They say Tokyo’s the most expensive city on earth. Is that true of all Japan?
It’s like comparing the cost of living in Manhattan to that in Greenville, SC. Fukui and most other Japanese cities aren’t too bad – but it also depends on what you’re talking about. The cheapest beer I’ve seen here, for example, is at a joint called Bear’s Bar in downtown Fukui, where all the bottles are ¥500. That’s about $4.30 for a 12-oz. bottle of Asahi. And that’s a great deal. The 12-oz. canned drinks in most vending machines (mostly tea, plus the occasional Pepsi) run ¥120 each, or a little over a buck – not wildly out of proportion to the U.S. At the grocery store, beef will set you back an arm and a leg (so to speak), but chicken breasts are half what they cost in the states. Sushi here – surprisingly, about the same, maybe a little less. But much, much better.
