Frugalista JapanMoney saving tips and ideas for foreigners in Japan!

This is more for my own benefit than anything else, but perhaps some of you will be motivated. Please feel free to share your own goals and suggestions in the comments.

Setting goals is not a simple task, and you should put some thought into them. The first thing to remember is that they need to be realistic and achievable, even better if you can clearly work towards the goal in steps. Secondly, you need to have clearly defined goals – by which I mean you cannot just say “lose weight”, as that’s far too vague and shows a real lack of commitment. I’ve tried to clearly define all my goals as best I can. Most important of all is that you actually set some goals for yourself – so if you haven’t already then please get thinking and give yourself some direction!

So here’s my goals for this year:

Learn Chinese to the point of understanding basic everyday conversation patterns and being able to give directions and describe things. Motivation: My wife’s parents are coming to Japan in March and they don’t speak a word of English nor Japanese. Progress: slow going, but certainly advancing. Currently on CD2 of 8 from the Michel Thomas Method: Mandarin Chinese Foundation Course; highly recommended
as it emphasizes using the material to form your own sentences and the pacing seems appropriate.

Learn PHP/MySQL programming

by developing a website which handles giving unwanted items away to other people, kind of like a freecycle/craigslist mashup. Features that will make the site stand out are: requesting an item from someone is handled like an auction, only the bid amount is fixed as the users karma rating, which is determined by how much they have given back to the community (in other words, users who give the most are able to receive the most); and by the ability to convert your unwanted karma points into a real money donation to a Kiva. Motivation: I’m sick of the volume of emails on the freecycle japan mailing lists, and that it seems to be dominated the same people giving away and another set of people leeching everything. Progress: I’d say I’m about 20% coded, which was the hardest 20% as it’s been years since I’ve played with PHP and never touched a database before. Should be open for testing in a month or so I think.

Build a multitouch surface computer and write about the process at my tech site TokyoBIT.com. A surface computer is like a table or wall computer which you touch to control. I mostly have all the parts gathered for a infra-red laser based design, now I just need to put the damn thing together. Following a basic tutorial by [arbi.trario.us]. Motivation: A coffee table screen you can touch? Seriously, you need any more motivation than how fricking cool it is??? Progress: Getting there.

Windows 7 Touch Pack: Surface Without the Big-Ass Table from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

Get at least 500 RSS subscriptions on TokyoBIT.com. Of course, I am always aiming to increase the number of subscribers to this site too, but I think doubling it is a little unrealistic, especially since my posting has been slowing down here lately – simply because my wife and I are busy implementing the savings and financial plans I wrote about last year. I did mean to post about covering every window in our house in bubble-wrap to help keep the warmth in, but never got around to it. Here’s an article on [build it solar] that might motivate you to do the same, and tests showed the heat loss per season to be halved! I’m still a techie at heart though, so TokyoBIT will be main creative output for this year, I think. Motivation: Forever giving the same technical support and advice to friends – “whats the safest way to download a torrent?“, “how do I get TV on my computer?” etc… Progress: Hmm, my stats show just 2 subscribers right now, so perhaps I should write an article about how to subscribe and what RSS is! I’m writing an article now on some awesome Chinese software my wife introduced me to that streams movies and dramas using p2p technology, and I must say it’s pretty much replaced torrents for me – so if you’d like to know more then please subscribe to the TokyoBIT feed and you’ll be the first to know when it’s finished!

Lose 15kg: For some reason known only as “marriage happiness” in Japanese (幸せ太り), I put on about 15kg in less than a year, and frankly it’s not cool. I’m committed to at least 30 minutes of strong exercise on WiiFit every day (the real exercise activities that is, not balance games and such, but running and weight training). I’ve promised to drink less beer (and replace it with wine instead!). Motivation: The Wii said I’m fat. Progress: Weekdays are going ok, but it’s hard to find motivation on the weekends.

Wow – hadn’t looked at the feed subscribers stats in a while and it seems like my target of 200 was pretty much blown away! In fact, there’s now 317 subscribers at the time of writing, so thank you so much for all of your support and I do hope you get something from the site.

So, this time I’ve chosen to donate $50 to a Mom Som in Cambodia to help her expand her silk skirt business. You can check out my lenders profile here, and I’m a proud member of the Kiva Atheist group (currently the top lenders, with the Christian group coming 2nd place, proving that morality can exist quite well without a god).

My next target is 500 subscribers, and you can help by subscribing to my RSS feed if you haven’t already!

Having been unemployed for a few months or so, I managed to somehow score some interesting private students – teaching the Maiko-san (Geisha/Geiko in training) of a particular tea-house in the Gion district of Kyoto. I won’t go into details of where or how I managed to get this job, but suffice to say they are real Maiko, in a real Gion tea-house (Ocha-ya) – and I thought it might be interesting for you all to read about how the lessons go and learn about Maiko in the process.

For the record, I didn’t want this job – I hate teaching English, and I’m trying hard to move into a real career in computing – but what the hell, I thought. I am not an obsessive gaijin that stalks these girls around Gion, and I don’t really find the make-up so attractive either. But I am unemployed, and it is a chance in a lifetime that I doubt many foreigners here will ever get to experience, so I may as well tell somebody about it!

Background to the tea-houses:

The tea-houses in Kyoto, or Ocha-ya as they are formally known, are basically just high class cafes where you can have Maiko or Geiko for an additional cost. They operate on an invitation-only basis, and are extremely expensive. You can have a Maiko there for about ¥10,000 for one hour – they will perform some kind of dance, play an instrument or sing for about 10 minutes before joining you for dinner and conversation. Patrons are traditionally high-up company execs, and there are increasingly visiting staff from foreign branches also being brought along – which is why the Maiko nowadays need to speak English!

No men!

I should note that no men are actually allowed in this part of the tea-house; it is the private living quarters of the Maiko. The only other man that sets foot here is the special tailor who outfits the girls with their Kimono’s.

The white faces!

I am treated to cheese cake and tea before the girls come in. I am shocked to see one of them is wearing full make-up, all of them in kimono and all with their hair set in that particular little bow pattern. I’m feeling quite shy and taken aback at this point – I was expecting a regular couple of high school girls off-duty from their Maiko-job, but there is no off-duty for these girls. The one in full make-up has already been out working today having been hired to accompany some business people to an enkai the whole morning. What about the hair I ask? This is normal – they have it set for whole week before washing and resetting it – it’s just impractical and takes far too long to do it each morning – this is how they sleep! My third student is still sleeping – exhausted from a week of work, study and practice – their only free time being sleeping. I can’t imagine why any 15 year old girl would choose this life – so I ask them later…

Maiko / Geiko / Geisha – what’s the difference?!

Our first lesson was almost entirely on how to explain the difference between the various types of Geisha out there, so I’m feeling pretty clued in now. Firstly, Geisha is not a word used in Kyoto – Kyoto Geisha are special (legally, in fact) and are called Geiko. Other than that, Geisha and Geiko are the same thing. A Maiko is a Geisha or Geiko in-training. Girls come here to become Maiko from the age of usually 15, at which point they leave their homes and come to live in the tea-house. They also leave formal education, and start attending special Geiko-school – more on that later. Though they claim to have come here on their own volition, it seems that for many of the Maiko it is an escape from a harsh family life. Many travel from far away and rarely see their parents. They adopt a new name – a Maiko stage-name – given to them by their new big sister at the tea-house.

Kyoto Maiko are also special in another respect – although the legal drinking age nationally is 20, Kyoto Maiko have a special legal permission to drink from 18 for the purpose of their work – and this is the only exception to the law throughout Japan. Maiko in other places are not excepted, only Kyoto.

Maiko, my student explains, are children. Their hair is set in a particular pattern, and it is their own. In their first year as Maiko, they only wear red lipstick on the bottom lip. Once Maiko become a Geiko, the hair style changes and a wig must be worn. This signifies adulthood. In the same way, the Maiko wears a Kimono with long, flowy sleeves and Obi – apparently this is “cuter” and more childlike. When they become a Geiko, the Kimono and Obi both shorten. Those are the only visual differences.

There is of course a difference in wages too – Maiko don’t get paid. They receive boarding and meals and perhaps around 500 yen in pocket money every day, though my students seem to not mind. Their Kimono too are bought by the tea house or received from generous patrons.

Once a Geiko however, they keep their wages (presumably the tea-house they perform in gets a certain cut), but must also pay for their own boarding as well as purchase their own Kimono’s etc. Once a Geiko, they also get to choose their appointments.

Both Maiko and Geiko wear the white face paint, though in modern times the paint has become thicker. The reason for white was so that in ancient times their beautiful face could still be seen by the moonlight or candlelight. The tradition is simply continued nowadays. The back of the neck has two little “V” shapes left unpainted, as this apparently makes the neck look longer and therefore more beautiful.

The Geiko-school:

Basically a traditional performing arts college, the Geiko school is a lifelong learning and practice centre for the art of being a Geiko. There is no math, no PE, no sciences – but instead they study traditional Japanese art forms: dance, singing, shamisen, taiko, tea-ceremony etc – the kind of thing foreigners (and Japanese) drool over when they come to Kyoto. It saddened me to learn that they learn nothing of sciences or foreign languages.

Anyway, that’s it for now, so I hope you’ve learnt something. I’ve certainly a little more respect, or should I say pity, for what these girls have to go through. But to draw conclusions after just a few hours of talking them might be a little pre-emptive, so we’ll see how it goes. Please look forward to part 2 and Soc my post if you’ve enjoyed it! Thanks~

(Note: the picture associated with this post is not my own. It is not a picture of the Maiko I teach either, as I felt that would be inappropriate. Maybe next time. If you wish to claim credit for the photo please leave a comment)

Losing your job is something that happens to all of us, but it needn’t be that stressful. Perhaps like me your contract simply ran out and university / board of education decided not to renew it. Clearly, if you weren’t expecting that and you’re not ready to leave Japan yet it’s quite a shock but there’s no need to panic and catch the next flight home just yet. Here’s my advice for what to do if you lose your job here:

The Visa problem:

If you’re Visa ends at about the same time your contract does, you might be tempted to think it’s all over. Faced with the same proposition, I considered getting a tourist visa, but I was dissuaded by everyone I spoke too. Most people advised me to get a McJob with some crappy eikaiwa company or other – just to get the working visa so I could continue to search for a better job. Don’t. You’ll inevitably have to change your Visa to another type anyway and you’ll just be tired and saddened from such a lame job.

A lot of recruitment companies will tell you that they cannot even consider you on a tourist visa and that they cannot possibly “sponsor” you to get a working visa – stay away from these companies as they clearly don’t know what they’re talking about. “Sponsorship” of a visa means you have a contract, a university degree, and a short form to be filled in. It takes 2-3 weeks until you can officially work, but in the meantime most places I’ve dealt with will have you start on an “unpaid” training basis. If a company requires from the start that you have a working visa, they aren’t worth working for.

I was also told by one major recruitment firm (Robert Walters – who I’ve heard nothing but complaints about from other friends by the way) that I would even have to leave the country to get or change from a tourist Visa – which was true until about 5 years ago when the law changed. That a top recruitment firm executive dealing exclusively with foreigners does not know about Visa law is quite shocking. Let me repeat:

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO LEAVE JAPAN TO OBTAIN / CHANGE TO / CHANGE FROM A TOURIST VISA.Companies that tell you they cannot sponsor a visa, or executives that tell you a tourist visa is troublesome ARE NOT WORTH WORKING FOR.

You could also get married, which is what I will be doing at the end of this month; but since my fiance is Chinese it doesn’t especially improve my Visa situation.

The money problem:

You can survive quite easily on around 150,000 yen a month, possibly less if you’re apartment is super cheap. But since you have no income at all now you’re screwed right? Wrong; as long as you’ve been working for a year or more and paying into the official state pension – something which every employer is legally required to do – you are entitled to receive unemployment benefits should you lose your job because of situations out of your control. Having your contract not renewed is one example of beyond your control. If you quit yourself, you’re going to be in a more complicated situation and it could take up to 3 months to get any unemployment benefits, but this shouldn’t be an issue for most of you. You can read about my experiences on applying for unemployment benefit here.

If you have been employed in Japan, you are entitled to claim unemployment benefits should you lose your job, regardless of your Visa status

You can also try plying your trade and skills if you have any. For example, I can fix computers. Since I lost my job and put the word out that I was now repairing computers, suddenly a lot of work just came in – and of course, it paid. In a month, I made around 80,000 on little side jobs just fixing computers. A lot of these little jobs were from friends and acquaintances – so if you’re unhappy about receiving money from friends for services and time that you give them, you should probably re-evaluate how you value yourself. Your service is worth something, whether it’s a friend or not.

Get yourself out there:

I hate networking. Damn, do I hate networking. I’m quite a socially inept failure actually. But the truth is, almost all jobs are awarded to people who were introduced to the job by a mutual friend or acquaintance. In fact, all the jobs I’ve ever had in Japan (apart from JET) have been through mutual friends etc. Clicking on the [Apply] button on GaijinPot may make you feel like you’re doing something, but there’s a 1% chance that you will even get an interview and that’s along with 50 other applicants. Even if you don’t have that many friends, just let people know that you’re unemployed and looking for work and I guarantee something will come your way. For the past month I was incredibly lucky to be introduced to the owner of a tea-house in Gion, and I’ve since started working there part-time teaching them how to use Apple Macs and even teaching English to the Maiko-san! Can you imagine that kind of job being advertised? No, because most jobs aren’t! I’m also going to start work full-time from next week as a research assistant at Kyoto University, thanks to an introduction by my previous head of department! And I’ve been working part-time for the last few months in a datacentre, due to the fact that I emailed Terrie Lloyd (a highly successful entrepreneur and IT journalist) asking for advice – and he then immediately put me in touch with HR department of the IT outsourcing that he happens to be the CEO of.

Most jobs are not advertised. Let people know that you’re out of work; and ask for advice from people in your field – you never know what like will bring you!

Clear out the house, and live on cheap beer:

Now that you have all this free time on your hands, why not use the time to clear out your house and give away / sell stuff you don’t need. I’ve been selling random bits on bobs on Yahoo Auctions and made a few thousands yen out of it. You’d be surprised what sells actually – old consoles, broken even, ancient ipods. There’s always someone who wants your crap. I’d suggest my own site, gaijinstuff.com too!

And finally, if you insist on drinking beer then lower you standards and start drinking the sub-100yen cans of fake beer like the ones featured in this post – 88 and 97 yen respectively from all good Gyomu Supa’s!

Got some job searching stories or advice to share? Please let us know about it in the comments! PS: Be a darling and click on the JapanSoc button if you found this article interesting / useful / laughable – thanks!

As a computer geek since a young age, I’ve spent literally hundreds of thousands if not millions of yen over the years on computer equipment. I’ve spent the majority of my life dealing with Windows based Intel-PCs, from brand name pre-built laptops and tablets to custom built servers for myself; and more recently a lot of Apple Mac stuff. Anyone, even non-geeks, will know how quickly computer equipment depreciates over the course of just one year – that Windows computer you bought for ¥200,000 yen last year can’t even be bought new this year it’s so out of date, and if you try to sell it second hand you’ll likely to get less than ¥20,000 for it if you’re lucky – but then that’s the cost of cutting edge computing, we understand that. But the curious thing is, Apple computers don’t depreciate / devalue at the same rate of Windows PCs. Any of your standard windows PCs are going to be worth about 10-15% of the purchase price after 2 years; while Apple computers have historically still been valued at 35-50%, a huge difference in rate of depreciation.

Oh, really?
Yes. I suspect the main reason is a superior design – my Macbook Pro is now 3 years old, but it still runs fast due to less clutter over time than a Windows machine, and frankly it still looks damn nice. I paid ¥220,000 for it at the time, and a quick check on yahoo auctions shows the same model, used, selling for between ¥100,000 – ¥150,000. That’s after 3 years! For comparison, we recently tried to get rid of my fiance’s NEC laptop (built in TV, fantastic speakers, but just a little slow for my tastes and unneeded in our house) – ¥150,000 at the time, again about 3 years ago, but now selling for ¥20,000 on auctions! Shocking! It was probably an ugly computer at the time she bought it too, but can’t blame her for having a lack of style choice I guess. (I do blame her though)

The fact is that Macs depreciate slower than Windows PCs (regardless of the brand), so when the time comes to upgrade you’re going to have lost less of your investment if you purchased a Mac.

There’s also a product cycle guide for Apple products over at Mac Rumors – it gives you advice on whether to buy a Mac based on how into the product cycle it currently is, and how likely it is to be updated soon.

Disclaimer: I guess you could call me a Mac fanboy. I was a bona-fide Apple bashing Windows fan-boy until about 5 years ago, but then Apple released this little thing called OsX and it blew my mind away. Just saying. I’ve played with every OS out there from Irix to Windows Tablet Edition (bet you didn’t know either of those even existed), and Mac OsX is the best.

My contract with the university I was working at wasn’t extended last month, but there’s no chance in hell I’m going home. I’m getting married next month, and my future wife is a student here until March so that’s just not an option. My Visa problems aside, I planning on using this and the next few months to perform a major career change operation, so I need to receive unemployment benefits in the meantime.

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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.)

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After last months astonishing matsuri hosted by Gakuranman on whats weird about Japan, I’d like this month to be a little more practical. It will be hard to beat what has been described as “the best matsuri, ever”, but let’s give it a go.

This month, I’d like us all to share our best frugal tips for living here in Japan. Those living here for the long term, please share a little of your insiders info and elite advice! If you’re not currently living in Japan and hence have no idea where the cheapest ramen place ever is located, please don’t feel left out though – you can still enter the matsuri with more general frugal tips that you think might also be applicable here in Japan.

So there it is. The only rule is try to stay away from writing about budgeting, as that was covered by a previous matsuri hosted by Tune In Tokyo, and as ever pictures are appreciated. You can enter through the blog carnival submission widget thing, by leaving a comment on this post, or by mailing me directly. Deadline is August 25th! Let’s doing happy useful blog carnival tip giving Japan!

This is my short entry for this months blog matsuri on what is strange in Japan. Thanks to Gakuranman for hosting this months matsuri and for thinking of such curious rules.

Before coming to Japan, I had pretty much given up on humanity. That would happen to you too if you lived in the wonderful multicultural steaming p#sspot called England. What shocked (and pleased) me about Japan was the low crime rate, especially considering how worthless the police here are – they spend most days attempting to give a good telling off to young high-school couples riding tandem – until you realise that policing and crime rate have very little to do with each other. Why does Japan have such a low crime rate then? Perhaps it’s a more fundamental social aspect of the culture here. In England, it’s almost as if being nice and considerate to someone is permanently uncool nowadays. But that isn’t a reason, it’s just another result. Some might say that it’s down to the education system, but having spent 6 years teaching in the public education system here, I’d be inclined to disagree. No, I’d reason it’s down to something a lot more fundamental than we all want to admit – vigilant monoculturalism. By which I mean, Japan has done an incredible job of making Japan a country for Japanese only (cue flames), and I have to say I really respect them for that. That’s what keeps this country safe.

If you’ve been living in Japan a long time now, chances are you’re still paying tax on interest you earn back home in the UK. Well, you needn’t be, if you’ve been out of the UK for more 90 days during each tax year – at which point you are classed as a non-resident.

Firstly, you’ll want to download and fill in this R105 form which says you shouldn’t pay tax from now on – and mail that to your bank or building society. Note that not all banks will allow you to not pay tax.

Next, find your financial records for all the years past that you’ve been living here in Japan and still paying tax back home. You can claim for up to 5 years of past tax deductions. You’ll need to fill out a separate R43 Tax Repayment Claim for each year, and the forms vary slightly by year. You can find them all here though. Send this to the inland revenue.

Easy 2 or 3 man in your pocket, and gross (no tax) interest on your savings in the UK from now on! What are you waiting for?

Oh, and if you’re wondering about the cheapest way to send money to the UK to earn that interest (with an infiinitely better rate than the 0.2% or whatever chump-change you’re offered here in Japan), then I suggest you check out GoLloyds. They charge a maximum of 2000 yen fee no matter how much you send back! And if you wouldn’t mind when you’re signing up please write “JAMES ANDREW BRUCE” in the referrer box, which will give me 2000 yen credit towards my next money transfer! Thanks!