The Ultimate Guide To Tokyo
This restaurant is permanently closed As I mentioned last time, being a cheapo in no way means settling for inferior quality. So today I’d like to share with you a real gem I found in Shibuya a few years back. […]
Westerners who have eaten at one of the many noodle eateries throughout Japan will no doubt be familiar with the local custom of noisy slurping. I personally love this little gem of cultural difference, it’s always fascinating to see a […]
We’ve recently covered some of Tokyo’s cheapest supermarkets but we have some more gems to share with you still. Don Quijote or Donki (as it is known colloquially) is more than just a supermarket, rather a super cheapo version of […]
Buried on the basement floor beneath three stories of used books, DVDs, CDs, and video games, this outgrowth of the Book-Off Group stores (the “Hard-Off” outlets always strike me as particularly ill-named) is a sartorial bunker. Bingo has a couple […]
Praise the powers that be—at least, when it comes to providing cost-friendly sports and exercise facilities. Whereas the handful of ubiquitous private gym chains (Gold’s, Tipness, Konami Club) charge membership fees of 12,000-plus yen per month, daily use of the […]
KaraNet 24 is permanently closed. Internet “café” is actually a gross misnomer for this nine-story building in Shibuya, and not only because the Nescafe-in-a-paper-cup from the vending machines is predictably vile, but because it’s an understatement in every possible way […]
Beyond dull bronzes of early statesmen, public art in Tokyo is a relatively new phenomenon. Only in about the last 25 years or so have architects and urban planners started to incorporate public artworks into their projects. Luckily, there are […]
Slog slog. Get around wet people with big umbrellas we bump and walk in pedestrian holdups chilly. And then, like that longrunning Campbell’s Soup commercial, with the warmth of our hearty bowl of soup, we melt off our outer snowmen, […]
Wonder of wonders, I have never sauntered into Freshness Burger until this month. I was surprised by the choices offered, both in the obvious burger department, and in the vegetarian burgers. Not bad, Freshness. I also had no idea they […]
Cona is part of a chain of 500yen pizza restaurants which also includes Voco (in Ebius) a similarly named branch in Dogenzaka and Ura-Cona in Maruyamacho. While the speciality is Roman Pizza, the exhortation of the menu for “High tension Please!” should […]
With all it’s pomp and fanfare Japanese Beef or Wagyu has a reputation for being expensive and high quality fodder. Non-Japanese will no doubt have heard of Kobe beef, which is one of the “Beef Brands” in Japan, though I […]
Going out for a beer after a long day here in Tokyo can be more expensive than getting a meal. That’s why we’ve put together this guide to some of the city’s most affordable watering holes. No need to thank […]
So you’ve finally summoned up all your courage and asked out that cute coworker, you know, the shy one that is always smiling. And for some reason, they actually said “yes!” Now what? It’s time to plan your first date(s) together. […]
With thousands of ramen restaurants and chains scattered throughout Tokyo, a newcomer to Japan may find the task of choosing and ordering a simple bowl of ramen daunting. Exploring a small street in Nishi-Gotanda (a thriving little nook that overlooks […]
Finding a great burger that doesn’t cost a crazy amount in Tokyo is no easy task! In the recently published The Burger Map Tokyo, there were over 40 shops listed, and those were just the ones considered “the best of […]
“Cinderella” resonates with almost everyone because almost everyone, at some point in their lives, becomes a cheapo. Budgeting and rationing means an emptier closet. It means clawing through bargain piles, blow-drying your hair yourself, and foregoing that cashmere sweater which […]
Scattered across the underbelly of Tokyo is a chain of vintage bookstores that serve as hideouts for geeks, nerds, and other otaku. The shops are stocked to the ceiling with character T-shirts, odd sunglasses, weird wigs, clocks, dishes, buttons, merch, lava lamps, and […]
Isari Juu Hachiban is one of those restaurants that hides in plain sight. Unless someone tells you to take note, you would walk right passed it. It’s second-storey position and difficult-to-read name make it a less than obvious place to […]
There are so many fantastic free events happening in Tokyo in November and December that it was tough choosing just five for this bimonthly events wrap. But we had to (because the editor said so). After much discount coffee fuelled […]
It’s not really a big surprise that Gonpachi inspired the restaurant in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, since Gonpachi is basically a Japanese themed restaurant in Japan. For me, the surprise is that this hyper produced eatery is actually reasonable value […]
With the dollar stronger than ever (at time of writing, 90 USD will buy you 10,700 yen), now is a great time to visit Japan and get a big bang for your buck. We’ve done three days in Tokyo on […]
Ok, you’ve been enjoying your authentic Japanese food and can’t imagine missing normal, unexciting Western food. But that moment will come, so you’d better be prepared. The first thing you’ll miss is probably pizza, but you might end up missing the unexciting […]
I’m not a time travel expert, but I think if it existed today, it would be extremely expensive. While I’m sure there would be an article or two on the site dedicated to Hard-Off inspired time machine assembly, I’m here […]
Tokyo may seem shiny-shiny and new – and parts of it are. It can feel like everyone has new stuff all the time and you certainly wouldn’t be the first one to look, agape, at what people are putting on […]