Frugalista JapanMoney saving tips and ideas for foreigners in Japan!

After lots of requests for information on investing while in Japan, I’ve decided to write a very basic introduction. This time I’ll be looking at managed funds, which is probably the easiest way to get a good return on your spare income with minimum of effort over a long term. Of course, there are other investment options – stocks, foreign exchange trading – but they require far too much effort and you’re just as likely to lose money unless you really know what you’re doing.

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For this months blog matsuri on living on a budget in Japan, I knew I had to write something. I mean, would the frugalista ever be forgiven if he didn’t write something about budgeting? I can make my excuses about a favourite places in Japan perhaps, having only made it as far as Tokyo last week despite having lived here for 6 years! Surely, Billy of Tune in Tokyo is expecting something of me this month. But dammit, I hate budgeting. Writing down everything I spend and totaling up everything each day? Thanks, but I have a life. Limiting myself to spending less each month on something I love? Err, screw you, hippy. Saving 5 yen by going to a different 100 yen store that absorbs the cost of consumption tax themselves? Whatever, if you really enjoy counting pennies then go ahead, I will not be wasting my time accompanying you on your epic adventure to the ancient realm of scroogedom. I do, however, spend consciously.

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I’ve just noticed the site subscription numbers are over 100! That means it’s time to make my next micro-loan of $50 (as I promised, one dollar per new subscriber after the first target of 50) to someone in need. Through Kiva.org, you can help to make a real difference by giving someone a chance to start or grow their business without them having to turn to local corrupt loan-sharks.

This time, I’ve chosen to make the micro-loan to a young woman called Mao Sophal in Cambodia, as I was recently reminded of the atrocious sex industry there. I hope if this young woman ever has child, she will be able to afford to educate the child without selling them into the sex trade, or indeed being forced into it herself out of poverty as so many are. I also joined the atheist kiva coalition to show how one can be altruistic without religious inclinations. You can check out my kiva profile here.

I guess my next target will be 200, at which point I’ll make another $50 micro-loan to another worthy cause. Why not go change the world yourself?

If you have relatives or friends coming to Japan and they plan to be the most of their time here city hopping around, it sounds like a Japan Rail Pass can be an incredible money-saver. Shiira at Gisuru.com has written THREE in-depth articles about the Japan Rail Pass, so you should go read through them carefully:

Introduction to the Japan Rail Pass

Deeper explanation of the Japan Rail Pass

and the step-by-step guide to purchasing the JRP

Basic points to bear in mind: you need to buy BEFORE you come to Japan and it’s only valid for temporary Visas; and it DOES cover Shinkansen “bullet trains” but not the super-super-super fast Nozomi; and it only covers JR trains and buses (not city subways or other companies). I’d say it’s more than worth it certainly if you plan to travel to more than a few cities here – the bullet train tickets alone cost a fortune. If you’re only planning to stay in one city though, especially Kyoto which doesn’t actually have any internal JR lines, you might want to really sit down and do the math.

Thanks again to Shiira for answering my questions about the Japan Rail Pass in such length!

Japanese internet is the best in the world, hands-down. But if you’re moving house or if you’ve had your internet contract for over 2 years, I strongly suggest you head to your nearest electronics store and change your internet provider. Having recently moved, we went into town to get signed up for some high speed internets. Since this is something we were going to be getting no matter what, I was eager to take advantage of any offer or campaign we could. We ended up getting 20,000 yen worth of BicCamera vouchers for signing up in-store for NTT hikari-fibre 100mb connection (the price is the same by the way, whether you sign up in store or phone them directly). The only catch was that we had to sign up for cable television for at least 3 months too, the first two months of which was free and of which the 3rd month cost us 6,000 yen; and the fact that we are locked into a two-year contract. Still, with the extortionate key-money and deposit we payed on this place you can be damn sure we’re not moving for at least two years. So after canceling the worthless cable TV today, we still ended up 14,000 yen in the positive – which we promptly used to buy a second-hand Nintendo Wii! We later found out that BicCamera was also running a similar campaign where you could just get a Wii instead of the vouchers, so I guess you might want to look into the deals a little bit more than we did.

Who is your current provider, and how good is it? Any plans to change? In my own experience, NTT hikari lines are by far the fastest – I had a Yahoo BB ADSL connection when I first came here, but the speed was pathetic and often it would just disconnect – I’ve only ever heard complaints from friends with regard to their BB connection too. I guess it’s pretty obvious when you consider that NTT brings a dedicated fiber-optic cable into your house while Yahoo/Softbank BB is essentially running through a standard telephone line. BB do seem to advertise better though – reminds me of the old days where any magazine you bought would have an AOL cd attached – carpet bomb marketing I guess you could call it.