Appease your sweet tooth for less than a buck!

Now anyone who knows me knows that I love me some milk chocolate! In fact, I'm the kind of girl who would rather have a super jumbo king sized chocolate bar instead of a heart-shaped box of chocolates. So of course in every single country I go to, I just have to try out their chocolate bars! Well, in Tokyo, I searched for the biggest and most inexpensive one I could find. And I found the Meiji Milk Chocolate Bars.


I'm a sucker for kit kats and all but I had to get all authentic Japanese so I just had to get this one. It is seriously good. It's not the richest, most chocolatey ever but it's very comparable to a Hershey's Milk Chocolate Candy Bar.

And it only costs 100 yen (equivalent to 97 cents). Suckas. Whereas here in the states the chocolate bar can cost $1.50 for that same size. Heh!

YEBISU BEER MUSEUM: Free admission and cheap Japanese beer!

The Yebisu Beer Museum is definitely a must experience. First off, admission is FREE. Secondly, you get to learn about the history of Yebisu Beer! Secondly, you get to sample beers for CHEAP! Here I'll show you the experience of the museum:

The memorial room

Ingredients!

Poster Ads!

Tools!

The best part: The Tasting Lounge (good thing we were there on a weekday)

They have many kinds of beers you can sample.

Of course we had to get the sampler. Four beers for 400 yen! That's like a buck each! Yum!

So we ordered our sampler using the coin-operated machine. (The Japanese are so smart!)

And we were able to taste the yummy goodness of Sapporo.

And of course we had to get a second sampler because one just wasn't enough!

Total cost of the whole experience split between two people: 800 yen! That's equivalent to a little less than $8. Holla! Always remember: DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE!

Couchsurfing in Tokyo = Free Lodging

In Tokyo, we have been couchsurfing. Couchsurfing basically means crashing on a person's couch. You stay at the person's place for FREE. If they're gonna make you pay cash, I'd suggest a hostel because couchsurfing should be a free (or barter at least) experience. However, in regards to the genuine and generous hosts, because they are kind and deserve good karma, you should be a good house guest...see tips on how to be a good house guest towards the end of this post.

Our sleeping space at Andrew's

Because it doesn't really cost money, we decided that would be our ideal lodging option. Normally, I would browse through www.couchsurfing.com to find a host but it was hard finding hosts in Tokyo who could host two people. Most of the flats in Tokyo are super tiny. But if you're traveling by yourself, you probably won't have a hard time finding a host through couchsurfing.com. (I've also used it before to host someone in San Francisco and it's pretty cool!)

But we got lucky. My friend Jonathan hooked us up with his friend Andrew who lives in Tokyo! So after staying one night at a hostel (just for the experience), we headed to the trendy area of Ebisu/Daikanyama and are now staying in a Tokyo high rise. The apartment is actually pretty big so hooray! What a hook up! Thanks!

Just want to note though that if you are couchsurfing in Japan, here are some tips to be a good house guest.

1. Bring a gift. Steph brought him red wine and I brought him some Cuervo.
2. Cook dinner at least one of the nights for a dinner with your host(s). We are staying here for a total of 7 nights, we've cooked once already and we are cooking tonight for our last night here. It also doesn't hurt to hook the host up with chocolate bars! Mmm!
   
3. Be courteous of the area and stay neat. They are doing you a very nice favor by letting you stay in their home.
4. If you barter, use a skill you know. Steph and I are educated in massage therapy (720 hours from NHI, baby!) and health education so she will give him a professional Thai massage and I will give him a professional Shiatsu massage.
   
5. Don't wear your shoes inside the house.
   

Anyway, it's cool this way because we get to stay with someone who actually knows the area and who could introduce us to other Tokyo peeps. The best part is actually being able to live in a home while you're here. It's like you actually DO live here when you couchsurf!

Coffee in Japan - Expensive but can be cheap

I'm a pretty avid coffee drinker. But by no means am I a coffee snob. To me, coffee is coffee. Well ok most. But I have a big sweet tooth too. Coffee in Japan is at least 300 yen ($3) for a small. At Starbucks (which I don't even really go to...talk about globalization, btw), I think the smallest was 360 yen. I don't have the prices but check out this HUGE two-story Starbucks:



I've never been a big fan of Starbucks anyway because I'm mostly about the fair trade stuff (and if that doesn't exist where I'm at, I'd still rather support the small, independent business) so obviously we didn't go there. Steph's pretty conscious about that kind of stuff too so let's go and snub Starbucks yo.

Seriously, maybe I'm just cheap when it comes to coffee in general but to me, $3.60 for a small coffee is expensive. But I usually like to drink lattes with a touch of sugar or splenda. I also like my coffee iced on a hot day. And today was a hot day.

And feeling like a hypocrite and determined to prove my budget theory, I let it all go.

I rolled into an AM PM. The coffee at independent coffee houses REALLY were expensive. I had to sacrifice my beliefs for 20 minutes.

So yeeeeah, they actually have those here. HAHAHAHAHHA. IT's not like in the states at all. Here, it's so much better.

This is how I roll:

I actually got the one on the right and it was chilled and sweet and it tasted soooo good! I also got it for 84 yen from another AM PM. Yeah, that's how I do. If you're wondering about the size, it's actually quite big. It's about 300ml.

For my sweet tooth, I've been having pre-packed mini donuts because they're way sweeter than the actual donuts from the donut and coffee shops. Plus, a pack like this costs only 105 yen!

Total for coffee and donuts at the most when you do it bargain style: 210 yen ($2.10). Holla!

See the whole city of Tokyo for FREE!

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building is the tallest building in Tokyo. It also has a FREE observation deck (two, actually) where you can get a beautiful view of all of Tokyo. It is located in Shinjuku - West Exit. Follow the signs to the building and once you're in there, you'll go to one of the elevators where there is security (they check your bags for safety reasons) and head up to the top floor. You can take photos of the view but you cannot bring tripods.

Evening shopping in Japan = CHEAPER GROCERIES

It's pretty simple. If you buy your groceries closer to closing time, you will most likely get a discount on your food. Because we're travelers on a budget, we don't mind getting ready to eat meals. Shit, we're in Japan. The food is good no matter how it's served, suckas.

We bought all this for dinner and they were all marked off 20-30% off. Yes, that's tuna sashimi on the bottom left and it was only $3! Woohoo!

Why is the food so cheap in the evening? Because the Japanese pride themselves on fresh food. Towards closing, they would rather get rid of the food by selling it at a lower price than just throwing it out, wasting it. They also do not want to sell it the next day because obviously it would not be fresh, maybe even spoiled.

Free and important destination: Meiji Shrine

The Meiji Shrine is another place to go which is also free. It is located right by the Harajuku station and where the Harajuku kids hang out.



The Meiji shrine is dedicated to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken

The only thing I did that cost money was write down a prayer and donate 100 yen to the shrine.

Here is a video of me writing out my prayer:

Barrels of wine...

Barrels of sake dedicated to the shrine...

Write your own prayer and make an offering to the shrine.


Other visitors' prayers on display...

We even got to see a wedding!

The central sanctuary

Free entertainment experience: Yoyogi Park

Yoyogi Park is Tokyo's answer to New York's Central Park or San Francisco's Golden Gate Park (they're really different I know but I'm just trying to give you an idea of the kind of park it is...BIG and full of cool sh*t. I didn't get too many pictures while we were there because we really were just hanging out chillin. But, there's so much to see there. So fun. Lots of people doing entertaining stuff. Jugglers too. Hehe! And we all know I love jugglers!



Very beautiful. Had we gotten here before it rained hard one day, we could've gotten to see cherry blossoms. It's huge and The best part is...it's FREE! You can get here by taking the train to Harajuku station and the entrance is not too far from where the Harajuku kids hang out. It is also right next to the Meiji Shrine.

On the outside of the park, many bands perform their own music. This band was all acoustic and the guy on the guitar was hot. Notice the cute little girl on the left? She was adorable!

So these kids play their music around the park and not inside. It is technically illegal to tip them the way we would back in the states where you'd throw some change (or some dollaz if you roll like that) in their hat or guitar case laid out in front of them. They just sell their music out here.

Some random dude threw a football at me so I threw it back. Sorry if it looks like I'm going to the bathroom.

We couldn't find any beer in the vending machines. Good thing we were carrying small tiramisu liquer with us. I got myself an ice cold coffee instead for 150 yen! Cheap alcoholic drink yeah? Oh and...drinking in public is LEGAL. Holla!

Kids just hanging out on a Saturday afternoon...

Outside the park towards the station, there are many food vendors. Steph and I shared some Takoyaki (fried squid balls...yum!). We got 8 balls for 400 yen. Not bad! Steph didn't like it so much but you know me...I eat anything remotely good! HAHA.

Free entertainment and CHEAP TRENDY SHOPPING: Harajuku Station and Takeshita Dori

I remember a few years back being at the bookstore and seeing a photography book on Harajuku kids. If you look them up, they have these outrageous, creative (many people would probably say "weird") outfits. Some are cute, but they're all just so extreme! Anyway, they hang out at Harajuku Station on the weekends and love to show off their creativity. Unfortunately for me, I didn't see too many of them because it was also the weekend of the Nagisa Music Festival (which I went to on Sunday). So most of them were probably at the festival. OR we got there late in the day.

Anyway, normally the Harajuku kids DO hang out by the Harajuku Station. It's a cluster of them so it doesn't really take that much time to check them out. This is where you would see them:

OH and apparently....these kids right here with the "FREE HUGS" sign are supposedly part of a sex cult that was started in France (or somewhere else in Europe) and so when you go up to them to hug you, they start telling you about the cult. HAHAHA is this true? Crap....it all starts with a free hug...

But since we didn't get to see Harajuku kids, we checked out Takeshita Dori, which is a shopping street right by the station which has mostly cheap and trendy stuff. Here are some pics of Harajuku shopping (sorry I couldn't get the kids!):