japan :: tokyo :: general

[DaBestSpoona]

Have you heard about that new tempura place opened by Ootoya group? I heard it's like $200+ per person (factoring in drinks and tip – that's more like $300). "High-end" in the US is very expensive. My friends and I did a trip to Vegas, and we were like "even if you go all out, you just CANNNOT spend this much in Tokyo."

 

I live in a pretty shitty area right now. Nowadays, I go out for lunch even in a city that is considered "affordable". I'm still paying close to $20 for a lunch wo boozing. Then again, I was astonished to learn places like Portland, OR where beers are like $3, oragnic smoothies are $3.50, and artisananl burgers are $9, did still exist in America. 

 

What I think makes Japan expensive is all the ä½æ°‘税 and other misc. taxes you have to pay. It's hard to assess this b/c I have compared the tax deduction from a Japanese salaryman's paycheck (who makes comparable $) vs. mine, but their net income is more than mine. 

 

I know a bunch of Eigo Sensei who post curated pics on IG and get hundreds of likes for posting everyday food. Japanese food that might cost you $30+ here can be had for <$10. Shit, there's like simply NO food option that can be had for less than $10 in the US now (unless you go to BK, or McD). Eating out in Japan is "easier" than it is here, I think. Also, most of the time, I go to restaurants here expecting to walk out with disappointment and throw my money away.

 

Life in America is overrated, but work condition in Japan, from what I've heard through my family and friends, is dire (can't speak for Gaishi-kei ballers). To me, the only benefit of living in the US is the access to deeply discounted clothes that won't ever go on (or make it to) sale in Tokyo.

 

Then again, EC sites have gotten so good that you could do window shopping in Tokyo and buy everything from end, mrporter, or the corner (it's basically what I do). 

 

I want to try the tempura place, but I'm okay waiting to go eat Tempura when I am in Japan.  Vegas is just overpriced and mediocre all around. NY is overpriced but we have some good food.

 

Japanese taxes are in general lower, but salaries in Tokyo overall there are pretty low compared to NY and SF, but the cost of going out in NY and SF is ridiculous compared to Tokyo.  When we cant cook, its hard to go out without spending like 60 for two ppl for a mediocre meal.   60 in Tokyo, you're eating at a place frequented by former prime ministers, talento, baseball players, and models.

 

Working in Japan vs US, def US is so much better.  Japan you work long hours for no reason other than everyone is doing it, no VPN, you have to be here because everyone is so inefficient.  My wife works at SMBC, they hire so many people whose jobs are to do stupid menial tasks like take newspapers out of conference rooms, hand out mail from the interoffice mail at the end of each row of cubicles, are forced to look busy all day, work late, actually do at most a half hour worth of work that "executives are too "busy" to do.   In the US, its like there is usually an actual purpose for working late, and its headed towards employers finding creative ways to keep you in the office longer like yoga at 5, dinner served at 6:30, unlimited sick days and time off.

 

Its because of the ridiculous commercial rent in NYC which why we cant have 10 dollar meals.  Landlords here can sit on empty property for months to years and just wait it out until someone will pay their asking without penalty,and I think they get tax breaks for lack of rent roll.  BTW the rent for the new Tsurutontan opening up in Union Sq is 650K USD a year.

[WillKhitie]

Just adding, the roasted coffee I've tried from Tokyo has always been subpar (Little Nap and Omo, the latter in multiple cases).

 

I've had several pipo bring me back Omo coffee over the last 2 years claiming that it was the shit, and it's always been a high expectations + sad cup kind of experience.

[pompadork]

ABC is kind of pricey but decent way to try new roasters. Just got this month's in the mail today.

 

https://abccoffee.co/aug2015/

[WillKhitie]

Very...very...very nice website and execution. Mad jealous, with a mad branding envy boner, thank you for that.

 

And now that we've got the deep set envy going, I wanted to take the time to ask how the design/creative/fashion job scene is like in Tokyo? AFAIK, from inquiries with people who work in Fashion PR, there's this sort of inane subjugation of lesser Asians–even if you do speak their language.

 

I'm not sure if this holds true with my whiter brothers but I've spoken to 4 separate Filipinos at different rungs and it seems to be the case. (The only exception is 1 Japanese-looking Filipina who studied college in Tokyo and can speak it at a business level.)

[raddy]

Cost of living metrics are weird; Tokyo always strikes me as crazy cheap compared to Tier 1 / Tier 2 US cities.

 

Rent is pretty reasonable at some price points in TKO. Like moderately high end stuff in TKO is WAY better than what I can find in Seattle, LA, SF, etc.

 

Owning seems pretty rough -- depreciating everything to zero in 20 years makes the economics somewhat baffling. Still, beach houses down in Hayama-Ishiki or down in Izu are crazy cheap to comparable stuff in US.

 

Strike one for me is the super absent expat finance crowd. Two is lack of white milfs jogging around in lulu. 

[lchi]

not even my problem actually

Edited August 6, 2015 by uizm

[herpsky]

 

The sad reality is that unless the firm is an overseas-based firm and you somehow get transferred here, I think finding a job in a domestic design firm is very difficult. I don't work in the industry but I've never heard of foreigners working for (being partners at) renowned domestic design firms like Groovsion, Wonderwall, Rhizomatics, and etc. We just don't want to hire foreigners regardless of ethnicity. period.

 

The honest truth is that the great majority still refuses to accept immigrants - i mean, the country is small and self-sufficient. there's no need for us to hire foreign talent unless it's for manual labor jobs (i.e. shit that no one wants to do) where finding japanese employees is becoming increasingly more difficult e.g. "kaigo" - nursing home assistants. I guess one could argue that an influx of internationals could drastically alter the economy but most of us are conservative and are not willing to accept that type of change. 

 

The ethnic elitism is there. There's no doubt about that. I usually DISCOURAGE non-Japanese Asians to move there unless you have some type of high-profile, well-paying finance jobs that will allow you to meet and hang out with other like-minded expats and chill at fun (expensive) places. 

 

Once again, the sad reality is that the non-Japanese are still seen as being inferior. Not my fault. Can't change that. It's the same kind of shit in the US or elsewhere.

 

If there's an Asian bro and a wy dude coming in for an interview and their credentials are similar, the wy person gets hired. At least, the cool part of Tokyo at least is that we are more accomodating or open to experincing other cultures. In most wypipo countries, people aren't really open to making friends or learning about different cultures per se. 

Edited August 6, 2015 by herpsky

[herpsky]

The only other type of job i can think of is IT. there's a lot of "app" / tech ventures that hire foreigners.

[pompadork]

Get investors visa and open your own place.

Look out for my peanut butter cafe in 3 years.

[martin_henk]

about design jobs: there are good jobs to be had in japan in terms of work life balance. Tokyo jobs pay best, but cost of living is 30% more then anywhere else in JP.

 

getting a foot in the door is super super tough. you really must play hard and grind before things start to happen. also forget sending resumes by yourself if it is not some boutique style shop. usually you should get some agent that pitches you.

[WillKhitie]

about design jobs: there are good jobs to be had in japan in terms of work life balance. Tokyo jobs pay best, but cost of living is 30% more then anywhere else in JP.

 

getting a foot in the door is super super tough. you really must play hard and grind before things start to happen. also forget sending resumes by yourself if it is not some boutique style shop. usually you should get some agent that pitches you.

 

^ sounds interesting–more often than not, talent exported from here has always been via a headhunter that pitches on your behalf. 

 

Investor Visa seems the way to go tho. 

Edited August 8, 2015 by WillKhitie

[nicelynice]

The only other type of job i can think of is IT. there's a lot of "app" / tech ventures that hire foreigners.

 

most of these pay so unbelievably low it boggles my mind unless they're one of the five or so in the country that is well-funded. I've tested the waters with some tech startups / app development houses and will tell them my salary / vacation requirements in the first 10 minutes so I don't waste anyone's time. 90% of the time I coulda made more working the night shift at a combini. 

[DaBestSpoona]

Japan pays indian outsourcer salaries for tech jobs.  

[herpsky]

http://www.houyhnhnm.jp/news/013788.html

 

CE popup at B&Y

[WillKhitie]

Do friends want to proxy? The Pool crossover looked good too.

[pompadork]

No proxy fees are worth lining up early enough to beat all the chinese couples that will be there.

[herpsky]

No proxy fees are worth lining up early enough to beat all the chinese couples that will be there.

and the homeless people. Nowadays, I just assume all the thunder logo'd stuff all go to HK/Mainland. 

I think all the domestic guys who buy those are those in their early 40's who grew up with boon and etc.

[CHINESEGOLD]

Anyone have recs for guides or anything doing an extended/"live in" stay in Japan? Me and a friend wanted to rent a place for a couple months between school years but we have no clue where to start looking in terms of research. Some details:

 

1) We don't speak Japanese

2) We initially wanted to stay in Tokyo but a couple friends recommended Osaka and one said Kyoto was his favorite city

3) We're not looking to ball out but we will have decent spending money, and we like art galleries, clubs, live music and eating out

4) It'll be sometime between April and August 

[conqueror]

max you will be able to stay on a tourist visa is 90 days, so 'renting' might be tough + esp with a lack of japanese ability. leopalace, sakura or something like that could be an option, but i am way out of the loop these days for that kind of thing - i stayed in a gaijin house years ago and ironically was the only non jp or korean person there. cheap airbnb maybe?

 

i have never fucked with clubs so can't comment on that, but live music (in tokyo especially) is phenomenal although pricing can be all over the place. i think i saw melt-banana once for about 2000 yen and then paid 18k or something insane to see arto lindsay at blue note. you could easily see go to a dope show every second night if you wanted to. galleries are cheap and always have something good on, regardless of whether it's mot or hara. prob 500-4k a pop. don't really have experience with michelin eating spots either as i was loner status every time that i've been over but someone else will chime in. i always have enough fun just trying out random soba etc spots that i walk past though.

 

personally, i'd probably rather go for a month or less and travel the country extensively than stay 3ish months on a shoestring in one city. different strokes. i'm in the overwhelming minority that think osaka is overrated as fuck. avoid summer at all costs whatever you do...this is coming from someone who lives in australia.

Edited August 13, 2015 by conqueror

[pompadork]

Japan general is ded so asking here - Anyone know of anything to do / a site with cool shit to do in Kanazawa? Going to go for a couple of days but clueless as to whats there. 

[lchi]

cheap airbnb maybe?

 

yeah @chinesegold try airbnb. i used it for a month in sapporo and it was fun. i paid like $30-$60 a night because i really dont care for amenities besides kitchen/internet/comfy bed and i like simple lodging. host spoke conversational english but i didn't see them much anyway.

 

saving on your stay with airbnb will set aside many funds needed for things like eating out/live music

 

i agree with avoiding summer as well, at least for a seamless experience; it's nearly as hot/humid right now in tokyo as it is in bangkok

Edited August 14, 2015 by uizm

[herpsky]

Japan general is ded so asking here - Anyone know of anything to do / a site with cool shit to do in Kanazawa? Going to go for a couple of days but clueless as to whats there. 

I've been twice.

 

Kanazawa got a huge curry scene. I'd hit that up. The sushi even those that "spin" are 100x superior to what you can get in Tokyo. There's one joint I went with my folks that's like out of this world amazing. I forgot the name but people come from all over the world for this place. It's jiro-style - the chef runs the show. 

 

Noto is pretty cool (to visit). I think a lot of people who are tired of going to the same old spots have really dug in that area recently. Noto is that peninsula. 

 

Lots of cool jawnz to be had. It's a smaller city so it's much easier to browse for jawnz. There's another spot I fell in love with near the castle – it's a traditional wagashi sit-down place that specializes in kuzukiri. Mind blowing. 

 

There's a place that's kind of like golden gai. It's pretty dope. 

[herpsky]

On social media and magazines, this store seems to be the IT store right now. I've never been but I'll check when I go back in a month. 

 

http://graphpaper-tokyo.com

 

Feed (cool jawn alert): https://www.facebook.com/pages/Graphpaper/326212947567884

Edited August 14, 2015 by herpsky

[herpsky]

http://www.diastandard.com 

 

new site

[herpsky]

max you will be able to stay on a tourist visa is 90 days, so 'renting' might be tough + esp with a lack of japanese ability. leopalace, sakura or something like that could be an option, but i am way out of the loop these days for that kind of thing - i stayed in a gaijin house years ago and ironically was the only non jp or korean person there. cheap airbnb maybe?

 

i have never fucked with clubs so can't comment on that, but live music (in tokyo especially) is phenomenal although pricing can be all over the place. i think i saw melt-banana once for about 2000 yen and then paid 18k or something insane to see arto lindsay at blue note. you could easily see go to a dope show every second night if you wanted to. galleries are cheap and always have something good on, regardless of whether it's mot or hara. prob 500-4k a pop. don't really have experience with michelin eating spots either as i was loner status every time that i've been over but someone else will chime in. i always have enough fun just trying out random soba etc spots that i walk past though.

 

personally, i'd probably rather go for a month or less and travel the country extensively than stay 3ish months on a shoestring in one city. different strokes. i'm in the overwhelming minority that think osaka is overrated as fuck. avoid summer at all costs whatever you do...this is coming from someone who lives in australia.

I like the food and girls from Osaka but those are p much the only cool things from Osaka. I think most of my exs and the girls i really clicked with were from Osaka. lol

[1M]

I've been twice.

 

Kanazawa got a huge curry scene. I'd hit that up. The sushi even those that "spin" are 100x superior to what you can get in Tokyo. There's one joint I went with my folks that's like out of this world amazing. I forgot the name but people come from all over the world for this place. It's jiro-style - the chef runs the show. 

 

Noto is pretty cool (to visit). I think a lot of people who are tired of going to the same old spots have really dug in that area recently. Noto is that peninsula. 

 

Lots of cool jawnz to be had. It's a smaller city so it's much easier to browse for jawnz. There's another spot I fell in love with near the castle – it's a traditional wagashi sit-down place that specializes in kuzukiri. Mind blowing. 

 

There's a place that's kind of like golden gai. It's pretty dope. 

 

thanks for kanazawa info. gonna be traveling all around in sept with the 21 day JR pass. got any other recommendations? would love to cover as many different areas as i possibly can. 

[pompadork]

On social media and magazines, this store seems to be the IT store right now. I've never been but I'll check when I go back in a month. 

 

http://graphpaper-tokyo.com

 

Feed (cool jawn alert): https://www.facebook.com/pages/Graphpaper/326212947567884

 

Saw this via eyescream or somewhere. Like the buttonups I guess.

 

Also saw via vice that world dj championships are in Tokyo in September. Meh

[raddy]

Toyama is up near Kanazawa. Kurobe Alpine area is sweet even in summer. I was once at the top of Noto -- Mitsukejima, Senmaida, Koiji Beach etc are all photogenic/tranquil. It's bus only territory for public trans after Anamizu I think. Otherwise, if I had a lot of time to kill during Sept, I'd run around Seto Inland area or Izu. 

[herpsky]

Dope track

[pompadork]

lol found that track a few months ago, sent my friend it on facebook, and he was somehow at a party with ryuzo as I sent it to he started talking to him. 

 

re: previous beer discussion, I know nothing about beer but there's some crafty kanda beer fest at maach ecute mall in akihabara at the moment