money, money, money

I've been thinking how am I going to make use of the Monbusho scholarship money? It's quite a bit of money, but it's not like I can shop all I want and buy all the Louboutins or Blahniks there are in Osaka.

Okay, after a bit of internet browsing, I realise that there's no point fantasizing about buying my first pair of Louboutins (or Jimmy Choo, or Blahnik) or Vuitton purse, because it's actually cheaper (by more than £100) to buy these luxury brands back in Britain. All thanks to recession and the exchange rate.

Hmm, so how shall I spend the money (wisely)?

1. Live on a diet of 果物、野菜、豆腐、なっとう、and ご飯, to minimize chances of spending money on food or eating out.

2. Walk (a lot).

3. Never take the 新幹線, for it is a rip-off. Will stick to tortoise-speed trains and overnight long-distance buses (also cutting costs on accommodation while travelling across the country during the holidays).

4. Find a バイト. Teach English or Chinese or something (clarinet?).

5. Entertainment shall be in the form of live broadcasts of New York's Metropolitan Opera in the cinema. (And illegal downloads of Grey's Anatomy, Gossip Girl and Ugly Betty. Maybe House and Mad Men as well). Try to avoid 居酒屋, カラオケ or anywhere that sells alcohol.

6. Clothes-shopping-wise (it is universally acknowledged that even women in possession of no fortune, must be in want of clothes. And shoes.), I'll be venturing to Uniqlo (every week, just like going to the church). One thing I don't like about Japan (and I love Japan, generally) is that there are only 2 H&M stores in the entire country, both in Tokyo (Ginza and Harajuku). And it seems that anything Western becomes high class in Japan, so I'll miss my weekly H&M therapy terribly.

So why am I wanting to be frugal, even though I'll be pocketing over £800 every month? At first I was planning to buy my first DSLR (and was deciding between a Nikon D90 or a Canon 50D, and was leaning towards the Nikon because then I can use the same lenses for my film SLR), but then I thought I could just save up (a lot) more money and buy a Leica M8 (I can hear 'O Fortuna' from Carmina Burana in my mind). That won't happen for a while. (For now I shall stick to my lovely compact and loyal Panasonic Lumix LX-2, which takes photos of great quality with a Leica lens, the good old Nikon F50 film SLR, and the funky Holga 120SF - I love cross-processing the Velvia 50 films.) So, I guess I'll be spending some of the money on other stuff, like covering living expenses (transport mainly, it's ridiculously expensive to travel around Japan), since my mother decided to cut me off this year because I've been awarded the scholarship. (I thought she would be really proud of me and decide to give me some sort of prize; instead, she's delighted because she won't have to spend a dime on me this year.)

I really want to do a lot of travelling this year, especially within Japan. I've only been to a handful of places (Tokyo, the rice fields of Gunma prefecture, Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto, Himeji, Nara and Hokkaido), so I really want to make use of the weekends and holidays and go to Shikoku, Okinawa, southern and northern Honshu, the coasts, and Hokkaido (once more!). Also, politically and financially permitting, I'd also like to go to North Korea. It really depends on whether the "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-Il is still alive or not (and how the political scene there will change if it happens), and whether I can save up 1500 euros. The organised tours to North Korea are very expensive; Kim Jong-Il's government rips off tourists to fund his luxurious lifestyle whilst his people starve to death. Anyway, it'd be very interesting if I manage to go. My parents are a bit skeptical; my Korean friend Minji said she worries for me, knowing that there are regular tours for foreigners to visit DPRK, because I'm oriental and yet I hold British citizenship. She worries that something like those two US journalists would happen to me. Hmm...

I'm also planning to buy a コタツ and hopefully find a way to log it back to Manchester for the chilly winter months (somehow my mother managed doing that - bring a コタツ to Hong Kong - over 20 years ago). Oooh and a なべ, to do しゃぶしゃぶ or Chinese hotpot in my room!