I know that I've said a few times that living in Tokyo is expensive - more expensive than any other place that we have been before. But it's hard to imagine just how pricey it is to live here without some kind of perspective. That being said, after summers spent outside of the country, Sean and I have both been re-shocked by how much money we have to spend in order to do the things we want to do. Combing through our weekend receipts and entering them in the budget we remembered how quickly wallets are emptied in the city.  Here's a glance at our weekend dollar by dollar so you can get a taste of what it's like to live in the Asian version of the Big Apple.

This is the Suica card that you can use to buy anything such as: metro fare, convenience store purchases, bike parking and vending machine items

Friday

Sean returned from two weeks at camp so we decided to go out to dinner (something we don't do very often and you'll soon see why). We went to Craft Brewing Co. in Kichijoji, which is about 15 minutes away by bus or two stops on the metro. The level of quality, relative price and atmosphere is like New Holland Brewing or Founders Brewing in Michigan with good food and a variety of different beers to try. We decided to take the bus because it's cheaper then paying for the metro and paying to park our bikes.

Bus ride return tickets for two people = $10
Normal meal with three beers apiece = $130 (and that's without a tip - they don't tip in Japan)

The gates where you swipe your card to enter/exit the metro

Saturday

We had planned weeks in advance to take a day trip with our local hiking group to a mountain outside of Tokyo. Here's the breakdown of how much this simple day trip cost.

Bike ride to metro station - bike parking for two people for one day = $2
Two coffees and two rolls for breakfast = $15
Bought food for sack lunches at 7-11 (one apple, two sandwiches, two chips, one chocolate) = $28
Two metro tickets to the station to get to the base (one way tickets for two people) = $30
One way bus tickets to get from the station to the trailhead for two people = $20
Group participation fee for two people = $6
Admission fee to the public baths for two people = $15
One way bus tickets for two people to get back to the station = $20
Night train metro tickets to get from mountain station to home station one way for two people = $60
Two bowls of ramen = $16

Hiking trip total = $196 (!!)
Weekend total (excluding Sunday) = $336 (!!)

The machines where you add money to your Suica card

Japan's steep prices are the biggest limitation for us to do anything besides stay in our apartment. This also explains why we didn't do any traveling together last year - it was way out of our budget. Most of the cost is due to the high prices of food, drinks and transportation. We haven't stayed at a hotel while we've been here as it's impossible to find a room under $100. This year we have a little bit of money saved and are hoping to do one or two bigger trips and several smaller one or two day adventures. There are always really cool events and social outings happening and it's been difficult to choose which ones we should definitely attend and which we should skip. Although the hiking day trip ended up being very expensive for us (but a normal expense in Tokyo) we were happy we went because of the chance to hang out with Japanese friends, learn about a new place and get out of the city for the day. The great weather, beautiful colored leaves and group conversation were worth every penny.

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