We Spent a Month in Osaka, Japan! | Our Experience + Budget Info

A chattier vlog than usual for you today. We wanted to share our experience of staying a whole month in a single Japanese city. What the vibe was like, what our diet was like, and the approximate cost of things. We have no regrets about this decision – it was a really chill and enjoyable time!

Thanks so much for watching! Please subscribe if you’d like to follow more of our adventures – we are off to Nara and then Tokyo next! 🙂

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/loganandtim/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Loganandtim

Links to the new podcast:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2Zdw22EfRq39DS190Dz3Ih?si=d6c909d4b415490d
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/spectacle-of-power/id1741896680

Timestamps:
00:00 – Intro and Why We Chose Japan/Osaka
01:14 – Airbnb in Daikokucho
03:43 – Cherry Blossoms / Sakura
04:09 – Food and Rough Pricing
07:52 – Would We Recommend This Length of Stay?
09:00 – New Project – Fantasy Podcast
09:46 – Round-up of Accommodation and Daily Costs
10:24 – Concluding Thoughts

[Music]
hello everyone I’m Logan I’m Tim and
we’ve been staying in Osaka for a month
now now we came here because a we’re
traveling the world at the moment we
love Japan we’ve been to Japan before we
were looking for an affordable ish
location that we could settle down for a
longer amount of time and work on some
of our art projects yeah we said in our
Vlog that we released recently that
Japan is a really comfortable travel
destination for us the people are just
so friendly it’s cost effective it feels
really safe and the food is damn good
let’s be clear yeah definitely overall
it’s worked down about 50% cheaper than
living in New Zealand so as far as
people who are looking to go somewhere
that’s really safe and comfortable who
want to work on a project write a book
or work remotely then Japan’s really
worth considering and I think a lot of
the things that people tell you about
the costing and that it’s very expensive
are based on being a tourist and they’re
not based on what it’s like to actually
live here um so we’re going to share
some of our tips and tricks and give you
an overview of what it’s cost us and
what it’s been like to be here for a
whole month so we have this really
amazing apartment first of all Ino cucha
which is the neighborhood that we’re
based in it’s actually super close to
doam borei the tourist mea of Osaka
really it’s basically just one subway
stop so it couldn’t really be easier and
it’s so quiet and and a lovely feel in
the neighborhood yeah we noticed that
when we do go out into town and check
out some stuff and come back we think
it’s so nice and quiet around here we’re
really happy with this choice we are
near three train lines two Subway Lines
that are underground um that take us to
a lot of different places basically
ensures you can get anywhere in Osaka uh
we got to the castle really easily we’re
near shinai where the tower is which is
a really interesting place to visit yeah
the location is fantastic the apartment
itself is a two-bedroom apartment it has
one like West style room which we’re in
now that has a queen-sized bed in it and
it has one toi room which is a real Vibe
yeah uh so this particular room we’ve
used is kind of like a flexie space it’s
been our office where we’ve been working
on our projects it’s also been our
living space where we’ve watched some TV
played some Nintendo and just kind of
chilled in there and we have stepped in
there a couple of times overall we found
the Wiston style beard a little more
comfortable for us but I think that
might be partly down to the futon
they’ve given us is quite thin and we
have stayed on other ones that were more
comfortable but and I think over time
you just build up your resilience um
we’re delicate snowflakes at the moment
when it comes to the tatami room but it
is such a beautiful space and so
traditional feeling which has been
really cool because we’ve also been
watching the TV show Shogun yes so it’s
been a little immersive yeah it’s
different when you’re on a tatami floor
also the tatami floor is an acoustic
surface it absorbs sound so we’ve been
recording this podcast and it’s actually
been sounding really good and it’s been
helping with some of the the road noise
around us so we’re on the fourth floor
of a small residential building we have
a kitchen we have a very simple bathroom
and um yeah it’s sort of everything we
need price-wise in New Zealand Dollars
it’s about 775 New Zealand dollars per
night but I think that’s a steal for
what you get and being so well located
yeah and the reason we got a price that
good is because if you book for a month
on ear BNB many hosts will offer a
considerable discount um so I think
that’s really worth considering when
you’re planning a longer trip and maybe
you’re working on a project if you
stayed for 2 weeks you maybe would have
got a weekly discount that wouldn’t have
been as good if you stay for less than a
week you’re not going to get any
discount at all I think we got 40% off
the price for staying for a month oh
another thing to mention is that in our
neighborhood there’s an abundance of
cherry blossom trees and we timed our
visit really well maybe inadvertently I
can’t remember if we knew this was
happening but it’s been in full bloom
bright pink absolutely gorgeous like a
postcard yeah and some areas of Japan
around cherry blossom season and get
very overcrowded and very expensive not
here we’ve avoided that by being out in
the residential suburb and yet we’ve got
to enjoy the cherry blossoms it was
really beautiful so you might be
wondering what sort of food have we been
eating since we’ve been here so it’s
been a combination of eating out and
making some food at home as well we’ve
loved places like Coco Curry House oh c
ity it’s so good we’ve eaten there quite
a bit you can expect to have a meal for
about 10 New Zealand Dollars um right up
to maybe if you really stack it out and
have a beer with it just full of flavor
and really customizable as well so as a
vegetarian there is a vegetarian Curry
base which has been really awesome also
we’ve been going to a place called ceria
This is Italian food quite an authentic
but actually it’s delicious and it’s
super cheap like we walk out of there
having had a whole Feast for like what
$617 into yeah if that in total there
are dishes in there that are between
four and five New Zealand dollars that
are like bowls of pasta so and like 500
Ms of wine white or red for how much is
that 400 Yen just crazy so 5 New Zealand
dollars so you can go on there have a
big meal and a drink for an incredibly
low price less than $10 per person
definitely AB I think you could even go
in there have a meal for5 New Zealand
dollars and leave and there’d be no
problems whatsoever and they’re very
attentive in there the service is very
warm so it’s just it’s a good place to
BU it very stressfree and easy yeah
we’ve also liked some little local
smaller businesses like with been going
to some place called The Berg a lot
where they make Hamburg they bring it
out with like a nice SLO the the Hamburg
and a sauce and some rice and I think
that is 900 Yen so that is um between 9
and 10 New Zealand dollars for a big
filling meal we’ve been to the odd plac
it’s been more expensive like when we
had economaki and Namba that was really
delicious but basically we’ve been
eating pretty humble and we’re really
fortunate because there’s a supermarket
just down the road called max value
which has enabled us to do our grocery
shopping and a lot of cooking in our
kitchen yeah so we’ve been making Korean
toast for breakfast a lot of days we’ve
brought cereal brought coffee with
simple things like that we often make a
sandwich or something for lunch and
sometimes for dinner what we do is we
just get a Bento from the supermarket
they’re work out at about 5 to6 New
Zealand Dollars you pop it in the
microwave and you’ve got a full like
really nice meal nice yeah high quality
as well or we just make a quick pasta or
a soup or a curry or what else is Stir
Fry yeah we want to try and keep costs
as low as possible but still eat well
yeah you can expect like a bottle of
milk to cost about $2 New Zealand
Dollars vegetables from like1 to2 New
Zealand dollars and um something like a
chicken breast for example like a big
one would be about 200 yen so yeah2 and
half New Zealand dollars and the eggs we
buy are about
$150 in ZD which is crazy because in New
Zealand well when we left New Zealand
eggs were like like $66 $7 for a little
sixpack and like $12 to $15 for a 12pack
so it’s like eggs have been so cheap
here with been scoffing them back yeah
some things are a little more expensive
like cheese um if you buy cheese slices
or even the shredded cheese that can uh
get up there in price but overall we’re
noticing that the supermarket is a heck
of a lot cheaper than back in New
Zealand which is just through the roof
in terms of the cost of living like it’s
cooked like a lot of other countries out
there America and UK as well yeah so it
feel feels like a huge relief from our
economy being here um but we do notice
if you eat Japanese style food in
Japanese restaurants and at the
supermarket you will get a better price
if you try and make something more
Western and need some more unique
imported ingredients the price starts
the Skyrocket so you’ve got to kind of
change that mindset and be willing to
eat like the locals do if you want to
save a lot of money definitely so would
we recommend spending a month in Osaka I
think a resounding yes yeah it’s been
really cozy I am now starting to feel
like oh I’m ready to move on to another
place so we’ve got a plan to go to Nara
soon we’ll make a video and then Tokyo
where I have a number of friends I’m
going to catch up with so I’m really
looking forward to that yeah but up
until this point I’ve been really
content just to chill here in Osaka just
pottering around our neighborhood
getting on with some of those creative
projects that we’ve mentioned it’s felt
really natural being here I think if
you’re looking for a place with those
attributes somewhere that will give you
time and space to do your work or write
something I’d highly recommend it if
you’re after a tourism packed Adventure
holiday maybe you would do more
activities than we did um but we feel
really happy with what we got out of
Osaka and we think had we done it in
Tokyo or had we done it in Kyoto um it
would have cost us more money so that’s
a big win for us absolutely and remember
that we’ve been on a whirlwind tour of
Asia we’ve been repping through places
like Thailand Vietnam Taiwan South Korea
so we were ready for a little bit of a
rest and this has absolutely served the
purpose yeah now just quickly a little
bit of Shameless self-promotion here
yeah we’ve mentioned that we’ve been
working on a podcast a few times this is
a fantasy Fiction podcast so look it
won’t be to everyone’s taste but if you
do enjoy fiction you do enjoy spending
some time in a fantasy world yes uh the
link to that is below this is something
that I’ve been writing for a few months
we’ve just got the time to record that
Tim’s doing some sound design and some
original music as well for the piece and
I’m doing my best to narrate although
it’s a bit Effy so do forgive me I think
it’s an awesome project it’s something
we’re actually really proud of um so if
you enjoy fantasy do check it out and
hopefully one day a novel yep we’ve
already recorded Nine episodes they’re
going to be released weekly so if you’d
like to listen to The prologue and
chapter one as I said it’s
below so just to give you a breakdown of
what we’ve spent over the 30 days we’ve
been here um so accommodation has been
$75 per day and our spending allowance
has been $50 New Zealand doll per day
now some days we didn’t spend that like
if you go to the supermarket for your
meals and you’re just working on your
project you could probably get by with
like 25 to 30 New Zealand dollars at a
minimum um but then there have been days
where we’ve gone out we’ve had a few
drinks some activities and we’ve spent
more like 70 to 80 overall we are pretty
much on budget we’ve spent a little bit
more than we planned to but not by much
so I’ll pop up a bit of a summary on the
screen of what it’s cost us MH okay well
I think that basically covers it I know
this has been quite a talky Vlog but we
just wanted to give give you a sense of
what we’re up to and where we’re going
next so as mentioned we’re getting to
Nada and then Tokyo before we go back to
New Zealand for a quick extint well
actually about a month yes and then
we’re heading to Europe which is
extremely exciting all right so please
subscribe to our Channel join us on our
journey around the world we’re doing
everything on a Sho string budget and we
hope we inspire you to plan a longer
trip that gives you better value than
these short expensive holidays yeah just
do it it’s an amazing cultural exchange
and so damn fun well until next time K
see you
[Music]