This is the second part of a three part series, looking at a few things to cheapen your experience in Japan. The first part looked at inevitability – the cost of an apartment in Tokyo or major cities. This section will look at getting living stuff for less – things like furniture and day-to-day stuff. It is a far cry from comprehensive, but some of the pointers might get you on the road to being the scrooge of Tokyo.

Let’s start with the old gomi run, or garbage run. A literary reference to the gomi run can be found in William Gibson’s The Winter Market, short-story collection, Burning Chrome:

Rubin, in some way that no one quite understands, is a master, a teacher, what the Japanese call a sensei. What he’s the master of, really, is garbage, kipple, refuse, the sea of cast-off goods our century floats on. Gomi no sensei. Master of junk.The Winter Market

Incidentally, ol’ Gibson-san’s 1980s renditions of cyberpunk have a lot of cool impressionistic takes of Japan with neo-ultratech mashed in with the refuse of the society that created it. The ’80s books were defining points for cyberpunk and the shadow cultures that emerged with the Internet. His later stuff is not in the same vein, but worth a read too. His commentaries appear in various high-tech magazines such as Wired. Sorry, I’ve digressed again. If you want to learn more about Gibsonian thought and books, check out his site, William Gibson, Official Website.

Right, back to the gomi run. Irrespective of Gibson’s romanticism, the practicalities of gomi runs are straight forward. Basically you go around the neighborhood to all the trash collection points in search of furniture, electronics, and other big house items that people have left out for the city council to pick up. Of course, one should always check the contents first to avoid social embarrassment and arrest. You can usually find a few items to decorate your place after a few runs. Be nice though. If you take the stuff and then put it back later (especially without the collection stickers which cost a few hundred yen) then that causes problems for the locals as the city council trash meisters may not pick that stuff up later. I mention this, because a local gomi runner picked up some things we left out and decided they didn’t want the stuff and dumped it straight back (without the stickers we paid for) – dirtbags.

Moving one level up, you might want to consider second-hand furniture. Second-hand furniture places can be good, but you should check around as prices vary from very cheap to pretty expensive (sometimes more than what it would cost new). They usually get their wares from people who want to get rid of stuff or do gomi runs themselves.

You can also try looking at the classifieds in various free-zines such as Metropolis or Tokyo Notice Board.

My current choice is getting cheap furnishings in discount department stores and big electrical shops. They usually have pretty good stuff on the cheap. Unless you are looking to get the latest gizmos, designer stuff or top-of-the-range ummm…. stuff, the prices should be good. The bonus here is that they deliver – for free or a small additional fee.

The 100 yen shops are ideal for picking up small bits and pieces, such as crockery, glasses, plastic stuff and snacks. One 100 yen shop raid can cover most of your incidental needs. Here are a couple of useful places to check out 100 yen shops (just walk around your neighborhood if you have problems with the Japanese sites):
100 Yen Shops :: Short spiel on the phenomena.
Daiso :: 100 yen shop chain location page (Japanese).
Cando :: Another 100 yen shop chain (Japanese).

If you need to pick up cheap CDs, games for your PlayStation, GameBoy, etc. and DVDs you can try the second-hand book places (just walk on to the gamesoft section). If you read Japanese, then you can pick up all kinds of Japanese manga comics for as little as 100 yen a pop (or less in some cases). The one chain that springs to my mind is Book Off (Japanese only), but you’ll find innumerable second-hand bookstores everywhere – right from mom & pop places to mega-chain shops. For stores specializing in metal, electro, goth, punk and other cool styles check the linx page.

Finding books in English is a bit more difficult. Some large book chains have English collections in stock, but they are relatively limited and the books are at a premium (1,300 yen+ for fiction). You can pick up second-hand books for much more reasonable prices (a few hundred yen) at some specialized shops such as:
Bondibooks :: Bookshop with photo database!
The Blue Parrot :: Bookshop.
Caravan :: Bookshop with online ordering!

If you don’t like sticky fingers on your tomes, there is Amazon Japan. It has a huge selection, English interface for all of us who cannot read kanji, home delivery, and reasonable prices.

But wait! There’s more…. For the online shoppers, there’s Yahoo! auctions. Sure it’s in Japanese, but with prices starting at 1 yen (You heard me! Just one freaking yen!), the chances of winning big with a bucket-load of stuff are big. Keep in mind you will be up for postage costs and the like.

I could go on, but you already got the idea. The most important thing is to suss out stuff yourself. Go on and scour the Web or walk the ‘hood, just find the bargains!

Part three will cover booze and running away.

Note: All links are examples only, not recommendations one way or the other.

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