Warning about glasses: the sizes are really different and I couldn't find any that fit my face correctly. :( The adult glasses were too wide for my face and I had to look in the kid's section. lol We get some of our groceries delivered! Fresh vegetables! And some of them are even cheaper that way, or at least the quality is better because they come from Kyushu :D
+Christian Abarca I keep gaining weight here in Japan even though I move more and eat less than I did in Germany x'D I guess it also depends how your body reacts to different kinds of fat!
Koakuma Heh. That is true. Then again, I drank tea more than actually eat in Japan. For some reason, onigiri, noodles from convenience stores, and tamago with rice was enough to fill me up. Do you like tea? Hot tea (green tea specifically) helps out a bit.
+Christian Abarca German food is really delicious but not very nice to your figure :D Okay, that's a bit harsh on German cuisine, but we tend to use a lot of meat and ingredients with starch/carbonhydrates like potatoes, wheat/flour or rice. But as always it's all about the quantities you eat... You should definitely try traditional German food!
yeah state side there is this bullshit "its about the experience" deal were you pretty much get charged more for the right to be present somewhere pretty much XD On the plus side you feel really nice when you run into a nice "mom and pop" kinda restaurant with really nice food/prices but sadly those are more and more uncommon.
Depend of what kind of restaurant you go. Normal Ramen Shop will be less than 1000yen, but Sushi served by experienced Sushi Chef like Sukiyabashi Jiro in Ginza can cost of to 30000yen for a dinner session of about 12 nigiri sushi
Totally depends on what you compare it to, I'm from Norway but I live in Texas right now (relatively cheap state I know) but here eating out is quite cheap like generally something from $7-$15, Compared to if I ever eat out in Norway the same type of food will be $20-$40 mainly just because peoples wages are so much higher and food in general is more expensive, even just going somewhere like McDonald's it will be difficult to find anything for less than $5
anne fosli Yeah, but if you came from a country like the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Italy or Japan and went to California, I'd be massively more expensive.
I just segued from ONLY IN JAPAN to your feed and I must say you are perhaps the cutest couple I have ever seen. Ever. Ryosuke is ADORABLE! I am so happy that you two found each other and are making these videos! Such interesting stuff!
The first time my family went to Japan my mum freaked the heck out about how cheap and good the umbrellas are in Japan, she brought like 10 back with her :'D
Roshill K Ha... true! They are obsessed with the "right" size, color, shape, etc... but hey, I like it. ^^ (I've never seen so big and perfect tomatoes like here, they almost look fake)
This seems like about as much of "what is surprisingly cheap in Japan" as "what is surprisingly expensive in the US", judging as someone from neither of those two places ;)
+Frank Steffahn Food is very expensive in many places in America, at least compared to Germany. Funny thing is--food is taxed 7% in Germany...many states in America have NO tax on food, yet it is still by and large more expensive. Personally, I think it comes down to greed and companies wanting a higher profit margin
+Anna Belle I hate all the places where taxes are not included in the prices you see on the products... (from what I heard in the video that seems to be at least partially the case in Japan, too)
+Frank Steffahn As a Canadian I would say it is more "What is surprisingly expensive in North America". At least all those things seemed really cheap to me.
As a Canadian, it's more like "cheap vs cheaper" since our dollar is at a sad 64 cents. Buying meat is absolutely ridiculous in Canada, our books are pricey and well..everything else! But at least ramen and blocks of tofu are below 1$ lol. I can live on just that.......right? XD
I am german and since the "Deutsche Bahn" was privatised, it got a lot more expensive. If you do not buy group tickets or tickets that are valid for a certain amount of time, you pay a lot. But it also depends on the type of train you take. For example an ICE (faster than the usual trains) from Düsseldorf to Köln (You might know it as Cologne) is about 40 km for around 18 € (20,25 $ or 2057 yen). For one person and only one-way.
i love it when i come home from a long wary day of work and see you guys video, it cheers me right up ^^ ryosuke's bright personality is really so uplifting (so goofy!!) and also grace your eyes are always so mesmerizing!! i think you two are the best and i'm very glad i found your channel!! thank you~
Books are expensive in Canada... everything is expensive in Canada... you see the US price on stuff then the you see the CANAda price and you weep all the way to the cashier. Even Ebooks are more expensive
I think umbrellas are more expensive in the U.S. for two reasons 1. People rarely need because of where they live (desert) or they feel like a jacket/coat with a hood is enough (e.g. people who live in the Pacific Northwest). 2. The umberllas last longer than the ones in Japan. Also people tend to keep track of their umbrellas and not take other people's umbrellas.
Many hospitality and recreational services I remember in Japan are pretty cheap which I'm talking about are museums, zoos, amusement parks, temples, and castles. Museum and zoo adult admissions I've checked are usually under 1,000 yen. Waterparks are probably around 2000 yen. I've checked Toshimaen, the entry admission is 1,000 yen, 4,200 for full pass. Temples and castles are probably a few hundred yen. I would put cigarettes up there too.
It would be nice if you took us along when you go grocery shopping, I would like to see what your grocery haul looks like and how cheap it is to buy groceries please.
I'm pretty certain that you can get cheap glasses anywhere in the world. I live in Germany and with some waiting and looking around you can get prescription glasses for 17 Euro - like me. OR You can go to a random optrician and pay AT LEAST 300 Euro. If you want "a nice frame" and "special lenses" you are up to 1000-2000 Euro. If you take the most expensive frame and go to the most expensive shops, you have to pay high prices, duh.
berzerkerdav Most bigger chains in my country offer a free exam as long as you buy glasses from them. I got a good deal and exam + glasses was 17 Euro. Most ordinary places range from 50 to 100 Euro for exam + glasses, unless you order them online, then you get them for 20-35 Euro. For all the experiences I made I will never go to a doctor again to get a "prescription" for glasses. They constantly use outdated, crappy machinery. In bigger glasses shop I've been to they have far superior examinations. Some of them have 10 times more data on "eye passes" than the doctors do. So if you are paying for a doctors appointment to get a shitty prescription and then pay 3000$ for a shitty pair of glasses, because you didn't go to one of the bigger chains and didn't say no to their "best offers", then it's really your fault, not the countries. I live in a town of 16000. I can assure you 100% if I wanted to I could get a new pair of glasses for under 50 Euro - or in another shop for 3000 Euro. Reading, comparing prices, looking at offers, sales, coupons, etc is really all you have to do. Even the "most expensive" ordinary prescription glasses from the chains I saw were only about 80-100 Euro. I bet I can easily find the same kind of offers for the US.
Silver4567z yeah and if they are having issues making a claim for you, they just say "we'll charge you now because we can't make a claim on your behalf so you have to do it." Like seriously, they just want to make sure they get their money.
You guys are absolutely right about rents being fairly reasonable in Tokyo these days. In fact, Tokyo apartments today are actually slightly less than when I lived there in the early 90’s. In fact, when you factor in inflation they are actually MUCH cheaper now than they were back then. In other words, my old $800 a month studio apartment in Tokyo should be about $1200 to $1400 a month today but its actually still only about $800. Not only that, but today you can often get places without so much money up front. Back in the 90’s you would have to come up with about $5000 to move into that apartment (2 month key money, 2 months security deposit, and first and last months rent). Then you would have to buy your own appliances - sometimes even your own air conditioner, which could set you back at least another $1000. Then it would cost about $600 to buy a phone line (this was before cell phones). And if you have a car it would have been at least $300 a month for a parking space in my neighborhood. Oh, and lets not forget that you could not rent an apartment without a getting a Japanese person to be your guarantor (accept financial responsibility for you). And back then of course only a very small percentage of landlords would even rent to foreigners to begin with, which means the ones you could rent were not always the best deals. The bottom line is it is MUCH easier and cheaper for a foreigner to get his own apartment in Tokyo today than it was back in the late 80’s and early 90’s. And if you don’t mind living in the suburbs you can get a pretty good-sized place for your money. If you like to be right in the heart of city however, like I did (and close the to the subway), your place is going to be pretty darn small.
Yeah, even in a smaller city like Seattle, in popular neighborhoods so called "apodments" are $750-800 a month, which gets you a tiny one room furnished apartment.
Totally agree on the umbrellas and eating out. I bought a small umbrella to carry around back in 2014 when I visited Tokyo. And I still use it and it hasn't broken down! It was under 1000 yen too. And all the cheap food... *-*
My exboyfriend is from norway and when he went to germany he thought the prices were a joke and thought the same when I went to norway. I completely agree with you! :D
what fantasy world do you live in???? wages in denmark is are getting just as bad as the rest of eu, yet our prices do NOT go down, no they go UP same as anything the government has control over, denmark is oficially the worlds most expensive country in the world these days, and thats just for the citizens that already live here
sorry you are wrong , our wages are great in Denmark, a normal job is 35-37 hours(like cleaners, drivers, eg.) that can fully support you, we have access to help I we lose our jobs(money wise), free health care,
Big change from the late 80's, there were no second hand items available except for Levis from America. Great garbage though, people would clean things before throwing them away. Got my toaster oven and TV from the trash...
Whiskey! Japanese whiskey is really good and sold at 7-11 for less than what you'd spend on good whiskey in America. As a beer drinker I didn't realize that it would be cheaper and tastier to drink Japanese whiskey until it was close to time to leave.
Glasses dont seem too bad in england either. i just got new ones today. and they had a 2 for 1 deal on glasses frames 69pounds(yes, thats the real price), which is about $100. and the perscription lenses were included in the price of the frames. so i got 2 new pairs for about $100. this was at Specsavers for those curious.
Where I live the average cost for glasses is 300€, that's 34,000¥, 340$. It's allowed thanks to a scam between the state, private health insurance companies and optician companies. They sell you overpriced glasses because they know that your employer is required to force you to subscribe to a private health insurance, that will pay for aditional expenses the universal healthcare doesn't cover. So when you go to the optician, and have a good health insurance, the price may be huge but you pay nothing. Still each month, money is taken from your income to pay for those exorbitants prices. They're invisibly ripping you off.
I buy second hand clothes from Rakuten and Yahoo Japan all the time. If you're into Japanese designer brands and don't live in Japan i highly recommend these sites. Much cheaper than Ebay.
Toilette paper is cheap but how's the quality? Is it the good 3 ply stuff? I had this on my mind since I went to a friend's house recently and they just had the single ply and it was awful.
Oh my goodness, yes! Every so great often my family will have a between period of not having money or it's late at night when we run out of toilet paper so we get the cheap, $1 stuff from a gas station until the stores open up again or someone gets paid. That stuff is NOT satisfying! The roll runs out faster because you have to use more to feel clean. It's definitely worth shelling out the extra two dollars or so to get even a small four-pack of higher quality TP. Indeed, be a friend and give your buddy a roll of "the good stuff", lol!
A place where books are reasonably priced appeals to me very much, I always feel like it's a luxury to buy books in the US. They are so expensive! Happy to know that isn't the case in Japan 😄
I constantly watch your videos I even rewatch them...alot.. you just really inspire me ,Grace. :) I do think y'all should make more videos!! :) I've re watched your Day in my life vids a million times. lol your like my favourite show.
I love INITIAL-D, I'm watching the anime and I'm halfway through stage-1. I'm currently reading Karate Shoukoushi Kohinata Minoru, but I plan on reading the INITIAL-D manga after it .
Extremely true. I absolutely refuse to switch countries until I know for certain I can get the same amount of internet usage there as I have with my current provider and either the same speeds or faster. I don't care for TV but the internet is my lifeblood, lol! Oh, and the same applies for my phone's internet too...I'm spoiled on having relatively fast speed on a smartphone and having access to it pretty much anywhere I go, even on backwood highways and interstates. Now, to get these, I wonder what the cost comparison would be in Japan versus what I'm paying in the U.S....
+SideNote Kings of internet atm are Easter Europe. They have the highest average speed, no limits, and smallest prices. On average for 30 euros what translates to roughly 4k yen, you can get the best. With 400 Mbits up and down optical net. Considering I am living in middle of a forest. XD
+SideNote Speeds can range anywhere from standard fiber internet (100-200Mbps) all the way to the new Gigabit plans. As for price, around 3000-5000yen depending on what's available in your apartment building since rates can go down if more tenants are on the same provider. In some apartments, like mine, a free shared connection is available but I only get up to 50DL/25UL which is slow by Japan standards, but hey I mostly use WiFi anyway. As far as I know all these plans are unlimited. Only mobile data is capped.
I went to Japan for 2 weeks around thanksgiving from Dallas and it was rainy for about half the time. The umbrellas were so cheap and so good. They worked so well and I wanted to take them back with me. So good. Also Onsen is super cheap. It is basically a mini spa with the shower, hot bath, hot sauna, cold bath, electric bath, etc. In Kyoto it was less than 500 yen including towel.
+pearl sherman Yeaaah...seriously, after finding Zenni Optical, I'll be damned I ever pay $200 for my glasses again! My current pair cost me about $60 and that's with having to get special lenses due to needing to protect my "good eye" and getting them thinned out for my "bad eye" so I don't look like I'm wearing Coke bottles, lol. But even if Zenni isn't available to them, hopefully there's a similar option in their country.
People from Guam (where I am from) often will rave about 100 yen sushi, sizzling steaks from pepper lunch, and used auto parts when visiting Japan. My personal favorites are the drink specials at many establishments. At one yakiniku place in tokyo, we paid an additional 500 yen per head to drink as much beer as we wanted for 90 minutes.
I live in a state with more cows than people. It used to be the same way here, but now local suppliers have just matched the prices of what the grocery chains sell at - sometimes even at a higher price point, making "free range" cost more than stock yard beef. We usually buy half a cow at a time. The quality is better and we can save a little money, but not as much as we used to. The result is we eat beef once or twice a week and have switched to using more pork and chicken.
Yeah, there are a couple BookOffs in la near where I go to school. Its my favorite place. You can also find old video games there that aren't super expensive.
Grace, as my husband and I watched this video, my husband said, "He's phlegging her." Which means he's doing the basic Phlegmatic (temperament) thing of trying to see how many buttons he can push. Phegs LOVE to watch people's emotions. They find it hugely entertaining. My husband is a Phleg, too, and I frequently have to tell him, "Stop trying to aggravate me." If you tell him that, and he gives you a sheepish grin, you know you've got him. :-)
My wife and I were suprised at the cost of alcohol in Japan. We found it ridiculously cheap! It was about £6-£8 for a 70cl bottle of decent gin and we found a bar in Dotonbori doing great cocktails (and I know my good cocktails) for about £1.20. We had a guided tour around Kyoto for a day and our guide commented on the latest rise in tobacco tax and how expensive they were now... she flipped her lid when I told her that they only cost about 2/3 of what they do in the UK.
In Czech Republic: glasses are about same prize (depends on frames and kind of glass but minimum 5000 yen), Hardcover books are little bit cheaper (most are about 1500 yen, but that also depends on size and amount of pages) but comic books are more expensive (about 700 yen)
lol, with the first one I thought he was saying the price of being a man verse the price of being a women and I was like lol, honey that's true EVERYWHERE
Airport food and drinks are WAY cheaper in Tokyo than in the U.S.! Convenience stores with regular street prices. Easy to use up my yen coins on ice cream bars and soft drinks. And the restaurants are reasonably priced too.
NO WAY!? Glasses are that inexpensive!?!? I just bought a new pair that costed $500, when I could have waited 2 more months when I go to Japan! DX NOOOOO
+JeusEx I just bought my first pair of glasses the other day for about $260, although they're ralph lauren they sound a little squeaky which bothers me. I'm going to Japan in May! I wonder if I could pick up a second pair of glasses if I'm a tourist?
Gggg You right, mine are RayBan so they cost a bunch. I'm not really picky and Im not partial to name brands either, as long as it looks cute on me. I'll definitely look up Zoff when I go to Japan tho, thx!
G'day from Australia!! I've watched a few of your videos but soon as I seen the initial d book brought in... instant subscribe haha 👍👍 keep up the good work guys
Can you please annotate what the yen are in pounds or dollars? It's confusing when you don't know actually how cheap they are because I don't understand yen x
+pinksealight It's really easy to check conversions with google. Just type in "100 yen to usd" or "10 usd to pounds" for example and it'll give you the current exchange rate.
Can't believe is cheaper to rent an apartment in Japan than in L.A., I normally pay about $700 USD for a "Studio" and $1,100 for a ONE bedroom apartment.. Books, Sea food and Rent... Three MORE powerful reasons to move to Japan.. Great video guys!
We have a Book-Off in San Diego. It's cheap! Next year I want to go to the Kinki region and see the older parts; Kofun to Heian-kyo period. I'm planning to hit Book-Off and Mandarake on the first full day!
+Scye This website has an abridged guide about levels of mercury in fish and how to eat in moderation to avoid potential mercury poisoning from fish - www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/guide.asp - There are other websites that go into more detail, if you want more detail. If there are edible sea creatures unique to Japan that are not covered on this list, I think your best bet is to just look up the nutritional information for that creature and I assume that is where you would find information on their mercury content as well.
All the talk about books actually makes me REALLY curious about libraries! Are they used often where you live in Japan? For communities or just younger children? For students? Do they offer classes and other events at libraries? Are they publicly funded or private?
+Seri! Pixel Biologist! There are many libraries in the cities, big and small. Most common are community libraries, but as of 2013 data, there were 3,246 Public and Private funded libraries, and 1,674 University and College libraries, storing roughly 756 million books. All schools have a small school library as well, but these are usually only accessible to the students and PTA. Typically, public libraries store a wide variety of books, encyclopedias, dictionaries, newspapers, journals and magazines, and have a desk section commonly commandeered by students and senior citizens. Private libraries are often more focused on specific genres or authors.
Its kinda that, but you have to assume that you live there and spend their money, so youre not making exchange. 54yen is 54yen when living in Japan, otherwise its 54*exchange value.
Yes and no. The exchange rate fluctuates and changes the conversion all the time so it isn't always a Yen to Penny equivalence but it tends to hang around that.
What about textbooks? This just blows my mind bc non textbooks in America are anywhere from around $7 to up to$50, or more, depending on the author's popularity, book advertising, what the book is about, and what expenses went into making & writing the book.
+AdoggTV Black people have similar nose variation to that of Japanese folk. Plus, our nose bridges are not as pronounced as Europeans. However, I do think the op is chatting bs. I had to check yours too.
hannah60000 hmmm if we re talking about nose bridges I hadnt actually considered the nose bridges by themselvs I was thinking more about the size of our noses themselves like I know I have quite the wide nose also the video which I couldnt think of at the time was on a channel called that man yuta something along those lines
Rent in Australia is super expensive, definitely in Sydney. You can easily be paying minimum $400-$600 per week for a tiny apartment in the city. For shared accommodation you may get away with $300 for one room per week. Living 2 hours train ride from the city central I managed to get that price down to $200 per week (or about 350-400 for a small 1-2 bedroom place) When I visited Japan I found the food and drinks super cheap! I LOVED vending machines! They had a huge variety of different and super cheap drinks. Here a small 300-600ml bottle of coke will usually be $4-$5 dollars! I found train tickets to be on par, except for the long distance trains! My 2 hour train ride costs $8 here.
Jealous. Just picked up glasses. I need lenses thinned, so more expensive, but total was $570 US and had to wait 2-1/2 weeks to pick them up. One of my 8 yr olds needed a pair for distance, and those were over $300. My 9 yr old is sitting next to me reading a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book right now. I think we have all of them. Series is huge hit in this house. Big grocery store chains, like Stop & Shop, in the US now offer delivery here for only $6 charge. Love it! Had a huge delivery yesterday. They also order another option for no charge where you order online, drive to store and they bring it all out to the car for you. You never have to get out of the car, which is great having young kids.
I don"t know. When you say that rent is cheaper in Japan, did you consider all the upfront money you have to pay to get in? 敷金、謝礼金 That's like 5, 6 months worth of rent right there if I remember correctly, that go down the drain, for no reason.
+Texan in Tokyo Yeah but they're still not the norm. But I'm just having a hard time trying to think of things that were cheaper in Japan than here, besides some of the things you mentioned. Well, the abundance of restrooms open to the public (and clean!) are nice, and free, and free is cheaper than cheap. lol
+Texan in Tokyo use your brain, if that room donest drain much money , no landlord doest like money in japan, there must be a problem with that room, for example some sad stories happened before in that tiny space
+Texan in Tokyo I'm sorry to ask such a question, but how do I find those? (I plan on moving to Japan for a couple of years and a tiny one room appartment for 50/55/60 000 yen without some of those extra payments would be perfect! But I can only find rooms in sharehouses that cost that much.) I don't speak or read Japanese, so I can only search in English. :(
Hello I really love your channel! I do have a question though. I have heard in Japan it is considered taboo to live with a boy/girlfriend before you are married. Is that true? Are attitudes changing? How is it viewed if you are a foreign couple??
I lived in Japan (Sasebo in Kyushu, the southern most island) for 3 years. Back in the mid 70s. Things were cheap then: 300 yen was about a dollar. During the 3 years yen went to about 200 yen to a dollar so all of our expenses: rent, utilities, gas, groceries, etc. got 30 % more expensive. Can 't recall prices back then but it sure can't be cheap now. Love your videos. Was very happy there. Was military couple. I tutored adults in conversational English and loved every minute of it. Should have gotten divorced and stayed there. : )
electricity-costs have risen very much since 2011, because fossile-fuels have to be imported and no more cheap nuclear-power (not that im a fan of it) :/
bigpunged4040 I found they are about the same price as in Australia. Electricity is tricky because the peak/off peak time ranges and prices varied, so it was impossible to say absolutely which was cheaper. But it was in the ballpark.
when i was in japan for 5 months studying abroad in nagoya, and visited 2 more times after(kyoto, oosaka, nagoya, hiroshima, atami(though shirahama beach was a bit expensive train-wise), nagano, tokyo(the owari-seto line where most of the tourist sights are can be pretty cheap and convenient, might be a different story for full-time residents going outside those places)), the train was pretty cheap, i could go an hour for about 300 yen, whereas in west virginia, to go an hour and a half on a train would be $36, that is where my comparison is:) i also found kitchen and bathroom wares to be pretty cheap, or at least cheap enough to find in 100 yen shops, i LOVE 100 yen shopsXD much more convenient then $1 storesXD healthy groceries in general were cheaper to me(but i didn't buy a ton of fruit, maybe some apples, bananas, and oranges from time to time, but otherwise no), a week or 2 of food in japan for me was 8000 yen(around $80), whereas in the usa, roughly the same amount would be $150-$200:/ buses i found to be cheaper, to get to hiroshima from nagoya, it took 6000 yen, whereas in the usa, to travel that long on a bus that is nowhere near as comfy(seriously, no cushioning, i could feel the coils under the sweaty leather seats), would cost me $150 to $200! HOTELS!!! if you are careful and know what sites to look into(i once got a clean safe hotel(western style) in downtown tokyo for 4000 yen(roughly $40) a night in august(when it is japan's summer vacation, so prices should be up)), if i found something like that in dc, nyc, or la, i think i would dieXD i could barely find a decent hotel around here for that price, and i live in a suburban/rural area with no real tourist attractionsO.O domestic flights i hear are cheaper in japan, but that one i don't know for sure
Theme/amusement park tickets. A park that would be $70-100 is $30-50 in Japan. Tokyo Disney Land is amazingly cheap compared to Disney World, and smaller parks are like half of what they'd be in the US. A lot of my friends said electronics were a lot cheaper, but they were still way more expensive than I could afford.
Re: glasses - a friend of mine went to Japan recently and his glasses broke. He went to a glasses store expecting to only get a cheap replacement pair. The guy there matched his glasses as close as possible without the prescription. And withing a few hours too. He was so happy with this, he was going to go back in a few days time and get a couple more pairs made up for him as they were so cheap.
triky5384 No, just wasn't sure one way or the other from your original comment. And that sort of thing general is meant that way, hence asking for clarification. ;)
I know this is totally off the subject of bargain priced things in Japan but I would love to see a video of you and Ryosuke trying the new Sake Kitkats that they have down there, they sound so amazing! Wait they deliver food/groceries to your home??? What that is so cool. I would love to see that. I enjoy going grocery shopping too, I am a more homemade food person I don't eat out often.
Tissue mostly has to do with cleanliness. 1000 a month is the price increase or near that is required to live in a city/town outside Seattle now, but many are up words of 1200 to 1400 for 2 to 3 bedrooms. My Apartment is 929 square feet 2 bedroom.
Japan's perceived as a really expensive place, so I was surprised at how cheap food can be too, especially sushi. I also found anime figures a lot cheaper than in the UK (although here we're paying for someone to fly them halfway around the world and pay customs charges etc). And of course there are plenty of expensive figures too!
