In This Issue:
Tokyo on a Dime

By: Will Aitken, a Montreal-based journalist & novelist

Everyone's heard the Tokyo horror stories - the $24 small glass of orange juice, hotel rooms that start at $650, the $1000 steak dinner for two, the round-the-block taxi ride for $40. And true, you can still spend this kind of money in Tokyo, if you're so inclined or on a generous expense account. But if you really want to do Tokyo on the cheap, it's not only possible, it's a great way of getting to know the city and its people.

The fishmonger screams to the fruit man that his mussels are so fresh they sparkle; the fruit man shouts to the fresh tofu lady that his peaches are the juiciest ever; and the tofu lady hollers back that her tofu chunks taste the way silk feels. An open market in a small provincial town in Japan? No, I'm in the basement of the splendiferous multi-story Takashimiya department store, in the heart of Tokyo's up-all-night/shop-all-day Shinjuku pleasure quarter. The hawkers singing to each other create one great cacophonous chorus to background one's shopping experience. I'm down here because it's one of the best places for lunch or a take-out supper in the city. Supermarket doesn't begin to describe the place. It's so long you can't see from one end to the other. Here you can buy pastries from Fauchon of Paris, cheese courtesy of Peck of Milano, and bratwurst from Dallmayr of Munich. But the imported stuff, tempting though it is, is costly. Local foods are not. Well, if you skip the $126 muskmelon glowing on its plinth. This is a presentation fruit, as opposed to an eating fruit. You gift another with it-your host, your boss, your prospective father-in-law. But if you want to eat your fruit right away, you can buy an enormous peach for $4, which sounds a bit pricy until you bite into it-the Japanese do peaches better than anyone else.

There are lunch counters here, where you can sit down to a plate of sushi for $12, or a selection of veg tempura and yakitori (chicken on a stick) for about the same price. A can of Kirin beer and daifuku, a soft rice cake stuffed with sweetened bean paste, and you've just had lunch in the heart of Tokyo for fifteen bucks. If you're feeling flush, you can take the elevator up to the Takashimiya's top three floors, where there are an array of moderately priced restaurants, everything from Chinese to Italian to traditional Japanese. Lunch will run you $20-$30.

For my money, the best deal in Tokyo is people-watching. Go to the Daikanyama district, and trawl the funked-up music, manga (comic books) and t-shirt shops. Hang out on the Omotesando in Harajuku and catch the teens in their fantastical street wear and the ladies who lunch in their perfect French hats and Birkin bags. Or souvenir shop in the open air market in Asakakusa and visit Senso-ji, the incense-hung Buddhist temple.

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