Singin' the Capitalist Blues

When people bitch and moan that Tokyo is sooooo expensive I will usually argue with them (and no, it's not because I just like to argue...). If you know where to look and don't succumb to the "must have brand labels at any cost" mentality, you can get away in Tokyo for a song (so long as its not Britney Spears, which can cost you a hell of a lot in this town, and I'm not talking money).

The exception to this is transport, a necessary evil that you can't avoid and can't shop around for. This became grossly apparent to us yesterday when we went for a day trip to Chichibu, the closest National Park to Tokyo.

We wanted to go up to the Mitsumine Shrine Complex and the cheapest way to get there (three trains, a bus and the cable car) takes 2 and a half hours from Ikebukuro and costs 3600 yen - thats about $A50 my friends, ONE WAY. As it turned out, when we got to Mitsumineguchi, Matt and I pooled our collective resources, and discovered we only had 3,000 yen between us. Ah, it felt like old times when we were poor and eating ramen off an upturned cardboard box...

We couldn't afford the trip up to the Shrine complex so we just traipsed around Chichibu, quite a beautiful, but melancholy little farming and mountain community. We only spent about 4 hours there, but it whetted our appetite for the 2 day hike which starts just past the shrine complex and continues down to Oku-Tama.

Next time, we'll remember to bring the piggie bank.