Going to Japan with 100 dollars for two months on a bet

[Mike]

Like the topic says, I'm going to Japan with 100 dollars in my pocket on a bet. I have to make it for two months. However, I'm allowed to make money however I may once I arrive. For example, I've slapped up this. It's a very basic journal / illustrated website, but people seem to like it. airfare and a place to sleep are covered, but everything else is up to me.

I'm staying in Shiga-Ken with a friend. That's a pretty rural area I've heard. I also have very limited use of conversational Japanese (presently one year of formal education). This is gonna be interesting.

What do you advise?

p.s, I'm on a tourist visa.

[wreddock]

What do you advise?

I advise you to stop wasting the time of FG Forum users begging for paypal donations.

[Mike]

Huh... How to put this...

Well, for starters, I'm sincerely asking for advice. I guess that's about it. I'm not begging. Unless you're jaded enough to consider it as much.

Are you looking at the text I posted on your forum or the paypal link on my website? Cut me a break. You don't even know who I am.

Looking at your post history I can reassert my original guess that you are quite a jaded little person.

[DJEB]

You will need to do better than I do at my site: [url]http://www.tokyotightwad.com [/url]Some of the ideas there might help, though.

You should also contact the media here and tell them of your attempt.

[Mike]

You should also contact the media here and tell them of your attempt.

I'd be cool with that, except for the stigma revolving around foreigners working illegally in Japan. I probably don't want my face in the papers unless I want a free ride home in the worst kind of way.

Thanks for the page, by the way. I'll read it.

[Big Booger]

Good luck.

[Cubed]

I feel a bit sorry for the person you'll be staying with.

One of two things will happen:

1. After the first week, you'll give up and ask your friend if you can live out of their pocket.

2. You won't give up but you won't admit to leeching of your friend either, just to say that you "lived in Japan for two months on $100".

Either way, I can't really see your "frugality study" being of any practical use. Why are you staying rent free? You could sleep rough, after all Japan's climate is nice in the summer, and that would add value to your "study". No, you won't even be doing that.

Is your friend in Shiga actually going to watch you fall sick of malnourishment in the name of this "study" if that's what it comes to?

Didn't think so.

[Andocrates]

It's hard to be a Gaijin in Japan, let alone a broke one. If you have never faced prejudice it will depress you but you wont have beer money to drown your sorrows.

No one can figure out the best way to teach English to the Japanese, if you could invent some system you could easily make a living.

[sillygirl]

What do you win if you see the bet through?

Only advice I can give is bring A LOT of sandwiches. 100 dollars, 2 months? Hmmm....

[Mike]

It's a bet, technically. Not a study. And the best thing I'll probably win is the ability to put this in my resume or tell it to my grandkids.


I don't really drink, by the way.

[maraboutslim]

I don't really drink, by the way.

then you're coming to the wrong country!

[bejiita]

If this is for realz, it sounds exactly like Denpa Shonen without a TV crew.

Hell yeah. If Mike runs out of money, he can be the next Nasubi! No need to starve at all. Just make sure you set up an internet feed so we can watch. Oh, and post the url here too.

[vvx]

Ditch the friend, and any money you make must be made in Japan on the streets -- no paypal donation links. That would make it much more interesting, and a real test. As it is right now, it doesn't seem like a big thing -- like others said, you'll just live outta your host's pocket if need be.

Plus, ditching the friend in Japan makes you mobile. You can hitchhike, beg, walk up to random highschool chicks and ask them if they'd like an english lesson for 2 sen en. MUCH more interesting and challenging.

[Taro Toporific]

... I'm sincerely asking for advice. ....

Guess wot?
I gonna say that $100 for 2 months is no problemo.

"Surviving" Tokyo by 7-11 dumpster diving and free rent is do-able. That is, 10,000+ persons are doing it now in Kanto. The weather is warming up---the booze is free (if collect 20 empties and decant the last quarter inch), and many 7-11 girls wil set aside post-dated bento ya iif ya got a cute smile.

I am bit worried about rural Shiga-Ken since the picking are poor there. Out on my farm in rural Shikoku, i would put on my white robe and make the rounds with begging bowl in the countryside....3 month pilgramage would be no sweat since I've already tried it for a weekend with great sucess.

Do ya think I'm BSing you all? I'll give anybody 2-to-1 odds I could do 20,000yen/2 months (minimum bet 10,000, 000 yen since I'd have to quit my mega-cushy job here).

[xUmex]

Taro Toporific:
Tell me more about the tokyo dumpster diving scen. As a poor and struggling student I am very interested...

[Taro Toporific]

Taro Toporific:
Tell me more about the tokyo dumpster diving scen. As a poor and struggling student I am very interested...

Super cho-kool.

Taro trick one:
In west Shinjuku, there's a mellow J-Christian who hands out expired-dated bento from 7-11. Across the street from Gov Blinky's City Hall, west Shijuku park between 6:30-8:00 am to get the good stuff free.

Taro trick two:
Walk Shinjuku Kabucho at 4:30am and collect all the whiskey empties. Unturn the empties in a large funnel and decant the World's Finest whiskey, Taro's Blend(tm) from the remaining drops in the bottom of each bottle. A disabled homeless guy also named Taro used to share his Taro's Blend(tm) blend with me: best damn blend known to man.

Taro trick three:
Female employees of convenience stores will give you anything if you ask with a gaijin charm. I routinely used to cage "train fare to work" from the store girls by Eibsu station.


(((Actually in Chicago, my family runs the charity called DIGNITY DINER for the homeless, so this whole system of eating free is very close to my heart...I was serving meals last GW vacation.)))

[AssKissinger]

My first couple years here I got free shit all the time just by sending out esp messages. I'm not into it any more though. A free item just isn't worth the trouble of human interaction. Probably my best score was a free trip to Europe but that took a lot of work.

[Mulboyne]

I agree with Taro that you could easily do two months on $100. that gets you 11,000 around current rates and gives you 180 yen a day. If you eat at home at least half the time by cooking for yourself then food won't be a problem.
I think your biggest initial challenge, depending on how you have set the bet, is getting to Shiga ken from Narita Airport unless your hiking skills are exceptional. You could make quite a dent in your 11,000 if you take the trains. And you need enough to get back too.
Although Shiga may have some cheap food opportunities, I'm think you'd be better off trying this bet in a big city. The problem I'd find with your bet would be boredom. At least in the city, you've got enough to fill two months. Bring a lot of books. International hotels usually have free newspapers and magazines available.
I think you'd also find more potential cash work in the cities and you can avoid public transport relatively easily by walking.

[DJEB]

Taro Toporific:
Tell me more about the tokyo dumpster diving scen. As a poor and struggling student I am very interested...

There's also the mooching beer off Douglas scene that my poor and struggling student friends are into...

[Taro Toporific]

... The problem I'd find with your bet would be boredom. At least in the city, you've got enough to fill two months. Bring a lot of books. International hotels usually have free newspapers and magazines available... you can avoid public transport relatively easily by walking.

ALWAYS walk with a smile while hitching rides in the countryside.
Dull it what you make it...I'd watch sodai-gomi TV plugged into out for a vending machine.

[Greener]

What I would like to know is how did you get into a situation where you could make a bet like this and how can I get in on it?

[Skankster]

-
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Like the topic says, I'm going to Japan with 100 dollars in my pocket on a bet. I have to make it for two months. However, I'm allowed to make money however I may once I arrive. For example, I've slapped up this. It's a very basic journal / illustrated website, but people seem to like it. airfare and a place to sleep are covered, but everything else is up to me.

I'm staying in Shiga-Ken with a friend. That's a pretty rural area I've heard. I also have very limited use of conversational Japanese (presently one year of formal education). This is gonna be interesting.

What do you advise?

p.s, I'm on a tourist visa.

You can do it
You can do it
You can do it
You can do it
You can do it
You can do it
You can do it
You can do it
You can do it

[Taro Toporific]

[dangermouse]

there is war going on in iraq right now.innocents getting plugged every day.i got more important shit on my mind than your sensational trip to japan.its a beat idea anyways.i came here with a 100 bucks in my pocket and no place to stay and i sure as hell didnt have a computer at the time to draw fancy animation on.my story wasnt sensational, it was a pain in the ass but i got through it.who suggested this cat film this?goddammit.this country is turning the board into a bunch of wooses.
listen pal, i suggest u use your energy in a more adult manner and just get yourself a job and stop wasting our time and filling up the procrastinators minds here with useless garbage to play with.your idea is whack but something good may come out of it.u may have a tough ride once u get here enough so to get through to you what a dumb idea it was in the first place.
i dont like your government.why not use your energy to petition a pullout from iraq?every day, innocent lives are being lost.im sorry,but its hard to listen to meaningless garbage like this when we are surrounded by the shit we are in right now.

[Caustic Saint]

its hard to listen to meaningless garbage like this when we are surrounded by the shit we are in right now.

Actually, it's the shit we're surrounded by that makes the "meaningless garbage" worthwhile.

I can get 31 flavors of gloom and doom from any number of websites. I come to FG for the stuff that isn't like all the rest.

[AssKissinger]

PEOPLE ARE STARVING!!!

[dangermouse]

cmon, dont push it with those pics.im in danger of looking stupid.for real though, what kind of post is this?

[Taro Toporific]

cmon, dont push it with those pics.im in danger of looking stupid.for real though, what kind of post is this?

"what kind of post is this?" Which post?

If you mean "Japan with 100 dollars.. for two months," I believe the original poster "Mike" said on his website that he got sick with Measles during his last weeks in Japan. With or without insurance, illness would have busted his $100 budget.

[dangermouse]

getting ill in japan is tough as hell.no family, no known doctor, and ridiculous costs.the truth is i cant afford to be ill in japan.when i come down with something i lie in bed crossing my fingers.

[Andocrates]

getting ill in japan is tough as hell.no family, no known doctor, and ridiculous costs.the truth is i cant afford to be ill in japan.when i come down with something i lie in bed crossing my fingers.

Man that's the truth. I have been turned away at the hospital. They told me to go to another hospital, which in turn would have told me to go to yet another hospital. So I just went home and fortunately I didn't die.