, even if you’re a long-term resident in Japan there’s other things you can use.

Consider:

1. Limited area unlimited use passes – For example Kyoto residents will know about the 500 yen, 1 day free pass on Kyoto city buses. JR East offers unlimited railway use for a day within the 23 wards of Tokyo for 730 yen. This may be useful when you need to pop by multiple places in a day.
2. The Seishun 18 – Very useful if you like watching countryside scenery / have time to spare. A useful and relevant article can be found here

4. Buses are good too.

Especially if you want to travel long distances. For example, the cheapest trip between Tokyo and Osaka is around 3500 yen single-way; the same trip on JR (excluding the Seishun 18) would cost at least 8000 yen and take around 9 hours if you’re just riding local trains. Plus you get a seat.

Willer Express may be good if you’re not confident of your Japanese ability, but otherwise Rakuten has a whole slew of bus operators in its travel section.

5. Budget airlines for very long distances.

Because at long distances…

1. The availability of bus routes dwindles. Plus, 14 hour bus rides damage people’s sanity.
   2) Trains become increasingly expensive and take very long too.

At shorter distances do note that because airports are less convenient than major bus terminals, it may be more expensive (and take longer when adding waiting time etc) than buses.

Note: Hitchhiking is not often practiced in Japan. Wikitravel has an artice about if you want to try though.

Avoid: The Shinkansen. Yes it cuts down the traveling time to around 2 and a half hours between Tokyo and Osaka. But the title of this article is how to save money not how to zip across Japan. Plus, an extremely roomy 2 seat-per-row overnight bus costs about 10,000 between Tokyo and Kansai (cheaper than the Shinkansen) – take your pick.

Lodging / Rent

1.Rent

Really can’t be avoided but there are a few things you can do:

• Consider moving into a share-house such as those operated by Oakhouse(English) instead of a typical apartment. Saves money and you can make friends albeit at the cost of having to share amenities.
• Try apartments without the 敷金 (shikikin – something like a deposit) and the 礼金 (reikin – the money you have to pay as thanks, yes seriously). Also ensure that the shikikin and reikin aren’t just reflected in an inflated monthly rent price.
• Because the Japanese are very particular about having a bathtub / ofuro, searching for an apartment with only a shower may be cheaper.
• From a friend: “I’m not sure but somebody once told me that there are special offers like renting an apartment where some poor soul committed suicide … and it’s much cheaper (c)” Another friend says, “Yeah I’ve heard of places being cheaper because of suicides or murders, too. They call it 事故物件 (or 訳あり物件）.”

Oh, right, Tofugu wrote about that: “How To Avoid (Or Even Find) A Stigmatized Property In Japan”

Worth a shot maybe?

2.Temporary lodging

If you find yourself needing to stay someplace temporarily (for example, when traveling within Japan) you may want to consider the following options:

• Capsule Hotels: Available in the major cities. Cheap but I HIGHLY RECOMMEND (from personal experience) to buy some 100 yen earplugs if noise bothers you.
• Hostels: Consider the youth hostels operated by this group (English map). Same thing applies, ear plugs recommended.
• Wikitravel also has an article on camping if you really don’t want to spend any money on lodging.

Utilities

Generally you can’t do much in Summer – if you can make do with a fan instead of the AC that saves you quite a bit of money though. HOWEVER, it’s more than possible to keep warm in winter without the heater.

Behold the creativity of me and my friends!

• “Since electricity is cheaper from 11pm to 7am, only charge your computer, wash clothes and use anything that needs electricity during that time”
• Get a wearable blanket like the ones that they sell at Don Quijote. Very fluffy, comfy and is able to surprisingly negate the need for external heating.
• Pair the above with 100 yen room shoes for the cold cold floor. Or if you don’t want to…
• “Stick huge hot water bottles under your feet in bed/at your desk. I recommend the metal kind that can be reheated on the stove.” – If you’re the type to get literal “cold feet”.
• “Hang wet clothes in the room to save on humidifier bills!” (Note: this saves on having to use the clothes dryer too. Make your own clothes lines or buy indoor clothes hanging racks from Nitori)

Entertainment

Unless you like playing games in your dormitory or are content with the internet, you won’t be able to avoid spending on this. These are the ways you can make the most bang for your buck though.

1. Karaoke Deals

Karaoke is quintessential if you’re living in Japan (and a good way to shed your sense of shame). Anyways…

1. Karaoke freetimes (フリータイム) are your friend, especially if you’re a student who doesn’t have to wake up the next morning. Most times, taking a free time is more worth it if you’re staying more than 2-3 hours anyway.
2. Some Karaoke chains have special deals on weekdays such as men’s night etc. One that I frequented had a deal where on Thursdays (for men, Wednesdays for women) Karaoke was free for 2 hours if you just bought a drink.
3. Sign up to be a member. This usually automatically gives you a discount.

2. Amusement Centers

Round 1 also has an all-you-can play giant sports-and-arcade facilities for a flat fee. (A full list of shops can be found here, look out for the ones with SP (スポッチャ) highlighted in their labeling.

Kansai residents can also take advantage of Beaver World which offers the very same things PLUS Karaoke PLUS bowling under the same price.

Watch out for: Free flow drinks at Izakayas

While having free-flow alcohol may sound like a good idea, be wary of deals which are actually deceiving.

Most Izakayas will require you to order at least 1 item in addition to their automatic starter. Thus, what may look like an 800 yen 2 hour free-flow may actually be closer to 1500 when adding the starter and a dish (around 500 yen perhaps). Not to mention that the drinks are often heavily weakened.

Bonus! Free Travel!

Occasionally some of the local tourist bureaus of lesser-known cities will be fishing around for foreigners to tour their city. These are often conducted free of charge and all they require you to do is to write feedback forms / some PR material for them.

Occasionally google searching ”外国人モニターツアー” may yield you some promising results so be on the lookout for these.

By the way, add your suggestions to the comments – I may collate them into a Part 2 post with the ideas that you all have.

Relevant article:

• (Tofugu) 25 ways to save money while traveling in Japan

Bonus Wallpapers!

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While living in Japan, Hello Kitty was unavoidable. My fringe awareness became a full on, hyper-focused red alert of Hello Kitty presence. She was everywhere. And I mean everywhere like Christmas music the day after Halloween. She was on my student’s pen cases, my co-worker’s desk, my friend’s shoes, jewelry, cups, refrigerator magnets, smocks, spoons, hats, cars, everything! I was suffocating in Kitty-chan. But the suffocating wouldn’t have been so bad if everyone around me didn’t love the suffocation so much.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t begrudge a character just because it’s popular. But with Hello Kitty I couldn’t understand for the life of me why she was popular. And I had (at the time) two good reasons why she shouldn’t be.

1. Her design is too simple. White face, two dots, yellow nose. Boring! Great character designs like Bugs Bunny or Gundam Zaku have some complexity or originality to their form. They involve something substantial and imaginative you can hold onto.
2. She’s not _from_ anything. We western-types like our vacuous media characters to have a source, like how Mario is from a video game and Spider-man is from a comic book. A lot of characters I like are paper thin in their depth of character but at least I can say, “I really like the cereal they’re from!”

But despite having nothing to hold onto, a lot of people, many of whom I respected as individuals, held onto Hello Kitty for dear life. So what was I missing? Let’s address these gripes in order.

1. Her Design Is Too Simple

My first complaint was that Hello Kitty’s design was too simple. And therein lies the problem, right? Unless you consider what draws us to cartoon characters in the first place. When you strip an image of its details (shading, texture, etc.) down to its essential elements, it becomes less specific. It is no longer a picture of one thing but a representation of that thing.

This is clearly a picture of Tom Hanks. He may be mistaken for someone else, but generally, most people will know this picture represents Tom Hanks.

This still may be recognized as Tom Hanks, but if you look at it in a different way, maybe it looks like someone you work with. The realistic details have been stripped away and now the image may represent a wider range of types of people.

As we trim away the details, he becomes more ambiguous…

And more able to represent anyone.

Now we are about as nonspecific as you can get. A few dots, some lines and a circle. This is incredibly simple and anyone can draw it. But whose face is being depicted? Is it male or female? Old or young? Without the artist giving details about whose face has been drawn, it is up to the viewer to decide what is being seen.

The less specific the image, the more power the viewer has to interpret it. What do you see when you look at Hello Kitty? She is a simplification of a cat, but what kind of attitude or style is she emitting? Visual storytelling guru, Scott McCloud, has this to say about the cartoon form, of which Hello Kitty is a part:

“The cartoon is a vacuum into which our identity and awareness are pulled, an empty shell that we inhabit which enables us to travel in another realm. We don’t just observe the cartoon, we become it!”

More than likely, what you’re seeing is you! What does Hello Kitty look like to you? Is she cute or sassy? Grown up or childish? Fun or chic? It mostly depends on who you are and what you want her to be. Her blankness draws you in and allows you to interpret her, and then wear or own her in the style you choose.

But in essence, all cartoons can do this. This interpretation of representation is vital to the cartoon form. So what makes Hello Kitty different?

A Game of Cat and Mouth

Hello Kitty’s ability to be interpreted is taken one step further than, say, Betty Boop or Tintin. The advantage Kitty-chan holds is her lack of a mouth. The reason for this is summed up best by Yuko Yamaguchi, the current character designer (meaning “boss”) of Hello Kitty:

“[She doesn't have a mouth] so that people who look at her can project their own feelings onto her face, because she has an expressionless face. Kitty looks happy when people are happy. She looks sad when they are sad. For this psychological reason, we thought she shouldn’t be tied to any emotion – and that’s why she doesn’t have a mouth.”

The power of Hello Kitty’s interpretation now extends a layer deeper, beyond our idea of what she represents into our idea of what she is feeling. This gives her life in our minds, in a way that “mouthed” cartoons can’t. What Mickey Mouse is feeling at any given moment, not counting his situation or environment, can be clearly seen through his mouth. Hello Kitty, lacking this feature, could be feeling anything at any time! And thus whatever we may be feeling can and probably does get transferred onto her face.

2. She’s not from anything

What about my second gripe, the one where I say that Hello Kitty comes from “nothing”? Well, that too is remedied by her inane face. The same way in which she absorbs the interpretations and feelings of her viewer, she also absorbs the surroundings of the designs she inhabits. Put her in a pink dress surrounded by hearts and butterflies, and oh! She is so adorable! Put her in black and white on a designer wallet and how retro chic she becomes! Oh, and put her in a Godzilla costume. She looks right at home there, too.

No matter where you put her that’s where she belongs. And that’s why she can’t “be from” something. Her lack of definition works for her yet again. She’s from “nowhere” and “everywhere” at the same time.

INTRODUCING! Mr. Rounded-Edge Rectangle Head Man!

So there it is! I have unlocked the secret to the multimillion dollar success of Hello Kitty. Coincidentally, I am proud to announce my new character, Mr. Rounded-Edge Rectangle Head Man!

I’ll be putting him on cycling gloves and fanny-packs, so get ready to mail me all your money!

No dice?

Oh wait, I forgot. There is another pair of creations by Sanrio that are not nearly as popular as Hello Kitty:

Patty and Jimmy! Despite being simplified and having no mouth, these two are hideous and unpopular. But they got the formula down, so what’s the problem?

This Little Kitty Went to Market

Kitty-chan’s design, genius though it may be, was not enough to bring her billions right off the bat. Even though she had early success, there was a long process of good luck and good decision-making before she really started raking in the fanbucks.

Hello Kitty creator Yuko Shimizu was tasked with creating six characters for Sanrio in 1974. Among these was an unassuming white cat. Shimizu was keen enough to realize that simplicity was important for the characters she designed, but she didn’t understand the impact of removing Hello Kitty’s mouth.

“I couldn’t express the mouth in a cute way, so I decided not to use it.”

That was the genius move that set Kitty apart. A happy accident. The decision behind the defining feature of this iconic character was a lack of decision.

But Shimizu’s indecision was fruitful and her character was immediately successful among young girls. In the beginning, Hello Kitty was only printed on small gifts like stationery and watches, usually sitting on a couch or cutely flying a bi-plane. The following fifteen or so years saw a steady decline in popularity for Kitty-chan. She remained a mildly popular children’s commodity until the children began to grow up.

In 1994 Sanrio launched Hello Kitty’s “Face Series” to extend her appeal to an older audience. Sanrio had spent twenty years selling Kitty goods to children and had begun to grasp the power of her meaningless face. The attachment of kids to this character was strong and it would be foolish to let that attachment weaken as they grew older. The “Face Series” was Sanrio’s first attempt to market Hello Kitty products to teens and adults. Oh, and it worked. Big time. Biggly large time.

Sanrio continued its smartness in the early 2000s when it conducted research which concluded that one third of people shopping in the U.S. were over eighteen and shopping for themselves. Surprise! Five-year-olds have no money. This led to Kitty goods which encompassed more sophisticated items such as lingerie, guitars and designer watches.

At the present time, Hello Kitty has become empress of the merchandising world. Her malleable visage graces everything for everyone, from dollar bin tissue boxes to designer purses. She is bought by grown women with a sense for high fashion and young girls who “wike kitties.” This cat’s power is astounding.

The White Queen

Do I still hate Hello Kitty? Not at all. I’m not a fan in the traditional sense, but I find the unintentional genius of her design and the business acumen with which she was put to use utterly fascinating. The power of the consumer to mentally project whatever meaning they want onto your product means you lose control of your product, but gain control of the consumer. You basically have the power to sell consumer’s selves to themselves!

The concept of this kind of power inhabiting a modest white cat makes her seem so much more formidable. She has a great power to grant the comfort of her world built around one’s own wishes, but with it maintains the control of all who love her. She is no mere mascot, but a queen! Not dark, but beautiful and terrible as the dawn! Treacherous as the sea! Stronger than the foundations of the earth! All shall love her, and despair!

Or perhaps that’s just how I choose to interpret her.

Sources:

• TIME Magazine
• Buying In by Rob Walker
• Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
• Wikipedia

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Bonus Wallpapers!

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The problem is that it can be really difficult to find Japanese music outside of Japan. It seems like most music retailers don’t want to have anything to do with any Asian music that’s not Gangnam Style.

So what do you do if you want to get Japanese music, but aren’t lucky enough to be living in Japan? Fortunately, you have more options than you think:

Brick-and-Mortar Stores

While more and more people shop online than ever before, there’s still a lot to be said about going to a physical storefront and shopping around there. Shopping in a brick-and-mortar store might be better for you if you don’t want to deal with shipping, if you want to casually browse in the store, or if there’s a store nearby to where you live.

If you live in a place that has a Japantown or some sort of Japanese community, then the easiest option might be to just go and check out whether or not any local stores sell Japanese music.

There are some Japanese book store chains, like Kinokuniya, that offer Japanese music in addition to books and magazines. If there aren’t any chain stores in your area, then there might small, mom-and-pop operations.

Even if they don’t carry the particular CD you’re looking for, it’s worth asking to see if you can order it through them. The store will have connections to sellers that you don’t, and you get the warm, fuzzy feeling of supporting a local business.

Vendors at Conventions

If you like to go to conventions, whether they’re for Japanese culture, anime, video games, or anything even tangentially related to Japan, chances are there will be a vendor somewhere there selling Japanese music CDs.

This isn’t a great option for a couple of reasons. These vendors are temporary, you won’t know what they’ll have until you get there, and these will have to basically be impulse purchases.

Even with all of those downsides, dealers are worth checking out if you’re already at a convention anyway.

Online

Some people don’t want to hit the bricks to go get Japanese music. They either want to live a hikikomori lifestyle and never leave their home, or they don’t want to bother with old-fashioned physical music formats like CDs. 21^st century, baby!

Fortunately, there are a lot of options for getting Japanese music online, whether it’s buying a CD online, downloading music, or streaming music.

iTunes

iTunes is one of the biggest music sellers in the world nowadays, and I’m sure it’s how a lot of you buy music. You can buy Japanese music through iTunes, but it can be kind of tricky.

Each country has its own, separate iTunes store; meaning that even if you have an iTunes account in your home country, you can’t access all of the music in the Japanese iTunes store without a bit of work.

You can create a Japanese iTunes account pretty easily, but the tricky part is the payment. The Japanese iTunes store requires you to pay with a Japanese credit card, which I’m guessing most of you don’t have.

Fortunately, people have discovered a few workarounds that have reliably worked for years now. The best option most people seem to use is to buy Japanese iTunes gift cards and use those in the place of a Japanese credit card.

There are sites out there (like Japan Codes) that deal exclusively in gift card codes, so you don’t even have to worry about importing an iTunes gift card from Japan.

Amazon

Ordering from Amazon Japan is forunately less convoluted than iTunes. You have to create a separate, Amazon Japan account, but you don’t need to use a Japanese credit card or anything like that. There’s even an option to see parts of the page in English!

The downside is that there’s no guarantee that they can ship to you. For that, there services that will ship anything to you (for a price). I’ll talk about those more later.

eBay

eBay’s long been a great way to get your hands on virtually anything you can think of, whether it’s a collectible lunchbox from a 70^s TV show, or an antique rug.

You can find Japanese music on eBay too, but not very reliably. Instead of a consistent selection, you’re pretty much at the whims of whatever sellers are on the site. Definitely a place to check out if you’re seeking out some specific piece of music, but not something to rely on too heavily.

Music Blogs

One of the best ways to get music online, Japanese or not, has always been through music blogs. What could be better than somebody who loves music and shares it with the world?

Getting music through music blogs can be a lot trickier than buying it. First of all, music blogs are generally very specific to that person’s music tastes. If you’re looking for Jpop on a Japanese metal blog, then you’ll be SOL.

Not only that, but there’s no real centralized directory that you can use to find a music blog that suits your tastes. Finding a music blog you love can be a really hit-or-miss process, but it’s all worth it when you find somebody who’s into all the same music as you.

Streaming

If you don’t want all of the hassle of buying, downloading, or shipping music, then streaming music online is a good option too. That way your delicate little netbook hard drive won’t fill up!

There are some streaming options out there for you. Grooveshark is a good, all-purpose streaming service that lets you stream a single song or a whole album for free.

Some sites, like Soundcloud let musicians upload individual songs for streaming and sometimes download, but fewer big-name musicians use it. Soundcloud is better for smaller acts, remixes, and DJ mixes.

Other services let you stream Japanese music, but with a little less control. Pandora has been a big name in music streaming for years, but the songs you listen to are chosen by an alogrithm; you get very little say in the process, especially if you don’t have a paid account.

Last.fm lets you have a little more choice. You can play certain, select songs for free and listen to radio like Pandora, but your choices are very limited. The main selling point of Last.fm is in the community and artist pages, which are very helpful for learning more about a musician and finding out about new artists.

Streaming services Spotify and Rdio have both announced that they will launch Japanese clients in the future, but as of right now, they’re rather lacking in Japanese music.

Export Sites

There are a ton of sites out that cater specifically to people who love Asian media and want to buy physical copies. They act as a middleman between you and . Sites like YesAsia or Play Asia export music, video games, movies and more.

Other sites are more general. You pay them a fee to track down a specific product in Japan, and they buy it and export it to you. We’ve written about Tenso before, but there other sites like DankeDanke and many more.

The downside to these sorts of sites is that you have to deal with shipping and handling, which can really add up. But if you want the real M^cCoy delivered directly to your door, it’s hard to do much better.

Japanese Sites

You can obviously go to Japanese sites to buy Japanese music, but they’re geared towards a Japanese audience. That means that not only are the websites usually in Japanese (which can be a problem for Japanese beginners), but they expect to ship domestically too.

The advantages to shopping on Japanese sites are that you cut out the middleman and you can find a broader and more current selection of music. Still, it wouldn’t be something I would recommend for most people.

Warning: Mileage May Vary

While you should have a pretty good rate of success with these methods, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for. There’s some music that’s rare, highly-sought after, old, or just plain hard to get a hold of. (I’ve been on the look out for a copy of Nujabes’s Metaphorical Music for years but have never been able to find one that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.)

The really tricky thing is that these methods might vary from place to place, region to region. Different countries have their own intellectual property laws and agreements with the various music conglomerates.

I don’t guarantee that all of these methods will work for everybody that reads this, or that they’re always entirely legal in your country. But I hope that this is a good jumping off point for people who’re looking to get some Japanese music.

Edit: Bonus Wallpapers!

Our wonderful illustrator Aya has been kind enough to make the header image for this post into desktop backgrounds. Enjoy!

1280 x 800, 1440 x 900, 1680 x 1050, 1920 x 1200

6) Leggings/Tights: It wasn’t too long ago that I gave in to the trend and bought my first pair of tights. While showing a little leg is still “in”, many have opted to cover up. If you’ve got a pair and don’t know how to wear them, you might find a little inspiration in any one of the sites listed here.

7) Goods from Miyazaki Prefecture: Before becoming governor of Miyazaki Prefecture, Hideo Higashikokubaru (aka Sonomanma Higashi or “As It Is” Higashi) was a famous comedian and tv host.

This gives him more of an insight into media in politics than most of his colleagues, I would think. He’s quite popular, and his image has been used widely in the marketing of local products. This uncontrolled branding has actually led to some embarrassing situations (e.g. people using his face to sell fake eels and porn). These little scandals aside, I still think he’s cooler than the Governator.

Here’s a clip from his acting days:

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtoCqR7hE38']

(He shows up around 1:23 as the gun-toting psycho)

8) High-End Donuts: For a long time (since 1973), if you wanted donuts in Japan, Mister Donuts was your man, er, store. Not that there was anything particularly special about their products—they were just one of the rare stores which made donuts their main focus. Honestly, the best part of Mister Donuts for me isthe Pon de Lion toy set they give with their kiddie meals.

For a long time, Mr. Donuts enjoyed a relatively competition-free reign as Japan’s top donut shop. That all changed, though, with the arrival of the New York-based donut shop, Donut Plant, in 2005. Marketed as being a little more posh and upscale (as much as a donut can be, anyway) sort of place, it was a big hit… At least for the first year. It began loosing popularity in late 2006, around the time, coincidentally, that Japan’s first Krispy Kreme opened. A video of the crazy lines at that location can be seen here (taken this year, a good six months after the store’s initial debut!).

Above are plain donuts from Mister Donut, Donut Plant, and Krispy Kreme. So which donut will reign supreme? Only time will tell, but it seems like the main obstacle to overcome for these companies is moving away from a sugary, heavy donut to a more delicate, airy donut. Japanese pastries and deserts almost always involve less sugar than their Western counterparts, so this is key.

9) iPod Nano: The iPod craze is nothing new, though it’s neat that they keep getting smaller and smaller. I haven’t bought one, actually since I wouldn’t really feel satisfied watching a tv show or movie on such a tiny screen, which is kind of what they’re supposed to be used for, right? At least, that’s the way they’ve been marketed. Luckily, Koichi’s beloved iPhone has a screen that’s plenty big, so I’m always stealing it for long road trips :D

10) Yaki Ramen: To make yakiramen, or fried ramen-style noodles, all you do, it seems, is pour everything that would normally go into a bowl of ramen onto a griddle, fry it, add sauce (ソース), and serve. I’m not exactly sure why yakiramen was such a big thing this year, since it’s not really a new product, nor is it all that much different from the ubiquitous yakisoba (fried wheat noodles).

It does look delicious, though:

[youtube]rbhUo1lnEX8[/youtube]

(Those guys have my dream job!)

And that concludes our coverage of the Top Japanese Impulse Buys of 2007 (check out Goo for 11-30). Are you guilty of buying anything this year just for the sake of being trendy? If so, don’t be too hard on yourself—it’s obviously a world-wide phenomenon!

Source: Goo Rankings
Picture Sources: Trendy Nikkei, Atashi, Amazon JP

1) The Mega Mac: A recurring menu item, the Mega Mac showed up again on Japanese McDonald’s in January this year. It’s advertised (see left) as being “beef heaven” (ビーフ天国 or beefu tengoku ), which may be a bit of an overstatement, but only a bit. It’s basically just two big Macs stacked on top of each other (+ extra cheese), so you could try recreating it at home if it sounds appealing to you, haha.

Koichi and Viet partook of this Mega meal while we were in Japan; I’ll try to find the video, if anyone’s interested.

Due to the success of this item, McDonald’s has created a few spin-offs which include the Mega Teriyaki, the Mega Egg (メガたまご), and the Mega Tomato (メガトマト), which is actually more like a BLHT (bacon, lettuce, hamburgers, and tomato).

2) Premium beer: as someone who doesn’t particularly like beer, I can’t see the draw, but I’m sure the average salary man could give you a quick overview as to what “premium” beer actually is. Next!

3) Billy’s Boot Camp DVD: You guys know Billy Blanks, right? The Tae Bo guy? Even if you don’t, it seems that most Japanese people do. Out of 400 people polled, 94% knew who he was, and 15% of them were on his Tae Bo program. I find it extremely ironic that a country with its own, original martial arts would embrace this more or less made up one, but apparently the OL/housewife crowd can’t get enough of Mr. Blanks. Here’s a video illustrating the phenomenon:

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM7wACE2hZo']

4) Mango: It’s easy to see why this one made the list. Mango is delicious, and I really don’t know anybody who doesn’t like it. Mango puddings, ice creams, and desserts (such as the McDonald’s Mango Pie) were extremely popular this past year.

5) Wii: Ah, the Wii. Like the Nintendo DS, it was marketed as being friendly and usable for people of all ages, which is true. Say what you like about the game selection and controls; so many Japanese people own Wiis that it’s speculated to be having a significant effect on regular TV viewership. According to the TimesOnline,

The Nintendo machine, which was specifically designed to repackage video gaming as a family-oriented affair, is believed by media insiders to be responsible for an unprecedented decline in early-evening viewing figures for Japan’s top-rated shows.

According to one senior executive of the country’s largest commercial television channel, Fuji TV, families who used to tune in to its colourful diet of soap operas, panel games and comedy variety shows may, instead, be drifting away and choosing to spend the same, economically-critical “golden hour” time playing on their Wii.

His comments come as Japanese television executives are reeling in horror at recent figures from Japan’s audience-tracking firms: last week was the first in nearly two decades where no single show on any commercial station attracted more than a 9 per cent audience share

If you haven’t bought a Wii yet, definitely think about it for Christmas. If we’ve got enough people interested, we may do some sort of Mii-making contest, so be sure to get one before then, yes?

Source: Goo Rankings

This is the end of Top 2007 Japanese Impulse Buys Part 1; look out for Part 2 later this week!