winter wonderland
as someone who has just applied to a single part-time job position, I have devoted myself to a season of snow, ice, questionable decisions, and financially irresponsible winter magic.
value of the yen
Throughout this month and a half, I have been noticing the real value of the yen within Tokyo and in Japan. Translating everything to euro, services and food can seem quite cheap but how do you assess their quality? What is a great value for price item?
The idea I have in my brain now is 100 yen is 1 euro. This is completely wrong of course, as it’s 1,80 euro now. Almost the double. This is how much the yen has fallen and how much the euro has risen. Still a 100 yen should be 1 euro. If you get a very small drink or item, you pay around 130-140 yen. This amount is what a 1 EUR of quality item should give. The 30-40 yen difference I just think it as inflation.
With this logic, I have a better and clearer image of how much things costs in Japan. And the conclusion is, that Tokyo is a very expensive city. Which as a capital and a very important city in the scale of the world makes a lot of sense.
Eating out for corporate people can be to 800 to 1400 yen meals. 8-14 EUR per day is something I would also find slightly expensive so I would cook more. As someone who is always on the search for cheap bentos, the lower I have found is 550 yen and for Chinese food, which is less expensive compared to Japanese. If you go to an actual restaurant with friends and you order drinks, appetizers and such, people tend to spend around 5000 yen. This is 50 euro worth of meal. Expensive. Of course, in euros it’s just 25.
This is why everyone wants to have a job with dollars or euros and live here. The power of the currency goes a long way. My friend with Swiss franks is paying less rent every month because the rent price in yen is the same but she pays in franks so every month she can buy more yen with less Swiss money. In only a few months, she has seen maybe a 30-50 euro difference in price. And for around 400 euro rents, this is quite a lot.
Even though currencies change and inflation happens, the value we see for items is harder to change. There might be a 2-5 euro difference, but if we get an around 10 euro meal, we know what quality to expect. If it’s around 30 euro, the quality will be better. In Japan, you might find very good food for 1500 to 2000 yen, but in many places, it will still not be as good as higher prices. Again, makes sense.
One thing that is massively expensive here is going to a coffee shop. Coffee tends to be around 700-900 yen. You can even dine in a cheap chain restaurant for that amount. A bowl of rice, meat and veggies cost the same as a cup of coffee. Though I am talking about good coffee beans. You can still get convenience store coffee for 200-300 yen. The coffee scene here is amazing. They are very much into pour over and press methods instead of espresso machines. Every cafe has different origin beans, and they change it regularly too. So, yes, coffee is within my expenses.
What is not in my expenses is convenience store meals. People tend to love going into these store to replace their lunches or dinners. There are a bunch of options: many onigiris, sandwiches, ready-to-eat meals, etc. Whenever you make your meal or a quick snack, people end up spending at least 800 yen. You buy a 300 yen onigiri, then you want a drink and the cost piles up in the end. 800 is very cheap, but with a piece of fried chicken (the famichiki is delicious I admit) and an onigiri, you will be hungry in no time. Even the ready-to-eat meals are small portions. For 800 yen, I think it’s way smarter to go to any of the salarymen chain restaurants like my beloved Noshinoya, where you get a big bowl of rice, a nice portion of unprocessed meat and veggies and even an egg if you like. This is a proper and hot meal. Still I am not immune to the convenience store snacks, but I refuse to often have full meals there.
winter wonderland
These past two weeks I have had very busy weekends, and by that I mean leaving on Friday and returning on Monday just before my 13h class.
First, I went to Hokkaido. I really, really wanted to go here. Hokkaido is the northern island of Japan. It is known to be full of snow, cold, and good food. Hokkaido is known as a food paradise, where chefs move to to be nearer good ingredients. The seafood is of great quality and as fresh as you can get. The dairy products and milk are used and praised in all of Japan. Hokkaido milk is very much praise internationally as well. The meat is good too. A very gourmet place to visit. So, of course I had to go.
In addition, winter is snow festival season, which I was very excited for and I planned carefully to cram as many festivals as I could.
As always, for details of my trips, go to my Polarsteps . Still I am going to wrap some of my experiences and opinions.
First of all, I have never experienced as much cold as it was in Hokkaido. The first day just after the airport, I went to a very famous lake called Shikotsu. From the bus to the ice festival, there was around 5-8 minutes walk. I actually feared for my life. It was freezing so I rushed. At some point, I had the lake in sight. The view was absolutely mesmerising, very beautiful. From the small streets to the ice park, there was a 1 minute walk. I started walking and after 5-10 seconds, I am not kidding or exaggerating, my ears and face were in pain from the cold. Not just cold, in pain and a significant amount of it. I covered my ears with my hands and ran to shelter. The wind was very strong. I checked and the thermic sensation at the area was at -20 degrees. I am sure in the lake it was even lower.
During the weekend, I realised I went to the bathroom much more frequently than what I am used to. I looked it up and these are signs of hypothermia. My maximum warmth outfit I reached in this weekend was upper and lower thermal layers, my pants, a shirt, a t-shirt and a sweater, my coat, two gloves per hand and 6 heat packs (50-70 degrees packs). I had 2 attached to my wrists, 2 to my ankles, one lower back and 2 more inside my coat. Oh, don’t forget the neck and head warmer, a mask and my hat. I did need a better hat, I just wanted only a super cute one and I didn’t find it.
To fight the cold, Sapporo (the capital) has many underground tunnels. I found this incredibly cool. At first, I thought it would only be one underground shopping alley, but it was almost the entire city centre. I could walk in these underground passages around 2-3 subway stops. These passages had their food area, their clothing area, the rest area… Bakeries, restaurants, bathrooms, clothes stores, souvenir stores, shoe stores, book stores, etc. Not only that, but many stores of these underground tunnels were the underground floor of bigger buildings or shopping centres. So, you could take the stairs from these parts of the underground tunnels and you would already be inside a 8-10 stories building. Some were shopping centres, but also offices and some accommodations. It was so cool and efficient. People are not cold, these tunnels are wide so it can take huge amounts of people, they can walk fast, pop-ups and exhibitions can happen without worrying about the weather… An underground city was very cyberpunk of them. Once you go to the surface of Sapporo, cyberpunk would describe it perfectly, too. Buildings are tall and with a lot of lights. Not as modern as the new-wave big cities that exist now like Shenzhen and such, but still very vivid. A bit naughty as well, as there are dozens of host and girls bars. They are not hidden, there are even girls bar guides to help you find the best one. In one of these buildings, there was a 2-3 meters ad with a girl in her underwear on top of a bed telling you to go to her bar. Very foul. The party culture, late-night (until 5 am) ramen and after-work hostess events did set the vibe of the city a bit. The cold makes you feel very awake and when the warmth hits you, you let go.
Lastly, let’s talk about the food. I recognised the popularity Hokkaido has. The dairy products, milk and fruits, I must admit were great and a delight to try. However, I was disappointed with the seafood. I ate so many seafood bowls and even premium-grade sushi. I found it boring. The taste was just not special or grand. I did try different locations and I found places that had very good ratings. I concluded that maybe I am the problem. I am a cooked food kind of girl. An intense flavour is what I prefer. The subtle taste of the good quality fish was simply lost in my untrained tongue. So, as a self-proclaimed foodie, I am a bit disappointed I couldn’t experience a sensation some people swear by and travel thousands of kilometres for.
snowboarding
This past weekend I went snowboarding with some friends from my residence. I tend to go bouldering with them but it still was nice to grow closer in this trip. Even if I went to the snowy Nagano, the cold was so easy to handle. Just a bit of snow, some 0 to 1 degrees temperatures… Coming from Hokkaido, I thought Nagano was in spring. In the ski area, I was even extremely warm. The first day I went with thermal wear and a sweater. The next one, I had only one t-shirt and the coat. Not even my scarf. The sun was an abomination.
I had expected to suck ass as it was my first time ever snowboarding, and my assumptions resulted to be very accurate. I could barely stand in the snowboard for the whole trip, and I have walked, yes walked on the snow, most of the ski slopes of the area. Fun fact, Myoko Ski Resort is known as one of the longest slope in Japan. There were various reasons for this atrocious result. First, we rented the board in the lodge and they gave me a board shaped for speed (aka, hard for beginners) and the bindings were too big for my feet. So even if I managed to stand, I would not have a lot of control of the board. Even a complete beginner like me realised the difference when I tried my snowboarder friend’s new and proper board.
Still, the biggest issue was entirely my fault. I struggled to go from the floor to standing position in my snowboard, because I struggle to go from the floor to standing position in just normal shoes. When I stand up, I use my toes. I cannot stand up with flat feet or only with my heels, which is kind of a requirement for when you are in the snowboard. This is a mobility issue I was aware and has come up with other sports as well. Hopefully I work on it one day. For now, I will just say that the sheer size of my gym-trained, fat ass brought me down. I can’t balance with such a weight.
Even though the snowboarding was barely existent and I absolutely destroyed my legs walking down the slopes. As many people (even the emergency guy) were shocked and worried for me. I, indeed, can’t still not walk without pain. Regardless, I enjoyed the vibe and having experienced a Japanese ski resort. The food places, the people, the adjacent towns…
One of the best parts of this trip was our accommodation. I had never stayed in a ski lodge, so it was cool to see so many ski equipment around and the anti-snow architecture. Also we had a traditional tatami room, where we slept in the floor with futons. The bath room had a hot water onsen. I had never used these type of Japanese bath so it was such a cool and exciting experience. I had to go full naked in a room with more girls, then go into the bath room, shower in one of these plastic stool and then go into the bath tube. The water was so hot that I don’t know if all my impurities were boiled and now I am a reborn human, or I became a demon from hell. The last day I stayed there for around 10 minutes and when I returned, my face was a tomato for a good 1-2 hours.
Again, for more details, read the Polarsteps.
men
As you all may know, I tend to be a hater of a big proportion of the male gender. Moving to Japan has changed my perspective a bit. I should hate them more. I would describe my feelings as complete bewilderment. I am not going to talk about the Japanese patriarchal society and such because even if I clearly see it, I was already aware of it and I personally do not know so many Japanese guys to really experience that. All the Japanese guys I have met are very kind and open-minded when it comes to women’s rights and freedom. I am exclusively talking about foreigners and the environment Japan has around girls and girl entertainment.
To start with, I truly thought that maid cafes were something awkward that people go for the funsies and it was generally a meme. Even I find some of the maid outfits memes and Tiktoks funny. I think they are ridiculous, and I am sure if I were to a maid cafe I would be like that is so weird. But it’s still something you should go at least once. What I have realised is that some guys (way too many) actually really enjoy it. They enjoy having a girl dressed like that, making cute faces and talking to them like they are sirs. I even have a friend who is a regular in one of these places and truly thinks their relationship as friends. Not only in their words, but also their laughs or faces, I have seen how many guys truly fancy these ideas. A girl to protect that takes care of you and your needs.
In Japan, it’s not only the maid outfits and hostess bars, but the way it’s so normal and allowed to talk about women in public like simple objects. Famous girls need to act cute or they will lose fans, men expect that. Even if they are drawn anime girls or vtubers, they need to have big boobs. Because apparently, and I quote, “the first thing I see in a girl is her boobs”. The amount of men who often engage in this type of entertainment and the many who secretly wants to go is truly disturbing. Going to a hostess bar with your colleagues should be weird. Reading teenagers having sex as a middle-aged man in your lunch break at a restaurant should not be normal. Having sex with girls that you are actively judging and hating is wrong. “Yes, she is a bitch and an awful person, but she told me to meet, so fucking her was at least fun, still hate her though”
What I am bewildered is how some of my boy friends tell such disgusting ideas and concepts in a daily normal conversation, to me, a girl. Within a scale, I know my friends are nice guys that do respect women. But it amazes me that they believe these things can be said aloud. That these concepts are normalised and even freely liked. You should be shamed, embarrassed and judged. Japanese society, even my Japanese teachers, think these thoughts and preferences are completely normal. “Men are men after all”.
Not every guy is like this, of course. I am sure many truly find these concepts weird and wrong too. I believe most of my male friends, specially back in Europe, agree with me as well. However, these type of guys will be labelled as odd if they voice their opinion. This whole environment, where categorising girls by their bodies and dehumanising them is normal, is crazy and pathetic.
So, as I have been doing since I was capable of forming sentences, I will keep my lifelong journey to hate men more one step at a time and show them how much they disgust me sometimes.