24 HOUR CHALLENGE with $100 in Tokyo!

24 HOUR CHALLENGE with $100 in Tokyo!

Hey guys, it’s me, Jimmy. Some people say that everything in Japan is really affordable. Some people say that everything in Japan is super expensive. But how far does your money really take you in Japan? This is 15,000 yen, exactly about $100 in today’s currency. And today, I’m going to challenge myself to survive an entire day with this. I’m going to explore some of the most popular spots in the city, have amazing meals that are very local, and even splurge on things that I don’t really have to. So, what is it like spending $100 US in Japan and how far does it take you? Let’s find out. To start this challenge, I come to Akihabara in Tokyo. This is where you find all kinds of anime stores, made cafes, all kinds of bizarre concept cafes, and of course, pretty good restaurants, too. And talking about food, I think it’s the perfect time for my breakfast. So, as my breakfast, I think I’m going to have this thing called jukatsu, which is this deep fried beef dish. They have a very popular franchise here called Motoa that you’ll find in Tokyo. And that looks amazing. Let’s go inside. Wow, it’s a very tight space. Since my budget is very limited, I think I’m going to get a 1.5 serving, 130 g. Thank God. It seems that this tea is free, ice cold, perfect for this weather. Of course, being literally shoulderto-shoulder with other people is not the most comfortable experience, but it’s also kind of comforting in a way that you are accepted as a customer even if you showed up by yourself. So what they do here is they have this portable grill that’s really cool. You cook your own meat here on this grill. So how you eat this cucatsu is actually very interesting. It’s super fun. So you would grab this meat very well marbled Japanese wagyu. You put it on top of this grill. You see how the meat is actually quite raw on the inside? That’s because you had to cook it. That looks delicious as hell. With the beef, you also get miso soup, the dipping sauces, little side dishes, even a little dessert, and of course, white rice. This right here is their polo egg or menntico in Japanese. And this is grated yam. Kind of interesting, right? What they often do is you add that to the rice and you eat the rice just like that. These Japanese people, they really figure things out. Once you’re done cooking, they got these beautiful dipping sauce. [Music] Wow. For a meal that’s just over $10, it’s unbelievable. The meat is about as tender as it gets. Super juicy, and the fried surface is very thin, so it’s not like super oily, but it adds like a really great texture to it. They have all kinds of dipping sauces. I love all of them. My god, this is amazing. But I just inhaled everything. Not a single Japanese yen wasted. Wow, that was actually an amazing meal. So, I have 13,000 yen to spend now. Hm, what should I spend it on? Well, since I got some money left to spend, why don’t I spend it on entertainment that isn’t food? Very often in Japan, you’ll see these arcades or game centers. And I can tell you from my experience that this is a place where you can have a lot of fun without spending too much money. So, the most popular types of machines are definitely the crane machines here. They call it UFO machines. Reason being, these things come down and grab them and then they take it away just like how UFOs kidnap people. You most likely will have to use cash and you can exchange your cash here. Let me see if I can do this, guys. It’s 200 yen per attempt. And I’m going to use all of my brain power. I think I actually got it. Watch this. Huh? Now a few more. I think I got it. That’s 200 yen gone from my very limited budget. Okay. Oh, guys, I’m actually so close right now. This is for my viewers. Come on. Yes. Are you kidding me? Hell yes. I can’t believe that they’re not all rigged. This is so fun, guys. I think I actually have talent in this. How about I go for something smaller? It’s a Turbo Grandma character from Dandan. I personally didn’t really like the anime, but I like the character. So, you guys don’t have to doubt me anymore. I know I got this 200 gone from my limited budget, but I’m going home with something. That’s cool. They also have video game video games here. This one’s really interesting. You become a train conductor in Japan. That’s so cool. So, it seems that they have a lot of video game video games here, too. I won’t lie, some of these look insanely fun. Since I am here, let me try to play one of them. Let me try this Gundam game. Let’s do this. Well, that was only 100 yen. I feel like such a boomer now. The arcade games are super cool. It’s come a long way from Snow Bros. 1,100 yen gone. But that was hell of a time. Since I am all the way here in Akiabara, I feel like I have to go into one of these hobby stores. Maybe get myself a little toy. Wow, this is so cool. I am a weeb myself. But I must say, some of these things are quite bizarre. Okay, that’s just ridiculous. It looks so pointy that it’s going to hurt me. You see, guys, I actually resonate a lot with this character. She’s like this really shy character. And when I was in high school, I was very much like her. In the anime, there’s a scene where she goes to a bar for a job interview to get a part-time job. And she’s too shy to knock on the door. So, she just walks around hesitating in front of the bar for hours. And that was me back when I was in middle school. Once upon a time in Canada, when I first started training martial arts, I went to this MMA gym. I really wanted to start training because I wanted to be cool and tough, but I was so shy that I couldn’t go into the gym for like hours. And then after like 3 hours, I finally manned up, went into the gym, and that was the beginning of my training journey. Good old days. They got comic books here. Oh man, Berserk used to be amazing. Unfortunately, the author passed and the manga never got finished. It could have been like the all-time greatest. Now there’s another manga artist and his assistants that are working on Berserk, but it’s just not the same. This is a body pillow cover. People cover a huge pillow with it and sleep with it. Apparently, if I stay unmarried for the next a few years, one of these will be my wife. As I was walking, I found this thing that looks very interesting. It’s called a dog cafe. I’m pretty sure it’s like a coffee shop where they have dogs. I hope they’re not serving desserts made with dog meat. 30 minutes or you can drink. I’ll do 30 minutes then. Don’t pick up. I just pat. Okay. $1,450 yen. Just disinfect my hands. About $10. Not bad at all. Thank you. So, the all you can drink includes these canned drinks. They don’t have a barista working here, but that’s okay. For us, I was expecting too much. I’m going to get this boss black coffee. They got like other cute sodas and drinks here, too. Not a whole lot of options, but that’s okay. You wear their slippers before you go in. I have the crazy power and charm of this dog treat. Oh my god, look at these guys. They love me. Oh, this guy looks funny. Like this place has a lot of animal lovers. It’s kind of a tight space. Almost like a little hallway. That’s the entire cafe. Hey, that’s my dog treat. Hey, stop. Obey me. Come here. Come on. The moment they realize that I’m not giving out treats, they kind of lost the interest in me. We start with a good coffee. It’s like the same thing that they have in convenience stores. Let’s find out if they actually like the treat. Hey, they’re fighting each other so passionately. They’re not paying attention. Oh, I got the attention of this dog here. Dog there. Oh, good dog. Do you have a name? Clearly, he doesn’t care. This might make me sound like a terrible person, but I’m not really a huge animal person. Like, I like them. I think they’re cool. I just don’t get the whole thing where some people treat them like they’re better than people or like they’re more adorable than people. I disagree. I’m not a dog person. I’m not a cat person. I’m a person person, you know. Let’s see if I can summon the dogs by shaking this. Yes, I can. You know what? It’s party time for you guys. It’s Hostess bar Champagne Tower style. It’s all yours, guys. You guys love that, huh? Apparently, there’s a lot of animal cafes like this, not just for dogs, but for cats and other exotic animals, too. If you guys want a dedicated video on that, just let me know down in the comments. Since this is all you can drink, maybe I should make the best out of the deal by drinking dozens of these. Here’s something that can be fun as well. It’s a gacha machine. What you do with this one is you put in coins and you turn this knob and you get one of the items that’s on display. I want to try this one that has Dandan character merch. Okay, it’s 400 yen. And all I have to do now is to turn this. Want to find out what I got. Oh, hell yes. I got the Turbo Baba. Wow. It’s the character that I couldn’t get from the clean machine. This is so awesome. She’s like my favorite character from the anime. Second favorite. Only second to Momo’s grandma. Momo’s grandma is a real hottie. All right, I think I spent enough time in Akiabara. That was really fun. And now I’m going to take a train and go to Shibuya. All right, let’s take this one right here. Wo, this is kind of a scary entrance for a train station. I feel like there would be some kind of a Japanese ghost that would be following me. So, taking a train in Japan is pretty simple. You just need to get a transportation card and charge it like the one that I have right here. You can also buy oneway tickets from the machine or register a transportation card in your phone. Every time you get on, you scan this card and it’s going to let you in. The train stations often have vending machines like these ones right here. I’m kind of thirsty right now, so I think I’m going to get the Pukari Suetto, which is electrolyte drink. This was 180, about $120. Not bad. So, I’ve arrived here at the Shinjuku station. And once you arrive, what you do is you scan this card again. And that was 209 yen. Not bad for a 20some minute ride, right? Many of you guys might already know this, but Tokyo is literally the biggest city in the world with over 30 million people and Shibuya is one of the most central area in Tokyo. Hence, there’s just a lot of people. I mean, the density of population here is just ridiculous. Everywhere you look, it’s just people, people, more people. After walking around for some time, I became hungry again. And I think it’s time for me to try some more Japanese food. This time I want to get something that is very Japanese. I don’t know if you guys know this Japanese food called sushi and I think I want to get that within my budget. So there’s this sushi franchise called sushi row. I found it in Shibuya. They have it all over Japan. I have had it before. Looks like it’s so popular that I had to queue up. This is what drives me crazy about being in Japan these days. It’s so popular. There’s so many people. You can’t really get anything done without waiting. Well, well, looks like I’d be sitting here again, shoulderto-shoulder with other people, but that’s okay. And you order the food using this tablet that you see in front of you. I think I’m still pretty good on the budget. It’s time to splurge. Oh, see urchin. Oh, that’s 490 yen. That’s so expensive. I’ll just get one. You can get a spicy pork ramen and you get a little BTS figure. Hell yes. I have to support my countrymen. Although they’re probably multi-millionaires. They don’t need my money. And that’s my order. Well, well, how about that? And that’s my salmon. I got ikura sushi here, too. They have this bottle of showyu or soy sauce. You kind of have to like manually add it to your sushi. Allow me, guys. You know what? That’s decent looney. It’s not fishy. It’s just a little bit bitter, but for what I’m paying, I feel like that was really good. Let me try the salmon. That looks like a Chinese immigrant in America made salmon. It’s honestly quite good for what I’m paying. So, if you’re on social media, you guys might have seen a lot of these super expensive um acas restaurants in Japan. All these like $300 plus sushi restaurants. But in reality, in Japan, most Japanese people, they get their sushi here. That kind of um ACA restaurant is simply too expensive for most Japanese. So, you could argue that this is truly a middle-ass Japanese experience. Wow, the salmon egg is good. Should I try this eel as well? That’s good eel. So, some of these pieces are actually not that cheap, at least in Japanese standards. But the quality here is surprisingly good. Like the fish actually feels quite fresh. H, that piece of tuna is almost $3. It’s kind of a crazy demand. This better be really, really good. Some wasabi. [Music] That was pretty good. Still a little too expensive for a single piece. However, I think this one could be a great deal. It’s a spicy ramen. Oh, that actually looks really decent. Looks like they’ve honored their promise. I got my BTS merch. Oh, look. There’s my tempura, too. Looks like a nice meal here. How good is the ramen? Let’s see. [Music] Yeah, I like I actually like this ramen. It’s very spicy for Japanese food cuz in Japan they don’t have a lot of spicy food, but this is good portion for what I paid. Certainly a great deal. Let me try their tempura, too. I think I’m going to love this sweet potato tempura. Oh, it feels so crispy. Wow, their tempura is legitimately good. Let me try the shrimp tempura. I’m allergic to shrimp, but my allergies can s my D. This is a great tempura. The shrimp isn’t like insanely fat and plump. It’s like a midsize shrimp. Not particularly fresh or amazing, but it’s good enough. And but the tempura being super fresh, super hot, it just makes it so good. And here’s my dessert. The jiggly Japanese pudding. It has a very sweet caramel eggy flavor. Oh my god, that’s so good. Because everything else that I had was so savory. The introduction to this sweet pudding, it’s a shock to my taste buds. Let’s see how much money I spent. All nine items combined. 3,80. The budget was definitely stretched, but that’s okay. I’m just really good at stretching things unintentionally. You know, things like pizza dough. All right, so that was pretty decent sushi. So far, I’ve spent a little over 8,000 yen. So, you could say I got a little more money to spend. And because I’ve worked so hard today, I think I deserve some luxury, maybe a good massage. So, I found this massage business as I was walking around. And it looks like they got some affordable massage options. 1,100 yen for 10 minutes. And trust me, guys, it’s not a funny massage place. I hope it’s not. I really do. So, I just paid 2,200 yen at the counter. And this is the massage place. I’m actually one of those people that don’t really get massages, like my body doesn’t feel that uncomfortable, but since I’ve walked a lot and I’ve done a lot of things, I feel like my body could use some recovery. So, this is the room that I’ll be getting my massage in. I won’t lie, this has a bit of a funny vibe, but it’s an honest familyfriendly business, I believe. All right, I got changed into their t-shirt and their shorts. I hope the massage is good. So, it looks like I get my massage with the face down. All right, let’s get some massage. Oh my god, he’s good. Wow, he’s actually really good at this. I actually didn’t know I needed a massage, but it turns out I do. Oh man, this massage is getting really good. I think I’m going to actually focus on it. Goodbye, guys. Wow, that massage was unexpectedly good. They gave me a cup of ice green tea to end the massage with refreshing. You know, guys, I am glad that it wasn’t one of those funny massage places. I really am. So, so far I’ve spent about 10,500 yen. Doing pretty well on the budget. I think I’m going to have enough money for dinner and maybe some shopping, too. Talking about shopping, let’s go buy some stuff. So, for my shopping time, I’m going to go to Matskio. It’s one of the drugstore chains in Japan. This is where you can buy a lot of everyday consumer products, cosmetics, drugs, really all kinds of things that can be used. They have a really cute face mask here with a shojo manga style character on it. I don’t know what it’s good for. It’s about 500 yen. I think I’m going to buy it. I’m going to get a sunscreen because I care about my beauty. That’s 800 yen. Oh, look at this. With this, you can draw yourself Gojo style eyelash. This is already pushing towards the limit of my budget. So, I think I’m just going to get these, too. Man, this video is kind of like a Hollywood movie. I have to work with limited budget, but there’s a beautiful talent in it. That wasn’t a lot, but that was a fun little time shopping. Hopefully, with all that UV protection, I become like Blackpink beautiful. So, it’s about 5:00 p.m. now and I’m hungry. I have like 3,000 yen that I can afford to spend. And for dinner, I am joined by a friend and we’re going to spend this 3,000 yen together. Please welcome my good friend, Diaan. Hi. She found this really affordable restaurant where we can have a dinner. Yeah. This is my best recommend isakaya. Really? Your favorite is this is so good vibes. [Applause] [Music] Wait, first off, what does mean? Japanese style restaurant. It’s like a Japanese style bar restaurant, right? Uh, yeah. Bar restaurant. Yeah. Okay. Okay. People go to drink alcohol. Mhm. Here’s a drink menu. A drink menu? Are you drinking? Are you old enough? But as as you know, I don’t like alcohol. Oh, wow. Their drinks are really cheap. What is this? Hiu. Hiu. 190. Yeah. Oh, that’s so cheap. I got money. Don’t worry about the money. You can order whatever you want. Just make sure they’re not too expensive. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Let’s order the food. Oh, they look so good. 35? Are you kidding me? That’s like 23 cents. Yeah. Oh, they got a bunch of fish cakes for 90 yen. Turns out I don’t have to feel so poor here. Oh my god. That is my 190 yen high ball. So, it’s the smallest size, but it’s not really that small. Nobody said that about me, by the way. A high ball is whiskey with sparkling water or tonic water. I really enjoy it when I’m in Japan. Well, nice to meet you again. Cheers. How come you don’t drink a lot? For me, once in 3 months. Once in 3 months. Yeah. Do you get like really really drunk? Oh, never. Never. That’s so responsible. You guys probably know this, too. But I don’t really drink either. Maybe back when I was your age. Even then, I didn’t really drink that much, but uh every once in a while, I get like super super drunk and make very stupid mistakes. Can you talk about that? No, I don’t want to talk about it. It doesn’t involve women. It does involve myself embarrassing myself in front of a woman. Oh. So when you’re in Japan, you come to Iakaya, they often give you this, which is a side dish. It looks like the cabbage here is for free. Infinity cabbage. Infinity cabbage. Oh yeah. If you run out of it, you can ask for more, right? She’s using all these sauces to sauce it up. Half miso and another side is chey. Your masterfully crafted cabbage. That’s the assorted odang. Allow me to try them. Oh my god, the the radish is so juicy. I love how when you get odang in Japan, they always have radish with it. This is so good. In Japanese, this is called daong daong. Wow. It’s just reddish, but this is so good. Let me try some of that fish cake, too. I like how it comes with a little smear of mustard. Wow, that’s honestly good quality. If you brought the same food to America, sold it at like a really expensive restaurant, people would be like, “Wow, this is so delicate. This is so amazing, so luxurious.” It has a nice touch. It doesn’t feel like some frozen food. You should try some, too. I’ll try this tofu. That looks very nice. It’s like those things that you have in like udong, right? Yeah. You know why I wear that? Of course. Cuz I’m a food expert, also a Japan expert. This is very good. Odang, honestly, this is Japanese taste. Japanese taste. You should have more of the egg yolk. I want you to become strong. More calories. Okay. Like you like me? Yeah. Kind of a random thing to say. I feel like the beauty standards in Japan definitely changed a lot for men. The mainstream popular men in Japan used to be like very skinny and not really that tall. But I feel like in the recent years, the tall muscular guys became the more attractive guys, right? You definitely see that in like their movies and their media too. Macho macho like slender macho. Explain to me what this is. Kushi. Kushiag. So these are fried food that comes in skewers and what you do with it is you put wano sauce. We do not know. A little bit sweet. So, it’s like a sweet sauce. Why don’t you try some? Is this onion? Oh, green onions. Oh, that looks crispy as hell. [Music] Let me have that, too. Look on the inside. That looks so juicy. [Music] Oh, Japanese style. Wow. Wow. That’s okomiyaki. It’s like a Japanese style pancake. It’s flour base and the little flakes on top. They’re called gatsu bushi. So, it’s a smoked dried skipj tuna that’s shaped into like super thin slices. So, it’s like very paper thin and flaky. Very flavorful. Nice grilled skewers. Fantastic. Fantastic. Smells good. Yeah. This is such a satisfying meal. And I feel like I actually didn’t spend a lot of money. This is so cool. I want to try this cure. That looks like that’s chicken skin, right? So, they call it toriikawa. So blobby and fatty, but it’s good. Could use some kind of a sauce though. You should probably use some sauce if you want. It is a little bland. What the hell is this? That’s just onion. That’s so cute. Onion. Wow. Yeah, that’s so good. That’s actually amazing. You should try it, too. Is it onion? I’m not sure if it’s onion. It feels like it’s some kind of odang. No, fish. Because it had these rings. I thought it was onion. I feel like it was some kind of a odang, like fish cake that’s like thin, but they rolled it up, so they made it round. I think that’s what it was. It was really good. Allow me. I’m sorry for just biting off the skewer like a savage, but that’s how people do it in Asia. No. And then I hand it to the other person. Chicken. Okay. So, sharing food this way, scooping out of the same pot of soup in Asia is very common. It’s not considered like disgusting, but if the other person doesn’t want to do it, then you should not do it. And this is like an insider information. If somebody does this and you go like this, you offer it to a girl and the girl goes, “Oh, no thank you.” Then one, she’s not interested in you. Two, in fact, you’re below a friend. Is this true? Maybe. Oh, it’s 100% true. I feel like if you’re a friend, most people are cool with it. So for someone to be like, “Oh, no.” Then it’s like below a friend. But for me, it’s a close friend. I I don’t care about the like you like me. Yeah, I have to say that. Thank you. So, I want to try this beautiful okonomiyaki. I mean, this is so affordable for what it is. Pretty much flour, vegetable pancake with gatsubushi on top and a lot of sauce. [Music] It’s so simple. And the sauce is like sweet showyu and mayo. It’s a little hard to explain how they go together, but it’s just like really delicious for what it is. In Japan, we call this as okonomyaki sauce. Approved. So, here’s the bill. I thought it was going to be just under 3,000, but it turns out they have sales taxes as well as the table charge, and that’s 3.90 per person. So, it looks like I’ll be going just over the budget. Hope you guys forgive me. Thank you so much. No, thank you. That was such a fantastic time. Let’s get out of here. Yeah, that was a super affordable great isizakaya. Yeah, all thanks to the table charge. I’m negative balance now, but thank you so much for bringing me here. Yeah, thank you so much. So, it turns out for $100 in Japan, you can actually get a lot of things done. Yeah, it’s enough. You can have so much fun, have all kinds of food, and experience a lot of things. I told you guys I can stretch it. Are you satisfied? Oh, 100%. So, this is a new concept of video for me. I hope you guys enjoyed it and if you guys want to watch more videos like this in other countries like Korea, China, Singapore, Switzerland, Dubai, just let me know down in the comments and go watch my other videos and don’t forget to like and subscribe Two.

Tokyo is known as one of the most expensive cities in Asia — but depending on how you spend your time, it can actually be surprisingly budget-friendly.
In this video, I’m challenging myself to spend just $100 over the course of an entire day in Tokyo.
From three meals to shopping and even some fun experiences, I’ll show you exactly what $100 can get you in Japan.

Watch the video to see how far your money can really go in Tokyo!

00:00 Introduction
00:30 Breakfast-Gyukatsu
02:42 Arcade Games
05:03 Anime Store
06:25 Dog Cafe
08:42 Gatcha Game
09:20 Train to Shibuya
10:33 Lunch-Sushi
14:51 Massage
16:25 Shopping
17:12 Dinner-Izakaya

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