frugalista japan

Last months blog maturi about weird things in Japan was a huge success, with over 3.5 million entries* hosted by Gakuranman. This month I set the topic as Frugal Living Tips for Japan, and despite a lot of people being away for the holidays or evidently not having the first clue about how to live frugally – we’ve still rounded up some pretty stunning entries – so thank you to all who participated!

(*approximation. Actual numbers may vary.)

Shane Sakata at the Nihon Sun fills our bellies up for under $10 including a cup of Sake with her guide on cheap eats. Nice one Shane!

Et-chan at TokyoFoodCast is even cheaper than Shane, and shows us what to eat in Tokyo for less than 400 yen! Blimey, who said living in Japan is expensive?!

Wrightak from The Deep Japan Report has written a thoroughly comprehensive guide on the different point and loyalty card schemes in Japan. A Frugalista Seal of Approval for you sir!

Will at Heading for Japan introduces us to more frugal culinary joy in the form of 100 yen sushi on a conveyor belt. If only I ate sea-food…

Tony McAlpine from The Soul of Japan believes not quite so much in the idea of living frugally, but in earning a shed-load of money by fully utilizing his talents and earning a double income with his partner. Sound advice indeed.

Sleeptako, while not enjoying onsens, encourages us to check out the frugal clothing store Shimamura – good quality, cheap clothes that even gaijin fit into. Thanks sleepytako!

Michael from OneYearTrip, who forgot to include references to the matsuri and disabled comments (but we’ll forgive him this time), has written about 10 offbeat and frugal experiences to have while in Tokyo – your trip needn’t focus solely on geisha and temples, you know. Check out the real Tokyo! Thanks Michael!

Leon from China Dropshippers introduces us to a good idea for making a little extra yens while in Japan by frugally starting an online store. Which is exactly what I’ll be doing in a few weeks so stay tuned!

We also had a last minute entry from Cab over at MadSilence, a collection of useful money saving tips from their own experience in Japan. Thanks!

Finally, I thought I’d submit one of my own posts from another site for you iPhone owners in Japan. Frustrated by the small screen on your iPhone and wish you could just use it’s internet connection on your laptop instead? You can, it’s called tethering, and you DON’T have to jailbreak your iPhone! Read the full tutorial on how to enable tethering on Softbank’s iPhone on my new site TokyoBIT.com~

I hope this months matsuri has been useful for you all in some way, either inspiring you to earn more or live on less! Next months matsuri is set to be held by Andrew at ALT Directory, which I’ve guest blogged on before regarding my monthly budget / expenditure living as a ALT English Teacher. You can find out more about the Japan Blog Matsuri on the FAQ page here, and submit entries using the Blog Carnival Widget thing here.